Ramirez joins Boston in trade for Crisp

BOSTON (Reuters) - The Boston Red Sox bolstered their bullpen Wednesday by acquiring reliever Ramon Ramirez from the Kansas City Royals in exchange for center fielder Coco Crisp.

Right-hander Ramirez, 27, is a power pitcher who went 3-2 with one save and a 2.64 ERA in 71 games for the Royals last season.

The Dominican Republic native limited right-handed opponents to a .153 batting average, the lowest in the American League.

"In Ramirez, we believe we've acquired a young, controllable reliever who can really help our bullpen," Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein told the team's website (boston.redsox.mlb.com).

"He has a plus fastball, 92-95 mph, and an outstanding power changeup...And (he has) a pretty good slider to go with it.

"He's very quietly had a tremendous amount of success in the major leagues over the last two-and-a-half seasons...we were looking for an upgrade in depth to add to our bullpen."

Epstein paid tribute to 29-year-old Crisp, a speedy defender and switch-hitter who batted .283 with seven homers and 41 RBIs for the Red Sox in 2008.

"Coco is a good player," Epstein said. "We want to take a second to just thank him for his efforts while he was with the Red Sox for three seasons.

"He played through injuries while he was with us, he played hard. He was a big part in us winning a world championship. His efforts here were certainly appreciated. He did it with a lot of class along the way."

Crisp, who stole 20 or more bases in each of his three seasons with Boston, ended his 2008 campaign on a high by hitting .375 in September.

(Writing by Mark Lamport-Stokes in Los Angeles; Editing by Alan Baldwin)