UPDATE, 8/8, 1:00 PM:
Giles has blocked the trade; he'll remain a member of the Padres for the time being. Giles cited family reasons as his main deciding factor in not accepting a trade to the Sox.

ORIGINAL, 8/7, 11:12 AM:
In an interesting development, the Red Sox have won their claim on outfielder Brian Giles. Chase Headley's the everyday left fielder and both Scott Hairston and Jody Gerut have performed above and beyond anything San Diego could have hope for, making Giles, who's earning just shy of $10 million this season, expendable. Also hurting Giles' chances of staying with the team is the fact that they're 15 games out in the NL West.

The reason for making this move appears twofold: first, the Sox keep the Rays and other contenders from bolstering their outfield (similar to how they were able to get Bay instead of letting him make his way down to Tampa, a point that seems to be lost on a lot of the national media who feel the Sox got shellacked in the Manny trade); second, they're now a little thin in terms of Major League level outfield depth with the departures of both Manny Ramirez and Brandon Moss, and Giles' veteran presence (if he does in fact accept a trade to the Sox) could help in that regard.

Giles' power isn't nearly what it used to be (he had 4 straight 35+ HR seasons starting in 1999), but he's still capable of posting a respectable batting average with an above-average on base percentage. And if there's one thing we know about Theo and the rest of the front office, it's that they love high-OBP players.

All that said, Giles still has the right to veto a trade to the Red Sox (plus, neither team seems overly excited about making a deal), so we may not be seeing him in a Sox uniform anytime soon. Whatever happens, there's no downside here. The teams have 48 hours to work out a deal.