Buster blogs about C.C.

If you follow this link, you can read some thoughts by ESPN's Buster Olney about what the Indians might do later this year, if the offense continues to struggle. Here's a hint: It involves trading a Cy Young winner who's not signed for the rest of this season. I'm so very cagey.

My thoughts? If the Tribe is out of the playoff hunt by late July, Mark Shapiro would be a fool not to get something for C.C. We know he's not going to sign before the offseason, and we know what happens to big-name Indians who reach free agency (see Thome, Jim; Ramirez, Manny; Belle, Albert; et al.).

But Olney seems to feel the Indians might be able to trade Sabathia for hitters who can help them reach the playoffs this year:

The Cleveland Indians have tremendous depth in their starting pitching, at a time when their offense continues to struggle, and it's within the realm of possibility that sometime in late July, they could dangle C.C. Sabathia on the trade market, leaving them with a rotation of Fausto Carmona, Cliff Lee, Jake Westbrook, Aaron Laffey and Jeremy Sowers.

That's assuming everybody stays healthy, of course, which you can never, ever assume. But I just can't see this happening. A playoff contender does not trade the defending Cy Young in the middle of the season.