So who wants Ryan Shealy?

Raise your hand if you want Ryan Shealy. Dejan Kovacevic reports the Pirates, along with a bunch of other teams, are after him.

Shealy will surely be traded soon. For all kinds of reasons, he just must be traded this month. What happens then, is anyone's guess. He'll be 27 in August, and he can only play first. They tried him in the outfield, and he hurt his elbow hitting the cut-off man. There have been published reports speculating that Shealy can't have much trade value. He's old for a prospect, and his skills are somewhat one-dimensional and altitude-inflated. That said, when I read about a 27-year-old hitting prospect, these days I think Josh Willingham. Shealy, even though he's right handed, is surely the kind of lottery ticket the Pirates should be buying. Think of the money we'll save!

The Rockies appear to need what we have in abundance. The X factor here, however, is Josh Fogg, whose reasonably decent performance as a Rockie must have him right by the owner's ear. Who knows what twisted intelligence he will pour into their ears. Will Josh Fogg let this trade happen?

The Pirates also have to keep Shealy away from San Francisco if they hope to trade Sean Casey. For that reason alone, the Pirates would be smart to raise the bid on the Rocky Mountain man-child.

This particular Kovacevic notebook contains many other trade-dope-hound nuggets that will be on next week's test. Study up.