The Yankees have acquired Pirate's outfielder Xavier Nady and lefthander Damaso Marte, according to ESPN.com's Buster Olney.

A Pirates spokesman confirmed the story.

"There is a trade in place, pending medical reviews of all the players involved on both clubs," Pirates director of media relations Jim Trdinich said, according to Olney. "That is all that is permissible to be announced at this time."

The Pirates get four minor-league players in return including three pitchers and an outfielder. There are also rumors the Yankees are interested in Mariners lefthander Jarrod Washburn. The unrestricted trade deadline is Thursday (July 31).

It was just a grounder up the middle, but the mere sight David Ortiz earning a hit in the majors seems like a distant memory since Ortiz has been out of major league action for nearly two months.

Ortiz' fourth inning hit was his first since a solo home run in the top of the third inning against Baltimore on May 31. That home run tied the game 2-2, which the Sox would win 6-3.

Ortiz was advanced to second on Mike Lowell's walk but J.D. Drew struck out to end the inning. Sox still trail 1-0.

new evidence has come to light

A chopping single from Jason Giambi earned the mustachioed first baseman his 58th RBI when he scored Bobby Abreu from third base, giving the Yankees a 1-0 lead in the third inning.

After Sox starter Josh Beckett gave up Giambi's single, catcher Jason Varitek visited Beckett on the mound. There were two outs with Giambi and Rodriguez on base.

Beckett got the next batter, Robinson Cano, to pop up to end the inning.

Coming into the game, Beckett has done well at Fenway, going 5-1 with a 4.82 ERA in his last 7 starts in the ole' ballpark. He has also beaten the Yankees in all three of his starts vs. the pinstripers this year.

He allowed three runs in all of those games and struck out a combined 14 batters. He also pitched at least six innings into the game each time, and if he does that tonight we'll likely get to see the Sox emerging setup star, Justin Masterson.

Masterson threw 2.2 scoreless innings with three strikeouts Wednesday in his first start as a reliever. It would be interesting to see what he does against the Yankees considering he pitched 6.2 innings and gave up just two runs on two hits against the Bombers on July 5.

A bit of a funny sighting before the game.

At about 3:30, between 15 and 20 media members had gathered around Red Sox slugger David Ortiz' locker. Ortiz would be playing in his first game since May 31 and everyone obviously wanted to get his opinion on how he felt and so on.

Sox reliever Manny Delcarmen walked over to a fridge near Ortiz' locker and grabbed a drink and saw the large crowd of reporters waiting for Ortiz.

"Hmm...David must be back," he said to no one in particular.

"David who?" mused Sox captain Jason Varitek.

A few minutes later, Ortiz appeared and walked over to his locker as the media scrum converged toward him like water moving downhill.

He said, "I'm really excited to play. I'm back." and then "I'll talk to you guys after the game."

And that was that.

--

Game update: The Yankees' Joba Chamberlain and the Sox Josh Beckett are giving us the notion that tonight will be a pitcher's duel.

Through two innings, Chamberlain has struck out two and allowed three singles. Beckett has K'd two and allowed two hits.

We're knotted at a 0-0 tie with the top of the Yanks' order coming up.

Reports suggest that the Yankees have acquired Xavier Nady and Damaso Marte from the Pittsburgh Pirates in exchange for Jose Tabata, Ross Ohlendorf, Phil Coke and George Kontos.

Two weeks ago, I suggested that the Yankees should consider offering Ian Kennedy and Melky Cabrera in exchange for Xavier Nady and Damaso Marte. So, was the actual deal, as reported, better than the one that I suggested?

George Kontos has promise - as does Phil Coke. But, they’re still far from being stamped as blue-chip prospects. Jose Tabata is a blue-chipper, according to some. But, he is troubled - with a bad attitude. Ross Ohlendorf, for the Yankees, was expendable.

At first blush, I like this deal for the Yankees. What do you think?

Ran into Massachusetts senator John Kerry on the Monster while taking the pulse of Red Sox Nation on Manny Ramirez's absence from the lineup tonight. The senator was asked if fans should be concerned that Ramirez is out of the lineup.

"I hope not, I hope not," said Kerry. "If he says his knee needs a rest, then he gets a day to rest his knee. I know Terry Francona and John Henry weren’t happy with how it all went down. But let’s focus on the game at hand."

