Jose

Cruz Jr.

The Rays could be interested in one of Houston’s third basemen, either Mike Lamb or Morgan Ensberg. They’re not asking for much in return for Cruz since he’ll make $4 million next season.

Cruz would likely come cheaper and play better than Eric Byrnes. Still, it’s unclear if there’s a fit here. The Rays will be looking for young pitching and the Diamondbacks don’t have that much to surrender.

''He is a guy who takes walks and has stolen bases,’' Melvin said. ''I’m looking at a lot of different things.’' First makes more sense than second, but sixth is our guess for where he’ll open the season. Unfortunately, that could mean the Diamondbacks will go with the lethal combo of Craig Counsell and Royce Clayton at the top of the lineup.

Alou wanted to give Pedro Feliz another start, but didn’t trust the inexperienced outfielder with the winds. Cruz entered Tuesday batting just .132 over his previous 14 games, and Alou has dropped him to eighth in the batting order.

Cruz looked fine while trotting around the bases yesterday. He’s not expected to miss any time.

Cruz is off to a fantastic start, hitting .394 with a 1171 OPS.

Although they’re not locked into it yet, the Rangers have decided that they’d like to keep Mark Teixeira at first base for 2004. If Cruz is signed, he would play right field initially and possibly switch to center at some point.

It’s looking as if the Rays prefer signing a right fielder to bringing in a DH and leaving Aubrey Huff in the outfield.

''It probably becomes a little more mental than anything else,’' manager Lou Piniella said. ''Sometimes the best thing, believe it or not, is just to sit out a day or two and get the cobwebs out and start anew. Because he surely didn’t forget how to hit.’' Cruz’s average is down to .200.

Cruz entered the game late Saturday, and has played in 132 of the Giants’ first 133 games, but he’s 1-for-12 on the current road trip, .247 overall, and has only one homer since July 13. Cruz leads the Giants with 99 strikeouts and should be benched in fantasy leagues until he starts hitting.