The Boston Red Sox traded All-Star outfielder Yoenis Cespedes to the Detroit Tigers for Rick Porcello on Thursday night in the hope of improving their rotation for the 2015 MLB season.

Cespedes, who was traded along with reliever Alex Wilson and Gabe Speier, was acquired by the Red Sox in a trade with the Oakland Athletics before last season's trade deadline in the deal that sent longtime Red Sox pitcher Jon Lester to Oakland.

In 51 games with the Red Sox last season, Cespedes batted .269 with five homeruns and 33 RBIs. Red Sox general manager Ben Cherington said that they were determined to keep the 29-year-old, but he said that the deal to acquire Porcello "made sense" for the team.

"There were plenty of scenarios where we were keeping him. We were not looking to trade Yoenis Cespedes," Cherington said via Boston Globe. "But as we got into the offseason and looked at what the alternatives were and the need to build the rotation and the depth we have in the outfield, it just felt like it made sense."

The Red Sox made a strong push to re-acquire Lester over the past several weeks, but their former starting pitcher opted to go into a different direction as the 29-year-old signed a six-year, $155 million deal with the Chicago Cubs.

Cherington is confident that Porcello, who went 15-13 with a 3.43 ERA and 129 strikeouts in 32 games with the Tigers last season, will be a big boost to their rotation.

"Starting with what he has been the last couple of years, we feel he's been one of the better starting pitchers in baseball," Cherington said of Porcello via ESPN. "He's been on a staff with a lot of big-name pitchers, really good pitchers, and sort of gets buried in Detroit because they had such a good rotation."

Aside from Porcello, the Red Sox also acquired starting pitcher Wade Miley in a deal with the Arizona Diamondbacks for pitchers Rubby De La Rosa and Allen Webster, while also signing free-agent Justin Masterson to a one-year, $9.5 million deal to bolster their rotation for next season.

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