MIAMI (Reuters) - Free agent pitcher Bartolo Colon will get a chance to prove his fitness after he was signed by the Boston Red Sox to a minor league contract Monday and was invited to join its spring training camp.
The 34-year-old former Cy Young winner, who struggled with a sore shoulder in 2005 and elbow problems last season, will audition for the World Series champion Red Sox at their Grapefruit League camp in Fort Myers.
"Signing Colon to a minor league deal, we think is a no-risk, potential high-reward signing," Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein told baseball Web site mlb.com.
"He's on a minor league contract and he's going to show up in camp tomorrow, and we'll do an evaluation of how far he is away from helping us."
Colon, named the American League's top pitcher in 2005 when he went 21-8 with a 3.48 earned run average for the Angels, was 1-5 with a 5.11 ERA in 2006, and 6-8 with a 6.34 ERA in 2007.
The stocky right-hander has a career record of 146-95.
Boston is starting the season without injured starter Curt Schilling, but are relatively deep in starting pitching with Josh Beckett, Daisuke Matsuzaka, knuckleballer Tim Wakefield, Jon Lester and rookie Clay Buchholz penciled in the rotation.
The contract gives Colon an out-clause at some point if he is not placed on the major league roster, said Epstein, who would not reveal what the cut-off date was.
"But it gives us ample time to get him sort of into shape and fully evaluated," Epstein said. "We'll see."
(Writing by Larry Fine in New York, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
