The Cleveland Indians today announced the club has completed a trade with the Boston Red Sox, sending RHP Paul Byrd to Boston in exchange for a player to be named or cash.  The player to be named must be agreed upon on or before January 15, 2009. Byrd made 22 starts with the Indians this year going 7-10 with a 4.53 ERA (131.0IP, 146H, 70R/66ER, 24BB, 56K, 23HR).

According to SI.com, Freddy Garcia has agreed to a minor league contract with the Detroit Tigers.

Garcia’s contract runs only through the end of 2008 and will become a major league contract if he’s promoted to Detroit. He will report to Class-A Lakeland.

Garcia, 33, has a lifetime record of 117-76 with the Mariners, White Sox and Phillies, and has a 6-2 postseason record. He has been sidelined for over a year and had shoulder surgery on a torn labrum.

THEY’RE ALL LOSERS…
Bad day and night in the NL East.

How large a lead does the Mets bullpen need for it to be safe? Yesterday, the Mets had a 5-1 lead after six strong innings from Pedro Martinez, but five relievers couldn’t hold the lead against the Pirates. The Bucs scored three times in the 7th and three more in the 9th while the Mets offense just shut down and Pitt ended on top, 7-5. Nine times this season New York has lost a game in which it led from the 8th inning on and while closer Billy Wagner has his share of blown save, since he’s been on the DL, the bullpen has collapsed in flames.

The first place Phils had a chance to open up some more space but they blew it in an 8-6 loss to the Dodgers. Newly acquired Casey Blake hit a two-run homer and Manny Ramirez doubled home two more during a six-run 3rd for the victors. The victory was Torre’s 2,126th in the regular season, tying him with Joe McCarthy for seventh place on the career list.

The third team in the NL East race also went down as the Cards topped the Marlins, 4-2. Yadier Molina hit a two-run homer and Joel Pineiro pitched seven strong innings for St. Louis.

A NEW LEADER IN THE AL CENTRAL
The White Sox John Danks needed a no-hitter to defeat the Red Sox Josh Beckett last night and all he could put together was 6 1/3 inning. Boston got their first hit in 7th when Kevin Youkilis broke his bat and dropped a single to center. Moments later, J.D. Drew’s two-run double put Boston ahead 2-1 and Boston went on to a 5-1 victory. Josh Beckett improved to 4-0 for his career against the White Sox by pitching eight innings giving up seven hits, striking out eight and he did not walk a batter for his second consecutive win after losing three straight. Danks, who had his six-game win streak snapped, allowed just allowing just two runs, two hits and two walks while tying a career high with nine strikeouts in seven innings. Dustin Pedroia went 0-4 and had his 29-game road hit streak snapped.

The White Sox loss dropped them out of first place as the Twins beat the slumping Yankees, 4-0. Glen Perkins, whose wife gave birth to a baby girl Sunday night, allowed four hits and three walks over eight shutout innings. Perkins (9-3) struck out four and produced two inning-ending double plays. Twins manager Ron Gardenhire picked up career win No. 600 as Joe Nathan struck out Bobby Abreu, Alex Rodriguez and Xavier Nady in the 9th to complete the first shutout of the Yankees at the Metrodome since June 24, 1996. A-Rod is hitting .216 in August.

DON’T FORGET
Don’t forget the Brewers who continued their winning ways by defeating the Nationals yesterday, 7-1. Dave Bush pitched a five-hitter over 6 1/3 innings for his second consecutive win as Rickie Weeks and Corey Hart homered. In his last six starts, Dave Bush has 41 strikeouts and five walks in 41.2 innings pitched. The Brewers swept the Nationals and have now won six straight to move 3½ games ahead of St. Louis for the NL wild card.

The Brewers won despite striking out a season-worst 14 times and the absence of Ryan Braun for the second straight game. Braun sat out with a lower-back injury. He is listed as day to day which is more than we can say about the Rays Evan Longoria.

The Rays were forced to place their star third sacker on the DL retroactive to Friday, the day after the rookie was hit by a pitch from Seattle closer J.J. Putz. The club initially believed a previous fracture that had not been detected might be the source of some of Longoria’s discomfort, but the latest tests revealed it was a new non-displaced fracture (that’s the good news). The Rays are hopeful that he will be able to return to the lineup within two to three weeks.

Longoria, who began the season in the minors, is hitting .278 with a Rays rookie-record 22 home runs and 71 RBIs. He also leads AL third basemen with a .971 fielding percentage and had not missed a game since joining the Rays on April 12 from Triple-A Durham. Willy Aybar takes over as the regular third baseman. Carl Crawford, their veteran outfielder batting .273 with 57 RBIs and 25 steals, went on the DL with a right hand injury on Sunday. There’s been speculation that he could face season-ending surgery.

CAN HE GET IT DUNN FOR THE D-BACKS?
The Arizona Diamondbacks yesterday acquired Adam Dunn from the Reds via the trade waiver. Dunn had been claimed by several teams, including the Arizona Diamondbacks, said Reds assistant general manager Bob Miller. Dunn has a .247 career batting average with 270 homers and only A-Rod has more homers than him since the 2004 season.

