Lima time in Pittsburgh?

"For the love of God, no." My guess is that 90% of Pirates fans would have this initial reaction to any deal that brought him to PNC. Jason Reid at the LA Times reports (registration required, I think) that the Dodgers have too many arms and need to deal. The Pirates are a logical match. With J.J. Davis and Craig A. Wilson looking strong, I think trading a bat for a Dodger starter makes sense on the surface.

Odalis Perez is on a one-year, $5M contract so being left-handed does not make him attractive unless the Dodgers will take Jason Kendall. Jose Lima (minor-league contract) and Wilson Alvarez (one-year, $1.5M for 2004) are within budget and could be acquired to buy valuable AAA time for Oliver Perez, insurance for Ryan Vogelsong and Rick Reed, and quality innings in carefully-selected spot starts and long relief appearances. Alvarez is left-handed, too. The Pirates won’t take Darren Dreifort, duh: he’s owed $12M this season and $13M next season. Think about that the next time someone complains about Benson's $6M.

Both these guys are not appealling. Alvarez was only successful in 95 innings last year, and he's no candidate for a 30 start job. Lima will always be a potential public-relations disaster. I wouldn't mess with his comfort zone if I was his handler, and I wouldn't expect his success to carry into a new environment if I was Dave Littlefield. Dreading the next Operation Shutdown would add some excitement to following the Pirates, but that's a bad kind of excitement.

Unless the Dodgers will deal Greg Miller or Edwin Jackson or some other comparable prospect, I think they should hold onto their bats and wait for a better deal.

... Gammons says the Dodgers won't part with Edwin Jackson for Adam Dunn. WTF? I would do that trade in a heartbeat.