by Matt Barr

A.J. Burnett

I guess the Marlins want to trade A.J. Burnett and are talking to the White Sox, Orioles, Blue Jays, Angels, Padres and Dodgers. Burnett will become a free agent for the first time after this season.

The Indians won't catch the White Sox but are in the thick of the wild card race. Burnett could help them. Their starters are 33-31, halfway decent but not championship quality. 4.29 ERA, 7th in the AL, .723 OPS against, a very good third. They've tossed 531.3 innings, fifth in the league. Here's how they stack up against teams they're chasing or fending off:

Minnesota    554.1  33-27  4.04  .757
Boston       537.2  36-25  4.52  .750
Cleveland    531.1  33-31  4.29  .723
Oakland      528.1  29-34  4.05  .700
NY Yankees   524.1  34-32  4.82  .799
Baltimore    518.0  36-27  4.60  .748  
Texas        495.0  34-29  4.75  .771

A starter of Burnett's pedigree could help any of those teams, but you see that with a boost the Indians' rotation could break away from the pack. As the Marlins are said to want a starting pitcher, reliever and left-handed hitting outfielder, Burnett would probably cost the Tribe Jody Gerut, Jason Davis and someone like David Riske, but Ryan Ludwick can come up and take Gerut's spot on the bench. They would still have Sizemore, Broussard and Hafner hitting left handed in the starting lineup, along with swtich hitters Coco Crisp and Victor Martinez, and a left-handed hitting bat off the bench, if necessary, could be provided by infielder Jake Gautreau, batting .279/.346/.532 at Buffalo. Riske's been tremendous, but guys like Kaz Tadano and Francisco Cruceta are Major League ready at Buffalo and someone like Chris Cooper could even come up from AA to contribute.

That package might not be better than Hayden Penn, Jorge Julio and Larry Bigbie, but there's no saying the O's are willing to do that. And to add someone like Burnett Mark Shapiro should be willing to dip into his prospect bag and up the ante to Fernando Cabrera or somebody. In addition to boosting the rotation for the second half, throwing Burnett, Sabathia, Millwood and Westbrook or Lee in a playoff series is fairly formidable.

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