Too much is a good thing

Beware of a thing called excess.

The Red Sox thought they had it with Bronson Arroyo last spring so they took a chance, rolled the dice, and went after a slugger with upside in Wily Mo Peña. Arroyo had a very good year in Cincinnati, where he proved to be the most durable pitcher in the National League, and the Sox were scrambling for a starter because of injuries.

That's a lesson to any major league team: When you have it, keep it.

Here's seven of this year's excess candidates:

1. Carl Pavano, Yankees -- The St. Louis Cardinals know pitching. Dave Duncan has been able to turn Jeff Suppan into an NL Championship Series MVP, and Jeff Weaver became an integral part of a championship rotation after being acquired from the Angels in July. The Cardinals have been kicking the tires on Pavano.

Pavano has changed agents and apparently changed his attitude. For the first time in his career, he worked out like a fiend in Arizona, hoping to show he didn't just take the money ($39.5 million for four years) and run.

Yankees general manager Brian Cashman, who never tips his hand, has said he won't deal Pavano.

The Yankees' rotation is old. Between Mike Mussina, Randy Johnson, and Andy Pettitte, they have three guys who could break down. Chien-Ming Wang is their young ace. They will also add 28-year-old lefthander Kei Igawa, giving them six starters. And Humberto Sanchez, who was acquired in the Gary Sheffield deal, and Philip Hughes could be ready before midseason to earn spots in the rotation.

So, do the Yankees want to deal a guy who is obviously very talented -- an 18-game winner in 2004 with Florida -- and acting as if he's hungry to get back to that level?

2. Jon Lieber, Phillies -- With the acquisition of Freddy Garcia from the White Sox, the Phillies have six starters. Lieber appears the odd man out. Lieber, 36, is a guy you'd normally consider at the trading deadline, but last July he wasn't pitching well and teams, including the Red Sox, passed.

The Phillies have a rotation of Garcia, Jamie Moyer, Cole Hamels, Adam Eaton, and Brett Myers. Lieber is No. 6. He didn't have a good year last season (9-11, 4.93 ERA), but his last 10 starts were pretty good -- 5-2 with a 3.66 ERA, 39 strikeouts, and only four walks in 64 innings.

3. Jon Garland, White Sox -- About six hours after a Chicago official told me the White Sox were content to keep all of their pitching even if they had a little excess, they sent Garcia, a 17-game winner, to the Phillies for pitching prospects Gavin Floyd and Gio Gonzalez. And then they were about to send Garland to the Astros for center fielder Willy Taveras and pitchers Jason Hirsh and Taylor Buchholz.

The White Sox nixed the deal when they found out Buchholz had labrum surgery two years ago.

The White Sox' rotation will be made up of Mark Buehrle, Garland, Javier Vazquez, Jose Contreras, and Brandon McCarthy, with Floyd definitely competing with McCarthy. Gonzalez is a lefty with electric stuff, but without Garcia, a horse and a big-game pitcher, will the White Sox be scrambling in mid-July if Contreras breaks down and they have to plug in a kid?

4. Mike Maroth, Tigers -- Detroit spent most of last season without him, now Jim Leyland is going to plug him back into the rotation. But Leyland said he doesn't feel last year's No. 1 pick, lefty Andrew Miller, is that far away. The Tigers are pretty deep and don't need a lot, with the exception of a lefthanded bat and a lefty reliever.

For a while it was thought Maroth, a crafty lefty, might bring the Tigers something in return. But Leyland's pretty sure Maroth will stay put. Which appears to be a good decision.

5. Josh Beckett, Red Sox -- The Sox have a rotation of Curt Schilling, Beckett, Jonathan Papelbon, Daisuke Matsuzaka, and Tim Wakefield. Jon Lester is waiting in the wings. Well-respected Foxsports.com baseball writer Ken Rosenthal recently wrote the Red Sox were asked about Beckett's availability and they didn't indicate he was untouchable. Trading Beckett would be a shocking development.

With all of his adjustment problems to the American League, he did win 16 games. The Sox are trying to get him less stubborn about his pitch selection and maintain his competitiveness.

