Red Sox Acquire Burke Badenhop

The Brewers have traded right-handed reliever Burke Badenhop to the Red Sox in exchange for left-handed pitcher Luis Ortega, according to a press release from Milwaukee.

Badenhop, 30, posted a 3.47 ERA with 6.1 K/9 and 1.7 BB/9 in 63 relief appearances during his only season with the Brewers.  The reliever was acquired from the Rays in December 2012 in exchange for shortstop Raul Mondesi Jr.  Badenhop, who pitched to a 3.03 ERA with 6.1 K/9 and 1.7 BB/9 in 62 1/3 innings for the Rays in 2012, is eligible for arbitration and projected to earn $2.1MM by our own Matt Swartz.  The veteran is eligible to hit the open market after this season.

Ortega, 20, was signed by the Red Sox as an international free agent on July 2, 2011. He did not appear on the team's Top 30 prospects heading into the season (per Baseball America), nor did he make MLB.com's Top 20 Red Sox prospects list following the season. However, Ortega turned in a solid year in the Gulf Coast League, pitching to a 2.45 ERA with 6.4 K/9 and 3.7 BB/9 in 36 innings of work. Since being signed, he owns a 2.25 ERA with 55 strikeouts and 31 walks in 96 innings between the GCL and the Dominican Summer League.

Steve Adams contributed to this post.