The Santana deal is still up in the air, but the Sox have traded for relief pitcher David Aardsma to strengthen their bullpen. Boston dealt Willy Mota and Miguel Socolovich to the White Sox for the 26-year old fireballer. Aardsma reportedly throws a 97 MPH fastball and had more strikeouts than innings pitched in limited Major League action last season.
From a 2004 story on MLB.com:
The first game, the first outing, I’m nervous as heck. But once I got out on the field — a whole lot of it had to do with me having to carry that pink backpack [the reliever with the least service time is responsible for a “My Little Pony” backpack that contains snacks and supplies for the bullpen] — I was comfortable.
Apparently the Cubs liked the idea as it seems he’s rocking a Lightning McQueen backpack in the photo above. Oh, and you’ll see this a kazillion times so get used to it: his name appears first (even before Hank Aaron!) in the Baseball Encyclopedia.
