ANAHEIM, Calif., July 31 (UPI) -- The Boston Red Sox, locked in a five-team battle for three playoff spots, late Tuesday night acquired slugging outfielder Cliff Floyd from the Montreal Expos for a pair of minor league pitchers and a player to be named.
Floyd was traded from Florida to Montreal on July 11, a move that was supposed to signal the Expos' desire to remain competitive. But less than three weeks later, Montreal might have conceded a playoff spot by trading a talented offensive player.
For Boston, the trade provides a much-needed lefthanded bat for the middle of its lineup.
The Red Sox are locked in a battle with the New York Yankees for the American League East title and is trying to hold off the three contenders in the AL West for a possible wild-card berth.
"It's weird," Floyd said. "Getting traded twice in a season is something new for me, but this is the way this game rolls. You've got to go with the flow and I'm going to a great situation. Boston is a great team."
In the deal, the Red Sox sent Montreal minor league pitchers Sun Woo Kim and Seung Jun Song and a player to be named.
The 29-year-old Floyd presents Boston with an interesting dilemma as he can play either corner outfield position. But the Red Sox have slugger Manny Ramirez in left, Johnny Damon in center and red-hot Trot Nixon in right. Floyd could serve as the designated hitter.
"I know some of their players and I know their owner," Floyd said. "There are a lot of positives instead of negatives. So I'm looking forward to it as a great opportunity to try and win a ring. Hopefully, this will be my last stop in terms of trades and all of this junk."
"I think primarily he's going to be an offensive force for us," said Boston interim general manager Mike Port. "He can play either corner outfield position for us and in the American League, he can be a designated hitter. It gives (Manager Grady Little) a good deal of flexibility. We think he's going to help us score runs."
Floyd got off to a quick start this season, batting .313 with 10 homers in April, but he cooled considerably and was batting .287 with 18 homers and 57 RBI when he was sent from the Marlins to the Expos. With Montreal, he hit just .208 with three homers and four RBI in 15 games.
"It's an unfortunate situation here," Floyd said. "I wish we had done better and that the situation would have been different, but we didn't. I played a big part of it. I didn't do as well as I thought in the 50 at-bats or so I got here."
"Sure, you're disappointed to see a guy with his abilities, the quality of person he is, you're sorry to see him go," said Expos Manager Frank Robinson. "We only had him such a short period of time. He hasn't been able to do what he is capable of doing for us, what we felt he could do for us when we acquired him. It's tough."
Floyd's slump coincided with Montreal dropping out of the National League East race. The Expos are just six games out in the wild-card chase, but with a number of teams between them and the top spot apparently have opted to pare payroll.
"We've been working on this trade now for the past couple of days," lamented Expos General Manager Omar Minaya. "Many of you ask what are we doing? Are we buyers or are we sellers? We were seven games back going into today. We really have not been playing great baseball."
By picking up the remainder of Floyd's $6.5 million this season, the Red Sox inch closer to a $110 million payroll. Boston is five games back of the Yankees in the division but one game behind Anaheim in the wild card race.
Floyd, who began his career with Montreal before being traded to Florida prior to the 1997 season, is a career .283 hitter with 125 homers, 490 RBI and 111 stolen bases in 908 games.
Song was 7-7 with a 4.39 ERA in 21 games for Double-A Trenton of the Eastern League. Kim was 4-2 with a 3.18 ERA in eight games for Triple-A Pawtucket of the International League, and 2-0 with a 7.45 ERA in 15 appearances for Boston.
"The main thing is we got quality back in return," Robinson said. "We got top prospects. It's possible they could come up and help us during the season. We would have liked to have get someone who could help us now but we didn't."
