Red Sox Acquire Padres' Sprague

<br>BOSTON (AP) â€” The Boston Red Sox acquired Ed Sprague from the San Diego Padres on Friday for two minor-league prospects, a move designed to fix their third-base problem. <br><br>Sprague, a member

Friday, June 30th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

BOSTON (AP) â€” The Boston Red Sox acquired Ed Sprague from the San Diego Padres on Friday for two minor-league prospects, a move designed to fix their third-base problem.

Sprague, a member of the Toronto Blue Jays team that won the World Series in 1992 and 1993, is hitting .274 with 10 homers and 25 RBIs in 117 at bats this season, his first with San Diego.

The Padres received infielder Cesar Saba and right-handed pitcher Dennis Tankersley, who were playing at Class-A Augusta.

Third base has been a major problem for Boston since John Valentin suffered a season-ending knee injury May 30. He was replaced by Wilton Veras, who is in an 8-for-63 slump, is batting .244 and has struggled in the field.

Sprague, 32, spent last year with Pittsburgh, batting .267 in 137 games with 22 homers and 81 RBIs. He was named to the NL All-Star team after batting .300 with 16 homers in the first half of the season.

He began his major-league career with Toronto in 1991 as a catcher then moved to third base in 1993. Entering this season, Sprague had a .246 career average with 138 homers.