Diamondbacks trade Brad Ziegler to Red Sox for a pair of prospects
Jul 8, 2016, 11:17 PM | Updated: Jul 9, 2016, 1:58 pm
Arizona Diamondbacks relief pitcher Brad Ziegler throws a pitch to Colorado Rockies' Trevor Story in the eighth inning of a baseball game Thursday, June 23, 2016, in Denver. The Diamondbacks won 7-6. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
(AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
The Arizona Diamondbacks announced after Friday’s game that they traded closer Brad Ziegler to the Boston Red Sox in exchange for pitcher Jose Almonte and infielder Luis Alejandro Basabe.
“I have been with Arizona for a long time. It’s going to be tough to go. It’s going to be tough on me and my family,” Ziegler said after the game. “From a baseball standpoint you have a team that is a couple of games out of first and I think that’s why they pulled the trigger.”
Ziegler was 2-6 for the Diamondbacks this season with 18 saves and a 2.82 ERA. He converted 43 straight saves from May 29, 2015 until June 20 this season — the seventh longest streak in Major League history.
In 348 games with the Diamondbacks, the 36-year-old Ziegler was 21-11 with 62 saves and a 2.49 ERA.
“We decided we could get some pretty good prospects for him,” said Diamondbacks general manager Dave Stewart. “We don’t know what position we are going to be in this season or if we are going to be in the hunt for a wild card.”
Almonte, 20, is in his fourth season in the Red Sox farm system and is 2-2 with a 3.91 ERA for Single-A Greenville.
Basabe, 19, is a switch hitter and has played in 64 games for Single-A Greenville this season. He hit .310 with 16 doubles and four triples. He has four home runs while driving in 27 runs.
“They will be great players in our system and we expect them to be playing in the big leagues,” Stewart said.
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