Attention, K-Mart shoppers. There's a blue-light special on an aging first baseman on Aisle 6. Middle relievers with multi-year contracts are 2-for-1 on Aisle 9. Don't forget to get the rebate coupons when you pick up your middle infielder on Aisle 23.

	The Pirates can't be happy with what they've gotten from Derek Bell this season.

According to the word on the street, the bottom is about to fall out of the market for teams trying to unload players in mid-season deals. This is not so much because supply exceeds demand, but because there aren't very many teams with money in their piggy banks.

The free agent orgy of last winter left many of the traditional buyers -- teams like Arizona, Los Angeles, Cleveland, Boston and even the New York Yankees -- digging under the couch cushions to find a way to take on more salary. Not too many of the high-profile signings delivered the expected results, either.

Here's a quick ranking of the ones that have boomeranged:

1. Alex Rodriguez: How 'bout those Rangers, anyway? They've changed managers and pitching coaches but still haven't found a way to take their hopelessly overmatched pitching staff out of the equation. While the Mariners soar without him, Texas hasn't yet had a winning month with A-Rod. His $252 million deal may yet force GM Doug Melvin to trade future Hall of Famer Ivan Rodriguez, who impacts wins and losses more than the stylish shortstop. Imagine how bad this deal would look if A-Rod wasn't on track for 45 homers and 132 RBI.

2. Darren Dreifort: Skeptics win again. Fifty-five million over five years is still a lot to give a pitcher with a 39-45 career record. It was bad luck that Dreifort was forced to undergo his second Tommy John surgery, but he was 4-7 with a 5.13 ERA at the time his elbow blew. Kevin Malone's commitment to Dreifort and Andy Ashby (three years, $27 million) will make it tough for his successors to keep Kevin Brown and Chan Ho Park together.

3. Todd Hundley: It was a nice, romantic idea to make the slugging Hundley a second-generation Cub. But after unsuccessfully pursuing Mike Hampton, Andy MacPhail had money to blow and gave Hundley a four-year deal worth $23.5 million. He started the season in a fog (.179-4-19 in 46 games) and has spent the last month in the minor leagues, seemingly as much an outcast as a rehab project. He's due back any day, but manager Don Baylor appears intent to stick with Joe Girardi and minor-league free agent Robert Machado as his catchers, perhaps leaving Hundley to move Bobby Valentine to second on the list of managers he least enjoyed playing for.

4. Mike Hampton: The hitting's good in Colorado, both for Hampton and the guys batting against him. Both he and Denny Neagle brought a great attitude to their daunting assignment at Coors Field but couldn't make a difference. They are a respectable 16-11 with a combined 4.72 ERA and the Rockies have imploded around them. Hampton has a doggedness that says this move may work out in the long run, but you can bet that Dan O'Dowd's going to get a slugger the next time he spends $121 million.

5. Derek Bell: Did anyone except Cam Bonifay ever think baseball's best-known yachtsman was going to help make the first season at PNC Park a success?

In order to avoid charges of negativity, here's an abridged listing of last winter's best signings:

1. Ichiro Suzuki: Duh.

2. Manny Ramirez: There's not much that can't be forgiven or overlooked when you can hit the way Manny does.

3. Bret Boone: Don't you wish Pat Gillick had been managing your 401K account?

4. Juan Gonzalez: If he never signs another multi-year contract, he might make it to the Hall of Fame.

5. Jeff Fassero and Flash Gordon: Manna from the rooftops for the Bleacher Bums.

Spotlight on: Jim Thome, 1B, Indians

	Jim Thome First Base Cleveland Indians Profile
	2001 SEASON STATISTICS GM HR RBI R SB AVG 93 31 83 64 0 .297

You might as well give out the plaques right now. Your players of the month are Thome in the American League and the Astros' Jeff Bagwell in the National League. Between them, they've already driven in 65 runs. But only one has delivered on a Ruthian request.

Before last Thursday's game at Comiskey Park, 15-year-old Brandon Thome asked his uncle to hit two homers. He was attending the game only a little more than a month after having been paralyzed from the waist down in a swimming pool accident.

Thome delivered a solo homer off Sean Lowe in the third inning. Then he hit a two-run shot off Bob Howry in the eighth. He's hit 10 homers in 20 games this month, raising his total to 31, but he might never again hit one that will mean more than the one off Howry.

"He told me before the game, 'I don't mean to put any pressure on you, but why don't you hit two home runs for me tonight?' " Thome said. "I got both balls for him."

Despite Thome's monster month (.397-10-34), the Indians have managed only a 12-12 record since June 27. But they are 8-4 since the All-Star break and took a percentage-points lead over fading Minnesota on Monday.

It's been a big year for Thome. He broke Albert Belle's club record for career homers and has a shot at setting career highs for homers (40 in 1997) and RBI (116 in '96). But Cleveland manager Charlie Manuel has another mark in mind.

