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John Maine gets a shot with the Red Sox

Print | Comments () Posted by Peter Abraham, Globe Staff January 27, 2012 06:30 PM

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By Peter Abraham, Globe Staff

The Red Six signed righthander John Maine to a minor-league contract that does not include an invitation to major league spring training.

Maine, 30, won 25 games for the Mets from 2007-08 and had a 4.02 ERA while striking out 8.2 batters per nine innings.

He has made only 24 starts in the majors since, none since May 20, 2010. He had shoulder surgery that season and last year was 1-3 with a 7.43 ERA for Class AAA Colorado Springs. He quit the team in June, saying he might retire.

Maine's hometown paper, the Free Lance-Star of Fredericksburg, Va., reported that the Red Sox plan to use Maine as a reliever.

"There were other teams that were interested, but the Red Sox were out front," agent Rex Gary told the newspaper "They flew down to meet him and flew him up to Boston to work out. There was a real level of interest."

It's a no-cost lottery ticket for the Red Sox. The odds are against Maine being a contributor, but you never know.

(Hat tip to Soxprospects.com, which Tweeted out the news earlier today.)