With outlook healthy, Sox pick up Wakefield option

The Red Sox yesterday announced they have exercised the $4 million option they hold on Tim Wakefield’s contract for 2007, after a season in which the knuckleballer turned 40, spent more time (seven weeks) on the disabled list than in any other season of his career, made his fewest starts since 2002, won his fewest games since 2000, and pitched his fewest innings since 1999.

The number of Sox players filing for free agency grew to five yesterday, as shortstop Alex Gonzalez and second baseman Mark Loretta both filed. They join Doug Mirabelli and outfielders Trot Nixon and Gabe Kapler.

Comments by general manager Theo Epstein and Wakefield suggest that both the player and the team believe a return to health will enable Wakefield to improve upon this past season, when Wakefield had a stress fracture in his ribs, the cause of which was never determined. He went 7-11 with a 4.63 ERA in 23 starts, his won-lost record mitigated only partially by the fact that the club scored just six runs while he was on the mound in his 11 defeats.

His absence from the rotation had a significant impact on the pitching staff, as the bullpen was forced to pick up the innings Wakefield normally chews up.

‘‘As far as my health is concerned, I feel great now that I’m home and have been able to rest a month or so,’’ Wakefield said. ‘‘I’m looking forward to getting back to the gym and starting to throw, probably by the first part of December.

‘‘My body feels a lot better than in July. I was able to make four starts at the end of the year and was starting to feel better. I think time is the cure-all for this injury, and now that I’ve been off for a month, it feels really good.’’

Wakefield will be in his 13th season with the Sox, which matches Roger Clemens and Bob Stanley for longest tenure among pitchers. Since 2000, Wakefield has thrown 1,247‚ innings, the most for any Sox pitcher in that span and over 300 more than the runner-up on that list, Pedro Martínez (936„). Only Martínez, with 75, has more wins with the Sox in that time than Wakefield (72), whose 137 wins overall with the team rank him third, behind Cy Young and Clemens, with 192 apiece.

‘‘I plan to pitch as long as the Red Sox continue to pick up my option,’’ said Wakefield.

The decision to do so was an easy one, as Epstein described it.

‘‘In our minds, this was never really in doubt,’’ Epstein said. ‘‘This was a matter of routinely picking up the option because he projects to be very healthy and help us win in 2007.’’

With Mirabelli filing for free agency, and coming off a season in which his .191 average was the worst among all major league catchers with 150 or more plate appearances, Wakefield is also facing the possibility that he’ll have to break in another catcher to handle his knuckleball. That experiment was a failure last spring, and led to the reacquisition of Mirabelli after he had been traded to the Padres.

Epstein noted yesterday that the new collective bargaining agreement, which he called ‘‘upon initial review, in the best long-term interests of baseball,’’ allows teams more patience and flexibility in dealing with their own free agents. Teams will no longer have to offer their own free agents salary arbitration as a prerequisite to continuing talks with them. Under the former CBA, teams had until Dec. 7 to offer salary arbitration to their free agents; players had until Dec. 19 to decide whether to accept.

Wakefield, while expressing hope that Mirabelli would be re-signed, was accepting of the possibility that he would have another receiver, though he raised the possibility of Jason Varitek catching him again. Epstein did not rule out that scenario.

‘‘[That] is just something that has to be discussed with Jason and Tito [Francona],’’ Epstein said. ‘‘And as far as Doug goes, he has filed for free agency, we’ve had some general discussions with his agent, and I’m sure we’ll continue to talk. We want to find the catcher that is the best fit for the Red Sox, whether it’s Doug or somebody else.’’

Varitek has not caught the majority of Wakefield’s innings since 2000, when Wakefield made 17 starts but also was used frequently out of the bullpen, making 34 appearances in relief. Giving Varitek some relief behind the plate was the thinking behind Mirabelli becoming Wakefield’s regular catcher, but with Varitek slumping to .238 last season, the Sox may decide they need more offense from their second catcher.

Epstein yesterday made his first public comments regarding the re-signing of reliever Mike Timlin, who like Wakefield turned 40 this season, had health issues, and struggled.

Since the start of the 2003 season, Timlin has made 297 appearances. Only three big-league pitchers have made more: Scott Eyre (317), Ray King (310), and Brad Lidge (306). The heavy workload may have caught up to Timlin last season, as a tired shoulder limited him to 68 appearances, his fewest since 2001. Timlin gave up seven home runs in just 64 innings. He also allowed 13.5 base runners per nine innings, his highest average since 2000, and perhaps most alarming, his strikeouts per nine innings were 4.22, the lowest of his career and almost 2Æ strikeouts fewer than his average in 2005 (6.61).

Timlin, who was re-signed for $2.8 million, was primarily the eighth-inning setup man. Whether his role changes will be discussed, Epstein said, with Francona, though the general manager said the team’s primary thrust will be to work harder to keep Timlin healthy.

‘‘We need to do everything we can to protect his arm now that he’s going to be 41,’’ Epstein said. ‘‘We have to try to learn from last season and take preventative measures to make sure he gets through another season in good health.’’

Gordon Edes can be reached at edes@globe.com