5-22-09 Morning RoundUp

Winning consecutive games? Haven't seen that to often this season.

Beating up on someone else's bullpen while the Tribes' pen flourished? We've seen that even less. 

Sheldon Ocker game story. 

MLB.com game story.

Paul Hoynes game story. 

Kansas City Star game story.

HAFNER UPDATE

Indians designated hitter Travis Hafner seems to be doing well on his rehab assignment at Columbus. Pronk has collected six hits in his last two games, three in each. He drove in three runs in yesterday's 6-4 victory at Buffalo. 

(NOW) DAILY (MARK DEROSA) TRADE RUMORS

DeRosa is being attached to more and more rumors every day now. 

Ed Price, of AOL Fanhouse cites an unnamed team official, from either the New York Mets or Indians, as stating the teams are talking about a Mark DeRosa trade. 

With shortstop Jose Reyes injured, the Mets would ask DeRosa to fill in at shortstop until Reyes returns. He would then switch to first base and replace the injured Carlos Delgado. 

Joel Sherman of the New York Post added his opinion about the Mets acquiring DeRosa on a recent blog post. 

Here are a few things I know for a fact:
1. The Indians were very interested in J.J. Putz before settling on Kerry Wood to be their closer. Cleveland GM Mark Shapiro, in fact, was a major facilitator in the three-team trade with the Mets and Mariners that moved Putz to the Mets.

2. The Indians would definitely trade Mark DeRosa and Jamey Carroll, especially if it would net them some bullpen help to try and revive from this horrible start.

3. This might make you laugh, but Carroll is actually one of (Mets GM Omar) Minaya's under-the-radar favorite players.

I am also not sure if either player could snag Putz, who saved a combined 76 games for the Mariners in 2006 and 2007. Putz isn't closing in New York as the Mets signed Francisco Rodriguez. Putz has eight holds this year with a 3.91 ERA.  

The Mets are desperate for positional depth and the Indians are desperate for bullpen help, so who knows. Maybe a deal like this could get done, but I would think the Mets might need a bit more to depart with Putz.

Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports that the Oakland A's will be looking at DeRosa as well.

Oakland is likely to talk to the Indians about  Mark DeRosa, who is on the block. The A's had some interest in the infielder after the 2006 season.

The Indians are believed to be looking for pitching, but the A's won't trade any of their hotshot young pitchers. DeRosa will be a free agent after the season, and Oakland is looking for third-base and infield help for this year and beyond given the team's injuries, especially Eric Chavez's increasingly worrisome back problem.