How good are the sports writers in Boston?

First of all, you could have read the Boston Herald wrong. On the Astros website I saw a player named Chad Qualls. But it could have just been a typo. Also, this does not just happen in Boston where sports writers say something about trades or free-agents that didn't happen. But most general managers would not go out and say that they did talk to the Red Sox, they consider that confidential. This is a RUMOR. And it really could have happened. But either way, it's nice to know what could happen to your team, so rumors aren't always terrible. The Astros denied it, but the odds are that they probably did talk to the Sox.