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Jonathan Broxton
was acquired Wednesday from Kansas City to help bolster the bullpen.
Cincinnati Reds
Reds bolster
pitching staff in acquisition of Broxton
CINCINNATI- The Reds made efforts to swing deals up until to Tuesday’s
4 p.m. ET non-waiver Trade Deadline, especially for a leadoff hitter.
In the end, general manager Walt Jocketty made just one move, and it
was a deal that no one predicted. Cincinnati acquired Kansas City
closer Jonathan Broxton for Minor League pitchers Donnie Joseph and
J.C. Sulbaran.
“We have several deals for position players that we looked at. In the
end, we just felt we liked what we had,” Jocketty said just after the
Deadline expired. “The deals just didn’t make sense for us, so we
focused on pitching. We said at the beginning we were looking for a
leadoff hitter, a cleanup hitter and bench help or try to strengthen
our pitching. The position-player deals just weren’t right for us. We
felt good having an arm like Broxton.”
Broxton, joined the club in Cincinnati on Wednesday, is 1-2 with a 2.27
ERA with 23 saves, 14 walks and 25 strikeouts in 35 games as the closer
for a Kansas City team that was in last place in the American League
Central. A big 28-year-old right-hander, he is making $4 million this
season and can be a free agent this winter.
“I’m going somewhere where I’m picking up 20, 25 games right now,”
Broxton said. “I enjoyed my time here and I appreciate everything
everybody did but this is part of baseball. So I’m going over there and
hopefully we can win a division.”
The move was surprising, since the Reds already possess strong bullpen
depth and their relief has been stellar this season. But some in the
organization felt there had been a drop-off in recent weeks, and the
club wanted to both position itself to be deep for an postseason push
and to have an experienced closer who could spell current closer
Aroldis Chapman.
Cincinnati’s bullpen entered the day leading the Majors with a 2.66 ERA
and 20 victories.
“I kind of saw it coming, but I didn’t see Cincinnati,” Broxton said.
“But they were real aggressive late -- that’s what Dayton [Moore,
Royals GM] said -- and I’m just going to go over there and hopefully I
can help them win a division.”
“He’s a guy that closed in L.A. and was a closer because [Joakim] Soria
got injured in Kansas City,” Reds manager Dusty Baker said of Broxton.
“Here’s a guy that can setup. On days Chapman goes two or three days in
a row, he can close. It gives us some more strength and a power arm in
the bullpen.
“We said in spring, you can never have enough pitching.”
The Reds’ bullpen will get even deeper sometime in August when Nick
Masset returns from the disabled list. Masset, currently on a rehab
assignment, hasn’t pitched in the big leagues all season because of a
shoulder injury
“Nick is still a couple of weeks away,” Jocketty said. “We wanted to do
what we could now to strengthen the pitching staff the best we can, and
this was the one move we felt helps the bullpen and hopefully carries
us strong into September.”
A member of the Dodgers from 2005-11, Broxton sports a 26-22 record
with a 3.11 ERA in 422 games with 107 saves in eight seasons. Sulbaran,
22, is 7-7 with a 4.04 ERA in 19 starts with Double-A Pensacola this
season, with 111 strikeouts in 104 2/3 innings. He entered the season
ranked as the Reds organization’s No. 5 prospect by MLB.com. Joseph,
24, is 8-3 with a 1.72 ERA in 44 games between Pensacola and Triple-A
Louisville this season. He was rated the No. 7 prospect in the
organization by MLB.com.
The Reds were linked mostly to leadoff hitters in speculation and
rumors throughout July. Cincinnati strongly pursued Twins center
fielder Denard Span through Monday but did not pull the trigger. They
were also believed to be interested in the Phillies’ Shane Victorino
and Juan Pierre. Span and Pierre stayed put while Victorino was traded
to the Dodgers.
“Very hard,” Jocketty classified his pursuit. “We worked very hard on a
couple of those guys. In the end, we felt those deals weren’t what we
were comfortable doing right now.”
Now that the non-waiver Trade Deadline has passed, deals involving
players on the 40-man roster cannot be made unless the players clear
waivers. A player must be offered to the other teams in reverse order
of the standings, and if he is claimed by one of the teams, he cannot
be traded. The club that placed the player on waivers can either
withdraw the request and keep the player, or let the player go to the
claiming team, which would then have the rights to the player.
The Reds entered Monday with a 14-3 record since the All-Star break and
61-41 overall, good for first place by three games over the Pirates in
the National League Central.
Several hitters -- namely Ryan Ludwick, Brandon Phillips and Drew
Stubbs -- have stepped up their production considerably. Much of the
success has also come since Joey Votto went down for left knee surgery
on July 17.
Read this and other articles at Major League Baseball
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