Conor Says... Sign Jon Garland

The Red Sox' pitching troubles have been well documented this offseason. While they have gotten to improving their bullpen lately, they still need to improve upon their rotation. I think that a fairly cheap and effective way to do that would be to sign Jon Garland. Garland was injured for much of 2011, only starting 9 games for the Dodgers. In those 9 games, he was typical Jon Garland-- going 1-5/4.33/28. Other than 2011, however, Garland has been very consistent as a workhorse. From 2004-2010, he pitched 200+ innings in every year except 2008 (he still had 196 2/3). The Red Sox really need some innings eaters after nobody seemingly was able to go more than 5 innings in September '11. Garland is solid but unspectacular, with a career 4.32 ERA and 4.68 FIP. He doesn't strike out very many people (his career high was 136 in 2010) at just 4.86 K/9 over his career. However, he walks even fewer with just 3.02 BB/9 over his career. I think Garland would be a solid option for the #4 spot in the Red Sox rotation-- plus he'd be cheap.