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Projo SoxTalk with McAdam: Evaluating the Gagne trade; more deals ahead? »

Baseball Today: Wednesday, August 1

Journal photo / Mary Murphy

FIRST, THE GOOD NEWS: The Red Sox pulled off the coup of the day yesterday, grabbing Eric Gagne (projo) from the Rangers for Kason Gabbard, a starter who was probably about to lose his spot in the rotation anyway; David Murphy, an outfielder who had fallen far down on the list of Boston prospects; and Engel Beltre, a player just starting out in the minors. What it did cost the Red Sox was money: about $4.75 million for two months of Gagne. Although Gagne could certainly close games when needed, the terms of his agreement with Boston make it clear that he is here as a setup man. Closer Jonathan Papelbon says he is glad to have him (Boston Globe). David Ortiz is excited about Gagne, too (projo); and he's also happy that the Celtics landed Kevin Garnett (Boston Herald).

STILL MORE GOOD NEWS: The Red Sox will also be reacquiring the services of Curt Schilling, and the big right-hander appears to be at the top of his game (projo). Schilling gave up just four hits in seven innings against the Columbus Clippers last night, throwing three strikes for every one ball. All told, Schilling threw 16 scoreless innings in his three Triple-A rehab starts. As of this posting, Schilling still has not weighed in on his Columbus outing on 38 Pitches. But here's what Donn Walden quoted Schilling as saying in this morning's projo, when asked about the big turnout of Red Sox fans in Ohio: "This is Red Sox Nation. That's no surprise. They are almost like ants. You always feel like you are at home." Ants. Touching.

NOW, THE BAD NEWS: Despite an outburst of power by David Ortiz (projo), who pulled two home runs, the Red Sox fizzled against Baltimore last night. The Orioles' dynamite starter, Erik Bedard, gave the Sox some openings with his wildness, but aside from Ortiz, the team could not get the big hit. The culprits were Wily Mo Pena, who couldn't put the ball in play with the bases loaded and one out, and Julio Lugo, who struck out looking (on a pitch that may have been a little low) to end the fourth inning and basically decide the game.

LOOKING FOR A NIGHT OUT? Clay Buchholz will be on the mound tonight when the PawSox return to McCoy Stadium to face the Buffalo Bisons.

DECISIVE DEAL? Joel Sherman in The New York Post says the Gagne trade means the Red Sox have made it lights-out in the A.L. East, particularly since the Yankees failed to improve their 'pen yesterday and, in fact, weakened it by dealing Scott Proctor. George Steinbrenner's son, Hal, gave GM Brian Cashman a public show of support yesterday (N.Y. Post).

BOMBERS UNLOAD: The Yanks battered White Sox pitching for eight home runs last night, but Alex Rodriguez was not one of the guys to hit one out. New York's 16-3 rout left the Yanks seven games behind the Red Sox; perhaps more importantly, they are just three behind Cleveland for the Wild Card. The Indians wasted another strong outing by Fausto Carmona, losing to the Texas Rangers (projo stats). Acting closer of the night C.J. Wilson pitched 1 and two-thirds perfect innings for the save.

A-ROD CRITICISM: Kind of incredibly, Filip Bondy writes in the Daily News that A-Rod's failure to homer last night shows the same old inability to come through with the pressure on. Of course, if he did hit a home run, people would probably criticize him for only hitting them in blowout situations. You can't escape this, though: A-Rod is 0 for 17 since hitting number 499 in Kansas City.

NOT A HAPPY GUY: Kyle Farnsworth is staying (N.Y. Post), something the Bronx fans aren't happy about. He was booed by the crowd at The Stadium last night when he entered the game with his team ahead, 14-3. Approached by a Post reporter before the game, and after it had become apparent that the Yanks had failed in their attempt to trade him, the hard-throwing and volatile reliever said, "Don't even come over here."

THRILLED EITHER WAY: Unlike Farnsworth, Proctor chose the high road yesterday, after he was traded by the Yankees to the Dodgers. Proctor said he loved pitching in New York (N.Y. Daily News) but was looking forward to participating in an N.L. pennant race.

YOUNGSTER RETURNS: Phil Hughes will return to the mound at Yankee Stadium on Saturday (N.Y. Daily News), when he gets the start against Kansas City.

ANOTHER SATURDAY STARTER: The Cardinals have pencilled in Joel Pineiro as their starter Saturday (St. Louis Post-Dispatch), when they face the Washington Nationals.

LET ME STAY: Now that it's clear he won't be traded, Jermaine Dye would like to work out a deal to stay with the White Sox (Chicago Sun-Times). The sticking point appears to be the number of years involved in a new contract.

HAPPY DAYS: As you would expect, the folks in the Atlanta Braves clubhouse were fired up (Atlanta Journal-Constitution) about getting Mark Teixeira and Octavio Dotel to aid in their pursuit of the Mets.

WHY WOULD THEY DO THAT? In a deal you may have missed, the non-contending Pirates yesterday got pitcher Matt Morris from the Giants, thus adding the highest-paid player in Pittsburgh franchise history (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette). The Pirates are apparently still working on a potential waiver deal that would send shortstop Jack Wilson to Detroit.

OR THAT? A pending assault charge involving his wife did not stop the Phillies from trading for relief pitcher Julio Mateo. The Phillies, who, don't forget, also employ Brett Myers as their closer, are sending Mateo for now to Double-A Reading instead of Triple-A Ottawa, because Mateo is not able to enter Canada on account of his legal troubles. Mateo (formerly with Seattle) is accused of punching, biting and choking his wife in a New York hotel, but he has insisted he is innocent.

SANTANA'S DISMAYED: Johan Santana, who is signed through 2008, was not amused by the Twins trade of Luis Castillo. Here's what he said: "Why waste time when you're talking about something that's always going to be like that? It's never going to be beyond this point. It doesn't make any sense for me to be here, you know?" (Minneapolis Star-Tribune)

BECK'S WIFE SPEAKS: The police in Arizona found large quantities of cocaine at the home of Rod Beck, the former Red Sox reliever found dead in June. And Beck's wife, Stacey, says she knows it is drugs that killed him: "Rodney had a disease of addiction, which is a brain disease, and it stole him away from the people he had," she told the Arizona Republic. Stacey Beck, who had filed for divorce but remained close to the former pitcher, also talks in the article about the charity work he did for AIDS-related causes, something he was motivated to do after seeing a film about child AIDS victim Ryan White.

Posted by Mike McDermott  at 8:01 AM to Projo Sox Crawl | Permalink