ESPN is pretending it’s a big story that the Tigers put Gary Sheffield on waivers, “among several Tigers placed on waivers by the club Tuesday, according to a major league source.” It’s not. Most of the players of significance in major league baseball get put on waivers in August, claimed, and then pulled back. It’s just the teams’ way of figuring out who’s interested in whom (which occasionally leads to minor deals and very occasionally to insanity like Dunn to the Diamondbacks) and who might slip through the cracks and be eligible to be traded to anyone.

Sheffield obviously will not be claimed, being owed $14 million through next season, hitting like a poor man’s Darin Erstad (.219/.321/.371 through 327 PA!) and also demanding to play the field, which he cannot do. The tone of the media discussion the past few days leads one to believe the Tigers are ready to be rid of Sheffield, so it’s possible they’ll eat most of his salary and unload him to some OF-needy semi-contender (Yankees?) for a low-level prospect. Or that failing, Ed Wade’s always a phone call away.

I’m amused by Sheffield and Jim Leyland’s respective comments:

Sheffield: “I come in some days and I don’t play and some days I play. That’s platooning to me.”

Leyland: “Gary Sheffield never platooned here. Platoon is when you have a left-hand hitter and a right-hand hitter. One plays against right-hand pitching and one plays against left-hand pitching. That is a platoon… Anybody that has a brain knows [Sheffield’s usage] is not a platoon.”

“Anybody with a brain.” i.e., Jimmy is saying to Gary, ‘Gary, either you are exceptionally stupid, or you’re just bitching because that’s what you do. Shut up.’

———-

Also from the ESPN pretending things are stories that are not department:

Hank Steinbrenner blames injuries for the New York Yankees’ slide from contention.

So rest easy, Yankees fans: Your owner is a skilled baseball detective that easily identifies the source of team problems, like half your roster is on the DL.

More interesting is this quote:

“We’re going to win it next year,” he said. “If we need to add a top veteran pitcher, we’ll do that. We’ll do whatever we need to do. Next year we’ll be extremely dangerous.”

Translation: You damn skippy I’ll be handing CC Sabathia a blank check this winter.

Just in case any of you other owners or GMs out there were thinking maybe you could nab CC: Dream on. But tossing some strong offers CC’s way to jack the Yankees’ price up is highly encouraged.

———–

The Red Sox acquired Paul Byrd for free today. There are a few things we can surmise from this:

1. Tim Wakefield’s 2008 season is probably over. (And perhaps his career, but gosh, I hope not.)
2. Charlie Zink will start against the Rangers tonight and then head directly back to Pawtucket, regardless of what happens.
3. Apparently the Red Sox felt they needed to fill in the “soft tosser the Yankees can kick the crap out of” role Wakefield just vacated.
4. The Red Sox are probably planning on shutting down Clay Buchholz in the near future.

I continue insisting the Yankees are going to take the AL East yet, and I have to say, things are looking pretty shaky for the Red Sox these days. Big Papi ain’t coming back, Lugo and Varitek are still vortexes of suck, and now the starting pitching is wobbling; only Jon Lester’s surprisingly strong season is even keeping them close to Tampa and ahead of the Yankees so far. You can list me under ‘not sanguine’ about the Red Sox’ prospects going forward. I won’t be surprised if it’s Yankees and Rays cracking the playoffs.

———-

The Yankees intend to get Joba Chamberlain throwing on Friday and taking rehab starts in the minors early next week, or so they’re claiming right now. I’m skeptical of the whole ’shoulder tendinitis’ thing–the Yankees have a history of drastically understating injuries for as long as they can–so I’m waiting and seeing whether Chamberlain actually comes back.

If I’m running the Yankees, no way in hell does Chamberlain throw another baseball competitively in 2008. Even if it really IS ‘just tendinitis’, Chamberlain’s had tenderness issues in the past, his 89 innings this year already represents a new professional high for him, and he’s too valuable an asset to risk when he’s hurting. The Yankees have a playoff appearance to drive for and believe they absolutely need Chamberlain making six or seven starts down the stretch if they’re to get there, but it’s really a roll of the long term dice.