As the deadline nears, there will be other starting pitchers available but they will be the back-of-the-rotation guys for whom the Yankees would be foolish to sacrifice a top prospect such as switch-hitting Melky Cabrera. The 20-year Cabrera, who has made the fast track through the Yankee minor-league system and is off to a hot start at Triple-A Columbus, is by far their most enticing prospect now that they've made it clear Robinson Cano and Wang are absolutely unavailable. Cabrera will take walks and as one Yankee operative put it to me: "Why would we trade this guy when maybe he might turn out to be the guy we're looking for in center field — this year and beyond?" ...

Otherwise, Cincinnati would love to unload Griffey's contract on the Yankees, just as Colorado would be thrilled to get rid of Wilson's. Ain't happening. "We're out of that business," the Yankee operative said, adding that the avowed refusal to mortgage any more of the team's future for older, more expensive players may limit their trading activity to nothing more than a further fine-tuning of the bullpen.

The Red Sox have no interest in ERIC MILTON and shouldn't, because he'd get killed in their park. But Milton will draw interest from National League teams and possibly (if they ever jump into the pitching market) from the Yankees, who tried to sign him last winter and couldn't. The sides differed by $1 million per year on a three-year deal and neither budged, so the Yankees instead signed JARET WRIGHT, who clearly hasn't worked out.