PITTSBURGH – As the July 31 trade deadline approaches, two lukewarm rumors have the Pirates in a position to add payroll and on the trail of Fausto Carmona, the Cleveland Indians pitcher.

When I approached general manager Neal Huntington about this before the blood bath against the Milwaukee Brewers on Thursday night, he said, “I’ve learned not to comment on rumors. The rumors seem to get sillier every day, and it would take 70 percent of my job to address all of them. It’s best that I don’t say anything.”

So is these rumors are among the sillier ones?

“Once again, I’d rather not say anything,” he said. “I hope that you understand.”

Huntington also told reporters earlier in the day, “We talk about the balance between the long term and the short term all the time,” Huntington said. “You want to keep the momentum as you move forward, and if that allows us to take a big step forward as an organization, it’s something that we have to look at (seriously). We’ll try to be beyond the fall-back position and the prospect-accumulation mode and try to build a major league team here, and each one of those moves will be factored in as we move forward.”

Hmmm. Maybe the Carmona idea isn’t off-the-charts silly, after all.  

In some respects, the 26-year-old Carmona appears to be the kind of pitcher that fits the Pirates plan as it stands now. For one, their rotation needs a young right-hander that can throw hard in the worst way. Carmona also has a reasonable seven-figure salary. He reportedly is owed $4.9 million for the rest of this season and $6.1 million in the 2011 campaign. His contract has a series of options through the 2014 season.

The question is, does Carmona have enough upside to merit such a long-term commitment?

After two forgettable seasons, Carmona appears to have righted himself. In 19 starts, he has a 9-7 record and 3.65 earned run average for a fourth-place team. At the same time, some scouts will tell you that Carmona maxed out three years ago, when he was a 19-game winner.

Huntington knows Carmona well from his Indians days. As the GM said after Carmona beat his team a few weeks ago, “When Fausto is on, he’s a quality pitcher.” And when he’s not . . .

Then there’s this: What do the Indians want for him? It would take a combination of major league regulars and/or high-level prospects to make the deal, and the Pirates don’t have an abundance of either one at the moment.

Whether or not Carmona or anyone else comes aboard in the next few days, merely to have this discussion is a positive step forward for the organization. At least there is talk that it will be a buyer and seller before the trade deadline, and when was the last time that happened?