Kuzul

Troy Tulowitzki is one of the best players in the game today. He not only hits for average but also has extraordinary power for a shortstop. Any team looking to acquire him by the trade deadline would have to be willing give up a hefty sum in return. A few teams are said to be interested in making a trade for Tulowitzki.

Of the teams rumored to be interested in his services, which do you think makes the most sense?

Watch as Bleacher Report National MLB columnist Scott Miller breaks down which teams are the best fits for Troy Tulowitzki.

All stats accurate as of July 28.

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The 2014 MLB trade deadline is looming, the rumors keep coming and it is becoming clear which teams are truly interested in bolstering the roster with some astute acquisitions rather than relying on the talent already at hand.

July 31 is the cutoff date. Beyond that, it’s pretty much the (often very minor) waiver-wire deals and possible free agents/call-ups to help out the team. July is where the truly excellent moves are made.

Let’s take a gander at the latest buzz surrounding some of the top players on the block and predict which teams will be making use of their talents by the time the trade deadline ends.

Jon Lester, LHP, Boston Red Sox

Jon Lester has professed his love for Beantown, but that doesn’t stop his name from popping up in the MLB rumor mill.

According to Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal and Jon Morosi, the Baltimore Orioles and Seattle Mariners are both in on acquiring Lester from the Boston Red Sox:

This is a dicey proposition for any team, as Lester’s contract is up in 2014 and he hasn’t ruled out going right back to Boston if traded.

“Why not? This is what I know, this is what I love and like I’ve said plenty of times, this is where I want to be,” he said, via the Boston Herald‘s Joey Knight.

The Mariners won’t mind bringing in another star with an AL East pedigree. As Rosenthal noted, they have been in on David Price, which shows they are very serious about bolstering the rotation.

The Baltimore Orioles could make a compelling offer, but the Red Sox might not want to trade Lester to a division rival. 

Seattle could offer their promising 21-year-old starter, Taijuan Walker, in a trade. However, they would likely want some sort of assurance that Lester wouldn’t go right back to the Red Sox when his contract finished up.

Prediction: Seattle Mariners

Cole Hamels, LHP, Philadelphia Phillies

According to Morosi, the Los Angeles Dodgers and St. Louis Cardinals have the best chance of landing Philadelphia Phillies starter Cole Hamels:

Hamels is currently 5-5 on the season with a 2.72 ERA, 125 strikeouts and a 1.153 WHIP.

He’s no rental, either, as his contract runs through at least 2018, per Spotrac. This gives the Phillies plenty of leverage when negotiating trades with other teams, but it also takes away some of the urgency.

The Dodgers’ most prized asset in the minors is center fielder Joc Pederson, who currently boasts a .322/.455/.592 slash line in Triple-A ball this year. They shouldn’t be too desperate, as they already have four great starters in the rotation in Clayton Kershaw, Zack Greinke, Hyun-jin Ryu and Josh Beckett.

It’s unlikely the Phillies will want to take on one of the Dodgers’ giant outfield contracts, so it could be tough for them to come to an agreement.

The St. Louis Cardinals have a chance, but Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro can be tough to negotiate with, and the team has needs in other areas, such as catcher.

The price is indeed going to be too steep for either of these teams, which keeps Hamels in Philly until winter at the very least.

Prediction: Philadelphia Phillies

Kurt Suzuki, C, Minnesota Twins

This is a saga that could very well find a resolution before July 31. According to sources for KSTP.com’s Darren Wolfson, the Minnesota Twins are at an impasse in contract-extension talks with catcher Kurt Suzuki and won’t be able to reach an agreement anytime soon:

As CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman noted on July 25, the Orioles and Cardinals have both shown interest in trading for Suzuki.

Suzuki is on a one-year deal with the team and enjoying one of the finest seasons of his career, sporting a .309/.367/.392 slash line and 41 RBI so far.

One team that hasn’t been in the market for Suzuki but probably should be is the Dodgers. With so many injury-prone players in the lineup, they could definitely use another solid bat. Current Dodgers starting catcher A.J. Ellis is hitting just .199 on the season.

But no noise from the Dodgers on this front, which makes the Baltimore Orioles the most likely candidate for Suzuki’s services since Matt Wieters is out for the rest of the season while Yadier Molina is set to return for the Cardinals this year.

