BOSTON -- Red Sox general manager Ben Cherington made it perfectly clear Friday that pitcher Justin Masterson will be in the rotation for the 2015 season, despite the right-hander's subpar performance in 2014.
During a conference call to reintroduce Masterson, Cherington called the 29-year-old an "impressive human being" and said "we're excited to have him back." The Red Sox signed the free-agent pitcher to a one-year deal worth a reported $9.5 million, with $2.5 million in total possible incentives based on innings pitched.
A former reliever for the Red Sox before the club traded him to Cleveland in 2009, Masterson will start for the Red Sox.
"We clearly see Justin as a starter," Cherington said. "That's what he's really been just about all the time since he was traded, so that's the role we expect him to be in, and if he's what we think he will be then he'll be a good one. Justin has had experience pitching out of the bullpen, so obviously he can do that, but we're signing him to be a starter."
Starting is the role Masterson envisions when he arrives at spring training, and he doesn't expect anything to change once the season begins.
"The assurance is that if I pitch the way I'm supposed to then I'll be a starter," he said. "If not, then decisions will be made and I won't be having fun anyways, so that would not be enjoyable because that means I'm not pitching well."
The issues Masterson dealt with during the 2014 season, which included a knee injury that forced him to spend time on the disabled list, are a thing of the past, according to the pitcher. Masterson had a combined 5.88 ERA between the Indians and Cardinals, to whom he was traded at midseason. He made 19 starts for Cleveland before the trade and was relegated to the bullpen late in the season by the Cardinals and was left off the playoff roster.
"Last year was purely [poor] health," Masterson said. "The knee is doing great. When I tore my oblique at the end of 2013, I had a lot of scar tissue that we didn't necessarily work through and I think that kind of led to a lot of the issues.
"But we've been able to loosen that up, get some of my rotation back and I think that's going to be one of the driving factors for me to have my velocity back and be just as effective as I have been [previously]."
From 2011 to '13, the right-hander posted a 37-35 record and a 3.86 ERA in 96 starts.
"In the three-year period from 2011-13, Justin was clearly one of the best starting pitchers in the American League," said Cherington. "So we're not talking about a one-year [fluke]; we're talking about 600 innings of pitching.
"Then 2014 was a bit of a battle ... [Injuries] prohibited him from doing the things on the mound that he was accustomed to doing. Then it was just a matter of making sure that those things can be taken care of and aren't anything chronic."
This offseason, Masterson said a handful of teams made formal offers, but in the end he felt Boston was the best destination.
"We're confident whatever physical issues affected him in any way in 2014 will be behind him," Cherington said. "Certainly, we know the character and work ethic is there and he's going to take care of that part."
Officially, Masterson and fellow starters Rick Porcello and Wade Miley -- whose trade from the Arizona Diamondbacks was announced Friday -- are in the mix. Miley said in a separate conference call Friday night that he's looking forward to coming to Boston.
"I'm just excited," he said. "Everybody knows about the AL East. It's premier baseball. I'm excited to get this opportunity to join this club."
The Red Sox sent right-handed pitchers Rubby De La Rosa and Allen Webster as well as minor league infielder Raymel Flores to Arizona in return for the left-handed Miley.
"Rubby and Webby are both really young, talented guys," Cherington said. "Still expecting they're going to turn into good big league pitchers. ...That said, we're in a position, obviously, as everyone knows, where we need to add good major league starting pitching this winter, established major league starting pitching. Obviously Wade certainly is that guy. To get a good left-handed major league starter like Wade who's still got three years of control, three years of arbitration, you've got to give up something. ... Fortunately we had enough young pitching depth to consider giving up a couple of good young arms like Rubby and Allen Webster. We certainly wish them well, we expect them to flourish, but we're excited to get Wade on board and see him pitch in a Red Sox uniform."
An All-Star in 2012, Miley was the Diamondbacks' opening day starter last season and went on to lead the team with 183 strikeouts and 201 1-3 innings pitched while posting an 8-12 record and 4.34 ERA. His ERA in 2014 was nearly a full run higher than it was the previous season. In four major league seasons, the 28-year-old lefty is 38-35 with a 3.79 ERA.
In a separate transaction with the Diamondbacks, the Red Sox received RHP Zeke Spruill for minor league RHP Myles Smith.
The trade was a second salary-saving move for Arizona following the deal that sent catcher Miguel Montero to the Chicago Cubs. General manager Dave Stewart said he expects De La Rosa and Webster to be in the rotation. De La Rosa was 4-8 with a 4.43 ERA in 19 games for Boston last season. Webster was 5-3 with a 5.03 ERA in 11 starts for the Red Sox last year.
Stewart told reporters in a conference call that the Diamondbacks were mulling whether to pursue high-priced pitchers James Shields and Max Scherzer.
With Masterson, Porcello and Miley, in addition to Clay Buchholz and Joe Kelly, there's no true ace of the Red Sox staff. Miley is looking forward to working with his new teammates.
"I'm just excited to get to know these guys, I've obviously seen them pitch the last couple of years and they've all got really good stuff," Miley said. "The opportunity is definitely there for us to do very well. I'm just looking forward to it."
Miley didn't deal with any injury concerns in 2014, making 33 starts and eclipsing 200 innings, but said he wasn't happy with his performance.
"A down season, I felt like I could have done a lot of things differently and better," he said. "It's one of those things where you take it and you learn from some of the things. I think I learned a lot about it. Just going to move forward into next season."
Masterson said he's not worried about the order of the rotation or who will be the No. 1 guy.
"The ace category is always more of a fan/media type thing," Masterson said. "You come together as a staff, there's always someone leading that staff. If you want to call that the 'ace' you can call it whatever you want, but usually there's a leader within that."
As the rotation is currently constituted, Masterson is impressed with the arms.
"Clay is tremendous, he's an incredible pitcher," Masterson said. "Porcello has been great the last couple of years, and Joe Kelly has all the talent in the world of the guys that I know. I think we have an incredible staff. We've all had a bit of success and we'll continue to do that."
The Red Sox were hoping Jon Lester would fill that void and return to Boston as the club's ace, but the left-hander instead agreed to a deal with the Chicago Cubs.
Masterson described it as more of an ace-by-committee scenario.
"It doesn't matter because we're all going to give the best effort, something good, so I think that [ace category] is slightly overrated," he said. "In the end, what you get is, once you become a playoff contender whoever the hot hand is that's the person that's going to be out there. That's how you want to have it and that's what you want to be."
Masterson said he plans on "doing great things" once the season begins, because if not he knows there's a certain someone behind him that will make sure the pitching staff is doing its job.
"Along with Dustin Pedroia probably making fun of us the whole time too, that'll challenge us also," Masterson joked.
Information from ESPNBoston.com contributor Kyle Brasseur and The Associated Press was used in this report.