Reminder of where the Red Sox were last September:

The Red Sox have NOT stopped TRYING to obtain a starter in a trade for Wednesday's game.

That was September 26th. So if you want to laugh at them for signing Carlos Silva (and others) to minor-league deals, go ahead, but it's probably not a bad idea for them to build as much depth as they possibly can. From a Red Sox press release:

... the 12 free agents (invited to Red Sox spring training) are right-handed pitchers Brandon Duckworth, Charlie Haeger, Will Inman, Doug Mathis, Tony Pena Jr., Carlos Silva and Chorye Spoone, left-handed pitchers Jesse Carlson, Rich Hill and Justin Thomas, shortstop Pedro Ciriaco and utility player Nate Spears.

Silva is still just 32 -- about a year-and-a-half younger than Ryan Vogelsong, actually -- and he was effective with three different minor league teams in the Yankees' organization last year when healthy, which wasn't very often. If nothing else, some Silva news is a great excuse to go back and revisit his nine-walk, 27-start season from 2005. Jonathan Sanchez often fits an entire Silva season into the first three innings of his starts.

Duckworth is one of the other names you might remember, and he was actually in the Red Sox system last year, where he put up a 3.97 ERA in AAA Pawtucket, which wasn't good enough to be on the revolving short list of spot starters for the Sox last September.