The Twins can use the Orioles’ desperation and tight AL East battle against them in an effort to drive up the price for Suzuki.

Prediction: Baltimore Orioles

All stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com and updated as of July 28 unless otherwise noted.

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Major League Baseball is rife with parity right now, and that’s both a good and bad thing. On one hand, a lot more teams and fanbases have legitimate hopes and dreams of reaching October. On the other, this relatively new league-wide equality has neutered the trade deadline—formerly one of the most exciting times of the season—to an extent.

Think back to this time last year when the biggest names to change teams by July 31 were—no drum roll needed—Matt Garza, Jake Peavy, Ian Kennedy and Alfonso Soriano. Ho hum.

Sure, there was plenty of speculation and rumors galore about other, bigger-name players getting swapped (think: Giancarlo Stanton, Cliff Lee, Chase Utley, etc.). Not a whole heck of a lot actually happened, though, because so many teams were either buying or holding, and so few actually were willing to blow it up and sell when the playoffs remained a possibility, no matter how remote.

Parity giveth and taketh away.

Sandy Alderson—general manager of the New York Mets, who enter Tuesday games at 51-55 and six games out of a playoff spot—essentially summed up the state of mind for the majority of front offices with this quote via Anthony DiComo of MLB.com: “When I say it’s unlikely that we’ll do anything, we’re not anxious to be sellers. We’re cautious about being buyers. But we’ll see.” 

Why is that? Well, in the American League, 11 of 15 teams are either in a playoff position or within six games of one; and in the National League, 10 of 15 clubs can make the same claim, including Alderson‘s Mets.

Put another way: With August on the the doorstep, only nine of 30 teams are more than six games out of a position that would put them in the postseason. The difference these days between being a club on the fringe of irrelevance and one who potentially could punch a ticket to October is more or less a good week.

By comparison, here are the number of teams six or fewer games out of a playoff spot entering August each of the past five years:

Now, the biggest reason for this, obviously, is the addition of the second wild-card spot in each league, which came about in 2012. But even still, it’s hard to ignore the fact that there just doesn’t seem to be as many dominant teams in the majors right now—or even any.

There is no 1998 or 2009 New York Yankees or 2001 Seattle Mariners, no 2005 St. Louis Cardinals or 2008 Los Angeles Angels, or even a 2011 Philadelphia Phillies. All of those teams won at least 100 games and ran away with their division.

In fact, five of the six divisions are separated by just 2.5 games or fewer at the top, and no division leader is ahead by more than fives games, which is the disparity between the AL Central-leading Detroit Tigers (57-45) and the second-place Kansas City Royals (53-51) entering games on Tuesday, July 29.

Such tight competition makes it difficult for decision-makers to, well, make decisions. Being aggressive as the trade deadline nears—Thursday at 4 p.m. ET is mere hours away at this point—is a legitimate risk when there are oh-so-many teams clustered together.

But maybe GMs should be seeing this not as a risk, but as an opportunity. An opportunity to make one or two big, bold moves to separate their club from what clearly has become a crowd.

Sure, a trade might seem like an all-in gamble that could backfire, but it also very well could push a team away from the pack and make it an immediate favorite to reach the postseason or even the World Series.

That’s just what the Oakland Athletics did at the beginning of July by trading for right-handers Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel from the Chicago Cubs in one fell swoop. In so many ways, that was a shocking maneuver.

Because it happened so early (July 4). Because the A’s are the type of small-market team that often must rely on young, cost-controlled talent for sustained success, and yet they jettisoned Addison Russell, a consensus top-10 prospect. And because GM Billy Beane is well-known for calling MLB‘s postseason a crapshoot at the end of a 162-game marathon.

The A’s, after all, are always at the forefront of forward thinking in baseball, so seeing them push their chips to the center of the table in a win-now, worry-about-the-future-later deal was a bit jarring—but also telling.

Here’s what Beane, whose 65-40 A’s have had the best record in baseball for most of the season, told Bob Nightengale of USA Today after landing Samardzija and Hammel: “We have a team that can win right now. The end game isn’t to have the best prospects, it’s to have a good team. We have to take the opportunity and grasp it. We have a team that can win right now.”

