— Jack Magruder (@JackMagruder) July 31, 2012
#Dbacks source confirms Breslow to Boston. Angels also were looking at Breslow, need lefty.
Jack Magruder reports the above trade, which would perhaps tie in with Patrick Corbin being scratched from his Reno start, as reported earlier. Nick Piecoro adds that Arizona will be getting RHP Matt Albers and OF Scott Podsednik in exchange. If so, that would seem to open up a whole new can of worms, because Arizona really do not need to possess five outfielders: could another trade be in the works? Alternatively, John Gambadoro Tweets
Getting Podsednick does not mean Dbacks are trading an outfielder - Podsednick will go to AAA Reno.
— John Gambadoro (@Gambo620) July 31, 2012
But if that's the case, it's hard to see the point of this deal. We swapped a left-handed reliever for a right-handed reliever, and likely got the sticky end of the trade too. Breslow came to the Diamondbacks as part of the Trevor Cahill deal, and has been very effective, with a 2.70 ERA in 40 games and 43.1 innings of work, and holding hitters to a .673 OPS. He has also been good against both left- and right-handed hitters. Podsednik has only played 19 games for the Red Sox, but has hit .387 - however, he's a career 89 OPS. Albers is a bullpen arm who has a 2.29 ERA in 40 games, though with a mediocre 25:15 K:BB rate, so appears to have over-performed.