Carlos Delgado joined the Boston Red Sox this morning when he agreed to a minor league contract with Boston’s front office, according to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports.
The contractual details include a $20,000 salary per month at the minor league level and a pro-rated $3 million yearly salary when Delgado reaches the bigs.
Should the Red Sox make the playoffs, postseason performance incentives have been included that could add to those numbers. Conversely, if Boston fails to bring Delgado up to The Show by Sept. 1, he can opt out and again hit the open market.
Entering the week, the Red Sox presumably had only cursory interest in the 38-year-old slugger, but with Kevin Youkilis’ season finished and Boston merely five games back in the American League East, signing Delgado became a pressing matter.
Once he is ready for Major League action, the left-handed Delgado will likely platoon at first with the right-handed Mike Lowell. If everything works out and manager Terry Francona shuffles the deck properly, Delgado and Lowell will successfully compensate for the loss of Youkilis.
Although he experienced an injury-shortened 2009 and has yet to play in 2010, Delgado did hit .271 with 38 home runs in 2008, his last full season with the Mets.
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