It’s a gorgeous late-summer day (at least it is here in New England) and you, young sir (or miss) should be playing outside. But since you’re not, here’s a fresh roundup of links:

Shaun Marcum has been optioned to Triple-A Syracuse, swapping roster spots with lefty John Parrish. I figured it was a chance for Toronto’s future No. 2 to recover from his recent struggles and get ready for next year. But no: J.P. Ricciardi is positioning the move as a chance to get Marcum right so that the Jays can make their–excuse me–playoff run. Toronto is 12.5 back in the division and 8 back in the wild card.

Red Sox hurler Clay Buchholz was also recently optioned to the minors–but to Double-A. The Eck says we won’t be seeing The Buck any time soon.

In other AL East-playoff-hunt news, Rays fans are pissed that despite holding a 4.5 game lead over the Red Sox going into today’s action, and a dominating 10.5 game lead over the New York Yankees, they are commanding only a Rodney Dangerfield-esque amount of respect from the Worldwide Leader. Today’s game against the White Sox is also the first time in more than five years that a Tampa Bay game has been featured on Fox. (Some teams have all the luck.)

Management guru Warren Bennis has some stern words for Frank McCourt.

Yet another CC-to-NY post. I know money talks, but from everything I’ve seen and heard, Sabathia is not interested in playing in New York. He’s probably not interested in coming to Boston, either, but it’s worth noting that the Red Sox will also have plenty of money to spend this winter with Manny off the books. Since Curt Schilling didn’t throw a meaningful pitch all year, with Buchholz struggling all season, and with Josh Beckett looking like a mere mortal this year, Boston will be almost as motivated as New York to sign the ace. I say “almost” because the Sox still have a shot at making the playoffs.

How do you spell something wrong on a jersey?

UmpBump PSA: One young player at the NYBC is growing his hair long to donate it to Locks of Love. It’s commonly reported that Locks of Love is a charity that uses donated hair to make wigs for kids with cancer, but most of their patients actually suffer from alopecia areata, a genetic condition that results in hair loss. Either way, it sucks to be bald when you’re still only a kid. I’ve donated hair to the group, and their website has a very easy to read FAQ telling you how to do it if you’re interested. If you’re thinking of a post-summer chop and you’ve got 10 inches to spare, why not donate it to someone who can use it?

From the too-good-to-not-share file, Papi on Pedroia:

“He’s the best. He’s the best of the best. He’s the best thing that ever happened to this ballclub,” Ortiz said. “He’s a [expletive] great kid, dude. He’s the best. I love him. It’s great, man. I talk about Pedroia all the time to everybody because of how little he is and the way he plays the game.

“And I’ll be like, ‘Dude, seriously, he’s a bad little kid.’ Pedroia is always going to be like a 16- or 17-year-old because he’s little and he’s got a baby face, but he just rakes. Dude, he comes up with some lines, and you’ll be laughing. He hit a ball off the Green Monster once, and he came back to the dugout and said to me, ‘Hey, Big Punish, you know it’s going to rain, right?’ And I was like, ‘Why?’ He goes, ‘Didn’t you just see the lightning show?’”

Today the Dodgers finalized a trade for Greg Maddux. It was a no-brainer deal. Maddux had a no-trade clause and said he would only go to a west coast team. So the Padres’ options were limited to the Angels, who are the only team in the league that doesn’t need pitching, and the Dodgers, who just lost Brad Penny for the year and needed a fifth starter.

Maddux’s record isn’t impressive (6-9), but he’d have a few more wins if he weren’t playing for the offense-starved Padres. And just about all of his other numbers are good, like his 1.22 WHIP and 3.99 ERA. He doesn’t record many strikeouts, but he doesn’t walk guys either. He hasn’t given up more than three walks in a game this season. And he keeps the ball down – allowing nearly twice as many groundballs as flyballs.

Moreover, he’s hot. In his last three starts he’s given up 1 run, 2 runs, and 1 run.

So this really was a no-brainer. The Dodgers have acquired a good pitcher for cheap. Plus, L.A. fans get to watch one of the greatest pitchers of all time finish his career wearing blue and white.