6. Sean Marshall, Cubs -- The Cubs have a rotation of Carlos Zambrano, Rich Hill, Ted Lilly, Jason Marquis, and Mark Prior. Marshall, Wade Miller, Carlos Marmol, Angel Guzman, and recently acquired swingman Neal Cotts will be vying for spots. Kerry Wood will work out of the bullpen as a potential co-closer with Ryan Dempster.

In need of a center fielder, the Cubs might attempt to package Marshall, the 6-foot-7-inch lefthander, or Marmol, for an outfielder. This gets tricky for GM Jim Hendry because the jury is still out on whether Prior returns healthy.

7. Rodrigo Lopez, Baltimore -- The Orioles are loaded with starters with Erik Bedard, Kris Benson, Jaret Wright, Daniel Cabrera, Adam Loewen, Lopez, and young Hayden Penn competing for spots. Lopez, 31, had a horrible year (9-18, 5.90 ERA) but he could always bounce back as he's had an up-and-down career (60-61).

There's even talk that the recently acquired Wright could be flipped somewhere, though the Yankees are paying $4 million of the $7 million contract, and he is reuniting with Leo Mazzone, his former Braves pitching coach.

The Orioles, who need a bopper (and have been interested in Richie Sexson), are in a tough spot because no matter what they try to do in trading a pitcher, they have the massive task of overtaking Boston, New York, and Toronto.

Latest word on interpreter

It probably wasn't fair to stick Tak Sato out there Thursday at Daisuke Matsuzaka's press conference as his interpreter, but he's the guy Matsuzaka felt most comfortable with.

Sato will readily acknowledge he's not a great interpreter and he's vowed never to do it again, but he's the reason Matsuzaka became a Scott Boras client.

Boras hired Sato away from Coordinated Sports Management Group a couple of years ago. His assignment from Boras was to get Matsuzaka. Boras has such a large workforce that he often assigns one employee to work with one player. Because Sato went to every Matsuzaka game and was always around the Seibu Lions, he was able to strike up a friendship with Matsuzaka and his family.

When the time came for Matsuzaka to be posted, Sato had long ago earned Matsuzaka's trust and was easily able to persuade Matsuzaka to join the Boras Corp.

The translation was so bad Thursday, that at one point I felt like asking Matsuzaka if he could translate what Sato was saying.

Here's an example:

Q: "What do you think of all these journalists being here that are specifically going to cover you? For the last month, there has been a lot of media and a lot of talk. What do you think about it?"

A: The translation of Dice-K's remarks: "I feel very long, even the US negotiation style -- but I think make it as way as possible in the meantime."

Huh?

Japanese reporters were laughing out loud at times over Matsuzaka's remarks. He must have been very funny and engaging, but we never heard the proper English translation. It was obvious Matsuzaka was very comfortable with Sato at his side, which is ultimately why the Red Sox consented to use him. Suffice to say, the Red Sox will have a different interpreter for Matsuzaka in the future.

It’s about time we put Johnny on the spot

We caught up with Johnny Damon at his Orlando, Fla., home. A few questions:

Q: Johnny, given what the Red Sox and Yankees have done for moves so far, what do you think?

JD: "I think it's always Red Sox and Yankees. Both teams are doing a lot. We got Andy Pettitte, who won rings here and really knows what pitching in New York is all about. So that's going to help us a lot. We've got a really good pitching rotation, the best closer in the game, and a great lineup. We lost Sheff [Gary Sheffield], but we have enough hitting in our lineup that for me it was worth improving our team down the road with young pitching to do that. Brian [Cashman] is always thinking of ways to improve us and after what happened last year -- bowing out of the playoffs that quickly -- we all know that's unacceptable. We all have to be better, and I have to be better. I think the Red Sox had great pitching before [Daisuke] Matsuzaka, so with him they're going to be even stronger."

Q: The Red Sox gave J.D. Drew a five-year, $70 million deal. They wouldn't go over $40 million for four years with you. Any hard feelings over that?

JD: "No. From last year to this year, I think we've all seen how the market has spiked. The Yankees stepped up and gave me the contract I got and the Red Sox wouldn't go there. But I know they've always wanted J.D. I know we tried to get him a couple of years ago when I was in Boston and he wound up going to LA. For my situation, I've really moved on from all that. I'm a Yankee and happy to be a Yankee."

