This is just puzzling—not the DFAing of Morlan, the claiming of Wes Littleton.

I’m wondering why the Sox traded for him in the first place, to be honest. (And the number of African-Americans on the Red Sox 40-man roster drops to 0, afaik.)

According to BP, he’s 26, RHP, and a side-armer who generates ground-ball outs. Doesn’t overwhelm righties, but also doesn’t get lit up by lefties, either.

Rangers trade Wes Littleton to Boston for two players to be named later or cash.

Imagine my surprise when, right before I went to hit submit, a trade went down. The only weakness the Red Sox had last season was their middle relief unit. Theo Epstein and company have made an effort to improve that aspect with both of their trades this off-season; first, Ramon Ramirez, and now the 26-year-old Cal State Fullerton standout Littleton. Since 2006, Littleton has pitched in 80 games, amassing 102.3 innings, and a mid-4 FIP. Triple-A success hasn’t quite translated over, but there’s reason to be optimistic about Wes all the same. In only 18 innings last season Littleton had a mere 61.6% strand rate. That’s going to regress this season. For the first time in his majors career some of the strikeout ability carried over; seven per nine last season, career average of 4.84. If he can continue generating strikeouts and groundballs with his 88 MPH fastball, mid-70’s slider, and occasional change-up, Littleton’s going to be a pretty nice get.

http://www.beyondtheboxscore.com/2008/11/28/674922/transactions-worth-mention

I’m liking the 8.5 k/9 rate last year in 61 minor league innings.

if you were curious. It looks like we tried to work out a trade, but Tampa didn’t bite. (courtesy of TBTSNBN)