Epstein said this trade was very different from the one he made in 2006 when he shipped David Wells to San Diego on Aug. 31 for a player to be named later (George Kottaras) because he felt the Sox were hopelessly out of it.
So what does it mean? Does Theo think the Sox are a little bit pregnant? A little bit drunk? A little bit out of it? Is the fat lady just humming, and not singing with her usual gusto?
“That’s a tough question,’’ Epstein said before the game. “It’s kind of like what the Supreme Court said about pornography: ‘You’ll know it when you see it.’ Right now, we’re not eliminated. We’re trying to get really hot.’’
Don’t know about pornography, but what we’re seeing now is downright ugly.
The Sox clubhouse was not a warm and fuzzy place last night. Josh Beckett pitched well (7 innings, 2 earned runs) but had nothing to say, escaping before the media were let in. Marco Scutaro acknowledged that he made a huge error with a bad throw in the third inning but said no more.
Epstein hasn’t been able to do anything to help this team. He said yesterday that a couple of things were really close but fell apart because of circumstances beyond his control. Don’t know what those were exactly, but one major league source said the Sox were close to a deal for Toronto first baseman Lyle Overbay, who has missed the last four games with post-concussion symptoms after a collision with Brian Tallet last Friday.
They have needed an experienced first baseman to take over for Kevin Youkilis and haven’t been able to make it happen. They also claimed Angels catcher Mike Napoli on waivers but couldn’t get a deal done.
There are signs that the Sox are pointing to the future, such as trading Delcarmen and Ramon Ramirez, and that, according to major league sources, they have at least talked to Victor Martinez about a two-year offer.
