Red Sox sign Carlos Delgado to minor league deal
Carlos Delgado batted .267 with 104 home runs and 339 RBIs during his four-year stint with the Mets. (July 11, 2009) Credit: John Dunn
The Red Sox have signed former Met Carlos Delgado to a minor league deal, Terry Francona announced before Saturday’s game against the Yankees.
Delgado will report to Triple-A Pawtucket on Sunday, though he’ll initially only work out with the club. Delgado’s deal includes a Sept. 1 opt-out date if the slugging first baseman is not added to Boston’s major league roster.
Delgado worked out at Yankee Stadium Friday afternoon.
“He swung the bat great,” Francona said. “He looked like Carlos.”
The recently activated Mike Lowell is currently manning first base for the Red Sox with Kevin Youkilis on the disabled list, and if Delgado is called up, it could create a logjam at the position. Francona did not say whether the club viewed Delgado as a first base option or more of a bench/designated hitter/pinch hitter option, saying that “this is us doing our due diligence.”
He said that if someone was called up, “Whatever, whoever, whenever would be to hopefully complement [Lowell}.”
Delgado last played for the Mets in May 2009, but has since been sidelined with a right hip injury. He underwent surgery during the season and then had a second hip surgery in February to repair a labrum in his hip and his hip socket.
A Met since 2006, Delgado hit .267 with 104 home runs during his four-year stay in Flushing. Delgado has 473 home runs for his career, which spans 17 seasons.
He was teammates with Lowell when the two were on the Florida Marlins in 2005, and Lowell described Delgado as “a good teammate.” However, Lowell declined to comment on the possibility of sharing playing time with his former teammate saying, “I don’t have any thoughts at this time. If he gets to Boston we’ll address that.”
Delgado played the majority of his career for the Toronto Blue Jays, from his rookie season in 1993 until 2004.
Current Red Sox backup catcher Kevin Cash was Delgado’s teammate with Toronto from 2002-04.
“We could definitely use him if he’s healthy,” Cash said. “The kind of at-bats that I saw in ’02, ’03, ’04, yea, anybody could use that.”
