Trade period rough on travel-weary LaRoche

Some folks like to spend July at the beach, in Europe or perhaps even driving around the country touring baseball stadiums.

Me, I just finished one of my most entertaining Julys ever.

I spent it Mapquesting Adam LaRoche.

Where the heck is he today?

"Really, the last 10 days," LaRoche says. Then he stops. Thinks.

LaRoche on returning to Atlanta: 'For the most part, it just feels like I took a break and came back.' (AP)

"Two weeks?"

Aw, who's counting anymore? All I know is, if the Atlanta Braves conduct their stretch run with the same zeal with which their new/old first baseman has dashed around the game these past several days, they just might yet sneak into October.

Desperate for runs and admirers of LaRoche's history of strong second-half offensive performances, the Braves re-acquired him from Boston in the hours before Friday's trade deadline.

Nine days after the Red Sox had grabbed LaRoche from Pittsburgh.

For those scoring at home, he homered for the Pirates on July 2, for the Red Sox in his first game there on July 25 and for the Braves on Aug. 3. Now that's a round-tripper.

"I got a taste of what a lot of guys have to go through," LaRoche says. "I've been fortunate throughout my career not to go through midseason trades. My first one came in the winter [of 2006-2007, when he went from Atlanta to Pittsburgh].

"All you have to do when you're traded in the winter is change your GPS as far as where spring training is. When you're traded at midseason and you have kids, it's hectic."

And when you're traded twice at midseason?

You're a candidate for a Fed-Ex endorsement.

The Red Sox got in early on Pittsburgh's raging, five-alarm fire sale, scooping up LaRoche on July 22 to add depth to their lineup. But when the Sox saw the chance to get in on the Victor Martinez talks with Cleveland practically before LaRoche's luggage had caught up with him, the first baseman became more expendable than an extra Julio Lugo jersey.

Aw, shucks. He had just settled into teammate J.D. Drew's basement apartment, too.

Seriously.

"It really worked out great," LaRoche says. "There are quite a few guys I played with, or know, with Boston. J.D. has pretty much a [self-contained] apartment in the basement of his house, and my wife and his wife are best friends. It was something they really were looking forward to."

The Red Sox actually were playing the last game of a road trip, in Texas, when they acquired LaRoche. So he simply waited a day and joined the Sox when they returned to Boston on July 24. Then he belted a homer in his first game, on the 25th.

It was a seven-game homestand, glorious while it lasted. He played in six of the games, batting .263 with a homer, two doubles and three RBI.

Then, poof, it was over. They headed to Baltimore and, on the first day of LaRoche's first trip with Boston, he was dealt to Atlanta -- right back where he started as Atlanta's 29th-round draft choice in 2000.

"It's always odd," Braves manager Bobby Cox says. "Once you trade somebody, you don't think they're coming back."

"I feel like I've never left this place," LaRoche says. "For the most part, it just feels like I took a break and came back."

Not that rejoining Atlanta was easy. Flying back through Boston to stop and collect some of his belongings, LaRoche was stuck waiting at the Logan Airport gate for four hours. The pilots had flown late the night before because of storms.

At least, that's the story. Personally, I'm thinking the Boston gate attendants maybe hadn't read CBSSports.com's trade coverage and were trying to block his exit, not realizing he had been dealt (again).

Anyway, by then, lots of people mostly were wondering exactly what the point was. Why would the Braves exchange Casey Kotchman, who went to Boston, for LaRoche?

"LaRoche gives us a little more power," Cox says. "Both are great glove guys. I think there are plusses to both of them."

What the Braves liked was LaRoche's career, post-All-Star break .900 OPS (on-base plus slugging percentages). They also like the flexibility LaRoche brings: He's a free agent following this season, allowing them to choose whether to negotiate with him or look elsewhere this winter. Kotchman is arbitration-eligible and probably will command a salary of at least $4 million or more.

They started Tuesday third in the NL East, 7 1/2 games behind Philadelphia, and sixth in the NL wild-card race, 5 1/2 games behind Colorado. How badly do they need LaRoche to turn on some of his second-half power? The pitching is there: Their team ERA (3.80) ranks fifth in the majors. It's the hitting that is spotty. The Braves rank 10th in the NL in runs scored.

"It seems like we go in spurts," hitting coach Terry Pendleton says. "Sometimes we look like the best team in baseball offensively. Other times, we don't look very good at all."

For his part, LaRoche, who banged out four singles in Tuesday night's win over San Diego, is working as earnestly to catch up with some misplaced fastballs as he's worked to catch up with his family.

From Pittsburgh, his wife, Jenn, and children Drake (7) and Montana (6), had flown to Phoenix a day ahead of the Pirates on July 21 to meet Adam on a road trip to Arizona and San Francisco. When the Pirates shipped him to Boston, Jenn left Arizona to meet her husband there while the kids trekked over to Las Vegas to stay with Jenn's sister and mother.

Eventually, the kids flew back to Pittsburgh -- Drake, on a team with former Pirate shortstop Jack Wilson's son, had a baseball tournament scheduled -- which is where they and Jenn are now, packing up the house. Well, depending on when "now" is.

"Now they're coming to Los Angeles (where the Braves open a series on Thursday) because I haven't seen the kids in two weeks," LaRoche says.

This is the part of the game you don't see, the stress of the rumors and trades you don't feel. Socks in Boston, underwear in Pittsburgh, pants in Atlanta, family in limbo. It's dizzying. And, oh, yeah. If you don't hit, the boos are just around the corner.

So if the key to a winter trade simply is to make sure you rejigger your GPS to your new spring training city, LaRoche this summer has learned the key to midseason deals, too.

"Making sure your wife is happy with wherever you go," he deadpans. "Because we all know, if she ain't happy, nobody's happy.

"Me, I could care less. I want it to be fun, enjoyable and a contender, but I wouldn't have lost sleep if I'm playing in one place. When you have a wife and kids, you want them to be comfortable."

LaRoche, who had committed only one error in 818 2/3 innings at first base this season entering Tuesday's game, hopes things are settling down.

The Braves, stuck in neutral, hope things are heating up.

"It's pretty weird, man," reliever Mike Gonzalez says. "I'm glad we got him back. His second day here he started dropping bombs. And he's slick in the field."

Weirder still? Gonzalez was the pitcher coming to Atlanta from Pittsburgh when the Braves dispatched LaRoche to the Pirates in the winter of 2006-07.

"We talked about that the other day," Gonzalez says. "I was like, 'Man, am I leaving somewhere now?'"

At the very least, all this activity has increased LaRoche's odds of being dealt in on some kind of playoff share. Lord knows, that wasn't happening in Pittsburgh. In Atlanta, it's at least realistic -- though, at the moment, it sure looks like a longshot. Boston? Hard to imagine the playoffs at the moment without the Red Sox. And though it was only six games, LaRoche did get a couple of big knocks for the Sox.

"Oh yeah, we had a long talk about that before I left," LaRoche says, grinning.

Before he left, he told Tim Wakefield, "I didn't do a whole lot, but any way I can get a ring out of this if you sneak in there. ..."

Wakefield chuckled and told him they'd work something out.

And if all else fails, hey. Perhaps the guy at least can make it to the finish line this summer in Atlanta without being redirected to a fourth location.

"I'm never sure anymore," LaRoche says. "I'm not unpacking yet. But I think with the deadline past, chances are pretty good that I'm staying here."