Juan Pierre traded to the White Sox

By Craig CalcaterraDec 15, 2009, 10:59 AM EDT
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They thought he was untradable with that contract of his, but Ned Colletti pulled it off. Tim Brown of Yahoo! tweets:

White Sox acquire Juan Pierre for two minor league pitchers. Dodgers pick up about half of remaining salary.

More than anyone Pierre has taken abuse by people for his contract — and he’ll make $18.5 million over the next two years, which is frankly crazy.  But having a bad contract and being a bad player is not the same thing, even if a lot of people forget that sometimes.  Pierre is useful, and having him for under $5 million per after the Dodgers eat half of it is not a bad deal for the White Sox.

UPDATE: Ken Rosenthal has the tweet of the day out of all of this: “White Sox now have A. Jones AND Pierre! Who’s next, Manny?”

Anthony DeSclafani crushed a grand slam for his first career home run

Anthony DeSclafani
AP Images
By Ashley VarelaJun 23, 2018, 6:32 PM EDT
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Reds right-hander Anthony DeSclafani put on a show during Saturday’s matinee against the Cubs. Up 2-1 in the third inning, the hurler hooked a Brian Duensing fastball over the left field fence for his first career home run — and first career grand slam:

Grand slams are impressive no matter the player or situation, but they’re made all the more special in rare circumstances like this one. Not only is DeSclafani the first pitcher to deliver a grand slam in 2018, but he’s the first Reds hurler to do so in nearly 60 years. Per MLB.com’s Brian Scott Rippee, right-hander Bob Purkey was the last to hit a slam for the Reds in 1959, when he took Cubs reliever John Buzhardt deep in the third inning of a 12-3 drubbing.

The 28-year-old righty had a decent outing on the mound as well, holding the Cubs to two runs, four walks, and three strikeouts over 6 1/3 innings before passing the ball to reliever Michael Lorenzen. Entering Saturday, he carried a 2-1 record in three games, with a 4.60 ERA, 2.3 BB/9 and 8.6 SO/9 across 15 2/3 innings — not too shabby for someone who hasn’t pitched in the majors since 2016.

The Reds currently lead 8-2 in the bottom of the seventh.