Boston placed Chad Fox on the disabled list a week ago yesterday. Fox strained a left side oblique muscle pitching during the Red Sox's April 27th game in Anaheim. Oblique strains require time to heal and Boston may want Fox to spend extra time on a rehab assignment with the hope that he'll be more consistently effective when he returns. Consequently, I don't expect him back before the All-Star break.

Last week, Milwaukee claimed RHP Mike Nicolas off waivers from San Diego and then traded him to Boston for a player to be named later or cash. The Padres lost a promising reliever when they decided to try to slip Nicolas off their 40-man. Nicolas signed with San Diego as a nondrafted free agent out of the Dominican Republic in 2000. After a season with the Padres Dominican Summer League team, he spent most of 2001 at A Fort Wayne in the Midwest League. He advanced to A+ Lake Elsinore in the California League before the end of the season and remained there last year. At Lake Elsinore, Nicolas compiled a 121:42 K:BB with 49 H and 4 HR allowed in 77 IP for a 2.91 ERA. While the 23-year-old's control skills obviously still need some work, K/9 of more than 14 are rare. I'll be interested to see how he performs at AA Portland this year, though I don't expect him to spend much if any time at AAA or in the majors unless we see rapid improvement in his walk rate.