Former Cy Young award winner Bartolo Colon won't be starting the season with the big club but he will remain in the Red Sox camp.

Colon was assigned to minor league camp today along with two other non-roster invitees, infielders Keith Ginter and Joe Thurston.

On Saint Patrick's Day vs. the Yankees in Tampa, Colon made his second spring start for the Sox but was gone after two-thirds of an inning, having given up 4 runs, while throwing 41 pitches and only 21 of them for strikes.

Two players on the Red Sox major league roster, righthander Josh Beckett and lefthander Craig Breslow, will remain in Florida while the team travels to Japan.

Read more on Colon in Jackie MacMullan's March 18 column: So far, Colon wildly intriguing