Trading two pitchers, Cincinnati Reds acquire Kansas City Royals closer Jonathan Broxton – MLB News
The Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday, July 31, made a surprising deal by acquiring Kansas City Royals’ closer Jonathan Broxton in a trade for the Minor League pitchers J. C. Sulbaran and Donnie Joseph.
Having 23 saves this season, Broxton appears to be the best choice available. The move shall be lauded for a variety of reasons, not only for its being unpredictable all this while. The Reds will be able to utilise the services of this closer before he becomes a free agent this winter.
The team general manager Walt Jocketty had his view on the deal.
"We have several deals for position players that we looked at. In the end, we just felt we liked what we had," Jocketty said as the Trade Deadline ended. "The deals just didn't make sense for us, so we focused on pitching.”
The move was surprising largely because the Reds were all this while looking for a leadoff hitter. Once nothing concrete happened on that front, the decision to get Broxton was probably was probably the last good choice.
Jocketty said, “We said at the beginning we were looking for a leadoff hitter, a cleanup hitter and bench help or try to strengthen our pitching. The position-player deals just weren't right for us. We felt good having an arm like Broxton."
Broxton brings with himself experience and quality play. It is obvious that the Reds have played this card very meticulously. Broxton, before becoming free-agent in the coming winter, will have made $4 million by the end of the season.
Broxton will undeniably be a great asset for the Reds. The team which has already had some of the best pitchers in the bullpen will now have more choices at the disposal. With 20 victories and 2.66 ERA, the Reds are already leading the Majors in the bullpen.
The Reds were previously looking for a hitter. "But we've seen improvement from a lot of our guys. Our offense is going to continue to get better because there is a lot of talent there,” said Jocketty.
With the good performance of the offence and bullpen, the Reds will certainly continue to rise in the Division.
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