David Ortiz just got a huge standing ovation, and a "Papi! Papi!" chant as he strode to the plate for his first at bat in nearly two months.

He seemed pretty happy (and possibly relieved) to be back before the game, though he didn't have much to offer reporters other than, "I'm really, really excited and back. I'll talk to you after the game."

8:20 PM — Best I’ve heard so far is that Phil Coke is probably in the deal.  I’m still digging.

8:30 PM — SI’s Jon Heyman is reporting the deal includes Jose Tabata, Ross Ohlendorf, Phil Coke and one other minor league prospect who seems to be George Kontos.

Scroll down for the latest updates. It's Nady and Marte for minor leaguers Jose Tabata, George Kontos, Russ Ohlendorf and Phil Coke.

Paul Meyer doesn't have the details yet, but thinks they're going to the Yankees.

Here's the report from the AP. Nady was pulled from the Pirates' lineup tonight.

I actually suggested trading Nady to the Yankees a couple weeks ago. It'll be interesting to see who the Pirates get. 

I'm all over this one. More details as I find them.

Thanks to Carnival Matleuse.

UPDATE 8:32 PM: KDKA thinks Ian Kennedy or Phil Hughes could be involved, although Hughes is on the major-league DL, which I think means he can't be traded, except perhaps as a PTBNL.

UPDATE 8:35 PM: A Yankees Class AA pitcher named Phil Coke was pulled from his start tonight, the Post-Gazette reports. Jose Tabata, Russ Ohlendorf, and George Kontos might be three other players who are involved. Coke and Ohlendorf don't do much for me--they're both fairly old, and would be useful mostly in that they could pitch right away or almost right away--but Tabata and Kontos are real prospects.

Tabata has had a rough year at AA, but he's still 19 for another month. He has hit well in the past and has all kinds of time to make himself into a good big-league outfielder. Kontos looks like a bona fide starting pitching prospect, with a good fastball, a passable change, an excellent slider and a pitcher's build. He turned 23 last month.

If Tabata and Kontos come the Pirates' way, they'd immediately become the second and third-best prospects in the system, behind Andrew McCutchen. Pedro Alvarez, if/when he signs, would obviously bump them down a notch, too.

UPDATE 8:46 PM: Maybe I'm selling Ohlendorf short a bit. He can start, and he has a good strikeout rate this year. He could probably join the Pirates' rotation right away.

UPDATE 8:48 PM: Ken Rosenthal hears the same things the Pirates are hearing: he says it's Tabata, Ohlendorf, Kontos and Coke.

UPDATE 8:50 PM: If this is the trade, then I like it. Fans may be upset about losing Nady in particular, but they'll calm down if Ohlendorf and/or Coke join the team and immediately outperform the string of no-count pitchers who've occupied the back end of the rotation and the middle relief innings. 

Tabata and Kontos are the most important parts of the deal. Tabata is still so young that you can imagine just about anything's possible for him. He's far from a sure thing--his power hasn't developed, and with the troubles he's had with his hand and wrist, it's fair to wonder how much it will--but he showed real skills as an 18-year-old in Class A+, and that's something not many players can say. There's a very good chance Tabata completely flames out, but also a decent chance he becomes a star. I'll take that gamble--the Pirates need stars.

This is a pretty good return for Nady and Marte. It's not a steal by any means, but Tabata and Kontos both have upside and are exactly the sort of players the PIrates should be getting in these trades. I approve, if the trade is as it's been reported.

UPDATE 8:59 PM: Buster Olney confirms the players involved with no equivocation, except to say that the trade is pending physicals.

UPDATE 9:09 PM: Tabata is currently on the DL with a "fairly severe" hamstring problem. You may get the impression from the Post-Gazette's blog that it's a hand issue, but that's not the case, which is probably good.

UPDATE 9:19 PM: People are discussing this in the game thread, and they're not happy, but I think some perspective is in order. Marte's a good reliever and he's going to bring back a pair of draft picks. Nady has been a really good hitter this year, relative to his position, for the first time in his career. He probably isn't going to bring back picks, because he probably isn't going to stay healthy for the next year and a half. He's not a great player, and now was the perfect time to trade him. Neither Nady nor Marte are stars. Tabata could be. And I think all the commentary I've seen from Pirates fans so far underrates Kontos. 