So if the A’s, of all teams, can do it, why not any number of others? It’s not a stretch to say that half the clubs in MLB would become an October favorite tomorrow by pulling off a massive, all-in, go-for-broke blockbuster today.

Instead of being swallowed up by the negative outcomes of the what-ifs, maybe GMs need to recognize just how paralyzed their counterparts appear to be. The executive who goes big puts his team in position not to go home come October.

Why might this not happen? Well, that again goes back to the extra wild-card spot: It’s certainly possible that a club could wind up falling short of a division title, get stuck in a one-game playoff and have its “postseason” be over in just one game.

Heck, the A’s themselves provide an example of just this possibility. After winning the AL West the past two years but bowing out in the ALDS, they needed to make their trade to try to get past the first round for the first time since 2006.

On the other hand, as it stands now, they might have needed to make the deal simply to win the AL West again. The A’s have baseball’s best record, but they have the misfortune of playing in the same division as the Angels, who sport the second-best mark at 63-41. That puts Oakland but 1.5 games ahead of L.A. entering Tuesday games.

If the A’s do wind up coming up short in their quest for a third-straight division crown, well, then they run the risk of having traded away a major piece of their future—and a cost-controlled one at that—for nine innings of October. That can be devastating, especially for a budget-conscious team like Oakland.

Does that mean Beane should not have made the move? Heck no, because flags fly forever. But it does put the decision—and all the pressures and permutations that come with it—into perspective.

Statistics are accurate through July 28 and come from MLB.com, Baseball-Reference.com and FanGraphs.com, except where otherwise noted.

To talk baseball or fantasy baseball, check in with me on Twitter: @JayCat11

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We are now just days away from the July 31 MLB non-waiver trade deadline date and the Baltimore Orioles (58-46) have been on quite the hot streak since the second half of the season began.

Heading out west for a 10-game road trip that featured clashes between playoff-caliber teams in the Oakland Athletics, the Los Angeles Angels and the Seattle Mariners, the general perception of most fans of the club was that going .500 on the trip would be a success.

The Birds did one better by taking the final game of the road trip in Seattle in an extra-innings contest, thanks to Manny Machado‘s go-ahead sac fly to deep center field in the 10th that brought in Adam Jones.

Even though the Orioles hit for just a .202 batting average on the 10-game stretch, the pitching staff more than picked up the pieces for them.

The Orioles arms combined to pitch to a 3.17 ERA, surrendered only five homers and pitched to a strikeout-per-nine ratio of 7.9 on the trip.

Considering how poorly the season started off in regards to pitching, with holes at closer and the starting rotation, Orioles pitchers have clearly turned things around—particularly the starters, who have gone deeper into games as of late and have in turn helped out the bullpen immensely.

Clutch defensive plays haven’t gone unnoticed either, though.

Consider the fact that if Nick Markakis hadn’t gunned out Mariners third baseman Kyle Seager in the bottom of the second inning in Sunday’s series finale, the game would’ve never gone into extras and the Mariners would’ve won, 3-2, splitting the series.

The Orioles can’t rely on their high-powered offense forever, as was evidenced in this past road trip, and when it falters, the pitching and defense will need to step up in a big way.

In regards to the front office, things have yet to start heating up.

So far the only trades that have been made were that of trading first baseman Brett Wallace to the Toronto Blue Jays for cash and trading away cash to the Kansas City Royals for third baseman Jimmy Paredes.

Executive vice president of baseball operations Dan Duquette may not be looking for a blockbuster trade.

A trade for a player say of David Price‘s or Jon Lester‘s caliber would certainly cripple the farm system as the Orioles would have to move an A-level prospect or a few B-level prospects to land either of them—and that’s just not something Duquette is willing to accept, considering it would weaken the team for future seasons.

Having a core of pitching prospects that includes Dylan Bundy, Hunter Harvey and Eduardo Rodriguez bodes well for what this rotation could look like in a few years.

We’re talking about a homegrown, elite rotation comparable to the likes of the St. Louis Cardinals and the Tampa Bay Rays. Oh, and let’s not forget Kevin Gausman, who has already reached the majors and is already considered the best pitcher on the staff.

Rest assured, Duquette does want to improve this team, be it with a bullpen arm or a utility infielder that can be had for cheap.

