It might have taken longer than I wanted but I have no complaints now that the Boston Red Sox have traded for Oakland A's closer Andrew Bailey.
The long-awaited deal finally went down this afternoon as Boston traded outfielder Josh Reddick along with minor leaguers Miles Head (1B) and Raul Alcantara (RHP) to Oakland for Bailey and outfielder Ryan Sweeney.
First things first, the Red Sox no question got the best player in this trade: Bailey, a two-time All-Star. He's only been in MLB for three seasons but he made the midsummer's classic in both 2009 and 2010.
"Andrew's a proven top-quality closer in the American League. He's done it for three years and has had a lot of success," said general manager Ben Cherington. "He's converted a very high percentage of his opportunities. He's got the stuff and we really like his makeup for Boston."
In 2009-2011, he notched 26, 25 and 24 saves. In 2009, he was 6-3 (1.84 ERA, 0.88 WHIP) with 91 strikeouts, 24 walks, 17 earned runs (5 homers) and 49 hits in 83.1 innings pitched. In 2010 (1.47 ERA, 0.96 WHIP) he was 1-3 with 42 strikeouts, 13 walks, eight earned runs (3 homers), 34 hits in 49 innings pitched. Last season, he was 0-4 (3.24 ERA, 1.10 WHIP) with 41 strikeouts, 12 walks, 15 earned runs (3 homers), 34 hits in 41.2 innings pitched.
Bailey is 27, he'll turn 28 on May 31, 6-foot-3 and 240 pounds. So how is such a young, promising closer available? Well besides the fact that Oakland won't pay anybody, he was on the market most likely because of health concerns.
"We had a chance to look into Bailey's medical history and we got to know a lot more about what he's been through," Cherington said. "He had Tommy John surgery five years ago and has fully recovered from that. He had some elbow symptoms in 2010 and had a minor procedure after the 2010 season. Then he came into spring training in 2011, perhaps ramped up too quickly and had a setback and (there) appeared to be some scar tissue breakup.
"It was a minor scar tissue injury and he was able to recover from that and get back to pitching and perform well. His stuff and performance was solid down the stretch. We're very confident he'll come into camp ready to go and ready to help our team in 2012."
If you're not someone that plays fantasy baseball or doesn't follow all of MLB (hello MLB Network), not just the Red Sox or the American League East, you're forgiven for not knowing much about Bailey. He played for nothing but garbage A's teams and he also came from a small school (Wagner) not known for producing MLB talent.
With Bailey as the closer and Mark Melancon as the setup man, Boston has finally addressed its bullpen and done so in a smart and cheap way. Two young, hard-throwing guys that came up in the American League (Melancon made his name in Houston) project to do well in Boston. Along those lines, this means that Daniel Bard going to the starting rotation looks like more of a certainty. I'm not a huge fan of it but at least now, the Red Sox have suitable options for if he makes it out of spring training as a starter.
Sweeney is more of a throw in and he replaces Reddick in right field. If he's healthy, it's Ryan Kalish's job to lose but Sweeney is a more than capable backup. He plays great defense and looking at his batting numbers, he's better than I thought. Last season with the A's, in 108 games (264 at bats) he hit .265 with .346 OBP and .341 SLG. He scored 34 runs, had 70 hits, 11 doubles, three triples, one homer, 25 RBIs, 33 walks, 48 strikeouts and one stolen base.
He's been in MLB for parts of six seasons after getting drafted by the Chicago White Sox and playing in September for them in 2006 and 2007. He was traded to Oakland in January 2008 in the Gio Gonzalez for Nick Swisher deal. His best season was 2009 when he hit .293 with a .348 OBP and .407 SLG; in 134 games (484 at bats), he had 142 hits, 31 doubles, six homers, 53 RBIS, 40 walks and six stolen bases. In his career, Sweeney has a .283 average with a .342 OBP and .378 SLG.
I like Reddick but if we're being honest, I don't think he'll ever be more than a fourth outfielder on a good team. In Oakland, he'll probably have a starting job from day one and he won't have to worry about Kalish (who's better than him). Last season was Reddick's third in MLB but it marked the first time he really made an impact with the Red Sox. In 87 games (254 at bats), he hit .280 with a .327 OBP and .457 SLG. He put up 41 runs, 71 hits, 18 doubles, three triples, seven homers, 28 RBIs and 19 walks.
Reddick's plate discipline really improved last season and for a time in the middle of the summer, he carried the offense when he was on fire. For most of the second half, he was ice cold and could never really recover. Only time will tell if that was a blip on his career or a sign of things to come. He seemed like a good guy so I wish him luck in Oakland.
As for Head and Alcantara, who both came from Single A, I had never heard of either of them so that should tell you something. I follow a couple Red Sox prospects writers on Twitter and am much more well-informed about their guys in the minor leagues than most casual fans so I don't expect either of these players to do anything with the A's or anywhere else solely for the reason that I've never read one word about them (or at least don't remember doing so).
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