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Is it just me, or is the Wednesday after the All-Star Break the longest day of the baseball season?

There are a couple baseball games on TV, including the AAA All-Star Game. Three Bisons were starters: 2B Jake Gautreau, C Ryan Garko, and DH Ernie Young. Young is obviously not part of the club's future, but Gautreau and Garko both could figure considerably not only for the long-term future, but also in the second half. Gautreau, who's probably better as a third baseman, is probably coming up to Cleveland very soon, and Ryan Garko is moving permanently to first base within the next couple weeks. Gautreau is probably going to be backing up Belliard and Boone at first, and may end up taking some bats away from Aaron if he hits well enough. Either way, he'll be an offensive upgrade over Cora off the bench.

A quick update of the 2005 Draft Picks:

OF Trevor Crowe (1st Round): He hit .255/.345/.392 for Mahoning Valley before moving up to Lake County; he's hitting .333/.375/.367 for the Captains in 30 AB. I'd love to see the Indians move him to second base; that's the only spot where the Indians don't have any long-term solutions, be it at the major-league or minor-league level.

OF John Drennan (Sandwich): He's hitting .162/.238/.270 for Burlington, not surprising for a high-school player. The Indians don't have a Gulf Coast or Arizona League team, so high-school players have to break in a level too high.

1B Stephen Head (2nd Round): Absolutely mashed in Mahoning Valley: .432/.533/1.027 (6 HR, 4 2B). He's skipping Lake County, going instead to Kinston, where there isn't any true first baseman. In his K-Tribe debut, Head went 2-4 with a double, so he apparently didn't have too difficult a time in making the jump.

1B/OF Nick Weglarz (3rd Round): Has done a lot better than I expected: he's hitting .333/.379/.444 for Burlington. Nick won't turn 18 until December.

RHP Jensen Lewis (3rd Round): 14.0 IP, 0.00 ERA, 9 H, 9 SO, 1 BB. Pretty good.

In preparation for the upcoming White Sox/Indians series, Vince Galloro of Exile in Wrigleyville invited me to chat about the two teams. Here's the transcript.

I'm working on a 2002 retrospective. I'll include excerpts from the local press regarding some of the moves, as well as give you a ton of background info on the players and the situation. I really think you'll enjoy it.