Little movement on trade market
MINNEAPOLIS -- With a 99 percent chance Nomar Garciaparra will remain with the Red Sox after tomorrow's 4 p.m. trading deadline, according to a team source, Derek Lowe appears to be the only front-line member of the club who could change addresses. And the Sox will move Lowe only if they receive a reasonable return, which may not be feasible since at least 17 teams consider themselves playoff contenders and have created what general manager Theo Epstein has described as "a seller's market."
If the Sox trade Lowe, they would need to land another starting pitcher of equal or greater value. They also are shopping for an outfielder to help fill in for Trot Nixon, who is sidelined indefinitely with a Grade 2 tear in his left quadriceps. While the Sox have long coveted Houston's Carlos Beltran, they have little chance of landing him and seem more inclined to shop for a lower-tier player who could complement Gabe Kapler.
Sox players have indicated they would welcome any move that improves their chances of ending the franchise's 86-year championship drought. But they also consider Kapler a competent and integral component of the club.
"Gabe is such an underrated hero on this team," Kevin Millar said. "He plays the game as hard as anyone I've ever been around. He's probably one of the greatest teammates you could have and he comes out here every day and works hard, whether he's in the lineup or not in the lineup. We need to get Trot healthy, but we're fortunate we have guys like Gabe Kapler to step up."
The more regularly Kapler has played, the better he has performed. He has hit .356 in his last 16 starts with three homers, 10 RBIs, and 13 runs. He has particularly thrived this season against lefthanded pitchers, batting .318 compared with .243 against righthanders, which could increase the likelihood the Sox look for a lefthanded-hitting outfielder to platoon with him. Kapler also has made progress in batting with runners in scoring position after a slow start, improving his average to .213 from .171 in early June.
It may be noteworthy that the Sox are 28-18 in games Kapler has started and 27-27 in the rest, though there are a number of factors involved. For one, he has started many games behind Curt Schilling and Pedro Martinez.
In any case, the Sox value Kapler so much that they fear losing him, if only for three games, to the suspension he received yesterday for his role in Saturday's brawl with the Yankees.
Pen pal sought
As a measure of how badly the Sox need a healthy Scott Williamson to return, their bullpen, which logged a 1.90 ERA in April, has seen the figure increase every month since and will enter the weekend series against the Twins with a 5.03 ERA in July. The pen's overall ERA has risen this month to 3.71 from 3.28, as Williamson's absence has placed a greater burden on his fellow setup men, Alan Embree and Mike Timlin. But Williamson's return most likely will be delayed after he struggled mightly last night in a rehab appearance for Triple A Pawtucket in Syracuse. Starting the eighth inning with a 9-1 lead, Williamson, who has missed 44 of the first 100 games with elbow woes, retired only one of the six batters, walking three, hitting one with a pitch, and surrendering a three-run double in a 9-4 victory . . . The Sox this weekend will try to win their first road series in eight tries since they took two of three from the Royals June 4-6. If it's any encouragement as Bronson Arroyo prepares for tonight's opener against Kyle Lohse, the Sox have fared better this season on Fridays than any other day of the week, going 12-4. Arroyo has shined on the road, posting the second-best ERA (2.83) in the league away from home . . . When Schilling fanned two Orioles in Wednesday's 4-1 loss in Baltimore, it marked only the second time in 94 starts since July 18, 2001, that he struck out fewer than three batters . . . The Sox are 47-1 when leading after seven innings.
