On the reports out of Cleveland

One reason I've respected DL's plan to rebuild through starting pitching: it's always scarce and, like power hitting, often "overvalued." Everyone giggled when the Bensons massaged $22.5M from the Mets, but now the market for starting pitching is drying up and many teams will get even less value with the remaining options.

Reports out of Cleveland - in the Plain Dealer and in the Beacon Journal - suggest the Tribe are up a creek without paddles. The Bucs have about twelve guys in line to start without rushing a guy like Zach Duke. They may be able to deal a starter. Even a guy like Matt Peterson might command a lot of attention for teams with little organizational depth for their rotations.

Of our front four or five, I'm not sure who I'd deal first, or if I'd deal any of them. Not Kip Wells, but that would be selling him low. If his only problem last year was a little undiagnosed carpal tunnel, he's as good as new after the surgery to widen that tunnel in his wrist. Or so I say. Oliver Perez should be untouchable. Josh Fogg now reminds me a lot of Tim Wakefield. It might be a good time to trade him, or maybe not; it depends how much his durability and adaptability are valued on the trade market. Mark Redman is another innings-eater. And unlike Fogg, trade him now and we're selling him low.

I have no idea what the Bucs could get for John Van Benschoten of if they'd even consider trading him.

What about Brian Meadows? The man with the rubber arm could really help a team that is desperate for a fifth starter.

While it would be hard to part with one of our better or more reliable starters, it would be even harder to experience the 2005 season without a power upgrade. If the team doesn't think we can get that from Daryle Ward or Brad Eldred, then they have to go get someone.

One other thing. The PD writes that Shapiro "dismissed" the Lawton rumors, but the ABJ reports that he dismissed them by saying he wouldn't comment on rumors involving specific players. Both papers express some skepticism that the Tribe would want Rhodes. By calling him a "poor man's J.D. Drew" I meant to suggest that he's a guy, I think, with a reputation for being an injury-prone bust and some potential for a year or two that exceeds anything he's done to date. I'm looking at him as a potential leadoff hitter. The front office knows that the current team has terrible patience at the plate and they need to bring in someone who will work the count and show the other guys how to work the count. If the J.D. Drew comparison led some to think I consider Lawton a power hitter, well, then, it was a dumb comparison to make.