Buster Olney

ESPN baseball insider Buster Olney joined the Mut & Merloni Show on Tuesday to discuss the Red Sox’ potential playoff scenarios and some possible waiver wire acquisitions as the regular season winds down. To hear the full interview, check out the Mut & Merloni audio on demand page.

If the MLB playoffs started tomorrow, the Red Sox would play the Rangers in the ALDS, while the Yankees would face the Tigers. If Monday night’s 4-0 loss in Texas was a sign of things to come, the Red Sox might want to avoid that first-round matchup. Still, Olney said both the Rangers and Tigers would present a challenge in a five-game series.

“I think it’s a flip of the coin between the two teams,” said Olney. “Because Texas, they’ve shown that they’ve got the firepower to go offensively against the Yankees or the Red Sox, and they’ve got C.J. Wilson, who’s going to be the most coveted free agent pitcher on the market this fall. I don’t think that they have as much depth necessarily as the Tigers do with their pitching. But on a given day, when a Wilson pitches or Derek Holland has a day where he’s actually throwing strikes, they can match up. On the other hand, Detroit has [Justin] Verlander and he’s the best pitcher in baseball right now. I don’t really think there’s an advantage for the Red Sox or the Yankees to try to position themselves to face one of these two teams. It’s going to be difficult either way.

“I think that right now, [Tigers pitcher] Max Scherzer on a given day can be dominant. If you catch him on the right day, he can be the guy who can hold a good team to a couple hits. He can also be a guy that can give up 10 runs, and Texas has a similar rotation. Holland has had days where he’s been absolutely lights out and he’s had days where he’s having a tough time getting through the second inning. [Rangers pitcher] Colby Lewis can be a guy that I think a good offensive team can get to but we saw in the postseason last year he was pretty good. I think Detroit with [Jose] Valverde at the back of their bullpen, they’ve gotten better and so that’s why I think they have a little more depth than Texas does.”

The Red Sox were shut out by Wilson and the Rangers bullpen Monday, while Erik Bedard took the loss after giving up four runs on seven hits through six innings. The newly acquired pitcher hasn’t quite hit his stride yet, but Olney said Sox GM Theo Epstein made the right move at the trade deadline, especially because he passed on Ubaldo Jimenez.

“In the times when I’ve seen [Bedard] pitch, I thought that he could be a guy that on the right day, he can give you something,” Olney said. “I tweeted out the night that you saw his stuff because inning-to-inning, he’s got good stuff. He can actually be a little bit the way Bartolo Colon can be for the Yankees. When he’s right, he can actually help them, and I thought it was the right move for them because they had the same questions the Yankees did about [Jimenez], which was: OK, you’ve got a guy who was dominant in the first half of 2010, he still shows flashes where he’s throwing 95 miles per hour, he’s got a great contract, the exact kind of contract that if you’re the Rockies, you would want to acquire. Why are they looking to move him? And you know that’s why the Yankees in the end, in their conversation on Thursday of trade deadline week, they told the Rockies, ‘Look, we are not going to trade for him unless we can do a complete physical.’ They were told, ‘No,’ and that’s why they were very limited in what they were willing to talk about at the trade deadline. The Red Sox were the same way, and I think both teams made the right decision. Cleveland, in the end, we’ll see if they ended up giving too much.”

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John Kruk

ESPN baseball analyst John Kruk joined Mut & Merloni Tuesday afternoon to discuss the winners and losers of the trade deadline and determine which team has the upper hand in the home stretch of the regular season. To hear the full conversation, check out the Mut & Merloni audio on demand page.

The Red Sox made a last-second deal for starting pitcher Erik Bedard on July 31, hoping to fill the void left by Clay Buchholz‘ season-ending stress fracture. While more than a few critics have questioned Bedard’s ability to perform on a stage like Fenway Park (he’s 2-3 with a 6.99 lifetime ERA in Boston), Kruk endorsed the trade, and said Bedard should relish the chance to play for a contender.

“Maybe [playing in Boston] is what he needs,” Kruk said. “He’s never had to do it. Maybe this is what he needs. Maybe this is something that will get him going. Look, if you can’t go to Boston and get up to play games, if you can’t go to New York and get up to play games, knowing you’re going to have a chance every night to win … You have to remember the situations he’s been in. Awful. Baltimore, awful. Seattle, awful. He has a chance now to be on a team where if anyone has any sort of heart or any sort of determination at all, he dials it up a notch knowing he has a chance to get a ring and pitch in the World Series. If anyone can’t do that, they shouldn’t play.

“I think with Buchholz possibly being out for the season, they had to have an arm and [Bedard] wasn’t pitching bad for Seattle,” he added. “I know it’s not a great hitters division and Seattle is a pretty good place to pitch, bigger ballpark, but I still like the move. I understand his numbers at Fenway aren’t great. They’re awful. But he’s not pitching against [the Red Sox], he’s pitching against the opponent. So that’s a good thing for him too. Sometimes these under-the-radar-type deals where you don’t give up a whole lot, you take a shot and see what happens. He might come in and be a dominant pitcher like he was a few years ago.”

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Wilson Betemit

According to several reports, the Tigers have traded minor league prospects Antonio Cruz and Julio Rodriguez to the Royals for third baseman Wilson Betemit.

Detroit’s Brandon Inge has had the worst season of his career at third base, hitting .177 with one home run and 17 RBI entering Wednesday. Betemit, 29, is hitting .281 with three home runs and 27 RBI in 58 games this season.

Between Inge and Don Kelly, the Tigers have had the second-worst OPS at the third base position (.500) in the majors, ahead of only the Mariners and Chone Figgins (.463).

