The Major League Baseball trading deadline is coming up on Wednesday and with less than 48 hours left for teams to deal with each other, franchises are quickly trying to assess how close they are to making a playoff run or a wild card run and deciding what spots need more depth and some of the most active teams over the final day could be the Los Angeles Dodgers, Boston Red Sox, Chicago White Sox, St. Louis Cardinals and Cleveland Indians. Deal rumors are flying now about Ian Kennedy and the Angels and Padres are in on trying to snag him.
Many players have been rumored around the league in deals including Cliff Lee, Josh Johnson, Mark Buehrle, Michael Young, Carlos Ruiz, Alex Rios and Phil Hughes among many others. There are many teams on the edge of being out of the playoff race and in a completely lost season, like the Mariners, Angels and Royals and those teams will get calls about their players. Kansas City has some options in Ervin Santana and Greg Holland, as a number of teams have closer needs and starting pitching needs.
The Mariners looked like total sellers earlier in July, but after a fantastic stretch that included an eight game winning streak, the team came oh so close to .500 and that may stop general manager Jack Zduriencik from opening the floodgates. The team entered July with names like Raul Ibanez, Kendrys Morales, Oliver Perez, Brendan Ryan and Michael Morse as possible trade targets for other teams, but instead after the winning streak, the M's appear to be sitting tight. The Mariners brought up young prospects Brad Miller and Nick Miller and that has helped fuel some offensive power for the team.
The Braves made a move in the bullpen after losing two key members in Johnny Venters and Eric O'Flaherty and brought in Scott Downs and they could go after a starting pitcher after losing Tim Hudson to a gruesome ankle injury. The Dodgers made an early move with Ricky Nolasco and the Texas Rangers made a splash with Matt Garza and they could continue to deal as they look for some offensive relief. Brian Wilson is getting interest from some teams and Hunter Pence could be an option after Travis Snider hit the DL and Alex Rios has also been named as a possible option.
The Chicago White Sox and Chicago Cubs are both having tough seasons and are sellers at the deadline and the White Sox already parted ways with Jesse Crain to the Rays and Matt Thornton to the Red Sox. The Detroit Tigers took care of their bullpen issues with a trade of Jose Veras and some other relievers that could move include Perez and Holland as well as closer Kevin Gregg. Alfonso Soriano was moved to the Yankees and some other names include Huston Street, Luke Gregerson, Jake Peavy and of course Cliff Lee, but that is looking impossible.
