Red Sox Make Big Trade For Relief

FENWAY, MA — The slumping Red Sox have made a trade to bolster their bullpen just hours before Major League Baseball's 4 p.m. trade deadline. Right-handed reliever Addison Reed will be joining the team from the New York Mets, a move that Sox brass are hopeful will be a shot in the arm to a relief corps that started strong but has been running out of gas lately.

The Red Sox are trading three prospects - Jamie Callahan, Gerson Bautista, and Stephen Nogose - to New York. Reed's contract is over at the end of the season, dampening the return in the trade market for him.

Reed, who has been closing games for the Mets, has 19 saves and a 2.57 ERA the season. In seven seasons with the White Sox, Diamondbacks, and Mets, Reed has 125 saves and 397 strikeouts in 375.2 innings.

Closer Craig Kimbrel has been the best closer in baseball this year, but getting to him has been a problem of late. Joe Kelly was enjoying a career year as the eight-inning setup guy before landing on the disabled list (he's expected back soon.) Matt Barnes, Heath Hembree, and others have struggled to bridge the gap to Kimbrel.

Photo by Arturo Pardavila III via Wikimedia Commons