Red Sox acquire Joel Hanrahan from Pirates

The Red Sox have acquired closer Joel Hanrahan and infielder Brock Holt from the Pirates, Jim Bowden of ESPN.com and XM Radio reports (Gordon Edes of ESPNBoston.com had it first). The Pirates will receive slugger Jerry Sands, right-hander Stolmy Pimentel, infielder Ivan De Jesus Jr. and Mark Melancon .

It is not clear where Hanrahan would fit into the Red Sox bullpen with Andrew Bailey listed as the closer.

The two-time All Star has totaled 76 saves in the last two seasons for the Pirates. This is an accomplishment as the Pirates had only 151 wins in the past two seasons.

The Dodgers and Red Sox are the two teams that had been mentioned as having the most interest in Hanrahan. Though both teams and others showed varying levels of concern over Hanrahan’s walk rate which has gone from 2.1 BB/9 last season to 5.4 BB/9 this season. With that increase, his ERA also jumped from 1.83 to 2.72.

Hanrahan is entering his last season of arbitration before he hits free agency and will probably earn around $7mm.

Image taken by Keith Allison and used under the Creative Common License Agreement.