Guess They're Not Trading For

This guy. There were rumors recently that the Yankees may become very interested in acquiring Rich Harden from Oakland once the trading deadline approaches. However, the extremely talented Harden has one major weakness: an inability to stay healthy due to a right shoulder which has become a ticking time bomb:

For the sixth time in less than four seasons Athletics starting pitcher Rich Harden has landed on the disabled list.

Oakland placed the hard-throwing right-hander on the 15-day DL retroactive to April 3 with a mild subscapularis strain in his right shoulder.

The subscapularis muscle is located underneath the shoulder blade and connects to the front of the upper arm. It works in conjunction with a group of muscles that are used to move the rotator cuff and when injured the subscapularis can cause pain while going through a typical throwing motion.

In his two outings thus far this season, Harden is 1-0 with a 0.82 ERA and 15 strikeouts.

In other injury news, Mike Lowell has been placed on the DL due to a sprained thumb. This is certainly nothing major for the Red Sox third baseman and I'm sure he did his best to convince Terry Francona of keeping him off the disabled list. Solid SS prospect [offensively more than defensively] Jed Lowrie has been called up in Lowell's place.

Rumor: Yankees Offered Lowell Four-Year Deal

A Boston tv station offered an unnamed source stating the Yankees and three other teams offered Mike Lowell a four-year deal. However, MLB Trade Rumors debunked the report as false after Atlanta, LAA and St. Louis all denied it as inaccurate.

If the Yankees offer is legit, it may have come before Alex Rodriguez was back in the fold. Whatever the case may be, at least it would drive up the price for the Boy Genius & his Boston Beaneaters.

From the seemingly irrelevant WHDH report:

Lowell has received contract offers from four separate MLB teams: the Braves, Angels, Cardinals, and Yankees.

Each offer is a 4-year contract, worth between $55-60 million.

The Yankees offer includes a request that Lowell play First Base, something the Gold-Glove-winning third baseman does not want to do.

The Red Sox have previously offered Lowell a 3-year contract worth $36 million.

Lowell is now waiting to see if the Red Sox will up their initial offer and try to keep him in Boston, in lieu of these newest offers from the four previously mentioned teams.

Hopefully a flirtation and nothing more took place between Lowell's agents and the Yankees. I'd rather have Eric 'Enigmatic' Duncan manning first than adding another overpaid, aging, and/or wildcard piece to an already log-jammed puzzle.

TOUCHDOWN !

Manny Ramirez likes to physically celebrate homeruns that move his team within four runs of an opponent who's on the verge of a 3-1 lead in a playoff series. He likes to celebrate them as if he just had a Joe Carter World Series walk-off moment.

Manny Ramirez likes to discuss the postseason brink by expressing an ALCS failure is not the end of the world. Not sure this is what Red Sox fans would like to hear on the eve of an elimination game.

Manny Ramirez is not the sharpest tool in the shed. The guy carried a Poland Spring bottle in his back pocket... while patrolling leftfield... while a game was going on. You just can't take him seriously.

As Bronx Banter expertly relayed, the guy is an idiot savant when it comes to hitting. His god-given ability is off the charts. He will go down in history as one of the greatest RBI men. One who can hit for a .325 average, crank 40 homers or take an outside pitch to the opposite field. There is absolutely no denying his greatness at the plate. But, one of his greatest strengths is his dubious mentality. As Banter notes, pitchers have problems getting into Manny's head because, "You can't outsmart a dumb guy."

Similarly, he's attained the mindset of an prepubescent boy. And with this immaturity, Ramirez expects certain privileges. Like immunity from criticism. For example, if your 11 year-old son, brother or nephew jumped up and down after slugging a walk-off whiffle ball homer, would you scold him? Of course not. The same applies for Manny. If your 10 year-old second cousin decided Pizza Hut was more important than little league, you'd have to acknowledge his disinterest.

Unfortunately, the rest of his teammates have never and never will enjoy his antics as much as Manny does. The frustration of Boston beat-reporters who've grown accustomed to Ramirez avoiding critical media attention has boiled over into the player-personnel department. Mike Lowell is one of them:

“I’ve got to ask him about the hands up (watching at the plate) in a 7-2 (game). I don’t really understand that one, but that’s him.”

Lowell will probably ask Manny about it because he doesn't want to take a two-out fastball to the earhole of his batting helmet tonight.

In the meantime, the Indians passive-aggressively delivered a below-the-belt shot of their own. Before tonight's game, God Bless America will be sung by country music singer Danielle Peck, who previously dated Josh Beckett. The Indians claim Peck's appearance is a coincidence. Right, just like having an expert entymologist inform Cleveland's coaching staff that the swarming midges which derailed Joba Chamberlain are attracted to bugspray... is coincidental.

From Tom Verducci's piece:

You've probably heard too much already about those infamous sacrifice flies of Cleveland, the mighty midges that, unlike almost all AL hitters, knocked Yankees phenom Joba Chamberlain off his game. But this is too good not to pass on: When the bugs started swarming Chamberlain, a local insect expert in Cleveland telephoned the Indians with an urgent message -- those bugs are called midges, and whatever you do, do NOT use insect repellent; midges are attracted to the stuff. The Yankees practically bathed in bug spray; the more Chamberlain put on, the more the bugs swarmed him. So there you go. The Yankees can spend $190 million on payroll and still leave a blatant weakness: no, not their middle relief -- their lack of an entymology expert.

Tough pill to swallow. Not to say that New York would have won the series had Chamberlain made it through the 8th inning unscathed, but it would have been dead even going back to the Bronx. Have to like their chances within that scenario, but Cleveland deserves much credit as they simply outplayed the Bombers when it counted.
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