On December 11th, Cleveland dealt Matt Lawton and cash to Pittsburgh for Arthur Rhodes and cash. Given that one year and $7.25M remains on Lawton's contract while two years and around $7.4M remain on Rhodes' contract, the salary burden exchanged is similar. Reportedly, the money in the deal will help spread the cost more evenly over the next two seasons rather than adding a big chuck to the Pirates payroll this year and relieving them of all costs in 2006.