Payton to the A's?

[Fishercat]

The Providence Journal reported Thursday night that the Red Sox have a deal in place to trade Payton to the Oakland Athletics for reliever Chad Bradford. According to the paper, the deal can't be announced until the All-Star break because Bradford is on the disabled list and has to be activated first.

In an interview Friday morning on WEEI-AM in Boston, Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein confirmed that the team had a deal in place for Payton, but would not disclose details.

Payton and Vazquez were acquired last Dec. 20 from San Diego and neither was happy with his playing time. Payton, who started the past two seasons, batted .263 with five homers and 21 RBI in 133 at-bats over 55 games. He also has played for the New York Mets and Colorado Rockies.

"Jay was a valuable part of our club, but he just couldn't handle his role here," Francona said. "Last night he said, 'I tried, I couldn't do it.' It was time for him to move on."

Epstein told WEEI-AM the team made the move after a run-in between Payton and Francona during Wednesday night's game in Texas.

Epstein said Payton was taken off the team plane and put up in a hotel after the run-in prompted the decision. "He was not getting on that flight," he said. "It's not going to be tolerated here."

Well, that's a weird scenario. Was the confrontation that bad? Anyway, if the Sox can get Bradford for Payton, the risk is worth it in hopes Bradford can get to his healthy form. For A's fans, does this lead to another trade of an OF for some other type of help (either Byrnes, or if they can't get him resigned, Kotsay?).

Either way, I'm happy and hoping this will help in the future for the Sox.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2102714

[Voltemand2]

I hope to god he's healthy. This bullpen sucks so much, anybody would be an upgrade. I love the trade because we gave up nothing to get him, pretty much.

[Fishercat]

Well, even if Bradford is past his prime, can he be much worse than the Lenny Dinardo/Scott Cassidy duo?

Yep, it was a bit like the Quantrill trade. He would have been released if not traded.

[Bosox21]

I've heard they might trade Millar because he wants more Playing time. HAs anyone heard who we might trade him to? I'd be kinda of sad to see him go, I mean he was a big part of this team's makeup.

[Providence A's]

This is not happening:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...PGSVDKMF91.DTL

[Fishercat]

Doesn't mean it's not happening, just means that it hasn't been completed yet. It'll be interesting to see if the Sox are just saying such a thing to fall into guidelines or it really hasn't happened.

[HollywoodLeo]

HAs anyone heard who we might trade him to?

It was mentioned in a SD U-T paper that there was a deal on the table that would've sent Milar, Bill Mueller, Trot Nixon, and David Wells to San Diego in exchange for Brian Lawrence, Sean Burroughs, and Phil Nevin.

That deal has since been shot, I merely brought it up for conversational purposes I suppose

[love_that_reefer]

Terrible trade for the A's.

[Fishercat]

That SD-BOS trade is insane.

If the Sox traded Nixon though, I'd be incredibly pissed.

[Providence A's]

we have no use for Payton...he wouldn't play and he wants playing time. If we traded for him, we'd likely trade him to someone else, so it may just be a 3-way trade

[Manny]

I wish we could trade Payton to the Mets. Here is my logic:

Mike Cameron is not happy about having to move from Center to Right to accomadate Beltran. He is reportedly on the Block and the Mets are looking to trade him (rumored to be for Sheffield, that fell through, now maybe for Bullpen arms?). We can send Payton to the Mets for Aaron Heilman. I've been following him closely this year and he has great potential. 1st round draft pick out of Notre Dame, he has pitched very well for the Mets in Relief, and he has been used as an effective starter (pitched a comlete game 1 hitter earlier this year!)..Why would Omar Minaya trade him?

Because the Mets organization has never really been impressed with Heilman. They could then trade Cameron for whatever they need after they get Payton.

Anyone else think this is a good idea?