Monday, July 28, 2008

MLB trade talk circulates, hot players maybe up for sale

With the deadline date closing in a few days teams in the hunt for October scramble to work out negotiations and reel in new talent. Everyone knows the St. Louis Cardinals are in the market for pitching. They have their eye on A.J. Burnett and Roy Halladay. To swing a deal for either pitcher the Cardinals will have to unload prospects and possibly a few infielders or outfielders. With Chris Carpenter set to return this week the club wants to strengthen their rotation. I think they'd have to give up too much for Halladay at this point in the season and are better off passing at the notion. Boston may be finally saying farewell to Manny Ramirez. Do the Red Sox really want the All-Star outfielder who lead to two World Series out of town? Seems to me it's a bluff to make Manny wait out to end of the season for a new contract or free agency.

Other teams in the fold to unleash trades are the Braves, Rockies, Phillies, and D-Rays. Nobody has a place in their lineup for Mark Teixeira so he's actually out of the picture and it would be dumb to trade him as he's a good building block for the franchise. Still the Braves won't make the playoffs and have to look towards next year. Colorado is willing to let go of closer Brian Fuentes for the right exchange. With the injuries to key players the Rockies have a need for another good hitter. In the NL, Adam Dunn, Jason Bay, and Randy Winn all of which are outfielders have been speculated to be on the market to move.

The Mets have shown interest in picking up another outfielder to cope with injuries to their lineup. Out of the three guys Bay would be a nice fit for them. He's got good power and can play different positions in the outfield. With New York on top in the NL East the Phillies better strike a deal too if they want to compete for the division title. One of these teams in search of an extra weapon for a late season run for the postseason must pull out the stops to at least clinch the wildcard.

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