Odds & Ends: Yankees, Kazmir, Torres

My momma always said, "Odds & Ends posts are like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get…"

• Joel Sherman of The NY Post says that the Yankees negotiated with then-free agent Paul Byrd earlier in the summer, but refused to meet his request of a guaranteed September call-up. Once the Red Sox signed Byrd, Yanks' brass assumed that they had agreed to Byrd's demand, and then claimed Chris Carter off waivers in hopes of creating some 40-man roster havoc for their main rival.
• SI.com's Tom Verducci provides some insight into why the Rays traded (or will trade, since we're still waiting on an official announcement) Scott Kazmir. He notes that while he is still very young, Kazmir's velocity has been dropping and his strikeout rate is declining.
• Alex Torres, one of the players involved in the Kazmir trade, was named one of this week's hottest prospects in Baseball America's Prospect Hot Sheet.