One thing is for certain, though: the Orioles are buyers and are in the driver’s seat to take the division.

The time to win is now.

Trade Deadline Performance Grade: A

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With the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline quickly approaching, teams around the game are weighing their options.

Do they go all in, trading away young talent and prospects for an established star? Or do they stay the course, holding on to their youngsters with an eye toward sustained success in the future?

Let this list serve as a warning: Dealing in prospects is a risky business.

Nearly every trade that follows looked good on paper but, for one reason or another—usually because those prospects didn’t develop as expected—they look completely lopsided today.

Lists like this pop up on a yearly basis around this time, but nearly every single one of them is inaccurate, including trades that were made weeks before—or after—the non-waiver trade deadline. You won’t find that here.

We’ve looked at every deal that’s gone down from July 24 to July 31 since the current trade deadline was instituted in 1986, and these are the most lopsided of the bunch.

Let’s see who struck gold—and who struck out.

*Unless otherwise noted, all trade information and statistics courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com.

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Ah, the trade deadline.

It’s that time of year where fans obsessively refresh Twitter and the careers of many baseball players and executives hang in the balance. 

Due to the addition of the second wild card to postseason play, the amount of teams willing to trade off notable pieces has declined. With more teams in the hunt to play in October, there are fewer impact players available on the market that buyers can go after.

That makes this trade deadline rather intriguing in two ways: 1) The teams that are clear sellers know the advantage they have in possessing pieces to deal with a big bounty headed back in return, and 2) there are many more teams interested in acquiring assets to fuel playoff runs.

With limited resources available on the market and increased competition, the trade deadline could be boom or bust. The two highest sellers are big-market teams that don’t need to make moves just for the sake of making a move, while buyers could blanch at high prices, which would freeze the trade market. On the flip side, sellers could have no trouble finding a trade package they like out of the varied options available to them.

Here are the five teams most likely to be aggressive heading into July 31, trade deadline day.

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Just over two days remain until the July 31 MLB non-waiver trade deadline.

In other words, information and innuendo are going to start flying at a rapid rate across various information channels. And at this time of year, MLB fans wouldn’t have it any other way.

So let’s take a look at some of the bigger names that are presumably on the trade block.

For the sake of brevity, we will keep it simple. Here are three MLB trade scenarios based on actual need and published rumors through the end of Monday, July 28. 

As a standard note, the following proposals are nothing more than postulation. The point here is to build a trade based on someone else’s written or spoken word.

They are balanced deals that are fair for each team, though, and take into consideration each franchise’s strengths and weaknesses.  

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As the MLB trade deadline approaches, the pressure is on for teams to bolster their organizations for the final push to the postseason.

For the Toronto Blue Jays, who hold the American League‘s second wild-card spot and only trail the Baltimore Orioles by 2.5 games, adding another bat to solidify their lineup was of paramount importance.

Would it be a second baseman like Chase Utley, Daniel Murphy or a versatile utility man like Martin Prado or Ben Zobrist?

The answer is none of the above.

According to John Lott of the National Post, the Jays have acquired third baseman Danny Valencia from the Kansas City Royals for catcher Erik Kratz and pitcher Liam Hendriks.

Valencia isn’t an everyday player, but he has made a name for himself hitting left-handed pitching very well. On the flip side, his reduction in OPS from .888 in 2013 to .710 this year, as well as the drop in his OPS+ from 138 (very good) to 95 (below average) are somewhat concerning.

So what does this move mean for the Jays moving forward?

The Jays are Likely to Use a Platoon at Third Base

With Valencia being a southpaw specialist (.354/.386/.492 slash line in 63 at-bats this season) and Juan Francisco lighting up right-handed pitching (.265/.336/.587 slash line in 189 at-bats), it seems like GM Alex Anthopoulos opted to acquire someone on the cheap who could form a dynamic partnership with one of his team’s current players.

It’s hard to see Valencia getting many at-bats against righties or Francisco hitting against lefties from this point forward.

And considering the fact that Valencia hasn’t played more than 10 games anywhere other than third base or as a designated hitter, one would think that this platoon will man the hot corner for the rest of the season.