Arizona sent minor league right-hander Dallas Buck to Cincinnati (52-67) along with two players to be named. The 23-year-old Buck was 1-4 with a 3.94 ERA at Class-A South Bend. Dunn is tied for the big league lead in homers while Arizona offense is 20th in the majors in runs scored. Dunn, 28, will be a free agent at the end of the season. He is  batting .233 with 32 home runs and 74 RBIs. He takes too many pitches (80 walks) and strikes out a lot (120 Ks). In addition, he is a constant adventure in the field.

His future will be as a DH.
 
Bill Chuck is the creator of Billy-Ball.com (www.Billy-Ball.com) and, with Jim Kaplan, is the author of the book, “Walk-Offs, Last Licks, and Final Outs – Baseball’s Grand (and not so Grand) Finales,” with a Foreword by Jon Miller, published by ACTA Sports, and available worldwide. Autographed first editions are available by contacting, Bill@billy-ball.com or order directly from Acta Sports or from your favorite bookstore.

This is a question I am continually struggling with. I suppose it can be related to the analogy of a tree falling in the woods, and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?

That is, is it wrong to do something illegal if it is accepted and promoted?

Are illegal activities enough to tab an individual as a cheater?

And which illegal activities are enough to tarnish a man’s legacy?

With the Diamondbacks recent acquisition of Adam Dunn I began to wonder how teams could adamantly avoid bringing in Barry Bonds. Certainly there are additional concerns with the acquisition of Barry, but are they enough to limit a team’s chances at winning?

Last season, among outfielders with at least 10 win shares, Barry had the 7th highest win share percentage. That is, when compared with every other outfielder, when on the field, Bonds was less valuable then only six players. Adam Dunn is not one of the six.

Which leads me to the question posed in the title of this entry, What is Right? Are we, as a baseball community anti-Bonds because he ‘broke the law’? If so, what line do we draw in terms of ballplayers being law abiding citizens? Is basketball point guard Jason Kidd not going into the Hall of Fame because of domestic violence charges laid on his years back? Will Kobe Bryant be held out because he committed an act of adultery?

Another idea to consider. As previously mentioned, performance enhancing drugs are being used within academia. Would the hundreds of thousands of individuals with cancer not accept a cure if it was knowingly invented by a scientist who utilized illegal steroids?

Or, is the baseball community anti-Bonds because he ‘cheated’? Although the level of cheating is definitely up for discussion, can that be enough to draw as much loathing behavior towards Bonds?

Baseball is at an interesting intersection of morality and performance. As a fan, I could turn a blind eye to a moral controversy if it meant my team had a shot at winning it all. At the end of the day, if the Diamondbacks are traveling the streets of Phoenix with Commissioner’s Trophy, are the fans going to be happier with Dunn then Bonds? Or, given that Bonds had a superior rate of providing wins then Adam Dunn in 2007, one could conclude that the difference between the two players could be the NLCS and the World Series.

How do you feel? Would you rather watch your team lose with a group of ‘good guys’, or win with a bunch of Barry Bonds’?

In retrospect, trading Carlos Quentin for Chris Carter wasn’t such a hot idea. Now the Diamondbacks have shipped right-hander Dallas Buck and two players to be named later to Cincinnati for two months of Adam Dunn.

Dunn should help Arizona down the stretch, but it sure seems like the Snakes have mortgaged a good chunk of their future to field a .500 team this year. Yes, Conor Jackson, Stephen Drew, and Justin Upton all are on the rise, and I suppose Mark Reynolds and Chris Young have their believers, but suddenly this isn’t a young and talented team with potential — this is a team that is built to win now.

In their defense, if the Diamondbacks reach the playoffs, they could be dangerous. With Brandon Webb and Dan Haren at the top of the rotation, and assuming Randy Johnson can slap enough duct tape on himself to make it through one more October run, they just might do what the Cardinals did in 2006 — slink into the post-season and then dominate.

Still, it’s got to hurt to see Quentin explode for the White Sox this year. Right now, he’s a cheaper, younger, better version of Dunn. What team with playoff aspirations couldn’t use a guy like that?

The Toronto Blue Jays chose Shannon Stewart over Reed Johnson at the end of Spring Training and now the Jays have officially admitted their mistake with their release of Stewart on Monday. 

Stewart hit .240 with one home run and 14 RBI in 52 games with the Blue Jays but missed the last two months with a sprained right ankle.  There was debate within the organization on whether to add Stewart back to the active roster after he completed his rehab assignment but after general manager J.P. Ricciardi spoke with Stewart’s agent, the decision was made to grant Stewart his release.

It was the 34-year old Stewart’s second stint with the Blue Jays organization where he previously played from 1995-2003. 

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Texas Rangers closer C.J. Wilson made it official that he will have season-ending surgery on his left elbow this week which will end his ‘08 season. 

In his first full season ast the closer, Wilson notched 24 saves in 28 chances with a 6.02 ERA in 50 games.  In his last eight appearances, Wilson was 2-0 with two saves and two blown saves and a 16.50 ERA.  His last game ended in controversy as Wilson showed up manager Ron Washington when he was pulled out of the game after surrendering a grand slam to Richie Sexson of the Yankees.

Fear not, Wilson fans, C.J. will still be in attendance at his Guitar Hero charity event at the House of Blues on August 21st but whether he’ll be able to rock out at the event is still in question.