The Boston Red Sox officially announced their acquisition of
Joel Hanrahan yesterday and named the veteran as their closer entering the 2013
season. Boston acquired Andrew Bailey last offseason, a player they expected to
be their closer of the future. It’s now unclear what the future holds for
Bailey, who will enter spring as the Red Sox setup man to Hanrahan, reports Jon
Heyman of CBS Sports.
#redsox wise to remake pen. andrew bailey, i think, will make a fine set-up man. plan to have hanrahan close makes sense
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeymanCBS) December 26, 2012
While the Red Sox didn’t enter the offseason with their
sights set on adding a closer, manager John Farrell told Peter Abraham of the
Boston Globe that Hanrahan makes them a better team. While this might be the
case, it changes things for Bailey.
The Red Sox acquired Bailey last December from the Oakland
Athletics along with Ryan Sweeney in exchange for Josh Reddick, Miles Head and Raul
Alcantara. While he posted an ERA and WHIP of 2.07 and 0.954 over three seasons
with the A’s, Bailey allowed 12 runs over 19 appearances over 15 1/3 innings in
2012. The right-hander missed most of the season due to injury.
Follow @mlbinjurynews
