Cedar Rapids native Sweeney dealt to the Red Sox

CEDAR RAPIDS -- His cell phone was blowing up, as you'd expect.

"I've been on it non-stop for the last hour and a half," Ryan Sweeney said early Wednesday night. "My agent, Oakland, the Red Sox, media, friends, family ... I've had a ton of text messages. Finally my wife just told me 'Hang up. Dinner's ready.'"

The Cedar Rapids Xavier graduate was part of a big five-player baseball trade announced Wednesday afternoon that sent he and closer Andrew Bailey from the west coast to the east coast. The Athletics acquired promising young outfielder Josh Reddick and two minor-leaguers.

It's the second time in his career that Sweeney, 26, has been traded. He was dealt in January 2008 from the Chicago White Sox (who originally drafted him in the second round of the 2003 amateur draft) to Oakland.

"This probably won't be the last time I'm traded," he said with a laugh.

At least he's got a good attitude about it, as he should considering the Red Sox give him a legitimate chance at winning a World Series ring. And he would seem to have a legitimate chance at playing time, too.

Boston's right-field situation is unsettled, with Red Sox General Manager Ben Cherington telling reporters in a conference call Wednesday night that Sweeney will play "a big part" with the team.

"Hopefully I'll be their starting right fielder," Sweeney said. "I know they've got (Carl) Crawford in left and Jacoby Ellsbury in center. They told me they've liked me for the last couple of years. They think my swing is perfect for the Green Monster."

Sweeney has never developed the power it was anticipated he would, and is more of a line-drive, all-fields hitter. He also is known for outstanding defense, with Bailey telling the Boston Herald he is "one of the best defensive outfielders in all of baseball."

Sweeney is a career .283 hitters in 472 big league games, with 14 home runs and 169 RBIs. He is in the second year of salary arbitration eligibility, likely one of the reasons Oakland traded him.

"I kind of went through this in Chicago when they traded me," Sweeney said. "But this is a whole different deal ... I'm excited, excited to play in Fenway Park front of a sellout crowd every night."