Red Sox Trade Manny Delcarmen for 21-Year-Old Pitcher Chris Balcom-Miller

It's not a blockbuster move intended to save the season, but the Red Sox made a move on Tuesday afternoon, trading Manny Delcarmen to the Colorado Rockies.

In exchange, the Red Sox receive 21-year-old righty Chris Balcom-Miller. The Red Sox also sent cash to the Rockies in the deal.

Delcarmen, 28, has appeared in 289 games for the Red Sox since 2005. A native of Boston, he was drafted in the second round of the 2000 draft. Used mainly as a middle reliever or setup man, he has just 17 decisions in his career, going 11-6 with a 3.89 ERA and 1.361 WHIP. He has 57 holds and 13 blown saves.

Balcom-Miller spent this season with the Single-A Asheville Tourists, where he went 6-7 with a 3.31 ERA, 117 strikeouts and just 19 walks in 108 2/3 innings. He was the 2009 Pitcher of the Year in the Pioneer League, when he went 4-0 with a 1.58 ERA in rookie ball for the Casper Ghosts. He was a sixth-round pick by the Rockies in 2009.

Tuesday is the final day that waiver trades can be completed, and with
the deal, the Red Sox' 40-man roster is now at 38.

The Rockies, currently seven games out of first place in the NL West, are still alive in the wild-card race at three-and-a-half games out. They also signed 32-year-old reliever Luis Ayala last week to a minor league contract.

This season, Delcarmen has matched his career high in losses (2) and currently has a career high in ERA (4.70). He showed tremendous promise in the early stages of his career, with a mid-90s fastball and a plus curveball. In the 2007 and '08 seasons, he posted a 2.81 ERA and 1.082 WHIP in 118 1/3 innings, while striking out 113 batters and walking 45. In the past two seasons, however, his ERA has ballooned to 4.60 in 103 2/2 innings, with his WHIP increasing to 1.534. He struck out 76 batters while walking 62 in that time span.