Morning roundup: Red Sox, Rangers talked megadeal

The Red Sox would have sent Josh Beckett, Jacoby Ellsbury, and Kelly Shoppach to Texas.

By Navin Vaswani

Aug 1, 2012 at 9:37 am ET • 2 min read

The Red Sox and Rangers talked about making a blockbuster trade before Tuesday's 4:00 p.m. EST non-waiver trade deadline, one that would have sent Josh Beckett, Jacoby Ellsbury, and Kelly Shoppach to Texas, wrote WEEI.com's Rob Bradford.

The potential trade was theoretical in nature, according to Bradford's source. It's unkown what players and/or prospects Texas would have sent to Boston, and talks never got to the point where the Red Sox approached Beckett about waiving his 10-5 no-trade rights.
Said Red Sox general manager Ben Cherington:

"We did feel empowered to do something bold, we just didn't find something bold that made sense for us. We explored a lot of things that were bold, and maybe even got close to a couple of things, but we just didn't feel like there was anything of the big, bold variety that made sense for us right now."
The Dodgers didn't land Ryan Dempster from the Cubs -- he went to Texas, in the end -- because they refused to part with four pitching prospects -- Zach Lee, Allan Webster, Rubby De La Rosa, and Chris Reed -- wrote FOXSports.com's Ken Rosenthal.
The A's, long-rumored to be in the mix for a shortstop, didn't acquire one before Tuesday's trade deadline, but they'll continue to search for way to improve, according assistant GM David Forst,
August trade candidates for the Twins are pitchers Matt Capps and Carl Pavano, both working their way back from shoulder injuries.
Twins GM Terry Ryan acknowledged that the Twins remain sellers, and that they're still going to try and make deals leading up to the waiver trade deadline, in order to land pitching prospects.
Said Ryan:

"Just because the calendar changes to Aug. 1 doesn't mean things will stop on the trade beat. It's a lot more difficult to make a deal, but there's certainly the ability to do that. We're in a little different situation than the one we were in a couple years ago when we were buyers. We're certainly not buyers right now. We're trying to get the most talent possible, and we're certainly looking at that pitching."
The Angels and Rangers were interested in Colorado's Rafael Betancourt, wrote The Denver Post's Troy Renck, but they were scared off by the fact he was 37-years-old and under contract for next season at $4.25 million.
Catcher Ramon Hernandez also remains a member of the Rockies, and both Hernandez and Betancourt expressed their desire to stay with Colorado into next season.
In Queens, New York, Scott Hairston and Daniel Murphy drew interest from other teams, but the offers weren't tempting enough for GM Sandy Alderson to make a deal, wrote the New York Daily News' Andy Martino.
No team offered up a top-30 prospect for Hairston.
The Mets, long-rumored to be in the market for a catcher, aren't interested in Yorvit Torrealba, who was designated for assignment by the Rangers on Monday.
If you missed it, here's a link to CBSSports.com's Jon Heyman's list of 30 players who could be on the move in trades in August.