Sunday dealings

It's been a very active Sunday for the Sox. Bryan Corey has been traded to the Padres. Jed Lowrie has been sent down to Pawtucket. Manny Ramirez is out of tonight's lineup with a sore hamstring. And there's news that the Sox remain in talks with the Rockies regarding Julian Tavarez.

Happy for Bryan Corey, a 34-year-old minor league journeyman who might now be able to enjoy his first extended stay in the big leagues. Sad for Jed Lowrie, a 24-year-old rookie who deserves a spot on the 25-man roster but is better off playing every day in Pawtucket. Devastated that my prediction of Manny hitting numbers 498, 499 and 500 tonight will not come true. Optimistic that the Sox can unload Tavarez, Lugo and $2M for David Nied.

Oh wow, Juan Marichal is on Baseball Tonight. That's pretty sweet. Which is the bigger hit to Marichal's reputation, attending that cock fight in the Dominican or being seen with Kruk and Phillips?

The Rays just took three games from the Angels to improve their record to 21-16. Today they got four innings of one-hit ball from the bullpen and toasted Justin Speier for three runs in the sixth. Cliff Floyd returned to the lineup for the first since his April 9 knee surgery and collected 2 hits and 2 RBI. The Rays have the second-best home record in the American League (13-7), a solid bullpen, a rotation headed by Shields and Kazmir and a lineup that is really enjoyable to watch. I wish they weren't in the AL East so I could get behind them just a bit more.

Bullpen decisions

Sean McAdam offers wisdom on the Sox' bullpen situation:

Putting Timlin on the DL will allow the Sox more time in determining how to handle their numerous bullpen candidates. If the Sox attempted to get their many relievers through waivers without options this week, they would run a greater risk of losing them to a claim by another team.

If the team waits until next week, when teams have already established their 25-man rosters, there's less of a chance that teams will claim them, since they'll have no available roster spots.

Among the Sox' relievers out of options: Javier Lopez, Bryan Corey, David Aardsma and Craig Breslow.

Increasingly, it seems like Corey, who has spent parts of 10 seasons in the minor leagues, will claim the final spot in the bullpen, joining Jonathan Papelbon, Manny Delcarmen, Hideki Okajima, Julian Tavarez, Kyle Snyder and, eventually, Timlin.

I like this. No need for Lopez. Corey can get people out while pitching right handed, Lopez can get people out with less efficiency while pitching left handed. This is the difference between the two. As I've said before, I'm not concerned about losing Lopez because he isn't even that great against lefties. Plus, you gotta pull for the 10-year minor league veteran.