Jhonny Peralta symbolizes many of the things that drive Tribe fans crazy.

-- His casual demeanor can fool you into believing he doesn't care.

-- He played the majority of his career out of position, which seems to be an Eric Wedge motto. Think Ryan Garko in left field, Asdrubal Cabrera at second base or Chris Gimenez anywhere.

-- When the season goes south, Peralta seems to be at his best.

The latter item will lead "real" fans to believe Peralta isn't clutch. Us fake players, however, can reap the benefits of Peralta's efforts to be the Indians' post-June Evan Longoria for the second straight season.

Since July 5, Peralta, even after going 0-for-5 Wednesday night, is batting .324 with 17 runs scored, five homers, 21 RBI and seven doubles in 102 at-bats. The homers account for more than half of the third baseman's season total (five of nine), and he had only 34 RBI in 275 at-bats prior to his hot streak.

This stretch coincides with a 2008 in which Peralta batted .294 with 57 runs, 11 home runs and 54 RBI from July on. In 2005, he batted .300 with 54 runs, 23 doubles, 16 homers and 51 RBI after the calendar flipped to the seventh month.

In 2007 -- when the Tribe won the Central Division -- it was the opposite. Peralta, prior to a productive postseason, faded down the stretch, batting .261 with seven homers and 22 RBI after the All-Star break (compared to .277 with 14 homers and 50 RBI prior).

You don't need any more stats to tell you this is Peralta's favorite time of year. Somehow, he is available in more than 27 percent of the leagues on ESPN.com.

If that's the case in your league, I'd acquire him faster than you can say white flag.

Laffey does matter: Aaron Laffey is young, a lefty and has a salary that is line with the major-league minimum, which makes him a shoo-in for the Tribe's rotation in 2010.

He's also on a surprisingly effective run during The Peralta Months, allowing four runs or fewer in each of his five starts since returning to the Indians' rotation on July 8.

In that span, Laffey is 2-2 with a 3.19 ERA and 18 strikeouts in 31 innings. He's thrown seven shutout innings or more in two of his last three starts, and he has a respectable 3.58 ERA for the season.

He's available in, oh, 99.3 percent of the ESPN leagues -- which isn't to suggest that you should rush to put in a waiver-wire bid. But in deep mixed leagues in which he qualifies as a reliever, Laffey can be an asset if you'd rather play a reliever who will start once or twice a week.

Laffey won't help you in strikeouts (he has 100 in 200 1/3 career innings), but he doesn't seem to have the Carl Pavano all-or-nothing quality/curse.

If you're an Indians fan, you're probably bitter.

OK, forget probably. I've read too many comments on our Web site and heard too much talk radio today to even think there are more than a handful of Tribe supporters who are in favor of the Cliff Lee trade.

Well, I have some positive news for those of you who believe Mark Shapiro and Eric Wedge are a more notorious tandem than Swann and Stallworth, Roethlisberger and Polamalu or Heidi and Spencer.

If you have Cliff Lee on your fantasy team, you're better today than you were yesterday.

Does that help? A little?

All kidding aside, Lee owners can feel better about the fact that he went from an Indians team that is 18 games below .500 to a Phillies club that entered Wednesday night's game having won 15 of its last 17 games.

Lee, despite a 3.14 ERA that ranks seventh among American League starters with 100 or more innings pitched, is 7-9.

In his nine losses, the Tribe scored a total of 14 runs. The Indians scored one run or fewer in six of the nine defeats, and they failed to score more than four runs in each game.

The Tribe -- even with an offense that ranks fifth in the majors in runs scored and sixth in home runs -- didn't exactly tear the cover off the ball in Lee's seven victories and six no-decisions.

The Indians tallied four runs or fewer in four of Lee's seven wins, and they scored a total of 26 runs in his six no-decisions, including three games with three or fewer.

Lee will pitch the remainder of the season with the defending champs, who entered Wednesday third in all of baseball in runs scored, homers (140), total bases and OPS (.794). The Phillies rank only 14th in hitting (.264), but they make it count when they do connect, thanks to a powerful lineup that is tied for second in MLB with a .451 slugging percentage.

