The Red Sox have struck a deal with the Twins to acquire left-handed reliever Fernando Abad in exchange for hard-throwing right-handed relief prospect Pat Light, the teams announced.
[Related: Updated Boston Red Sox Depth Chart]
Abad, 30, joined the Twins on a minor league deal this offseason and has performed quite well with Minnesota, pitching to a 2.65 ERA with 7.7 K/9, 3.7 BB/9 and a 45.2 percent ground-ball rate in 34 innings of work. He’s admitted to having been bothered by a minor back issue in early July/late June, but the medicals clearly checked out in this case. That’s perhaps not surprising, as Abad never landed on the disabled list and has been used frequently by the Twins as of late, suggesting that any such troubles are behind him.
Left-handers are batting a woeful .163/.192/.265 against Abad this season, so he’ll provide manager John Farrell with a legitimate weapon against lefty bats in late-game settings. And, while he’s been markedly worse against righties, Abad has held his own against opponents that hold the platoon advantage, limiting them to a .257/.360/.351 batting line. While the OBP is a concern there, he hasn’t allowed right-handed hitters to generate much power against him. Abad is earning $1.25MM this season and is under club control through the 2017 campaign via arbitration, so he represents more than just a rental pickup for president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski, who has now bolstered his roster with summer pickups of Aaron Hill, Drew Pomeranz, Brad Ziegler and Abad.
Light, 25, was the 37th overall pick in the 2012 draft and made his big league debut with Boston this season, tossing just 2 2/3 innings in a pair of relief appearances. Light was rocked for seven earned runs in that time but is a fairly well-regarded prospect within the Red Sox ranks, rating 10th on Baseball America’s midseason rankings and 14th on MLB.com’s same version of that list. Light’s fastball reaches triple digits on occasion and sits in the 94-98 mph range, per MLB.com’s report, and BA calls his fastball a “special” pitch. His control remains a work in progress, but MLB.com notes that the addition of an above-average splitter has helped his results take off in the minors. Light has a 2.32 ERA with 36 strikeouts in 31 innings at Triple-A this season but has also walked 17 hitters (one unintentional) in that time.
Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports first reported that the Red Sox were getting Abad. (Twitter link). Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported that the Twins were receiving Light in return (via Twitter).
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Now the deals are pouring in!!!!
gotta love the deadline!
As a Twins fan, I liked this kid a lot. Sad to see him go. This better be good though for us
Pat Light is a nice pick up. Lot’s of team control and should pan out to be a solid bullpen piece. Nice trade for both teams.
*Might pan out.
He’s got high leverage reliever stuff, but his command and control have been nothing short of abysmal. His AAA walk BB/9 is around 6 in a year’s worth of time.
If he can sort that out, he’s got nasty strikeout stuff, but that’s a huge hill to climb.
I disagree as agree, as a twins fan I hate this. It’s a very light return.
Agree.. Abad is proven .. Surprised there wasn’t another piece from Boston
Which do you think creates a louder whooshing sound, Pat Light’s 100mph fastball or that joke going right over jkim’s head?
Lol
Waiting on the Abad pitcher jokes to roll in….
Truthfully, I’d never even thought of that pun until reading your comment.
Me either. I am very disappointed in myself. That’s not quite as good as Grant Balfour, but close.
Yes, nothing will beat Balfour, except the congressman who was named “Dick Sweat.” No joke.
If we have enough bullpen arms, we won’t even need decent starters! The perfect plan.
Lol
Hopefully this means the end of Tommy Layne
One can only hope!
What have you got against Tommy Layne? In 2016 he is posting an 85 ERA- (ERA = 3.77), an 82 FIP- (FIP = 3.41). and pitches near-equivalently against LH and RH batters.
When you’re used as selectively as he is those numbers are deceiving. Last year righties hit him at a hall of fame clip.
Forgot we even had him tbh
Abad has much better stats vs lefties compared to Layne
Abad vs lefties this year: .163/.192/.265.
I am hearing a one for one Fernando Abad for Pat Light.
If that’s the package, it’s a nice little move for the sox to add some depth to their thin bullpen.
Yeah. I really like this deal. Abad is good against righties and dominant against .lefties. It gets Layne out of the bullpen which is addition by subtraction and gives the Sox another good late inning arm. Light has a live arm but I have a feeling he will always struggle with his command.
You’re correct. It’s Light.
Not Abad trade for the Red Sox
lol nick
The return for the Twins is Light though
Yes!
Twins receive trey ball or Bryce Brentz?
No, Pat Light
Just my guess before it came in
Red Sox got so so not so good
?
The lack of literacy in the comment section makes me LOL
not abad trade even though I think it was a little light
I like the trade, much better option than Layne, but my question isnt there a crunch now on the 25 man with kimbrel due back, who goes? Kelly back to AAA and someone DFA’d? Id hate to lose a bullpen arm, even Layne for nothing, or does this mean for sure Buch gets traded for a prospect?
Light was on the 40 man so that should help with the roster situation a little bit
I wish teams would stop acquiring relief pitchers. Every time they do it reminds me of how awful the Cubs’ trades were for Montgomery and Chapman and how huge of overpays they were.
“Vogelbach is basically Schwarber”
Yea… OK..
I don’t think this is that bad of deal for the Twins. Abad was good yes, but he was a minor league signee. Looks like we got a live arm with a lot of potential. With Abad, we only had one year of control left through arbitration. Its crazy to think that the Red Sox or anyone else would have given up much more for a situational lefty. Just my opinion, but I think this is could be a win-win for both clubs.
So who goes to make room? Kelly to AAA? Layne DFA when Kimbrel back, Buch traded?
This is a great move for the Redsox.
I’ve watched Pat Light pitch in Pawtucket for a while now. Seeing as I live 10 min from Mcoy stadium home of the Pawsox.
And what I can tell you that this is a great trade that benefits the Sox. P.Light has a great fastball. But his command is garbage. He remind me of Danial Bard. He had a great fastball. But no command what so ever. Struggled his whole carrer. P.Light has had more than enough time to fix his walk rate and hasn’t been able to.
So the Sox are big winners in this trade. Seeing as Light isn’t even in the majors.
THE GOOD, THE ABAD, THE UGLY
This is good. Abad is epic against leftys