Boston.com is reporting that the Red Sox have acquired SP Paul Byrd from the Cleveland Indians for a player to be named later or cash considerations. The player must be agreed upon by January 15 of next year.

In spite of his sometimes-ridiculous delivery (remember all those deception-based pauses halfway through his windup during the 2007 AL Championship Series?), I like this move. In 22 2008 starts, the 37-year-old right hander has a 7-10 record with a decent 4.53 ERA. He's never been a top-of-the-line, game-changing starter in his career, but he should prove serviceable to the Sox as a 5th starter. He's a low-walk, low-strikeout pitcher that relies on contact pitching to get the majority of his outs. Byrd adds a solid arm to the back end of the rotation, which suddenly is in desperate need of stability, as well as a veteran presence to the clubhouse. This move will have implications for several current Sox pitchers, most notably Clay Buchholz, who's looked real shaky since being recalled from Pawtucket in mid-July.

Byrd will make his Red Sox debut on Friday in place of the aforementioned Buchholz. Buchholz hasn't been booted from the rotation yet as the Sox still need to get a handle on the status of other starters (Colon, Wakefield, Zink...) before making any other official moves.