Red Sox Rumblings

The future for top prospect Casey Kelly is a bit clearer.

The winter meetings kicked off today in Indianapolis. While there isn't any big news yet, there have been a lot of rumblings & grumblings regarding the Red Sox.

• The Sox made a signing today as they inked bullpen arm RHP Scott Atchison. Atchison, 33, has been in the minors, majors, and in Japan for parts of ten seasons. He spent time in Japan last year where he had a 3.70 ERA in 104 2/3 innings while yielding 104 hits and accumulating a 85/26 K/BB ratio. In ten minor league seasons, he has a 3.81 ERA while displaying similar amount of hits per inning and K/BB ratio. In parts of three seasons in the majors, Atchison has a 4.10 ERA in 68 innings. He seems to be very consistent in all levels of competition he has faced. The deal is a one year pact with two option years. Look for Scott to add organizational depth and he could see time on the big league roster if injuries strike. The Sox will closely examine the free agent market and opportunities via trade to compensate for the losses of Billy Wagner and Takashi Saito.

• Daisuke Matsuzaka will spend more of this offseason in America working on his conditioning. This is music to our ears, as he will spend several weeks at the famous Athletes Performance Institute this winter (where Youkilis and Pedroia work out). Dice-K is looking to rebound from a wild and injury plagued 2009 season that saw him post a 5.76 ERA while missing three months of action.

• It has been pretty quiet on the Jason Bay front thus far. There have been rumblings about his desire to play closer to his home of British Columbia in Canada, so Seattle has popped up as a common fit. Seattle just dished out $36 million to 3B Chone Figgins, so if they are serious about building a contender, the Sox may have some competition.

• Red Sox top prospect Casey Kelly will be a full time pitcher going into next season. The 2008 first round pick of the club turned down an opportunity to play QB at the University of Tennessee, and then split time between the mound and plate last year. It had always been his desire to play in the field at SS, but the Sox wanted him to pitch. The two sides compromised last season and let Kelly do both, and the discrepancy in numbers were pretty obvious. Between Single-A (Salem and Greenville), Kelly had a 2.08 ERA in 95 innings with a 74/16 K/BB ratio. On the hitting side, Kelly batted just .224 in 134 ABs at the same level. In a last ditch effort to try and find his stroke, Kelly batted .171 in 41 Arizona Fall League ABs. The 20-year old Kelly will likely open up the season in high A Salem again, but his climb up the organizational ladder could be a quick ascension. However, more than likely the team will not increase his innings workload (95 last season) too much this season, as they have a tendency to baby their young arms.

Check back for any Red Sox news over the next few days because the hot stove is just heating up.