Which means…

Brett Lawrie Will Take Over at Second Base Upon his Return

It may not be his preferred position, but it’s hard to see Brett Lawrie playing anywhere but second base once he recovers from injury and returns to the Blue Jays.

Between Valencia playing almost exclusively at third base, Francisco’s range making it hard to play him at second and Lawrie being such an incredible athlete, the writing is on the wall.

The question becomes how Lawrie reacts.

He’s known to be an emotional player, and if he’s not content playing full time at second base, it’s very possible that his performance could suffer.

Toronto is Confident its Returning Bats are Good Enough to Carry Them

With all the talk surrounding the Jays needing a boost to their lineup if they want to contend for the postseason, the returns of the aforementioned Lawrie, as well as Edwin Encarnacion and Adam Lind, seem to have been lost in the shuffle.

Despite his recent setback, Encarnacion has been taking ground balls and doing light running drills in Florida.

If the Jays can add all three bats to their batting order in the next few weeks, they could return to being the force they were early on in the regular season.

If those three aren’t as close to returning as management had hoped, however, this kind of move could also signal that the Jays may not have much payroll flexibility, and bringing in a platoon-type player is all the team could afford.

Those concerns could be offset by another acquisition, but that doesn’t seem very likely.

All statistics obtained courtesy of ESPN.com and Baseball-Reference.com.

Jon Reid is a contributor for Bleacher Report. Follow him on twitter @JonReidCSM.

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With the MLB trade deadline approaching in two days, speculation surrounding the biggest names on the market figures to reach a fever pitch shortly. With tight races in five of the six divisions, the plethora of teams in contention should create a seller’s market for the organizations that have decided to build for the future.

Though the trade deadline has brought duds in recent years, this summer offers the promise of marquee All-Stars potentially on the move. Of course, not all the noise will result in tangible action. But as the Oakland Athletics showed when they acquired Jeff Samardzija, a team willing to pay for immediate dividends can drastically alter the complexion of the pennant race.

So which teams could follow Oakland’s footsteps and forge a consequential move of their own? Digging through the noise, here are a few rumors surrounding former All-Stars that could come to fruition over the next 48 hours.

Tulo in Beantown?

Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki has been the biggest name available for the past few weeks, but seemingly nothing imminent has emerged. However, The Boston Globe‘s Pete Abraham reported of a source indicating Tulowitzki’s willingness to move north:

As splashy as that move sounds, Tulowitzki would be a bizarre acquisition for the Red Sox. Boston general manager Ben Cherington recently waved the white flag on his team’s title defense after a five-game losing streak against AL East opponents. Moreover, with Xander Bogaerts openly pining to return to shortstop, acquiring Tulowitzki would likely alienate the Sox’s brightest young star.

There’s also the matter of Tulowitzki being currently on the disabled list with a hip flexor strain. For all his talents, the shortstop has a checkered injury history, and the Red Sox demonstrated a refusal to commit big money to a similar player when they allowed Jacoby Ellsbury to walk in the offseason.

Tulowitzki seems highly unlikely to move anywhere at all. It’s unclear whether or not the Rockies will return to contender status while Tulo remains in his prime, but Colorado does not appear inclined to move the face of their franchise.

Price Staying or Going?

Even with a recent winning streak, the Tampa Bay Rays remain 7.5 games out of first place in the AL East and have five teams ahead of them in the race for the second wild-card berth. Thus, ace starter David Price remains firmly on the market.

The winning streak would seemingly have diminished the chances of Price moving, considering the day-to-day snap judgments front offices must make about buying or selling. However, The Boston Globe‘s Nick Cafardo relayed an opinion from one anonymous scout who believed that Price would still move:

‘I still think when push comes to shove, the Rays will deal him,’ opined one National League special adviser. ‘They’ve come a long way to get to this point and they’re still five or six games under .500. How much longer can they sustain that? So it’s a tough call and you don’t want to be perceived as waving the white flag, but there’s demand for him.’

It’s unclear who would pay the exorbitant price (no pun intended) the Rays have demanded. The Los Angeles Dodgers have long been linked to Price, and Fox Sports’ Jon Morosi piggybacked on the speculation of Price moving to the NL West:

But the Dodgers could find themselves pursuing Lester. Given the Red Sox’s clearer intentions to sell, as well as Lester likely coming with a lower price tag, the Dodgers could very well abandon their pursuit of Price. 

