First things first, we have a handful of the Sox Addict Ts left. If you want one, click here. And thanks to all who’ve helped support Denton’s Vietnamese hooker habit by purchasing one.
Secondly, with the trading deadline approaching, we can expect a non-stop barrage of speculations and postulations. The Globe recently offered a list of players the Sox could be interested in, including such usual suspects as Teixeria, Oswalt, Willis, Griffey, Lidge and Garfunkle (who let’s face it, we never should have traded away for Paul Simon in the first place). Today’s ProJo gets in on the act, throwing out names like Houston pitchers Chad Qualls and Rhode Island’s own Dan Wheeler.
In the wake of a pasting at the hands of the Royals, the Sox’ biggest need seems to be a bat, someone who can provide some spark in that line-up and possibly kick-start the big guns into assuming their 2006 form. Myself, I’d love to see Teixeria, but such a move requires Mike Lowell leaving town, something that just isn’t happening. The ProJo article offers another intriguing possibility: Jermaine Dye.
Dye, who was an MVP candidate just last season, has had a miserable season (.228-15-44) in the final year of a multiyear deal with the White Sox. Chicago has given little indication that it intends to meet his asking price on a contract extension and would move him.
Dye and the Red Sox might be the perfect fit: Dye could reestablish his value with a contender and the Sox gain a veteran presence with power while getting compensation draft picks when he signs elsewhere this winter.
Some bench depth wouldn’t hurt, either, as a little piece of me dies whenever we’re down by a run in the late innings and looking to Eric Hinske or Wily Mo to pull a Superman.
The weirdest rumor is the one that has the Sox trying to re-acquire El Bencho himself. The ProJo piece mentions it, but the Baltimore Sun tells us Millar wants to stick around.
And though the veteran has drawn some trade interest and likely will continue to before the July 31 deadline, Millar wants to stay right where he is.
“If you would have asked me that three, four weeks ago, I would have said, ‘Bro, help me out.’ But now I can’t say that,” he said. “I want to be a part of the Orioles, and that includes next year. That’s the truth. I love the nucleus of guys. I love the young pitching we have here. It’s almost like a revived, new scene here with [interim manager] Dave Trembley.”
Of course, the best pick-up of all could be a healthy Curt Schilling, something the Schill himself suggested to the Globe:
“My goal is to come back and have an impact and literally be a kind of trading-deadline pickup and be effective and win a lot of games between now and the end of the World Series.”
Just another reason I love the man silly. Silly!
Oh, and wondering how to fill up that hour at lunchtime? Here’s something: Tickets for this summer’s Hot Stove Cool Music concert on August 24 at Fenway Park, which will feature The Gammons, Buffalo Tom, Kay Hanley, John Legend and others, go on sale today at noon at redsox.com. No word on whether Curt Schilling will join Gammons onstage for a blistering version of the Stones’ “Mixed Emotions.” But I’m still praying for it.
