Dear Alex Rodriguez,

Or should I address you as "A-Rod?" Yeah, that sounds good. Certainly easier to type, anyway.

At any rate, I hear you're on the comeback trail. It's been almost four full months since you had surgery on your left hip, and the word on Monday from Adam Berry of MLB.com was that you can finally participate in some baseball activities.

The word after your surgery was that there was a chance you could return to the New York Yankees around the All-Star break. That sounded optimistic at first, but now it sounds about right. In fact, it sounds like you may even be back on the field before Derek Jeter.

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As the contenders begin to separate themselves from the pretenders, it’s important to remember that it’s a long season, and that the 25-man rosters taking the field in May could look much different in August and September, when each win and loss at least feels like it has more meaning.

Some teams get healthier. Others call up reinforcements from the minors. And then there are the fortunate teams who are rich in prospect depth and can add impact talent in a trade.

Of course, a team doesn’t need to have the deepest farm system to acquire a front-line pitcher or impact bat. The Angels, considered to have very little prospect depth at the time, gave up three of their best prospects, including shortstop Jean Segura, for two months of Zack Greinke. A weak farm system got even weaker, but they were willing to take the risk.

The Texas Rangers added a pretty good starting pitcher in Ryan Dempster without giving up much from one of the deepest farm systems in baseball. They could’ve easily outbid the Angels for Greinke, but chose to hold onto all their best prospects.

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Waiting patiently for the day when Washington Nationals ace Stephen Strasburg becomes the next Justin Verlander? You know, as in a guy who's both extremely talented and extremely durable?

Here's a hint: Don't do that. 

Strasburg is never going to be Verlander's equal, nor is he going to be up there with any of Major League Baseball's great aces who are also tireless workhorses. That's not the life Strasburg has been cut out for.

Before you object, let's be clear about one thing: We're not talking about a question of talent. If talent is a matter of stuff and command, then Strasburg has those two areas pretty well covered.

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While the Phillies didn’t have an all-out “fire sale” in 2012, they obviously felt their chances for a playoff spot were slim when they traded away starting outfielders Hunter Pence and Shane Victorino on July 31st.

And who could blame them? At the time of the deal, they were in last place with a 45-57 record and 13 games out of a wild-card spot. They did receive some much-needed bullpen help with Josh Lindblom coming over from the Dodgers in the Victorino trade, but it was evident that both trades were part of a movement toward the future.

In the Pence trade, the Phillies landed prospect Tommy Joseph, who could be the team’s next starting catcher with Carlos Ruiz set to become a free agent after the season, and right-hander Seth Rosin, who has a 3.24 ERA with three walks and 25 strikeouts in 33.1 Double-A innings this season.

In addition to Lindblom, pitching prospect Ethan Martin also came over from the Dodgers. The former first-round pick is struggling in Triple-A (6.35 ERA in six starts), but he was ranked the No. 6 prospect in the organization by Baseball Prospectus prior to the season and allowed just one earned run in six innings on Monday.

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We can put the Clay Buchholz doctoring controversy to bed. After watching him in his latest start against the Minnesota Twins on Monday night, I'm convinced that Buchholz is no cheater.

Odd timing, I know. 

Buchholz was accused of cheating just a couple of days ago, and his first post-accusations start saw him get roughed up for the first time all season. The Red Sox ultimately walked away with a 6-5 win in 11 innings, but not before the Twins got to Buchholz for four earned runs on seven hits and two walks in six innings.

And yes, I'm the same guy who was willing to conclude that Jack Morris and Dirk Hayhurst, Buchholz's two primary accusers, had gripes that were more legit than many fans wanted to believe. After watching him struggle just a couple of days after he got accused of cheating, shouldn't a skeptic like myself be fanning the flames?

No, and I'll tell you why right now.

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On Monday night, the Arizona Diamondbacks will begin a three-game set against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium. Nothing out of the ordinary for Kirk Gibson's D-Backs. Just an early May series that will likely count for little in the grand scheme of the 2013 season.

But do you think Gibson has any idea it's been 25 years? Since, you know, it. 

Yeah, it's been that long. Not exactly that long, mind you, as Game 1 of the 1988 World Series between the Dodgers and Oakland A's took place on Oct. 15. If the Diamondbacks are still playing on that date this year, Gibson will no doubt have to answer an endless stream of questions about it.

But since there's no guarantee that Gibson's D-Backs are still going to be playing on that date, much less a guarantee that they'll be playing at the very park where it all went down, we might as well recognize the 25th anniversary of it now while the getting's good.

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Prior to the season, I named six teams that appeared to have enough hitting depth to make a trade during the regular season. None of the six teams—Detroit Tigers, Los Angeles Dodgers, Seattle Mariners, St. Louis Cardinals, Texas Rangers, Washington Nationals—have made a trade yet, but they could have some decent trade chips should they go shopping for some help down the stretch.

Surprise teams like the Red Sox and Rockies are also looking particularly deep in hitting talent and could have the ability to trade from that area of strength later in the season. In fact, the Rockies' fast start (18-13) has removed names like Dexter Fowler and Carlos Gonzalez from trade rumors. The Sox could have several Triple-A regulars, including Jackie Bradley Jr., Bryce Brentz, Jose Iglesias and Ryan Lavarnway, receiving strong interest from "sellers" at the trade deadline.  

Here’s an update on the six teams I chose in the offseason and whether their organizational hitting depth is still strong. 

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Exit Don Mattingly, enter Mike Scioscia at Chavez Ravine?

Ken Rosenthal of FoxSports.com thinks it could happen after the 2013 season is in the books. He's of the mind that Scioscia's tenure with the Los Angeles Angels has run its course, and he's not wrong about that.

He may be the longest-tenured manager in baseball, but Scioscia no longer boasts the influence within the Angels or the success on the field that he used to. It hasn't gotten ugly yet, but his partnership with the Angels is definitely trending in that direction.

Instead of quitting after 2013, however, what Scioscia could do is sit down with Angels owner Arte Moreno and talk him into dealing him to another club, a la the trade that sent John Farrell from the Toronto Blue Jays to the Boston Red Sox this past winter.

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