Aadios Aardsma.

David Aardsma, who was designated for assignment to make room for Mark Kotsay, has been traded to the Seattle Mariners for Fabian Williamson. I hope it works out for David. I've been in his corner since Amalie Benjamin used her prescience to declare that he would be DFA'd. Of course, she was off by ten months but no big deal.

Williamson is a baby pitcher (born 10/20/1988). He's a lefty with a solid curve ball, change-up and a well-located, deceptive high eighties fastball. He's also got good command for someone his age. In a few years he might prove to be an effective bullpen arm.

You Just Can't Keep a Good Pitcher Down.

According to Tony Massorotti David Aardsma has been placed on the DL with a strained right groin and has been replaced by Justin Masterson. Masterson had success against the Angels during his start in April-it'll be interesting to see how he's transitioned to relieving and if he can continue to be successful. Speedy recovery to Aardsma, though.

Big Things.

So, real life interrupts my baseball habit for a couple of days and all sorts of stuff goes down.

1. Schill's done. As disappointing as the news is, I guess I just didn't expect him to make it back in the end. I'm more sorry for Curt than anything. He's seems like the type of person who wouldn't take well to being told that he couldn't do something. For him to have worked so hard since February (blindly trusting that people who knew more than him, knew what they were talking about) only to have nothing come of it, must be disheartening. I suspect that he would blame himself-if only he'd worked a little bit harder or been just a little bit better as a pitcher over the years, the therapy would have worked. Although, the idea that Schill thinks he can just shut up and disappear is pretty amusing.

2. Manni-Jonni. Normally, you miss a Friday night game to go to a wedding rehearsal and nothing too fascinating happens, especially on a rainy Friday night. Of course it happens that when I miss the game, the awesome-ness of Jonathan Papelbon and Manny Delcarmen lip-synching to Milli-Vanilli's Blame it on the Rain is unveiled. How fabulous is it that Papelbon was overshadowed by Manny Del? Clearly, Manny Del was a bigger fan of Milli-Vanilli than Papelbon was. Paps was just kind of dancing around but Manny Del? Manny Del incorporated some genuinely authentic Milli-Vanilli dance moves in there; they just needed a body slam and (I think) the runningman to make it perfect.

3. They wear spiffy green jerseys. Lugo hits a home run. David Aardsma strikes out the side. We'll just ignore all that went wrong in that game.

4. They end up dropping two games to the Cardinals on a poor performance by Daisuke Matsuzaka. Timlin had gone on the DL for knee tendonitis earlier in the day but his replacement, Chris Smith, proved to quite useful. And again, Aardsma struck out the side.

How did you Spend the Off Day?

I watched the season finale of The Office last night but apparently, Red Sox pitchers have better things to do than hanging around watching t.v.


Manny Del and David Aardsma made the looong trek up to Colchester, VT to visit Porters Point School, the winners of the Hood Sox Tops for Kids program. The kids seemed to be more into meeting Wally but I suppose that's to be expected when you throw two relatively new relief pitchers at a bunch of little kids. I've also got to say that I've never been too impressed with what I've seen of Manny Delcarmen as a person but his interaction with the kindern seemed quite cute.


In the meantime, Jon Lester, was headed in the other direction. He went down to Dunkin' Donuts in Warwick to hand out free iced coffee.


Mike Timlin headed up to Maine for the opening of the Cabela's.

David Aardsma, no.--

Since they picked him up today, I guess I'll write about him.

Birth Date: December 21, 1981 in Denver, CO

Height/Weight: 6'4", 205 lbs.

College: Rice University

Contract: Probably close to league minimum

He pitched in 28 games in AAA last season and 25 for the Chicago White Sox. In the majors, he pitched 32.3 innings. He faced 151 batters during that span. He struck out 36 of those hitters and walked 17 of them. He gave up 39 hits and 24 runs (23 of them earned). He allowed 4 home runs. He threw 2 wild pitches and hit 1 batter with a pitch. His Earned Run Average is high (6.40) and so is his WHIP (1.732).


Defensively, he had 2 put outs, 4 assists, and was charged with 1 error. His Fielding Percentage was below average but his Range Factor (1.67) was above average.


He's got a fastball that sits in the mid-nineties (but has gotten up to 97 mph), a decent slider, and a decent change. His big problem is a lack of command. Also, he has periods of good pitching and periods of bad pitching.

He lives in Arizona with his fiancee (that's what you wanted to know, isn't it?). Maybe he should head over to the Athlete's Performance Institute and hang out with Pedroia, Youkilis, and Manny until spring training starts. Who could possibly be better ambassadors of Boston than that rag-tag group?

This is probably a good move. They need some depth in the bullpen and if he's in an up cycle, then he could do them some good. Plus, he doesn't end up costing them too much. The question is: What does this mean for Snyder or even for Corey?