BOSTONThey were not the trades that had generated speculation over the last few weeks, but the Red Sox completed two deals before the 4 p.m. non-waiver trading deadline Tuesday afternoon.
The Sox received lefthander Craig Breslow from the Diamondbacks for right-hander Matt Albers and outfielder Scott Podsednik.
Breslow, who turns 32 Aug. 8, is 2-0 with a 2.70 ERA in 40 games out of the Diamondbacks bullpen this season. This will be his second stint with the Sox. He also pitched for Boston in 2006, going 0-2 with a 3.75 ERA in 13 games out of the bullpen.
Breslow, from Trumbull, Conn., was selected in the 26th round of the 2002 draft by the Brewers out of Yale. In parts of seven seasons, with the Padres, Red Sox, Indians, Twins, As and Diamondbacks, he has compiled a record of 14-17 with a 3.02 ERA and six saves in 335 games, all in relief.
Breslow is coming to give us that left-handed depth in the bullpen, manager Bobby Valentine said. Hes had a nice year. And I havent seen him pitch too much but I know hes been in the American League before. Im confident hes going to help us win games.
We had been looking for another lefty, said general manager Ben Cherington. We felt like early in the year when we had three lefties in the pen it was when our pen was really rolling the best and give bobby a chance to match up and use all three guys. Certainly also gives bobby some flexibility for the rest of the year if we need to use morales as a starter. So hopefully a couple of benefits to the move. We felt like Albers has done a great job for us. We felt like we had enough other right-hand options that we can afford to flip the righty for the lefty.
The Sox also traded power-hitting first basemanoutfielder Lars Anderson, who had been one of theirhighly touted prospects a few years ago, to Cleveland for knuckleballingrighthander Steven Wright, who has been assigned to Double-A Portland.