So long, J-Mike.

Indians beat writer Anthony Castrovince has confirmed that Jason Michaels will be DFA'd to make room for Ben Francisco.

As The Diatriber has mentioned early and often, Jason Michaels has been pretty superfluous on this team, more so since he's not been producing.

What will this solve? On the surface, not a lot. Francisco has not exactly been lighting it up at Buffalo this year. Dellucci will likely still get most of the starts in left field, since right now he is the third-most productive hitter in the lineup behind Grady and Victor. I suspect that this also means that we see more of Dellucci at DH and Pronk on the bench against pitchers that have given Hafner fits.

This is a message move - even if you're a veteran, your job is not safe if you don't produce quality at-bats. I'm looking at you, Casey Blake. Will it work? Who knows? It worked last year when The Beaded One was brought up to supplant Josh Barfield. How many times can you go to this well?

The other question is - will anyone want J-Mike? Can we at least get a low-ceiling prospect for him? He has shown some signs of at least playing like a major leaguer lately (7 for his last 20), so there might be an NL team that could use him as a bat off the bench and willing to give up a little something for him. Stay tuned.