Boston Red Sox to acquire Addison Reed from Mets

Dave Dombrowski and the Boston Red Sox will send three prospects to the New York Mets for reliever Addison Reed.

Yesterday, the Boston Red Sox had another eighth-inning implosion, as Matt Barnes inherited a 3-1 lead and lost it by giving up four runs. The Red Sox fell to the Royals because of it.

It was also reported yesterday that the Sox were in on Mets closer Addison Reed, and this morning it finally happened.

Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports confirmed the agreement, while the Boston Globe’s Alex Speier reported that Jamie Callahan, Gerson Bautista and Stephen Nogosek would be the minor leaguers heading to New York in the deal.

This is a win for both sides. The Red Sox desperately needed a dependable, late-inning reliever and got one. They gave up three no-name prospects to get him. The Mets got the most they possibly could for the reliever, and with prospects like that, they’re like a box of chocolates: You never know which one you’re going to get (or in this case, you don’t know which one could turn out to be a star).

Reed’s contract expires at the end of the season, so he’s a rental. He averages a strikeout per inning and has an ERA of 2.57. He’s 19-for-21 in save opportunities. For the Red Sox, he won’t be closing games because of Craig Kimbrel. Instead, he’ll show up to Fenway as the team’s automatic set-up man.

This is exactly the kind of move that Dombrowski needed to make. The team needed a late-inning reliever and they got that. They also gave up next to nothing to get him, which was another essential piece of the puzzle.

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The last two times Dombrowski traded to get set-up men were total busts. The trade for Carson Smith wasn’t an overpay, but Smith has only pitched two and two-thirds innings for the team, and that was last season before he underwent Tommy John surgery. The Tyler Thornburg trade was an overpay and a bust (at least so far). The Red Sox gave up slugger Travis Shaw to get him. Shaw’s on pace for 40 home runs while Thornburg won’t even pitch this season due to thoracic outlet syndrome.

Overall, this is a great move by the Red Sox.