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Former Red Sox reliever Scott Atchison signs with Mets 01.29.13 at 11:28 am ET
By Alex Speier

Scott Atchison agreed to a minor league deal with the Mets on Tuesday (AP)

Reliever Scott Atchison, who spent the last three years with the Red Sox, is moving on.

The New York Mets announced that they’ve agreed on a minor league deal with the right-hander that includes an invitation to big league spring training. While Atchison, 36, was an outstanding performer for the Red Sox in 2012, forging a 1.58 ERA in 51 1/3 innings (the fourth-best ERA among pitchers with at least 50 innings pitched last year) while striking out 6.3 batters per nine innings and walking just 1.6 per nine, an ulnar collateral ligament strain that sidelined him for two months in the second half dampened his free agent market.

Atchison was told by Dr. James Andrews that he could pitch again with a course of rest and rehab, rather than surgery. He did, in fact, end up pitching in five games at the end of the season, logging 5 1/3 scoreless innings while striking out two and walking none.

The reliever told MLB.com on Monday that the Red Sox — after declining to tender him a contract in December, thus making him a free agent — had offered him only a minor league deal. Given that the team added right-handers Joel Hanrahan and Koji Uehara to an already deep bullpen mix, Atchison felt that he was better served to sign a minor league deal with a different club that presented a greater opportunity to make the Opening Day roster.

“As their situation changed with bringing in more right-handed arms, I really didn’t feel like it was going to be much of a fit. I was going to be forced to probably have to start the year back in [Triple-A] Pawtucket. And I felt that wasn’t really what I had deserved and what I had earned with them in that situation. I felt like if I’m going to start somewhere in Triple-A, I want to start somewhere new, I guess, if that was the case,” Atchison told MLB.com. “[With the Mets], it’s going to be a situation where I’m going to have a pretty good chance to make a team; there’s some openings in their ‘pen. … It’s been a fun three years [in Boston], and you know, who knows? You never know, I could always end back up there somehow. It’s probably not going to be at the start of this year.”

Atchison, who signed a free-agent deal with the Sox in December 2009 after spending two years pitching in Japan, appeared in 102 big league games spanning 141 2/3 innings for the Sox from 2010-12. He went 5-4 with a 3.18 ERA, 94 strikeouts and 34 walks. His 3.18 ERA was the lowest of any Sox pitcher with at least 50 innings pitched over the last three years.

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  • Kobra543

    good, im glad, i liked this guy as a red sox, wish we kept him, good luck in NY

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_WW4SUGV5J6Y7R5MVPAWVIWAJFU Dennis

    Scott Atchison was fearless,i wish him well.

  • Anonymous

    do what u gotta do, good luck

  • Theodore

    Scott Atchison is so old he is going to die tomorrow

  • Bob M.

    He pitched quickly, threw strikes, and usually pitched well. I was kind of hoping the Sox would invite him back, but it wasn’t to be. Glad he caught on with somebody.

  • Marvinmarchant

    Sox suck.. They let their best reliever go on a minor league deal.. Front office blows.  

  • Scott

     that is a comment from a moron Jerk!!

  • Billy B

    He deserved better with the Sox. Let your best pitcher sign elsewhere. Losing faith in our boy little Ben. 

  • Johnny Spygate

    Whoa, calm yourselves down, sports.  At this point worrying about Scott Atchison is sorta like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.  Maybe he helps bring you a little bit closer to 4th place, but most likely his arm would have fallen off by July.  It doesn’t matter.  Young Ben doesn’t have a plan and doesn’t have a clue.  
    The David Ross era starts in 15 days!
    Let’s move on

  • Dope Hunter

    That comment is just plain stupid…..

  • Dope Hunter

    Spying gays again John?

  • http://twitter.com/tdbestor Tim Bestor

    Pretty sure he does have a plan and a clue .. Everyone in New England is just to impatient to wait the 2 years for it to work. Every 3 days we hear another half-brained plan on why the sox would be stupid to not trade the farm for 1 outfielder or a backup first baseman .. Remember how good we were going to be with A.Gonz? .. Tailor made for Fenway .. 5 first round picks for 1 player, and not even a pitcher .. Watch what Casey Kelly does this year and see what the cost of a superstar is .. 

    That said there was no room for Atchison on the 40 man roster and he deserves to play now for a mlb team.  They probably should have signed him, but if they have a 5% of winning this year, it’s better to hold onto young talent than risk a prospect for a 37 year old arm .. esp. one that’s been talking to Dr. James Andrews ..   He was mostly reliable though and I wish him the best.  Glad to have him in blue and orange rather than pinstripes anyways!

  • bguy

    You need to GROW UP JERK!!!

  • Kingkelly

    Atch is a classy guy, He wasn’t flashy and didn’t pitch a ton of high leverage innings, but he took the ball and put up really impressive numbers when called upon.  He seemed unfazed by the high melodrama and turbulence of the last two seasons.  It’s tough to lose a guy like that — and lousy for him that his age and iffy ulnar lig put him at a disadvantage, given the Red Sox crowded bullpen.   Let’s hope he stays healthy and continues to thrive in the National League. 

  • Anonymous

    Hope he make it. He needs the medical Insurance for his kid. Never a problem and gave it his best which cannot be said for the bunch.

  • Uncle Buck

    Yeah that’s so original tool bag.  You’re pathetically predictable and stale.

  • Uncle Buck

    Agreed.  Good guy, good pitcher and a really gripping life story as well involving his family. I wish him all success over there.

  • Tonyfranco

    For all those lamenting the loss of Atchinson, please remember he signed a MINOR LEAGUE deal with the METS!!  If he was so very valuable, then don’t you think some team somewhere would have offered him a major league deal?!?

  • KC

    Best of luck to Scott and his family.  

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