In the spirit of the hobbits, who give rather than receive gifts on their birthdays, Theo Epstein gave Red Sox fans a present on December 29th, his golden birthday, signing Ramiro Mendoza to a two-year, $6.5M contract. This price seems a little high but within reason. He's not an extremely dominant pitcher in terms of strikeouts, however his skills are strong across the board and he's able to pitch more than one inning. Boston reportedly put the 30-year-old through a rigorous physical before finalizing the deal and found no hint of arm troubles.

Mendoza should fit well into Boston's redesigned bullpen, where pitchers will have set, but nontraditional, roles. The Red Sox are expected to use pitchers for specific tasks rather than in specific innings and since save situations can vary, they won't have a defined closer. Consequently, they should be more effective than the typical closer by committee bullpen, as the main complaint the relievers express in that situation is usually that they don't know their role.

In early January, Boston signed Bill Mueller to a two-year, $4.5M. Mueller started the season late due to lingering problems with the knee he injured in 2001. He struggled the first month he was back but continued to improve as the season progressed. The 31-year-old has always shown strong plate discipline skills and also possesses moderate power potential. He'll take over the starting third base job in Boston, while the Red Sox look to trade Shea Hillenbrand or move him to the bench. Although Hillenbrand managed a breakout year last season, his improved BA wasn't supported by his strike zone judgment and the extra homers correspond to the extra at-bats he received.

Mueller's deal includes a $300,000 buyout on a $2.1M option for 2005, and that option will reportedly jump to $2.5M if he accumulates 1000 PA between 2003 and 2004. I think Boston's locked in very solid production from a switch-hitting third baseman at an appropriate price.

In their most recent major league acquisition, the Red Sox signed David Ortiz to a one-year, $1.25M contract. I'm a bit surprised that he's earning more than the going $1M rate that several 1B/DH types have received this off-season, but this salary still seems in range of what he offers Boston. The 27-year-old's plate discipline has declined a bit over the past few years, but has solid power skills and could improve his strike zone judgment under the tutelage of the Red Sox. He's expected to play a prominent role in the mix at first base and DH. While he featured a sizeable platoon split last season, that's something that has developed recently, so he could rebound from it and shouldn't necessarily be pigeonholed into a platoon.

Damian Jackson signed a one-year, $625,000 contract in mid-December. Jackson markedly reduced his strikeout rate last season after undergoing laser eye surgery in the off-season. The 29-year-old offers the Red Sox a strong middle infield back-up with solid speed skills. He should provide Boston with valuable depth at a nice price.

The club also recently settled on contracts with two of their arbitration-eligible players. Trot Nixon signed a one-year, $4M contract. Nixon's production took an unexpected dip last season, which isn't readily explainable from his skills. Hopefully, the 28-year-old just had an off-year and will rebound to his former levels, otherwise he looks more than a little overpaid.

Benny Agbayani signed a one-year, $610,000 contract, which appears to be more than he's worth unless he can rebound to his 2000 level of play. However, Boston's reportedly interested in selling him to a Japanese team, so they may not have to pay his salary.

Last week, the Red Sox claimed Earl Snyder off waivers from Cleveland. The Mets drafted Snyder out of the University of Hartford in the 36th round of the 1998 draft and traded him to the Indians in the Roberto Alomar prior to the 2002 season. He has considerable power potential and is able to take walks, but his strikeout rate is almost double his walk rate. While Cleveland had him in the majors for portions of last season, he could use additional time in AAA to refine his skills, though he's a nice addition to the Boston farm system. The Indians made a poor choice in discarding him.

The Red Sox also signed several more players to minor league contracts, including OF-L Andy Abad, UT-R Lou Collier, C-L Dave Nilsson, 2B-L Jackie Rexrode, and RHP Kris Foster. Foster's shown some potential as a reliever, but given the number of players the Red Sox have added to the major league pen, several people would have to suffer from injury and/or ineffectiveness for him to find an opening.

Abad has deserved at least a reserve role in the majors for the past half dozen seasons but has only found one big league at-bat with Oakland. Now 30, he possesses excellent plate discipline and solid power skills. Hopefully, the current Boston regime will rectify the mistake of their predecessors, who drafted Abad out of Middle Georgia Junior College in the 16th round of the 1993 draft, and then let him sit in the minors until he left for Japan as a minor league free agent.

Nilsson left major league baseball after the 1999 season to go home to Australia and play on their Olympic team. At that point, his offense compared favorably to players at any position and quite well to other catchers. In addition to the power skills of many backstops, Nilsson also possessed good plate discipline. Provided his talents haven't atrophied significantly in the past three years, he should beat out Doug Mirabelli for the job behind Jason Varitek and he might even start to pull at-bats away from the starter.

Collier gives them some utility depth at AAA in case of injury at the major league level. However, the players currently on their 40-man generally have more upside. I commented on Jackie Rexrode at the end of November when he had signed a minor league deal with the Yankees, so I'm surprised to now learn he signed with Boston at the beginning of January. He still has potential as he's only 24, but he'll need to improve his plate discipline to take full advantage of his speed skills. Rexrode played in the independent leagues last season, and he's shown promising strike zone judgment in the past, so he's a good addition to their minor league system but should be a major league factor in 2003.