Red Sox bolster bullpen with acquisition of Addison Reed

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BOSTON -- The Red Sox got another high-leverage reliever and Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski gave the team a boost on deadline day.

The Red Sox on Monday landed righty Addison Reed from the Mets in exchange for three 22-year-old minor league right-handed relievers: Jamie Callahan (Triple-A Pawtucket), Gerson Bautista (High-A Salem) and Stephen Nogosek (Salem). 

THE TRADE DEADLINE

Reed, 28, is a free agent after the season and has a 2.57 ERA in 49 innings. He has 48 strikeouts compared to just six walks.

Sox manager John Farrell said Reed would join the Red Sox on Tuesday and is viewed as the eighth-inning reliever.

"We like him a lot. We think he can come in and be a premium setup guy for us," Dombrowski said. "He makes us deeper in our bullpen, pushes other guys back to pitch earlier in the game. He can close an occasional game for us if he needs to when Craig [Kimbrel] needs an extra day off.

"That one guy who will pitch the eighth just has not been there on a consistent basis for us. ... We kind of identified him as one of the guys that we really felt could fit that role for us over the last week period, and after numerous conversations with lots of clubs over the time period, we finally this morning — I talked to Sandy [Mets general manager Sandy Alderson] quite often over the last couple of days and finally said, ‘OK, this is what’s going to get it done. Let’s go ahead and get it done.’ I’ve dealt with Sandy — I hate to say this — for about 30 years, so we’ve dealt with each other for a long time, and I know when he tells me something from an honest perspective, he means it. So we went out and got the deal done.”

The key will be keeping this set-up man healthy, after troubles for Carson Smith and Tyler Thornburg.

The Sox already added Eduardo Nunez to boost the infield and the lineup. With the call-up of Rafael Devers, who’s impressed thus far, as well as the impressive pitching of Brandon Workman, the Sox have taken on an improved look. Joe Kelly, coming back from a hamstring injury, is to join Triple-A Pawtucket for a minor league rehab assignment on Wednesday, adding another potential bullpen piece.

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