UPDATE 9:35 PM: The Post-Gazette found this footage of Tabata:

Keep in mind that Hughes, who's pitching, is both older and more advanced than Tabata, who's only 17 in this footage. That's why Tabata looks a bit overwhelmed at times.

Dan Haren
RHP, 9-5, 2.58 Jonathan Sanchez
LHP, 8-5, 4.10

Baseball-Reference.com preview [opens in new window]

Onto the road go the Diamondbacks once again, with a West coast sweep that takes in three of our division rivals. We'll go on through San Diego and Los Angeles, but the first stop is San Francisco. With the Dodgers facing woeful Washington - just swept by the Giants - it's important to get off on the right foot here. And of late, there's no-one better to do so for the D-backs, than Dan Haren. In his last five starts, he has an ERA of 0.75, having allowed three earned runs in 36 innings of work, with opponents batting .165 against him over that time. His current streak of seven straight starts allowing two or less earned runs, is something even Webb hasn't done, and trails only the Big Unit (nine games in 1999), as far as franchise history goes.

Our offense has come back to life a little of late, with the July OPS of .732 being the best by the team since April. However, I am a little concerned that the collective BABIP is .322, which is a little high, and probably lucky. Hudson (.418) and Tracy (.447) are particular outliers this month; on the other hand, Jackson's .333 average is based on a BABIP just sixteen points higher. Which seems like a good place to reproduce this chart, which by coincidence popped up in my email an hour or two ago.

Baseball Prospectus Stat of the Day
Player EqA VORP Berkman .351 62.1 Pujols .371 53.0 Teixeira .301 29.1 Jackson .293 28.4 Lee .286 26.5

File that in the large box, marked "And we would want to swap Jackson for Teixeira, why, exactly?" It's very interesting to note that, while Berkman and Pujols are light-years ahead, Jackson [salary $420K] fits in between Teixieira [$12.5] and Derrek Lee [$13.25m]. In terms of value for money, there may be no better options at the position in the National League this year.

Here's a little snippet I was forwarded, that sheds a light on why we've struggled so much this season, and why we went out and got Jon Rauch. According to Santo Lombarbarda of the Elias Sports Bureau, through Monday, only one team in the majors had a lead through six innings more often than the D-backs:

The overall figure for the Diamondbacks' bullpen also speak for themselves:

Some bits of news. Juan Cruz will throw tonight on a rehab assignment, then probably again on Monday - and if those two outings go well, he'll be back with us in time for the tail of the Padres series, or early in the Dodgers' one. However, Justin Upton is still at least a week away and hasn't even started taking real swings as yet. Our recent draft pick [#43 overall], Wade Miley is scouted by Alex Eisenberg over at The Hardball Times, as part of his look at picks #36-43. And I was interviewed by Troy of FullOfSports.com, and we discussed the D-backs second-half prospects: it can be found within their latest podcast.

Should be around or about for tonight's game, and I think it's Azreous scheduled for the recap? Failing that, I'll get it done in the morning: we have a busy weekend in project [cabaret tomorrow, lucha libre on Sunday], so even though we have taken Monday off work, we will have to cram in as much sloth tonight as possible!

With two men on (Derek Jeter and Bobby Abreu), Josh Beckett got himself out of the first inning. He struck out Alex Rodriguez on a ball in the dirt, then finished off Jason Giambi with a 96 mile per hour fastball, catching him looking.

UPDATE: Will Carroll is now confirming, Xavier Nady and Damaso Marte have been traded to….The New York Yankees.

From what I’ve heard the return is Russ Ohrlendoff and three prospects: OF Jose Tabata, P George Kontos, P Phil Coke. Tabata has monster power.

Normally we wouldn’t be reporting on another team’s player being pulled from a game, but we are getting very early word out of Pittsburgh that Xavier Nady was pulled from tonight’s game and will be traded along with Damaso Marte tonight. The team that has acquired Nady and Marte has yet to be released until medical records are completed.  Rotoworld is speculating the Rays could be involved since SS prospect Reid Brignac was not in the lineup for the Durham Bulls tonight, however, at this point we can not confirm that the Rays are the trade partner.

More to come….