Red Sox acquire Graham Godfrey from Oakland to complete Rosario deal

The Red Sox have announced the acquisition of right-handed pitcher Graham Godfrey from the Oakland Athletics. This completes last month's deal that sent pitcher Sandy Rosario to Oakland. 

Godfrey, 28, has appeared in ten games, making eight starts, over the last two seasons with Oakland, going 1-6 with a 5.09 ERA in 46 innings pitched. Coming off of a strong 2011 in which he went 14-3 with a 2.92 ERA at Triple A Sacramento, he made the Oakland rotation out of 2012 spring training. Godfrey had his best start of the year in his first one, allowing two runs on six hits in 6 innings against Kansas City, taking the tough 3-0 loss. He failed to get into the sixth in any of his other outings, and was optioned to Triple-A Sacramento in late May. 

Back in Sacramento, Godfrey excelled, posting a 9-2 record and 3.29 ERA in the hitter-friendly environs of the Pacific Coast League. He also walked only 26 batters in 104 innings, earning recognition for having the best control in the league in the annual Baseball America Best Tools survey (link is subscriber only). Despite the strong year at Triple-A, Godfrey was designated for assignment on August 22 to make room on the 40-man roster for Brett Anderson. After clearing waivers, he was outrighted to Sacramento.

Godfrey was originally drafted in the 34th round of the 2006 draft by the Toronto Blue Jays out of the College of Charleston. He was dealt to Oakland as part of the deal 2007 exchange that sent future Red Sox shortstop and 2012 NLCS MVP Marco Scutaro to Toronto.

The scouting report on Godfrey indicates that he possesses the standard four pitch repertoire, and that his fastball touches 91, sitting in the 88-89 range. Because he was Rule 5 eligible, the Red Sox and Athletics were likely waiting until after the draft to announce the completion of the deal. Godfrey has one option remaining.

Photo credit: Graham Godfrey from milb.com

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