Yanks to deal Proctor for Betemit

[Norcal916]

The Yankees are on the verge of acquiring infielder Wilson Betemit from the Dodgers for right-handed reliever Scott Proctor, according to a major-league source.

Betemit, 26, is a switch-hitter who can play multiple positions and possibly be the Yankees' third baseman next season if Alex Rodriguez departs as a free agent.
Proctor, 30, will give the Dodgers an additional bullpen arm, offering protection if closer Takashi Saito suffers further shoulder trouble and setup man Jonathan Broxton must close.

The deal was first reported by SI.com.

Many clubs, however, are concerned that Proctor is worn down after making 83 appearances last season and 52 this season. He was 2-5 with a 3.81 ERA with the Yankees, allowing eight home runs in 54 1/3 innings.

The Dodgers, after failing to acquire A's right-hander Joe Blanton on Monday, turned their attention to bullpen help. They lost out on Royals closer Octavio Dotel, who is close to joining the Braves.

Betemit hit .231 with 10 homers and 26 RBIs with Los Angeles, which acquired him from the Atlanta Braves in a deadline deal last season. He played mostly third base with the Dodgers but is unlikely to see much time there this season with Rodriguez in the midst of an MVP-type year.

Yankees manager Joe Torre has complained about the significant dropoff offensively from his starters to reserves, and Betemit could be the answer. The 25-year-old switch-hitter also can play shortstop and second base and is batting .320 (8-for-25) as a pinch hitter this season. He had pinch-hit homers in consecutive games at Atlanta in May.

I LIKE THIS MOVE AND KNEW IT WAS COMING HE JUST HASNT BEEN PRODUCTIVE ENUFF THIS SEASON.

 

[ThiZZmAtiC510]

i dont love this deal but i dont hate it either...i like the fact that we shore up our bullpen a little bit, and i think this almost assures laroche doesnt get traded (which was my main concern this deadline). i kinda liked betemit, but i'll get over it. i hope this works out.

if we get blanton, my mood will be a lot better. if we get blanton and and colletti can pull another bullpen arm, ill be really happy.

 

[Sicc Dawg]

I like the move, now we pull the trigger on that Blanton deal & call up Laroche. People are now complaining saying we don't have a Left handed bat off the bench, Fuck that, if you start Kemp in RF, Either is a good left handed bat off the bench, or when Either & Kemp both start, then you have Gonzo off the bench. Laroche needs to be called up asap, dude is batting around .400 with 9 home runs this month! Let the kids play....

 

[ThiZZmAtiC510]

young is our left handed bat off the bench for now...he just got called up. i hope he gets a good amount of ABs. he deserves it.

hernandez or seanez need to get DFA for meloan, and martinez or seanz need to get DFA for laroche...then ill be happy.

 

[Sicc Dawg]

is that right? haven't heard about young being called up, that is good news! he is tearing it up right now in Triple A. I feel you bro, I am with you on that one, Meloan is like another Broxton from what I understand. Seanz is killing me....he needs to go, call up Laroche. Like I always say...Let the kids play.

 

[Norcal916]

i thought Betemit would produce a whole lot more than he did you cant start mid season doin wat you shoulda been doin since the season starts. We gotta finish off games and cant be giving up runs late like we did last weekend so i hope this move really works out for us but we do need to produce more runs so our pitchers have a nice lead to work with.

 

[Blaza_4_Eva]

well proctor's back with the dodgers this time he'll finally be on the major league team. i had high expectations for betemit but he got off to a terrible start & that's all it took. lates wil! this mu'fucka better do good or I'll be the first one to light fire to his shit. http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070630&content_id=2058124&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb