Boston Red Sox, Pittsburgh Pirates finalise six player trade- MLB Update
The Pittsburgh Pirates and the Boston Red Sox much anticipated trade has been officially made with closing pitcher Joel Hanrahan and infielder Brock Holt moving to Boston and infielder Ivan De Jesus Jr., prospect Stolmy Pimentel, veteran reliever Mark Melancon
and outfielder Jerry Sands will come to Pittsburgh.
The general manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates Neal Huntington is quite delighted at the trade and sees it as an important move for the Pittsburgh ball club in context of the upcoming 2013 season.
"Trading Joel Hanrahan was a difficult decision," Huntington said. "But we are pleased that the direct result will be the addition of three players who will very likely impact our Major League club this season."
The 31-year-old Joel Hanrahan has been a closing pitcher throughout his career after his first season as a starting pitcher with the Washington Nationals. He has a 3.74 career ERA and a 22-17 winning record. He also has 96 career saves.
2012 was a particularly good year for Joel when he posted a 5-2 winning record with 36 saves and posted a 2.72 ERA.
Second baseman Brock Halt has recently had his first opportunity in the Majors and posted decent numbers with the bat. He has a .292 batting average and .329 on-base percentage in 65 at-bats in 2012.
The 24-year-old was originally drafted by the Pirates in 2009 in the ninth round of the Amateur Draft and played his first game in the Majors on September 1, 2012. He has played for a number of farm teams in the Pirates’ Minor League System and has posted
an impressive .317/.381/.427 in four seasons.
Jerry Sands is a strong hitter who can hit the ball long. The 25-year-old was originally drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 25th round of the Amateur Draft in 2008. He has decent numbers in the Minors where he has posted .289/.376/.562.
For the last two seasons, he has been associated with the Triple-A Albuquerque Isotopes when not playing with the Dodgers.
Having only gotten limited opportunities in the Majors, he has posted a .244 batting average and a .325 on-base percentage. He was acquired by the Red Sox earlier in a trade and he has once again been moved.
The general manager Neal Huntington seems to be impressed by the abilities Jerry possesses. He has been impressive with his abilities.
"Jerry Sands has impressed our scouts with his well-rounded tools package, highlighted by his ability to command the strike zone as a hitter and drive the ball for extra-base hit potential, “Huntington said.
Mark Melancon has been playing in the Majors since 2009 and has been associated with three different ball clubs during this period. He has a 10-7 career winning record with 21 saves and a 4.07 ERA.
"Mark Melancon has been a quality Major League reliever with closing experience who displays key subjective and objective indicators as a candidate to bounce back from a challenging 2012 season," Neal said.
Stolmy Pimentel was signed by the Boston Red Sox in 2006 when he was 16-year-old from the Dominican Republic as an international free agent. He has been playing in the Red Sox farm system since 2007 and as a 39-41 win-loss record with 4.37 ERA in 125 games.
Ivan De Jesus was drafted originally by the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2005 as a second round pick in the Amateur Draft. He has been playing in the Dodgers’ farm system for a while now and was declared their Minor League Player of the Year in 2008.
Ivan has posted .205/.253/.247 in 73 at-bats in 48 games in the Majors. His record in the Minors is extensive where he has a .298/.370/.389 record in 729 games and over 2700 at-bats.
One hopes that the respective teams will benefit from the trade and the players will be able to get more opportunities with their new teams.
Tags: