The Boston Red Sox made a move to shore up the back end of their bullpen by trading for two-time All-Star closer Joel Hanrahan. The six-player trade between the Red Sox and the Pittsburgh Pirates was announced via Twitter on Saturday by John Heyman of CBSSports.com.
The Pirates will receive minor league outfielder/first baseman Jerry Sands, right-handed pitcher Stolmy Pimentel and two players to be named later. One of those players to be named later may be journeyman reliever Mark Melancon, according to Gordon Edes of ESPN. (Full story here.)
The Red Sox will also receive another player to be named later.
There are bound to be a lot of questions surrounding this trade. Questions such as who got the best out of this trade? Will the Pirates regret trading a closer who has saved 76 games in the past two seasons? Can Jerry Sands become a force on the major league level?
Those questions will undoubtedly be answered soon enough.
Here are the early grades for the Hanrahan trade between the Red Sox and the Pirates.