Q: What do you know about J.D.?

JD: " I don't know J.D. that well. I will tell you what other players tell me about him. When he hits a baseball it makes a different sound than the rest of us. He hits the baseball very hard. He's a good player. They're not going to regret that move."

Q: Your buddy Kevin Millar re-signed with Baltimore. Surprised?

JD: "I tried to get him here. We needed a righthanded-hitting first baseman and I thought Millar would be perfect, but I lost that argument. I thought he'd be great in our clubhouse. Kevin's happy in Baltimore and he had an opportunity to keep playing, so he needed to take that. It's a good fit for him."

Apropos of nothing: 1. Don't know the extent of restrictions with major league baseball and advertising with casinos. But how long before Dice-K and either Foxwoods or Mohegan Sun hook up? 2. Here's my trade for a closer for the Red Sox: Wily Mo Peña, Manny Delcarmen, and Edgar Martinez for Chad Cordero. True, I'm overpaying. But I have to. 3. I like David Newhan as an extra outfielder for the Sox. 4. Barry Bonds comes to Boston June 15-17 with the Giants. I'm sure he'll get a warm reception. 5. I still don't know why Jerry Trupiano was let go.

Pirates general manager Dave Littlefield continues to field offers for lefty closer Mike Gonzalez and righty setup man Solomon Torres, but as he said last week, "I really like our bullpen. I've had a few conversations with teams, but right now I'm not inclined to do anything to disrupt our bullpen." The Sox would certainly like to get Gonzalez, whom they gave up along with Freddy Sanchez for Jeff Suppan, Brandon Lyon, and Anastacio Martinez in July 2003. Littlefield is looking for either a lefthanded-hitting first baseman or right fielder. The Pirates don't appear to have a need for Coco Crisp, and Littlefield has expressed interest in signing free agent Trot Nixon.

The Marlins need someone to replace Joe Borowski (who signed with Cleveland) as a closer, so they're eyeing the Giants' Armando Benitez. Big risk. In the last two injury-riddled seasons (he's had two hamstrings reattached and has had bad knees), Benitez has blown 12 of 36 save opportunities. Supposedly he's healthy again, and now the question is could he ever be the guy who saved 47 of 51 with a 1.29 ERA in Florida in 2004? He's still 34 years old (we think) and the two-time All-Star and author of 280 career saves can still pitch when healthy. Oh yeah, he earns $7.6 million in 2007.

Mark Mulder is projected to make 20-25 starts when he's finally ready to pitch after shoulder surgery. The Rangers, Cardinals, Indians, Giants, and Padres are very interested. Agent Gregg Clifton said he was awaiting formal offers from Texas and Cleveland this weekend. Mulder spent four hours with the Rangers last week, being wined and dined by owner Tom Hicks, who realizes he has to get pitching to survive. Just recently, the Cardinals have made overtures about wanting to bring Mulder back.

Former Red Sox righthander Tomo Ohka has seven teams interested, according to his agent, Jim Masteralexis, who has a lot of experience with the assimilation of a Japanese pitcher to America. "In Japan, the players want to play for the best team and where the passion is at its height," Masteralexis said. "That's why Tomo loved Boston so much. I think the Red Sox were very smart in taking care of the living issues with [Daisuke] Matsuzaka. I think those are the biggest issues, because he'll feel the most comfortable when he's on the pitching mound. The toughest things will be getting used to a new diet, how he can communicate with his friends and family, and creating a comfortable environment to live in."

Are the Red Sox still interested in Roger Clemens? "You should ask them," said Clemens's agent, Randy Hendricks. "We haven't talked in a long time." The Red Sox know if they don't pounce, the Yankees will -- especially with old buddy Andy Pettitte back in New York. "Rocket would be a nice acquisition for us, someone we could plug in around June or July when we could really use him," said Yankees center fielder Johnny Damon. The Sox' payroll seems to be ready to burst, but how can you not pursue Clemens?

Nick Cafardo's e-mail address is cafardo@globe.com; material from personal interviews, wire services, other beat writers, and league and team sources was used in this report.