Red Sox Rumors: Mike Gonzalez and Aaron Cook

Earlier this week super-agent Scott Boras told reporters that he expected his client, Mike Gonzalez, to sign within the next week and a half.  Though they were tied to Gonzalez this offseason and could seemingly use bullpen assistance, Nick Carfado of the Boston Globe reported yesterday that the Boston Red Sox are not interested in the left-hander.  Instead, Boston is likely to go with an in-house option, such as Aaron Cook, to solve their pitching problem.

Several teams, including the Red Sox, have been tied to Gonzalez for much of the offseason, Spring Training and regular season.  Still, Carfado is hearing that Boston is not one of the teams in on Gonzalez.

Instead of acquiring a pitcher such as Gonzalez, the Red Sox seem to be willing to allow their current group of arms to try and put things together.  While Boston’s bullpen has been awful thus far, there are a few in-house changes the club could look to make in the near future.

Veteran starting pitcher Aaron Cook, who can opt out of his minor league deal if the Red Sox do not promote him by May 1, has looked good in the minors so far this season.  Cook is 3-0 over four starts spanning 27 innings.  Over that span, Cook has maintained an ERA and WHIP of 1.33 and 1.111.

While Cook could potentially join the Red Sox bullpen, he could also slide into Daniel Bard’s starting role.  This would allow Bard to move to the ‘pen and help solidify the Red Sox relief corp.

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