Around The Majors -- Twins' Aguilera Shaken By Trade To Red Sox

MINNEAPOLIS - Rick Aguilera had heard the trade talk all season, yet there he was, just hours from being able to veto any deal, jogging down the third-base line at the Metrodome as if nothing would change.

While the Twins were beating the Boston Red Sox 6-4 last night, the teams completed a widely anticipated deal that sent Aguilera to the Red Sox for a pitching prospect and a player to be named later.

Aguilera, who had campaigned to stay in Minnesota, trudged from the bullpen to the clubhouse, dressed and left the stadium with his wife, Sherry, and 4-year-old daughter Rachel.

He was too shaken to discuss the deal, even though it took him from the worst team in the majors to the second-best team in the American League. But his mood must have been similar to that of his former teammates.

"It's a sick feeling, just a sick feeling," Dave Stevens, whom the Twins hope can be their closer of the future, said in the near-silent clubhouse after the game. "He's the heart of this team. You look to Puck (Kirby Puckett) and you look to Aggie. It's a shame."

The deal came about two hours before Aguilera could have nixed it. At midnight he would have had 10 years major-league service and five with the same team, which would have given him the right to approve any trade.

But the Twins shed a big salary - $3.8 million - while getting a highly regarded prospect in Frank Rodriguez.

And, the Twins might not be finished. The Baltimore Sun reported today that the Orioles are close to acquiring Twins pitcher Scott Erickson in a deal that would send rookie pitcher Scott Klingenbeck and a player to be named later to the Twins.

The Orioles want to check Erickson's medical records before finalizing the deal, the newspaper reported.

Notes

-- It took a little pull, but it looks like Los Angeles' Hideo Nomo is going to be the National League's starting pitcher in Tuesday's All-Star Game in Texas. The pull occurred in the right groin of Atlanta's three-time Cy Young Award winner, Greg Maddux, who had been expected to start.

Maddux doubts he'll pitch at all after injuring his groin during the Braves' 1-0 win over the Dodgers last night.

-- Houston center fielder Brian Hunter, a graduate of Vancouver's Fort Vancouver High School, will be out two to three weeks with a broken right hand, the team said.

-- An autopsy determined that Zoilo Versalles, former Minnesota Twins shortstop, died of arteriosclerotic heart disease, or hardening of the arteries. Versalles, 55, was found dead June 9 in his Bloomington, Minn., home.