Paul De Podesta has found a new, non-Oakland-or-Toronto trading partner: the Detroit Tigers. Continuing to exchange pitching for position players, the Dodger general manager traded Steve Colyer to Detroit for Cody Ross.

Ross, a right-handed hitting 23-year-old outfielder, will probably add outfield depth at AAA - at least until DePodesta decides that Jason Romano isn't worth the Jim Tracy infatuation. "Don't call me Dave" Ross has averaged 18 home runs in the past three minor league seasons and was eighth in the International League in EQA in 2003.

Baseball Prospectus suggests in its 2004 yearbook that the Tigers found Ross expendable because of his height (he's listed at 5-foot-10). Ross also had a torn anterior cruciate ligament.

Certainly, the Dodger pitching depth isn't what it was a week ago, with Colyer and Jason Frasor gone and Paul Shuey injured. My sense is that DePodesta believes that mid-caliber relief pitching is more easily found than mid-caliber hitting, at least in Los Angeles - and that DePodesta feels that right now, with the chance for a big offseason acquisition lost, the best way to improve the Dodgers is incrementally.

At the same time, it's interesting that DePodesta would rather have Cody Ross than a combination of Colyer and Bubba Trammell.