Colorado Rockies reportedly trade Jonathan Herrera to Red Sox for Franklin Morales

It had already been a busy day for the Colorado Rockies, who already acquired the services of outfielder Drew Stubbs, but the team wasn’t done making moves.

Ian Browne and Thomas Harding of MLB.com (for the Boston Red Sox and Colorado Rockies, respectively) collective report that the Rockies and Sox have hooked up on a trade that would swap pitcher Franklin Morales to Colorado in exchange for infielder Jonathan Herrera.

On the Boston side, the defending World Series champions acquire a back-up infielder in Herrera who can presumably give them flexibility. The 29-year-old has defended multiple positions in his MLB career and profiles as above-average defensively at all of them, with a reasonable enough bat to stay in the Majors. For his career, Herrera has a .265/.325/.332 line with 8 home runs in over 1,100 plate appearances, and while that is virtually no power, Boston isn’t in desperate need of “pop” from that spot.

Colorado receives Morales, who actually came up with the Rockies and pitched there until 2010, and he will give them yet another arm. The 27-year-old lefty has made 25 starts in his big league career, but at the moment, he is considered (by most) to be a bullpen addition for Colorado, and he’ll pair up with the newly-acquired Boone Logan and incumbent closer Rex Brothers to sure up the left-handed side of their ‘pen. His biggest challenge will be keeping the ball in the ballpark, but as a situational option, he could be above-average.

This is one of those non-“sexy” deals that teams need in the off-season, but it seems to fill a need area for both teams.