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| The Red Sox acquired Oakland closer Andrew Bailey in a trade the other day that also saw outfielder Josh Reddick and Oakland outfielder Ryan Sweeney change uniforms |
The other day, the Red Sox finally made a move for a closer. They traded outfielder Josh Reddick along with prospects Raul Alcantra and Miles Head for Oakland closer Andrew Bailey and outfielder Ryan Sweeney. The move was first reported by ESPN's Buster Olney (Twitter link).
Well it's about damn time. I had a bad feeling the Sox were gonna go the closer by committee route and just use Melancon, who, let's face it, isn't about to be an AL East closer anytime soon. Bailey is a proven closer (he's done for more than one year) and is a two time all star, and figures to be the Sox closer for quite a while.
Despite his injury history, Bailey appears to be in perfect health and should be one of the last pieces that solidifies the bullpen. With Daniel Bard and possibly Alfredo Aceves heading to the starting rotation, the Sox needed to make this deal. And if you ask me, Billy Beane got his balls chopped off in this one.
Also, with the bullpen seemingly taken care of, the Red Sox are exploring every poswsible starting pitching option. They've expressed interest in free agents Roy Oswalt, Hiroki Kuroda, and Edwin Jackson, and have talked to the Cubs about Matt Garza. Lou Merloni thought of something brilliant in regards to Matt Garza. Swing a deal for him, but make Theo and co. let Cherington give up one less prospect in the deal as compensation for losing Theo (Twitter link). Awesome idea if you ask me. Having 3 top notch starters (Beckett, Lester, Garza), 1 starter on the cusp of being top notch (Buchholz) and then either Bard or Aceves would be a pretty good looking rotation on paper going into the year.
You can also expect the Sox to either make some sort of trade or a free agent signing to fill the right field hole, as Ryan Sweeney and Darnell MacDonald will absolutely not cut it.
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