Looks like Ludwick to the Pirates!

jonmorosi Jon Morosi
Ryan Ludwick close to being traded to #Pirates, source tells FOXSports.com. #Padres
3 minutes ago
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jonmorosi Jon Morosi
Ludwick to #Pirates close, source says.
4 minutes ago

Or:

SI_JonHeyman Jon Heyman
ludwick will go to cleveland or pittsburgh. should have a decision soon. #padres
2 minutes ago

If Matt McBride injury (suffered how? he didnt' play yesterday) scuttles trade it will be the first accomplishment of any signficance by McBride.

Still will never be a catcher.

Tribe officially confirms the Jimenez trade.

Looks like Ludwick IS going to the Pirates.

Rival GMS probably are now asking for the moon in any deal.

Pirates Acquire Ryan Ludwick
By Tim Dierkes [July 31 at 2:54pm CST]

The Pirates acquired right fielder Ryan Ludwick from the Padres for a player to be named later, tweets Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports. Ludwick, a right-handed hitter, could at least fill the role the Pirates envisioned when they signed Matt Diaz in the offseason.

Ludwick, 33, is hitting .238/.301/.373 and has $2.2MM left on his contract. The Bucs added veteran first baseman Derrek Lee yesterday to an offense that ranks 12th in the NL with 3.82 runs scored per game.

Tribe has only a few minutes left to get a bat.

Ludwick was meant to be an Indian. Too bad.

Ken:

I saw Bartolo pitch in the minors. I've seen Alex White. Alex White is no Bartolo Colon. White reminded me more of a young Charles Nagy.

They are still two birds in the bush. (leagues) We got a proven major league starter who has had great success at times. And now that he is out of mile high might go on to more success.

There were people that didn't want to trade Wright. There were people that didn't want to trade Miller. Who knows what the two young pitchers will turn into, or if they fall apart tomorrow. I'm just glad the Indians are showing their fans that when they get close they will go for it. Later on we can judge the trade. For now I just want to be happy we have a better shot at making the playoffs this year.

if we wind up acquiring only a nondescript LH hitting OF to fill in for Choo for a few weeks; and a top of the rotation at the starter at the cost of our two very good pitching prospects; and still retain the ability to use Austin Kearns as our sole RH OF, I am hard pressed to see how we have done much to increase our chances to win the division, except of course for the fact that we kept Jiminez away from Detroit and they are unable to use Justin Verlander more often than once every 5 days.

Jiminez helps us this year. Pomeranz wouldn't have helped us for a couple years, if ever at all.

We may agree or not, but the Indians felt as if the offense will get a shot in the arm soon when Choo and Grady comes back so they concentrated on pitching.

Nobody gets as sick of seeing this team hit than I do so I hope they're right. But this team now has a top of the rotation starter for the next two and a half years. His contract is up about the time Pomeranz will be looking to make his major league debut, if everything goes well for Drew. But as we saw with Adam Miller everything doesn't always go well. I'm happy with the proven guy ready to help us now and for the next couple years.

And guess what, if the team falls apart and we aren't competing in the near future all we need is Jiminez to pitch better outside of Coors than what he has been, and we can turn around and deal him for more prospects ourselves and recoup our losses.

Tribe is poised to be pummeled on the road trip to Boston and Arlington, smacked right into third place.

A two week hot stretch for any of the top 3 AL Central teams will come close to clinching it.

But 2 months of baseball is a long time.

The only hope for the Tribe offense is that somehow they can go back to playing smart, fundamental baseball, at least something close to what they showed during the 30-15 bolt out of the gate.

They gave the Royals one of the runs today and had 2 guys thrown out on the bases. Six free passes given out by KC yielded nothing.

Not the stuff dreams are made of.

Are we being played for saps?

I like the improvement it has made for 2012-13. I don't see us having a chance to win this year unless various unlikely offensive improvements occur. e.g. Matt LaPorta gaining a big of confidence; hear him on interviews, even after his homer yesterday and sounds like he's constantly doubting himself. Maybe with a psychologist/hitting coach he can become good but he'll need a really top of the line coach to turn into a success.; . I am waiting for the big FA signing this winter now that money is no longer such a big object.