Hello Tribe fans everywhere!

OK, here's the situation: Several teams are dying for starting pitching, which means that, for once, the Indians are in the driver's seat. They have tons of starters. So, what should they do? Make a deal, for sure!

The easy trade would be to shuffle Paul Byrd off to the Braves or some team that has a top-flight farm system. Or, they could even trade Jake Westbrook, whose value might be lowered because he's in the last year of his contract.

Personally, I wouldn't trade Westbrook unless I was certain I couldn't re-sign him. Or, if he wants too much money. That wouldn't be so much of a concern if C.C. Sabathia's contract wasn't up after the 2008 season.

Baseball administrators never want to make a move before they have to, but I'd try to nail down Sabathia now -- even if it meant giving up on Westbrook. As much as I like Westbrook, Sabathia's the man. He has the potential to develop into one of baseball's top pitchers. The worry is I get the impression he hopes to eventually sign with a west coast team.

So, what makes me think the Indians are so flush with starting pitching, especially with Cliff Lee sidelined by a muscle pull? Everybody is raving about young Adam Miller, who's been pitching so well in Florida after posting a 15-6 record at Akron last season.

If the Indians don't trade one of the starters, Fausto Carmona and Miller will spend most of the year at Buffalo. Miller is apparently so impressive than everyone's forgotten about Jeremy Sowers, another promising young hurler.

Cleveland doesn't have to swing a deal right away. The Tribe could start the season and see how desperate the other clubs get. Problem there is Byrd might start slowly again, as he did last season. So, given that, his value is higher now.

But, what does the Tribe trade for? The club shouldn't make a deal just to make one. I also have a feeling that, after such negative fallout from the Coco Crisp-Andy Marte deal, Mark Shapiro might be a little gun shy. Not really, but he might be thinking, "Why make a trade if I don't have to?"

Here's what might force his hand. If the bullpen really stinks again, and somebody has a reliever to spare, it might be tempting.

The next few weeks should be quite interesting -- more interesting than usual.

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The answer to yesterday's quickie quiz: The top five winners on the Tribe's brilliant 1954 pitching staff were: Early Wynn, Bob Lemon, Mike Garcia, Art Houtteman and Bob Feller.

Today's quiz: I picked this one up from yesterday's Tribe telecast -- when Bert Blyleven joined the Indians in 1981, Rick Manning surrendered his No. 28 to the wily lefthander. What number did Manning take?

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-- Kevin Cuneo