At best, Lee was a No. 3 fantasy starter this season. He might be a low-level No. 1 from this point forward.

Your feelings for ownership, the front office and management might not change, but your championship hopes can.

See, I knew I'd brighten your day.

No?

Carl Pavano's 5.29 earned-run average isn't going to interest you. Neither will his 1.37 WHIP (walks plus hits per inning pitched). Same goes for his track record, which, since 2004, has prominently included "overpaid" and "oft-injured."

Never one to shy away from a monthly split, a look at Pavano's May numbers tell a different story: a 5-1 record, with a 3.60 ERA, eight walks and 34 strikeouts in 45 innings. If the Indians' bullpen would have held the lead Pavano handed it Sunday, the 33-year-old right-hander would have had six wins last month.

More May numbers for Pavano: He allowed three runs or fewer in six of seven starts, and he gave up four runs or fewer in all seven. He's also struck out 24 in 25 1/3 innings in his last four starts.

Does all of this mean you should rush to the free-agent waiver to acquire the pitcher on whom the Yankees wasted $40 million? No. But if you're in an AL-only league or a 14- or 16-team mixed league, Pavano is worth considering.

He's no longer the 18-game winner from 2004, and he's not a big strikeout asset (his 139 K's with Florida five years ago are his career high). But he has been effective, and it doesn't hurt that he's pitching for his next contract.

If he's starting two games in a week, he's certainly worth a look.

We all know the wheels could fall off at any time. Until they do, you could do a lot worse (think Fausto Carmona).

Speaking of Fausto: Why owners continue to start Carmona is more puzzling than LeBron James guarding Rafer Alston instead of Rashard Lewis or Hedo Turkoglu. The young righty is is 2-5 with a 6.60 ERA and is on pace to walk more batters than he strikes out for the second consecutive season. In 10-team mixed leagues, I'd drop him if I needed the roster space, and I wouldn't start him in any format.

Tribe tidbits: If you're hurting at shortstop and continue to start Jhonny Peralta, you can at least feel good about his batting improvement in May (a .297 average, compared to .211 in April). Still, he hit only one homer last month and scored all of eight runs. In deeper leagues, I'd sit him until he regains the power stroke that accounted for a combined 44 homers in 2007 and '08.

-- A sure sign this Indians season isn't going as planned: The Tribe's top two fantasy players have been Asdrubal Cabrera and Shin-Soo Choo. Cabrera, who is batting .318 with 38 runs, 27 RBI and seven steals (he had a combined four stolen bases the previous two seasons), should be started in all formats. I would consider Choo a productive No. 3 outfielder, one who is on pace to hit more than 20 homers, drive in 90-plus runs and steal 18 bases.

-- Cliff Lee's 2-6 record certainly warrants a spot on your bench, but I wouldn't make that move. The 2008 American League Cy Young Award winner has given up three earned runs or fewer in nine consecutive starts, and he has a 3.16 ERA for the season. The only reason he hasn't matched Pavano's win total is the Tribe's production during that nine-start span: 13 runs. His luck has to turn around, and you don't want him to be a reserve when it does.

We'll be back tomorrow with a Pick Three for the week. Until then, good luck and don't even think about reserving a spot in your lineup for Travis Hafner.

The Indians are off to another awful April start. Their starting pitching has been dreadful, and their bullpen is a Kane Davis or Jorge Julio sighting from being even worse.

None of that will stop us from our best Eric Wedge impersonation today. We're going to keep our eyes on the prize, stay focused, continue to grind it out and look at the positives. OK, we're just going to look at the positives -- the Tribe's surprising offensive numbers (stats that are skewed by their 22-4 win over the Yankees on Saturday in The House That George Built and Hitters Love).

Through Sunday, the Indians rank seventh in the major leagues in batting average (.280), are second in runs scored (83), home runs (22), on-base percentage (.380) and OPS (.875). The Indians lead the big leagues in doubles (33), are tied for third in RBI (79) and, here's a shocker, have rung up the most strikeouts (115 in 13 games).

