It’s hard to believe that the 2013 Major League Baseball season is quickly coming up on the All-Star break, which ultimately means that it‘s crunch time for teams to stock up on surging talent to help take them deep, or even get into the playoffs. For the first time in a number of years every division appears to be somewhat evenly matched, so a huge salary dump for some teams might not necessarily be in the cards… with the exception of the Chicago Cubs. No matter who the buyers and seller s are, the next month is certainly going to get the rumor mill churning, all the way through until the July 31st deadline. As it stands now a few teams are clearly in need of a little something extra besides a new flavor of Gatorade and a prayer circle in the clubhouse. Expect these six teams to be taking the Dan Aykroyd approach in “Trading Places” very soon, “Buy ‘em!”
New York Yankees
Despite such a hot start and an immediate need to bring in some new faces (Vernon Wells, Lyle Overbay and Travis Hafner) to replace the decaying veterans (Derek Jeter, Mark Teixeira and Curtis Granderson) while they were, and still currently are on injury-laden sabbaticals, the New York Yankees have found themselves only a handful of games out from the American league Eastern Division lead. Robinson Cano has been the only sparkle in the team’s offense who are hitting .238 as a team. The last few years have been good to the Yankees on account of the bat, but now their lack of bringing in younger, mend able hitters has finally caught up to them. If there’s a way to move Brennan Boesch and Reid Brignac for one stud hitter, plus to free up some bench space, they might be able to pull some kind of a miracle off. That move isn’t very likely, but that would certainly help with things for the rest of this season.
Pittsburgh Pirates
Believe it or not, the Pittsburgh pirates are currently 14 games over .500. Now, the real quest will be for them to stay that way until the end of September. Even with the recent losses of A.J. Burnett and Wandy Rodriguez the Pirates pitching has been solid. In fact, their BAA is the best in the Majors at .229 and their team ERA is the third best in the Majors at 3.24. Their problem? Lack of hitting. Obviously Andrew McCutchen and Starling Marte get a free pass, but it’s pretty sad when James McDonald, a pitcher, has the fifth-best batting average on the team at .276. Pedro Alvarez can hit bombs (17), but that’s about it. It might be time to move guys like Garrett Jones or Gaby Sanchez and a decent pitcher to get a little bit of fire in the batting order.
Washington Nationals
The projected winners of the National League Eastern Division and projected World Series participants are having some minor issues. Despite a few shaky starts from Ross Detwiler, Gio Gonzalez and Stephen Strasburg the Nationals’ pitching is just fine… just so long as they never start Dan Haren ever again. The batting on the other hand is just as bad as the Pirates’ situation. So far this season it’s been all Bryce Harper, Ryan Zimmerman and Ian Desmond. Everyone else went back to playing like the Nationals of old. The Nats currently own the third to last batting average in the Majors (.233) and are almost in the same position when it comes to scoring as they’ve only plated 254 runs. Somehow this team went from the best record in baseball last season to a never ending ride on the struggle bus and the only person they lost from last season was Michael Morse. With the talent the Nationals have in the Majors and minors, expect them to do whatever it takes.
Texas Rangers
The Texas Rangers are still a bit bitter from their early exit from the 2012 postseason and they’re surely a team that will do whatever it takes to get back to the World Series. With Matt Harrison slated to return to the starting rotation soon and only one game separating them from the division lead over the Oakland Athletics, the Rangers only need two minor components to their arsenal to make them dominant again; a starting pitcher and one more power hitter. Lance Berkman and A.J. Pierzynski have been marvelous offseason additions to the club, but the loss of Josh Hamilton and Mike Napoli really thwarted them on the long ball, especially when they play in a hitter-friendly ballpark. No starting pitcher has come even remotely close to keeping up with Yu Darvish’s numbers so it would be key for the Rangers to get that last quality arm in the rotation… or keep relying upon Tanner Scheppers for quality relief and letting him get credit for the win.
San Diego Padres
As it stands now, the San Diego Padres are probably one of the worst teams in the running for a possible playoff spot. Everything about them, pitching, hitting, scoring, etc. is ranked 15th or worse in the Majors… but they are improving. Everth Cabrera has been the unofficial leader on offense while Jason Marquis has been winning games despite giving up a fair share of runs. As duct taped together as this team is, there is a lot of quality and promise within. With that, it might be easier for an aging team to cut loose some of their veterans in the hopes that they’ll have a future to build on with a new crop of players. Realistically, this might be the only shot the Padres have. Teams who may be interested in a trade with the Padres: Yankees, Seattle Mariners, Los Angeles Dodgers, Milwaukee Brewers and the St. Louis Cardinals, but only if the Cardinals receive pitching prospects.