New York Yankees
The Yankees have problems in the rotation and could use some bullpen help. Having been linked to Ubaldo Jimenez recently, that ship seems to have sailed. The Rockies have no need to trade Jimenez just as the Diamondbacks had no need to trade Upton in the winter, they were just gauging value and were set to see if a team was willing to blow them out of the water.
The Yankees likely understand that their rotation is not quite playoff caliber and will look to upgrade it somehow. There are not many top flight starters available, but a decent rotation arm like Jeremy Guthrie may be able to pitch well enough to allow their incredible offense to do most of the work. Wandy Rodriguez is another viable target, and one the Yankees should look to acquire in my opinion.
Rafael Soriano is coming back from injury, they do not necessarily need set-up type bullpen arm, but they could use help in the bullpen in general. Another left-handed reliever could be very useful, so that is an avenue they may look down.
With Jorge Posada struggling, the Yankees could certainly get in the market for a bat. It is tough to bench a guy like Posada, but the Yankees could feasibly acquire a right-handed compliment as they did last season with Austin Kearns.
Boston Red Sox
The Red Sox are a team with no clear “need” for a trade, but have areas in which they can improve. A right-handed bat could certainly be beneficial. It is doubtful that they go for a guy like Hunter Pence, but a lesser outfielder like Josh Willingham is more reasonable.
Other than outfield, the Red Sox could look for a left-handed reliever. Franklin Morales has been solid but they can certainly upgrade over Randy Williams. Mike Dunn could be a player they are targeting and would be a solid acquisition with so many tough left-handed bats in the American League.
I don’t see the Red Sox making any huge moves, as they are already have great pitching and a tremendous offense, but they will probably make a few small moves to upgrade in a these spots.
Tampa Bay Rays
The Rays are in a position to potentially buy and sell, but with their prospects like Desmond Jennings and Brandon Guyer ready to perform they may simply sell and let their young players attempt to pick up the slack.
B.J. Upton is available and should be traded, considering that Jennings has been ready to be a regular for a while now. They can get good value for Upton, who would be a top target for any team that misses out on the Carlos Beltran bidding. The Rays can also trade Johnny Damon to a team looking for a decent left-handed bat. It would make the team a bit worse, but they have ample replacements who are not far off of Damon’s level of production. I highly doubt the Rays trade Shields, although doing so would not be a terrible idea considering how high his value is right now.
The Rays farm system will likely get a good boost over the next week or two, and may overtake the Royals as the top system in all of baseball once again.
Toronto Blue Jays
The Blue Jays are in an odd spot in that they have many pieces that are still young and developing at the major league level. Those aren’t usually the type of talents you look to deal at the deadline, since you want to look for young and cheap talent to build around the superstars to create a solid team.
Heath Bell is an option to acquire and the Jays may do so solely due to Bell’s type-A status as a free agent. Acquiring Bell and landing two first-round draft picks after he leaves to the highest bidder is a very wise move if they chose to do so. The Jays have talent coming through the minors and should be a very respectable team going forward.
If they can trade off a few relief pitchers or Aaron Hill and acquire more prospects they would put themselves in even better position to contend in the near future. The Jays are a tough team now, hovering around .500, but they are stuck in a division with two of the top teams in baseball and one of the best managed teams in the league as well.
Baltimore Orioles
The Orioles are in a straight sell mode. Most of their veterans should be available for trade. Mark Reynolds and Derek Lee are far from complete players, but they may land the Orioles some organizational prospects and hope that they are able to develop them into decent Major Leaguers.
Third base is a terrible position in the league, they actually have lower numbers catchers overall, so Reynolds could have some value on a team looking to upgrade at that position. Jeremy Guthrie is a good bet to be traded and should return decent value, and Koji Uehara will be one of the more sought after right-handed bullpen arms available at the deadline.
Trading the likes of Reynolds, Lee, Uehara, Luke Scott, and Guthrie should land the Orioles some decent prospects that they can look to develop. The Orioles have some solid top level prospects already and most of their pitching is young, so bringing in young talent to surround them is their only real option at this time.
