Minnesota Timberwolves guard Troy Hudson, aka T-Hud, entered the rap game with a THUD this month. In the great tradition of “rapletes” releasing albums to further promote their own coolness, T-Hud sold 78 copies of his debut rap album “Undrafted”. About half of those, 38, were sold in the Twin Cities area. The THud got no love (zero album sales) from his hometown of Carbondale, IL.

I’m not a T’wolves fan, but I hope he balls better than he raps. He can name his sophomore follow-up effort “Unsold”.

Troy was going to name his album “Troy vs. T-Hud”

See more of SportsRumblings’ posts at his blog, Sports Rumblings.

According to ESPN, it is now official. Gagne for Kason Gabbard means that Jon Lester is officially in the rotation! ESPN reports:

Eric Gagne is headed to Boston to bolster the Red Sox’s bullpen.

Sources told ESPN The Magazine’s Buster Olney that the Red Sox and Rangers agreed in principle on a deal for Texas’ closer. In exchange, Boston will send pitcher Kason Gabbard and minor leaguers Engel Beltre and David Murphy to the Rangers.

Gagne waived his no-trade clause to join the American League East leaders after the Red Sox restructured the reliever’s contract. Boston will pick up $2.1 million in Gagne’s performance bonuses, while the Rangers will pay $400,000.

Gagne joins a bullpen that includes All-Star closer Jonathan Papelbon and ranks as having the best ERA in the majors (2.74) and fewest blown saves (four).

Gagne is 2-0 this season with a 2.16 ERA and 16 saves as the Texas Rangers closer.

ESPN’s Buster Olney says the Red Sox have gotten Eric Gagne to waive his no-trade clause and join the team.

Terrific news for Red Sox fans!

Hands down the best part of the ESPN MLB Trade Rumors chat wrap:

Trieu (Cambridge, MA): Danny Ainge called and wants to know if Gagne can play point guard.

SportsNation Jonah Keri: (3:15 PM ET ) I like Rondo, I think he’ll be fine in that role, especially since they won’t need him to score. A healthy Tony Allen plus Rondo and Garnett suddenly. makes this a pretty decent defensive team.

The St. Louis Cardinals, desperate for pitching, have acquired Joel Pineiro from the Red Sox for a player to be named. That brings $4,000,000 of the books and gives the Red Sox room for soon-to-be-acquired Eric Gagne. It also gives room for a now-loaded pitching staff as Tavarez is in the pen, Schilling is returning soon, and Lester is back.

This is terrific news for the Red Sox - who will now have a mixture of Eric Gagne, Okajima and Pappelbon to finish out the 7th, 8th and 9th. With Schilling nearly back from the DL - the pitching rotation will look might fine. Fox Sports reports:

The Red Sox are on the verge of winning the Eric Gagne sweepstakes, pending his approval and a review of his medical records, according to major-league sources.

Gagne must waive his no-trade clause to Boston for the deal to be completed. It is possible the Red Sox will allow him to share the closer’s role with Jonathan Papelbon.

The Rangers had discussed trading Gagne to the Mets, Yankees and Brewers. He could have been sent to each of those teams without his permission.

Gagne could reject the deal because of his desire to remain a closer with the Rangers rather than share the role with Papelbon or become his setup man.

The Red Sox also could attempt to persuade him to waive his no-trade protection by guaranteeing all or part of his remaining $3.65 million in potential bonuses for games finished.

This trade gives off a couple indications:

1) The Yankees had no takers for Kyle Farnsworth. Their preference was to trade Kyle, but if there were no takers, they would dump Proctor.

2) The Yankees wanted back up for ARod in the case that they don’t sign him. You could read into this that they are less confident than they were.

Yankees to get infielder Betemit from L.A. for reliever Proctor

The Dodgers and Yankees have agreed in principle on a trade that would send reliever Scott Proctor to the Dodgers for infielder Wilson Betemit, sources told ESPN The Magazine’s Buster Olney.

The Dodgers, who have a 5.61 bullpen ERA since the All-Star break, have been in on a number of trade discussions involving relievers but zeroed in on Proctor over the last 24 hours.

The Yankees view Betemit as another first-base/DH/bench option for this year, and a potential third-base replacement for Alex Rodriguez next year.

This is a melody of awful reporting that is sure to wake you up if you haven’t had your coffee yet:

We wish the best and are glad to hear that the cancer was detected early enough that Roberts has a great shot at a full recovery. Here is Robin’s own words:

I never thought I’d be writing this. … I have breast cancer.

It all started a few weeks ago. We had gotten the news that our dear colleague and friend Joel Siegel had passed away and we began preparing for our special tribute show for him. I did a piece about Joel’s courageous battle with cancer, reporting on the way my friend had lived his life and been such a successful advocate for the importance of early cancer screenings.

That very night when I went to bed, I did a self breast exam and found something that women everywhere fear: I found a lump.

At first I thought, “This can’t be. I am a young, healthy woman.” Nevertheless, I faced my fear head on and made an appointment to see the doctor. Much as I was hoping the doctor would say it was nothing, she did a biopsy and confirmed that the lump I’d found was indeed an early form of breast cancer.

Hearing the doctor say those words out loud was surreal.

I will be having surgery shortly and follow-up treatment in the months to come. So in the coming months, you will probably notice that I will have my good days and my bad days, but I know I will get through it with the love and support of my family and friends. Diane, Sam, Chris and all of the folks behind the scenes who make this program come to life each and every morning have been so supportive and loving at this challenging time. Read More.

Memo to Jamarcus - sign your contract and get on the field. The #1 pick  has a contract that is relatively static anyhow. Sign and play.

Memo to Daunte - did you really turn down the Jaguars 3 year contract so that you can play for the Raiders? that RAIDERS?! Did you see how well an immobile quarterback does on that line? Did you notice that your huge arm has nobody to throw it you?

Culpepper works out as Russell holds out

With the JaMarcus Russell holdout continuing, the Raiders aren’t waiting around for their top draft pick. Daunte Culpepper, the ex-Vikings and Dolphins quarterback who was released earlier this month, will work out for Lane Kiffin’s staff today.