Brad Ziegler on trade to Red Sox: ‘I was a little surprised’

Former Diamondbacks reliever Brad Ziegler admitted he didn’t see a trade coming before Arizona shipped him to the Boston Red Sox for a pair of young arms late Friday night.

That might be surprising in itself considering Ziegler’s expiring contract made him an obvious trade chip heading into the trade deadline.

“I didn’t have any say in [the trade],” Ziegler told CSNNE.com on Sunday before his first action as a member of the Red Sox. “They reached out about a week before and just kind of talked about ‘Would you consider signing an extension?’ I said, “I’m open to whatever, just come back to me with something.’ The next time I heard from them I was traded. I know it’s a nature of the game and part of the business, but that’s why I was a little surprised and caught off guard about how it really happened.”

Ziegler added that he was also surprised at the timing of the deal. It came well before the trade deadline.

All of that is water under the bridge now.

Ziegler made his first appearance for Boston on Sunday, closing out the game with a two-strikeout, one-groundball-out ninth inning in a 4-0 Red Sox victory over the Rays.

Boston expects Ziegler to play a role as both a closer behind Koji Uehara and as setup man. He will play more of the former now that closer Craig Kimbrel is set to undergo surgery to repair a knee injury.

Even though the D-backs’ decision to trade their closer surprised Ziegler, FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal reports that the team told the pitcher it would be open to re-signing him this offseason.

#DBacks, after informing Ziegler of trade, told him that they would be interested in re-signing him as a free agent this off-season.

— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) July 9, 2016

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