All of which means the following from a fantasy perspective:

-- Every-week starters: Grady Sizemore, Victor Martinez, Mark DeRosa, Travis Hafner and Jhonny Peralta. Sizemore is striking out as much as ever (17 in 54 at-bats) and is batting only .259, but you can't sit that combination of speed and power. ... Martinez's power has returned (he has four homers, which is double his 2008 total), and his .466 OBP doesn't hurt. ... Don't bench DeRosa strictly because of his batting average (.236). The versatile infielder has three homers and 15 RBI in his last eight games. ... Hafner has four homers and eight RBI, but isn't as much of an asset in points leagues that penalize for strikeouts (14 in 42 at-bats). ... Peralta has yet to hit a homer, but he's batting .333 and has an OBP of .404.

-- Backups: Shin-Soo Choo and Asdrubal Cabrera. Choo has three homers and eight RBI in 43 at-bats, and he's a rare member of the Tribe who has more walks (nine) than strikeouts (eight). ... Cabrera has been surprisingly effective (.333, 10 runs scored, one homer, seven RBI and two steals), but should only be started in deeper leagues in which you need infield help.

-- Not much help: Ryan Garko, Kelly Shoppach and Ben Francisco. Garko is batting .300 with a .447 on-base percentage, but he doesn't play every day and has just one homer. That's not enough power at a position as loaded as first base. ... Shoppach, who hit 21 homers last season, doesn't play enough (24 at-bats in 13 games) and has already struck out nine times. ... Even Wedge couldn't find something to like in Francisco's stats (.211, one homer, four RBI).

That sound you just heard was Nick Swisher coming back to earth. The Yankees outfielder, after starting the season 11-for-24 (.458) with four homers and 11 RBI, is 3-for-18 with one run, zero RBI and six strikeouts in his last four games.

Tick, tick, tick ... Fantasy owners who took a chance on Alex Rodriguez in the second, third or fourth rounds might be rewarded sooner than originally thought. A-Rod is already taking batting practice and fielding ground balls, making the original May 15 timetable for his return from hip surgery seem pessimistic. I'm no doctor, and I don't play one on the Internet, but here's a guess: A-Rod will be in all fantasy lineups by the start of Week 6 on Monday, May 11 -- at the latest.

You don't need me to tell you to bench Chien-Ming Wang. But I wouldn't drop him, as is happening in many leagues, even with that slow-pitch softball ERA (34.50).

Pick three

In the fantasy baseball column that was published in Saturday's editions, I wrote about three free agents who were worth picking up in deeper leagues (Kyle Davies, Chris Duncan and Randy Winn), with the rule of thumb that each player must be available in more than half of the leagues on ESPN.com.

Let's look at three more:

Denard Span, OF, Twins -- He's young (25), fast (three stolen bases this year, and 18 in 347 at-bats last season) and drives in a decent amount of runs (nine this season, 47 in a little more than half a season in 2008). He's also batting .300 and has been so effective that the playing time of Carlos Gomez (.200) and Delmon Young (.212) has suffered.

Jason Kubel, DH, Twins -- He hit for the cycle on Friday, which only jumped his ownership percentage to 7.4 entering Sunday night on ESPN.com. The fact Kubel is only a DH limits you, but he'll hit for power (a combined 33 homers in 881 at-bats in 2007 and '08) and his batting average (.333) and OPS (.939) are too good to pass up as a low-end starter in 12-team leagues.

Zach Duke, SP, Pirates -- His poor outing Sunday notwithstanding, Duke has resembled his 2005 rookie self (8-2, 1.81 ERA), not the 18-37 train wreck from 2006-08. The lefty is 2-1 with a 2.95 ERA. The negative: He won't help you much in the strikeout department (11 in 20 2/3 innings this season, and 314 in 613 career innings).

That does it for this week. Good luck, keep your head up and (channeling my inner Eric Wedge) remember there's a lot of baseball left to be played.