"Jimmy Thome should hit .300," Manuel said. "If he hits .300, we're going to be more than happy with the number of homers he hits."

Thome was hitting .297 through Monday.

New face: McKay Christensen, CF, Dodgers
Talk about making the most of an opportunity. Christensen, acquired from the White Sox in a minor-league trade on July 13, has gone 10-for-14 in three games since Los Angeles placed centerfielder Tom Goodwin on the disabled list. Pretty impressive for a guy who had batted .197 in stints with the White Sox since 1999.

"They have done a great job of making me feel comfortable," the 25-year-old Christensen said about Los Angeles. "I've never been on a team that has done a better job of that, from the manager to the whole staff and the players."

Christensen contributed to 22-7 and 9-8 victories over the Rockies at Coors Field. He drove in four runs on Saturday, then had four hits and two stolen bases on Sunday.

He kept his wits about him after allowing a single by Brent Butler go through his legs and to the fence in the second inning of Sunday's game. "When that inning was over, we had a dozen or more guys go over there and pat him on the rear end and say, 'Forget it. It's over with. We move on,' " Dodgers manager Jim Tracy said.

Christensen, a standout tailback in high school, was a first-round pick of Anaheim in 1994 but lost two developmental seasons while on a Mormon mission in Japan. The White Sox stole him in a trade for Jim Abbott but never got him to hit enough to work into their crowded outfield situation. He was hitting .275 with Triple-A Charlotte when the Dodgers acquired him -- it's no coincidence that former Sox assistant GM Dan Evans is assisting Dave Wallace in the GM role -- and had gone 1-for-20 with Triple-A Las Vegas before joining Los Angeles.

"Any time you can start off well it helps," Christensen said. "Getting the first hit out of the way relaxed a lot of pressure on me, and now I can just focus on helping the team."

Teams to watch: Rockies and Reds
Really. Between now and the trading deadline, no teams will be followed as closely by scouts as the ones who have had the bottom fall out of their hopes to contend.

Only those with total recall still remember, but Bob Boone's Reds were one of the good-news stories of April. They came out of the gate 15-10 and were tied for the NL Central lead on May 1. Since then, they're a cool 22-52. Yikes.

No wonder first baseman Sean Casey inserts his own name into trade rumors. "We're going to trade a .330 hitter?" Casey asked about Dmitri Young. "We're going to trade a .330 switch-hitter? We're going to trade a .330 switch-hitter who can play four positions? They would be better off trading me."

That's not likely. But you know GM Jim Bowden isn't going to stop with the deals that sent Rob Bell to Texas, Alex Ochoa to Colorado and Michael Tucker to the Cubs. The way he is, maybe he'll get Jose Rijo a couple of starts before the deadline and then try to trade him. The Reds possibly on the trading block include Pokey Reese, Danny Graves and Pete Harnisch.

As for the Rockies, they signed Hampton and Neagle expecting to go head-to-head with Arizona, San Francisco and Los Angeles in the NL West. As recently as June 17, Buddy Bell's team was 36-33 and only 5½ games out of the lead. But the Rockies are 5-22 since then -- the worst extended stretch in the franchise's history.

GM Dan O'Dowd is poised to scrap his plan for battling the thin air with speedy outfielders and pitchers who specialize in throwing strikes. The Rockies have been showcasing Pedro Astacio but lots of other trade possibilities are in play, including one that could send shortstop Neifi Perez to Houston for a gaggle of prospects.

Series to watch
Tigers at Yankees, Tuesday through Thursday

George Steinbrenner's fuse was lit when the world champs lost a series at Comerica Park. His temper could detonate if Phil Garner's pesky team wins at Yankee Stadium.

Detroit is 4-2 against New York this season, with both losses coming to Roger Clemens. The Tigers are averaging 6.8 runs per game against the Yankees. They're playing well against some other teams, too.

Amidst rumors that GM Randy Smith is about to unload Roger Cedeno and Tony Clark, Detroit has played .500 ball (21-21) since June 5. Garner needs a sprint to the finish to avoid his ninth consecutive losing season as a manager.

The good news for the Tigers is Clemens won't work in this series. Andy Pettitte faces knuckleballer Steve Sparks in the series opener on Tuesday. Joe Torre will turn to Ted Lilly and Randy Keisler in the next two games. He must do so with some reservations. Lilly, Keisler and Brett Jodie have combined to go 0-3 with a 7.89 ERA in five starts since the All-Star break.

Lilly faces Jose Lima on Wednesday; Keisler goes against Chris Holt Thursday. Brian Cashman will watch all games with a cell phone in his hand.

Phil Rogers is the national baseball writer for the Chicago Tribune, which has a web site at www.chicagosports.com.