Matt Clement

The Indians hope to land Matt Clement because he's from this part of the country. Sheldon Ocker's report for the Akron Beacon Journal suggests Clement wants to be a Pirate:

The Tribe has one advantage over Toronto and Anaheim. Clement lives in Butler, Pa., near Pittsburgh, a mere 1 ½-hour drive from Jacobs Field. His family, his wife's family and their friends also live in Butler, and that means a lot to Clement.

Even before he became a free agent, he had expressed a desire to play for the Indians (even moreso the Pittsburgh Pirates), because Cleveland is close to home. Whether that will be enough to sway him is the question.

I'm constantly amazed that more players aren't vocal about their deeply-held desire to play for the Pirates. It's just not possible to be a gamer and not want to be a Pirate.

If the Bucs have a chance to add whatever payroll they'd need to sign Clement, they should do it. You know they'd sell some tickets from it, and a team can't have too much starting pitching. If the team got creative, maybe they could find a way to add him and stay under budget. I'd guess that the fans would be pretty understanding if they had to unload another big-name player to make room for him, too.

All that said, I'm not holding my breath.

... as Trev points out, the Pedro signing means Clement is in for a huge payday. The Bucs would probably have to offer more job security (i.e., more years) to compete and then maybe we'd have another Kendall contract on our hands.