The clock is quickly winding down as the top teams in each division of the American league are trying to make adjustments in order to make that final push into the postseason. With home field advantage in the World Series all ready locked up, the last thing “to-do” list is to find suitable replacements on the open market in order to make each team as well-rounded on both sides of the ball as humanly possible. While most teams are sitting pretty with what they have, here is a small list of tweaks that could and should be looked upon.
Boston Red Sox (61-42)
It’s no real surprise that the Boston red Sox have the best offense in baseball; however, in the grand scheme of things they could certainly use a third baseman and a shortstop who doesn’t routinely fly out, strike out or hit into double plays. Will Middlebrooks, the chosen replacement of Kevin Youkilis, the Greek God of Walks, is hardly cutting the mustard with his bat at a staggering .192. The same goes for Stephen Drew at short who is topping out at .225. Fortunately for the Red Sox Jose Iglesias has been lighting it up with a .343 average; the only problem is that there’s only one of him and two positions which he is more than capable of covering. In this case it would obviously be smart to keep Iglesias in the game and perhaps dish both Drew and Middlebrooks to a willing buyer in order to find one solid replacement at either position.
On the opposite side of the ball the Red Sox are in serious need of a solid starting pitcher or three. The loss of Clay Buchholz hasn’t exactly killed the team; however, his 9-0 record and 1.71 ERA a truly missed. John Lackey has been having himself a bit of a revived year, Jon Lester and Felix Doubront are doing an above average job, but Ryan Dempster is one step away from having full bottles of Samuel Adams Light hurled at them by the Fenway Faithful with his sub-.500 record and 4.28 ERA to blame. Spot starting Alfredo Aceves works every now-and-then, but John Farrell needs someone more reliable to help keep the Sox on top. With Matt Garza of the table now, the list of potential trade acquisitions is looking a bit bleak.
Tampa Bay Rays (60-42)
From literally out of nowhere, the Tampa Bay Rays are only a half game away from tying the Red Sox for the best record in the AL… and they’ve somehow managed to pull it off despite the fact that only two players are hitting above .276: James Loney and greenhorn Wil Myers. It’s hard to really criticize their offense too, as their team average is the ninth-best in the Majors at .262 and their 475 runs is the sixth-best overall. What needs to be fixed then you might be asking? Pitching… sort of.
Clearly Matt Moore and Jeremy Hellickson are just fine, and Alex Cobb and David Price have done excellent work as well. This leaves Roberto Hernandez, formerly Fausto Carmona, who has been getting rocked with his 5-11 record. The Rays are still hoping that Chris Archer can meet the potential that he possesses, but it’s certainly taking a bit of time. As it stands, Hernandez needs to sent down or moved and the Rays need to cut loose a prospect or two in order to bring a heavy hitting starter who can help finish the job they started in 2008.
Detroit Tigers (56-45)
There’s little-to-no doubt that the Detroit Tigers will walk away with yet another AL Central title, what with the hands down best offense in baseball to lead the charge. Even with reigning MVP and 2012 Triple Crown-winner Miguel Cabrera still out with a hip flexor injury, the Tigers have been getting stunning production out of Torii Hunter and Victor Martinez in his absence. But, like last year, and the previous year and every other year going back to 2006, the Tigers need some kind of help in their bullpen.
Only two members of the pen have been reliable this season: Drew Smyly, who has done great work as a long-reliever behind his 4-0 record and 1.80 ERA and newly appointed closer Joaquin Benoit who has been near lights out since being named to the Kyra Sedgwick role (“The Closer”) a little over two weeks ago. Despite giving up a few hits, Benoit has only walked three batters and has yet to record an earned run since June 23rd (11 appearances). But even with those numbers, the rest of the bullpen is non-existent and about as reliable as a Ford Explorer with factory Firestone tires back in 1999; gruesome.
Texas Rangers (56-46)
If there was ever an above average team lucky to be playing in a weak division and having success, it’s certainly the Texas Rangers. Offensively the Rangers are actually doing all right as their .260 team average is the 10th-best in the majors behind the power and consistency of Adrian Beltre and Nelson Cruz. But even though the Rangers keep winning games, it’s the starting rotation that has come apart at the seams and is in desperate need of repair.
Within the last 48 hours the Rangers were smart enough to bring in one guy who could definitely give their starting rotation a real shot in the arm, Garza. With the Chicago Cubs in interleague, Garza was light out against the AL West and it shouldn’t be any bit of an issue for him to readjust to the league in which he originally cut his teeth. Derek Holland (8-5) and Yu Darvish (9-4) are mustering wins here and there, and their ERAs aren’t too shabby either 3.10 and 2.86 respectively. However, the rest of the rotation, which has consisted of Justin Grimm, Nicholas Tepesch, Alexi Ogando and Martin Perez are all barely treading water. If it wasn’t for their solid bullpen to occasionally bail them out, the Rangers would probably have 8-12 less wins.
Oakland Athletics (59-43)
Speaking of teams who are somehow dominating when they shouldn’t be, the Oakland Athletics are near the bottom of the list in team batting with a .243 average, which is good enough for a 22nd place finish. If anything, the Athletics really need to get some more solid bats in the lineup as Josh Donaldson and Jed Lowrie can’t do all the work by themselves. Even their runs-scored has taken a dip down to ninth-place with 448. Like the Rangers, it’s become a bit of a mystery as to why the Athletics are sitting three games up in the AL West. The answer, solid pitching.
The Athletics have always been notorious for having a great starting rotation and amazing bullpen; however, this year the rotation has been predominately carried by one very large man, Bartolo Colon, who is currently sitting on a 13-3 record with a 2.52 ERA. After that, A.J. Griffin, Tom Milone and Jarrod Parker are all playing slightly below their abilities. What’s truly unusual is that the bullpens win-loss numbers aren’t really that impressive, but their ability to freeze batter and prevent runners on the bases is what truly serves as the bread and butter.