Once the Boston Red Sox lost Jonathan Papelbon to the Philadelphia Phillies, it was pretty clear they weren’t sold on Daniel Bard becoming their closer. Boston even went out and acquired Mark Melancon from the Houston Astros, but I don’t think anybody thought Melancon was going to close games in Boston.

With a spot still open in the ninth inning, the Red Sox went out today and finally got their closer. The Red Sox acquired Andrew Bailey from the Oakland A’s for OF Josh Reddick and minor leaguers RHP Raul Alcantara and 1B Miles Head. The Red Sox also acquired OF Ryan Sweeney in the deal.

New GM Ben Cherrington did very well in this deal.

Since arriving on the scene in 2009, Bailey has been one of the best relievers in baseball. He has a career 2.07 ERA, 9.0 K/9, a 2.5 BB/9, and a 40.1 percent Ground Ball Percentage in 174 innings. His best year was in 2009 when he won the American League Rookie of the Year and finished with a 2.4 WAR in 83.1 innings.

We will find out what Bailey is made of pitching in Boston. Saving games in Oakland is a lot different than closing games in Fenway in September. If Bailey does have an advantage going into his situation in Boston is that he is a northeast guy. Bailey was born in New Jersey and went to Wagner College in Staten Island. Understanding and living through the passion of east coast baseball I think will help Bailey adjust.

If there is one drawback to Bailey, it’s that he has been hurt a lot over the past two seasons. After pitching in 83.1 innings his rookie year, he has only appeared in a grand total of 90 innings the past two years. His past elbow issues should certainly concern the Red Sox and their fans going into 2012.

Bailey will be under team control for the next three seasons.

The Red Sox also acquired Ryan Sweeney in this deal. Sweeney hit .265/.346/.341 with one HR in 299 PA’s for the A’s in 2011. Don’t expect Sweeney to be Boston’s starting right fielder in 2012. He is nothing more than a fourth outfielder and Ryan Kalish has a better chance of starting in right than Sweeney does.

For the A’s, I can’t believe they didn’t get more for Bailey. My buddy Odie and I were talking about how if the Red Sox were going to get Bailey, they would have to trade Reddick and a upper-tier prospect to get him. The fact that they traded Reddick and gave up just two lower-tier prospects is very surprising to me.

Reddick had his first real extended taste of Major League action in 2011 thanks to J.D. Drew being injured and hit .280/.327/.457 with seven HR’s in .278 PA’s. He was also an above average fielder in right, posting a 5.9 UZR.

Will Reddick ever be an All Star caliber player? I don’t think so. But I think he can be a guy who hits between 15-20 HR’s every year and has a .750 OPS. That’s a pretty serviceable player. If you want a player comparison, think Texas Ranger OF David Murphy.

Head is a 20-year-old first baseman, who hit .299/.372/.515 in 557 PA’s between Single-A and High Single-A in 2011. He will most likely start the season in Double-A and we’ll see what type of prospect he is in 2012. He wasn’t a top-20 prospect prior to the start of the 2011 season according to Baseball Prospectus.

Alcantara is a very, very raw pitching prospect as he is only 19 years of age. Alcantara has a 2.72 ERA and a 6.0 K/9 in 125.2 career minor league innings. Alcantara competed in Rookie ball and Low Single-A in 2011.

What’s impressive about Alcantara is that he already has command of the strike zone at such a young age. He has only walked 20 batters in those 125.2 innings. Command is usually the thing young pitchers struggle with the most when entering professional baseball.

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By The Baseball Index