The Tigers are first in the American League Central at 51-45.

According to a report from Jon Paul Morosi of Fox Sports, the Tigers are interested in trading for Atlanta right-hander Derek Lowe.

Lowe — now 38 years old — is owed roughly $6 million for the rest of this season and is under contract for $15 million next season. Lowe has a 5-7 record in 2011 with an ERA of 4.30. He hasn’t pitched in the American League since he left the Red Sox after the 2004 season.

According to ESPN’s Buster Olney, the Yankees will not pursue Carlos Beltran before the July 31 trade deadline. The Mets outfielder has said he’d waive his no-trade clause to a play for a contender, and the Giants have emerged as a potential suitor.

The Yankees currently have Nick Swisher in right field, who’s hitting .249 with 10 home runs and 49 RBI.

Olney also reports the Tigers could be in the hunt for Beltran, because of their willingness to absorb big money contracts.

Alfredo Aceves

The Red Sox have beaten the Tigers in both of their meetings this season, but both contests came down to a battle of the bullpens. It’s fitting, then, that reliever Alfredo Aceves will take the mound on Thursday in Detroit.

Before last weekend’s start against the Cubs, Aceves (1-0, 2.42 ERA) had started only five games in his three-year career, and four of those came as a rookie back in 2008. The right-hander pitched well in his last outing, allowing just one run on three hits through five innings.

Aceves left the game with a 2-1 lead and was in line for the win, but the Cubs rallied for eight runs in the eighth inning off Matt Albers and Franklin Morales, forcing Aceves to take a no-decision. The former Yankee now has a lifetime ERA of 3.18 in 31.1 innings as a starter, but he’s never gone deeper than seven innings.

Part of Aceves’ success in his last start may have been due to a lack of familiarity on the part of the Cubs — only two of their hitters had ever faced him — an advantage he will also enjoy against the Tigers. Only three hitters on Detroit’s roster have seen Aceves, and former Boston catcher Victor Martinez is the only one to face him more than once. In five plate appearances against Aceves, Martinez is 1-for-5 with a strikeout.

Jim Leyland will send Max Scherzer to the hill as the Tigers fight to catch up with the Indians in the AL Central. Nine Red Sox batters have faced Scherzer (6-1, 2.98 ERA), who is having his best season in his fourth year in the big leagues. The Tigers won seven out of Scherzer’s first eight starts this season, and the right-hander was undefeated until he took a loss against the Pirates on May 21. In his outing on May 16, Scherzer tossed seven innings without surrendering an earned run, but took a no-decision as the Tigers fell to the Blue Jays, 4-2.

Although most of the Red Sox lineup has seen Scherzer before, no Boston hitter has faced him more than nine times. In just five plate appearances, David Ortiz has dominated the Tigers’ starter, with two home runs, a single, and four RBI. Dustin Pedroia (1-for-3) has the only other homer off Scherzer.

While the old guard has had some success against the 26-year-old, Scherzer has all but shut down two of Boston’s newest acquisitions. Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford have combined for just one hit in 15 plate appearances, although Gonzalez does have two walks and an RBI. Scherzer has been able to keep these two Red Sox lefties in check, but has allowed left-handed opponents to hit .279 this season, while holding righties to just .246.

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PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. — In retrospect, Johnny Damon admitted, maybe he should have gone back to Boston when the Red Sox were awarded a waiver claim on the outfielder last August.

Damon — now with the Rays, with whom he signed a one-year, $5.25 million deal this winter — suggested that his decision to exercise his no-trade power to block a move to Boston was a result of his expectation that it was a “slam dunk” that the Tigers would want to bring him back beyond the 2010 season. Instead, the 37-year-old said that he found out on the last day of the season that Detroit did not plan to make an effort to retain him, thus leaving Damon — who played for the Sox from 2002-05 — to wonder whether he should have returned to Boston.

“I enjoyed playing in Detroit, and actually was hoping to get back there. That was a big reason for vetoing the trade. If I would have known at the time that they weren’t going to bring me back, I would have showcased myself for the upcoming free agent year,” said Damon, who signed a one-year, $5.25 million deal with the Rays this winter. “[The Tigers] didn’t give me any indication. The ownership loved me. The fans loved me. So I thought it was close to being a slam dunk [that he would return]. But find out on the last day of the season. Okay, appreciate it…

“My whole thing was I wanted to stay in Detroit. I wanted to try to get another year with them. Things didn’t work out that way,” he added. “And now I’m here in a place where I’ve always wanted to be.”

Damon remains a dear figure to his former manager, Terry Francona, who found his ability to stay on the field for 149 games a year while throwing his body all over the field to be somewhat remarkable.

“[Damon is] one of my all-time favorites. One of the best guys you could ever have play as a manager. You can’t appreciate him too much,” said Francona. “There were days where he just got beat to [smithereens] and he’d call in the morning and go, ‘Don’t not play me. Let me have a chance to show up.’ He understood his obligation. He’d go out and play center field, even if he went 0-for-4, he’d lead off and play. I was impressed with him. He’s very dear to me. We loved him. And I know he went to the Yankees and he got booed when he came. Everybody that’s been around him appreciates what he’s done.”

“I wish he’d go somewhere else,” Francona added. “But that doesn’t mean he’s not dear to us. We love him. I just don’t want him to help these guys too much. Same with [Manny Ramirez].”

Damon is serving as the designated hitter and batting second for the Rays. Ramirez was slated to play left field for Tampa Bay, but was a late scratch out of concern about the wet outfield following heavy rains earlier today in Southwest Florida.