Tried hard for Greinke
Brewers general manager Doug Melvin told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that no general manager worked harder to try to get Greinke than the Sox’ Ken Williams.
“Evidently not hard enough,’’ Williams said in an email to the Sun-Times.
Melvin said the Sox couldn’t produce a match, even in a threeteam deal.
‘‘Kenny worked really hard at it,’’ Melvin said. ‘‘I probably received as many texts from him as anybody. There just wasn’t a match. [Bringing in a third team] gets complicated in that kind of deal.’’
Williams, who already has bolstered the roster with trades for Kevin Youkilis and Brett Myers, is shifting his attention elsewhere. Starting pitching is his priority. His attempt at Greinke shows the Sox aren’t financially strapped. The Angels picked up more than $4.5 million of the $13.5 million Greinke has left on his contract. Sox close their six-game road trip Wednesday in Minnesota. The following day is the first of three Thursday off days in August.
“It’s a day earlier, but it doesn’t mean anything,’’ Sale said. “It’s normal, so it should be fine.
Sale’s 124 innings are second on the team to Jake Peavy’s 140. This is Sale’s first season as a starter.
The Sox have no specific plan to give Sale an extended rest as they did around the All-Star break, but they will back off his workload if he needs rest.
“I’m just kind of going by what they’ve got for me,’’ Sale said. “It’s something we haven’t talked about recently or at all. There may come a time for that, and we’ll handle it when it gets to it.’’