Sox / Reds / Tribe deal?

[jtsneaks]

Will the Sox get the Reds involved?
According to ESPN.com's Jayson Stark, the Red Sox and Indians were trying Wednesday to restructure the deal that would bring Coco Crisp to Boston. The trade was thrown into limbo by widely reported problems with Guillermo Mota's physical. Mota was part of the three-player contingent (prospect Andy Marte and catcher Kelly Shoppach were the other two) the Red Sox were planning on sending to Cleveland in exchange for Crisp, reliever David Riske, and catcher Josh Bard. Stark reported that it was possible that the Sox would substitute a reliever (Manny Delcarmen's name has been mentioned) for Mota, and the possibility has also been raised that the Red Sox would try to get the Reds involved in a three-team deal. The Red Sox, according to both Stark and the Ohio Journal News, may attempt to revise a three-way deal with Cincinnati in which the Red Sox would send Matt Clement to the Reds, the Indians would send Crisp to Boston, and the Reds would ship outfielder Austin Kearns to Cleveland. The deal had been nixed by the Reds, but the team has since fired GM Dan O'Brien, whom Stark reports is the one who killed that deal last week. ... From the Boston Globe's Chris Snow: Adam Katz, agent for Guillermo Mota, denied a radio report out of Philadelphia last night that said Mota had failed his physical with the Indians on Tuesday. However, Katz acknowledged that the Indians raised issues with Mota's right shoulder, which could kill, or require revision to, the six-player deal that would bring Crisp to Boston. The Sox and Indians reached agreement in principle late last week on a deal that would send Andy Marte, Kelly Shoppach, and Mota to Cleveland for Crisp, reliever David Riske, and backup catcher Josh Bard. However, that deal was contingent upon the resolution of two issues: 1. Mota had to pass his physical; 2. Physicals had to be passed in a separate deal, between the Indians and Phillies, that would send reliever Arthur Rhodes to Philadelphia for outfielder Jason Michaels, who would succeed Crisp in Cleveland. Wednesday's Cleveland Plain Dealer, citing a major league source, is reporting that the Rhodes-for-Michaels deal is poised to go through. That would leave Mota's shoulder as the lone factor holding up the two deals. Mota missed the last week of April and almost all of May last season with elbow inflammation and was shut down for two weeks in September with inflammation in his shoulder. But Katz said Mota's arm ''was good enough for Florida, good enough for Boston, and good enough for James Andrews, who cleared him."


JT