The Red Sox currently sitting at 5-4 after dropping 2 of 3 in Toronto and bouncing back to win 2 of 3 in Boston against the Orioles. Joe Kelly and Rick Porcello continued their bad starts as Kelly gave up 4 runs and walked 5 over 6.1 IP to take the loss against the Jays. The Red Sox currently have given up the league's second most home runs in 14 over 8 games with the youngster Eduardo Rodriguez taking the brunt of that number with 3 HR's allowed. The team's ERA currently sits at 3.35 which is good for 12th best in the league, but is boosted with a 1.17 ERA by David Price, and the next lowest is 4.09 held by Clay Buchholz. This led GM Dave Dombrowski to pick up the phone and start making some calls on starting pitchers.
The first domino fell when the Red Sox and Reds agreed on a 4 player trade sending SP Raisel Iglesias (81) to the Sox. Cincinnati in the middle of a rebuild gets SP Roenis Elias (76), Aaron Wilkerson (57) and Rusney Castillo (73). Castillo had been hitting .399 with 1 home run and 9 RBI's in the first 10 games of the season with the Pawtucket Paw Sox. He will start his Reds career in Triple A.
With the struggles of both lefties in the Red Sox bullpen, Robbie Ross and Tommy Layne, they were interested in getting a top notch lefty. Jake McGee was a valuable trade chip for the Colorado Rockies after coming over in a trade this summer from Tampa Bay. He was expected to be traded at the deadline once Colorado fell out of contention in a tough NL West. The Rockies sent Jake McGee to Boston in exchange for high profile pitching prospect Henry Owens (74, B), Catcher Ryan Hanigan (71) and 2B Josh Rutledge (72). Owens figures to be in the mix immediately for the Rockies rotation which is lacking some firepower, but he will debut for the Rockies in Triple A Colorado Springs.
Joe Kelly after consecutive awful starts and a refusal to accept a bullpen role has led to his departure as the Red Sox unloaded Kelly along with Edwin Escobar (69, B) and Trey Ball (61, B) in exchange for Julio Teheran. A solid return for the Braves as they get two good young pitching prospects to develop and a starter to step in immediately.
The Work is not done for the Red Sox however, as they now have Rick Porcello in a long man role out of the bullpen unless they can find a home for him. Pablo Sandoval is hitting .500 in limited action with 1 RBI and has had scouts from multiple (Brewers DBacks, Padres) teams checking him out. The Padres are rumored to be interested in acquiring Kung Fu Panda in a deal structured around sending the bad contract of Matt Kemp to Boston. In corresponding moves, the Red Sox have option SP Steven Wright and RP Robbie Ross to Triple-A Pawtucket. To fill the open roster spot vacated by Ryan Hanigan, the Red Sox have recalled C Christian Vazquez from Pawtucket.
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