Dodgers faithful, if trading for the traitorous Manny Ramirez left a sour taste in your mouth, this trade should go down easy.

As Manny Ramirez continues to destroy NL pitching, it’s worth noting that he’s only three grand slams away from tying Lou Gehrig’s record of 23.

Can he hit three grand slams this season? Probably not. But consider this – three pitchers hit grand slams in 1995. Can you name them?

Sarah: A 7-4 win over croutchyoldman catapulted the Green Sox into third place in the league. It has been a long, arduous week of lineup-setting, with many of my players day-to-day with injuries (Ryan Braun, Jacoby Ellsbury, Carlos Guillen) and with Rickie Weeks losing out on some playing time to Ray Durham. (And to top things off, Weeks hurt his thumb yesterday.) I ended up adding Marlon Byrd back to my roster (after he cleared waivers since I dropped him a few days earlier) because the rash of injuries meant I was having trouble fielding a full squad. Hot: Russell Martin, Ian Kinsler, Xavier Nady, Troy Glaus, Matt Kemp, Pedro Martinez, Roy Oswalt, Jensen Lewis, Johnny Cueto. Not: Justin Verlander, Andy Pettitte, J.D. Drew, everyone who got injured.

Paul: In and of itself, fantasy baseball is not the least bit scary. But this past week, I was terrified. It was as if I was being chased by an army of Nazgul with the Ford of Bruinen still miles away. And if the previous sentence made any sense to you whatsoever, please let me know or else I will feel very alone indeed. Anyhow, in this scenario, the Nazgul came in the form of Sooze (freebase my balls), whose team was in last place and was 64 games behind me going into the week. But then, something happened. Her team caught fire, and mine struggled. For me, Jim Thome, Shane Victorino, and Troy Tulowitzki had subpar numbers while Sooze has Mike Cameron, Carlos Pena, Jeff Kent, Raul Ibanez, and Delmon Young, all of whom had performances that my guys couldn’t match. Throw in the fact that her pitchers had a 2.75 ERA and 1.04 WHIP, and I found myself in trouble against the last place team. Hence, the fear. The fear of being mocked, ridiculed, derided, and other similar words that just aren’t coming to me at the moment. But of all people, it was Arizona’s Chris Young’s contributions that allowed me to squeak by 6-5-1. Chris, you’ve been missing the entire season. Glad you joined the party. Hot: Kevin Youkilis, Chris B. Young, C.C. Sabathia, Cliff Lee, Scott Kazmir. Not: Troy Tulowitzki, Shane Victorino, Jim Thome, Scott Baker.

Coley: The good news: I won this week 8-4. The bad news: staff ace Josh Beckett bombed again and it’s clear that something is horribly wrong. I’m guessing he’ll go on the DL soon. That means I’ll be without Carlos Lee and Beckett, two of my big late season additions. Hot: Hanley Ramirez, Mark Teixeira. Not: Beckett.

Alejandro: What a crock. After having a commanding lead all week, I end up squeezing by Montefusco’s Revenge with a 5-4 victory, and only because we tied in three categories. My blockbusters have neither helped nor hurt, as my team inches along keeping pace with Sarah’s Somerville Green Sox, Hamilton collects RBIs like a driving range tractor collects golf balls, but it didn’t necessarily help this week as Montefusco’s stumped me 46-31.  I’m very glad however, one Alexei Ramirez is making the strongest case for Rookie of the Year in a long while (don’t look now, but I called it). Other than him, Jermaine Dye keeps on keeping on with a strong year. Come to think of it, the blockbusters have hurt, as Todd Jones and Carl Crawford hit the DL, prompting me to pick up Garret Anderson. If it’s going to slow down my team, instead of guarantee a win, like it did this week, I’m toast in the playoffs. Hot: Alexei Ramirez, Jermaine Dye, Josh Hamilton, A.J. Pyerzinski (I need to stop relying on White Sox players), Tim “Just give me that Cy Young already” Lincecum, Mike Pelfrey, Kerry Wood, B.J. Ryan, John Danks. Not: Manny “Prince’s bitch” Parra, Garret Anderson, Dan Uggla, Yunel Escobar.