A darkhorse team like the Seattle Mariners or Chicago Cubs could still swipe Price away. However, given how difficult it is for the Rays to contend on their shoestring budget, retaining a modicum of postseason hope might be the wisest route.

Papelbon’s Ultimatum

The Philadelphia Phillies appear on the verge of removing themselves from delusions of contending and selling off their veteran roster. Veteran closer Jonathan Papelbon would seem like a prime candidate to go, but according to the New York Post‘s Joel Sherman, the 33-year-old is also ready to exercise his no-trade clause:

The Phillies’ hurdles in trading Jonathan Papelbon only grow higher and higher.

And then there is this: Papelbon has a no-trade clause and has let the Phillies know he will not accept a trade to a place where he will be a setup man or in a shared closer situation. It is closing or nothing.

The Los Angeles Angels and Detroit Tigers loomed as two contenders in need of bullpen relief, but both have ameliorated those issues with Huston Street and Joakim Soria, respectively. Moreover, with four earned runs allowed in his past five appearances, Papelbon is not making himself particularly enticing to scouts:

The Dodgers (again) have been connected to Papelbon in the past according to Mark Saxon of ESPNLosAngeles (h/t NJ.com’s Randy Miller), and the desire for bullpen help remains in Los Angeles. CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman reported that the Phillies would be willing to eat some of the $18 million remaining on Papelbon’s contract to facilitate a deal. However, given the Dodgers’ bottomless pockets, that is simply chump change that would do little to pique their interest.

If the Phillies are genuine about rebuilding, Cole Hamels, Cliff Lee and Chase Utley would probably return enough to jumpstart their uninspiring farm system. Unfortunately, all three have no-trade clauses, making significant change an unlikely proposition for the last-place Phillies.

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The Arizona Diamondbacks have fallen out of the playoff race, and that likely means they will be a seller at this week’s trade deadline. One player several teams could have interest in is closer Addison Reed, who’s apparently available if the price is right.

Jayson Stark of ESPN reports Reed headlines a group of players who could be moved from the desert over the next few days. He lays out the team’s plans, which feature at least five players who could be considered on the block:

The Diamondbacks are telling teams they’d talk about moving closer Addison Reed, but aren’t likely to move reliever Brad Ziegler. Arizona is also still listening on Aaron Hill, Oliver Perez and, for the right offer, Martin Prado and Josh Collmenter.

On the surface, Reed is having a pretty solid season. He sports a 3.80 ERA and 1.15 WHIP through 44 games, which are both slightly below his career averages. The right-hander also has 49 strikeouts in 42.2 innings for Arizona.

Yet, the 25-year-old San Diego State product also has five blown saves, putting him on pace to tie his career-high total of eight. His WAR is also on the negative side at -0.3 (via Fangraphs), and he’s given up nine home runs, already three more than any other season, with plenty of baseball to play.

Joe Sheehan of Sports Illustrated believes a combination of diminished velocity and location are key factors in his lack of consistency:

At the very least, it certainly helps explain the uptick in homers against.

During one of those rough patches earlier in the month, Reed was asked about what type of issues he was working through. Jack Magruder of Fox Sports Arizona provided his response, which included a two-fold fix.

‘Sometimes I just get fastball happy and think I can get by with some well-located fastballs,’ Reed said. ‘The thing with me is, I’ve been getting hurt a lot of times leaving the ball up and over the middle of the plate instead of hitting the corners. Obviously I need to start throwing more sliders and start mixing it up a little more, and when I throw the fastball I need to locate where I am supposed to.’

He hasn’t given up a run since those comments were passed along on July 9. That represents six straight scoreless outings.

In turn, for teams looking for a bullpen boost down the stretch, Reed becomes an attractive option. He probably wouldn’t slide right into the closer role for most postseason contenders, but he would bolster that bridge from the starter to the ninth inning.

The question is how much the Diamondbacks would want in return. He’s had some struggles this season, but he’s still a young reliever with nearly 100 saves under his belt already. He will also remain under team control through the 2017 campaign.

All told, it’s hard to blame Arizona for seeing what’s out there on the trade market. But there isn’t a great need to move him if the front office isn’t blown away by any of the offers before the deadline.

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