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The Detroit Tigers have lost two great players in Magglio Ordonez and Carlos Guillen to injury. Now that they look like a buyer at the trade deadline, The Tigers should focus on getting a replacement for Ordonez who is out for almost the entire season. That replacement should be Jose Guillen.

Guillen is hitting .276 with 16 Home Runs and 59 RBI’s on a pretty bad Royals team this season. He could be a good outfielder or DH for the Tigers who are in need for a big bat.

Their outfield depth is pretty good with great rookies Austin Jackson, Brennan Boesch, and veteran Johnny Damon. This means that Guillen would most likely be a DH, which Boesch was when Ordonez was healthy. 

Guillen is on a team that is not contending so they do not really need Guillen and he could be a good half season rental. Since he is in the central, new pitching will not be a problem and he will most likely produce just like he did with the Royals who are also in the Central.

Guillen owes four million and since the tigers have a high payroll, money will not be a problem at all. In the trade a prospect included could be Dayton Moore and maybe a major league pitcher on the tigers. 

Getting Guillen would be a great thing for the Tigers because of their multiple injuries and the Tigers hope his big bat will help them with a run to win the Central title.

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The Reds are currently in the race for the NL Central title, but their number one problem is that they do not have a legitimate number one pitcher other then Edison Volquez, who just came back from injury. Their rotation has been inconsistent all year and the Reds need a starter really bad. In this list I will name some potential pitchers the Reds could get at a low price.

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The Rangers, in my opinion, are the favorites to reach the World Series for a few reasons.

One reason is because they have the best hitting in baseball. Their lineup has power from everybody except their first and ninth hitter. Josh Hamilton is having a breakout year, hitting .347 with 22 home runs and 65 RBI, which are all in the top five in baseball.

Another player who is having a career year is Vlad Guerrero. Most people thought he was too old to do well in the majors, but he is not. This season he is hitting .325 with 20 home runs and 76 RBI, which are all in the top 10 in baseball. Vlad and Hamilton are great hitters who can hit for power and drive in runs and in a playoff series it will be hard to get BOTH of them out.

They also have speed in Elvis Andrus and Julio Borbon. They have both combined for 30 stolen bases and they do not strikeout often which works well for speedy players.

These players alone makes a great team, but do not forget about Michael Young and Ian Kinsler. Young has always been a great hitter, usually hitting over .300 and getting around 200 hits. This season Young is hitting .299 with 12 home runs and 55 RBI, which is great for a second hitter in the lineup.

Kinsler is the third hitter in the lineup who was an all-star this year and has done pretty well. This season he is hitting .305 with 4 home runs and 31 RBI, which are good numbers considering that he missed quite a long time with an injury and he is doing all of this from a second base position which usually does not hit well.

Their final players are Chris Davis and Bengie Molina. Davis has just came back from the minors after the Cliff Lee trade that sent Justin Smoak to the Mariners, and he has usually done pretty well. He hits a lot of home runs and he can drive in a few runs. He hits eighth in the lineup and their team is so good he could hit 20 home runs in a full season batting eighth.

Molina has struggled with power this year because he was with the Giants, but he is a good catcher and hitter. Recently he hit for the cycle and he has been hot lately. If he keeps this up the Rangers will be unbeatable.

The Rangers are known for having terrible pitching but their pitching has been great this year. Their rotation consists of Cliff Lee, Scott Feldman, Colby Lewis, C.J Wilson, and Tommy Hunter. They also have Rich Harden and Derek Holland, who are also great starters.

Cliff Lee has been beyond great this year with an 8-4 record, a 2.59 ERA, 121 innings pitched and six complete games along even though he missed a month of the season. He has done great and in a playoff series he will help the Rangers a lot based on what he did last year with the Phillies.

Scott Feldman has been the only pitcher in the rotation who has struggled this year, but I think he can turn it around because he did great last year. This year he is 5-8 with a 5.32 ERA and 108 innings pitched. He could be an OK third or fourth pitcher in the playoffs and maybe in the playoffs he can do better then in the regular season.

Colby Lewis has been a great and pleasant surprise for the Rangers. He has a 9-5 record, a 3.42 ERA, and 115 innings pitched. He could be a good second or maybe third starter in the playoffs and could really help the Rangers.

CJ Wilson has done great coming from the bullpen to the rotation. He has a 7-5 record, a 3.35 ERA and 113 innings pitched. He like Lewis could be a great second or third pitcher in the playoffs and help the Rangers a lot.

Tommy Hunter has been in the rotation to help the Rangers but he will probably not start in the playoffs because of Rich Harden. This season he has obviously struggled with a 3-3 record, a 5.68 ERA, and 68 innings pitched.

He is currently injured, like he usually is, but when he is healthy he does great with a career ERA of 3.57 and if 100 percent healthy he could really help the Rangers being a second or third starter. But if he is not 100 percent, he will probably be a fourth or fifth starter because of the Rangers’ depth in their rotation.

Another strength for the Rangers is their bullpen. They have a great closer in Neftali Feliz, who can hit 100 MPH with a great curveball. They also have Frank Francisco, who was the Rangers’ closer last year and has done pretty well this year after doing terribly at the beginning.

They also have Darren O’Day, who is a sinker-ball pitcher who can get ground balls. They will also probably have Derrek Holland or Tommy Hunter in their bullpen in the playoffs, who have done great this year. So the Rangers also have a good bullpen.

The Rangers are mostly evenly matched with the Yankees, but they have one thing the Yankees do not have and that is a good bullpen and bench. That is what will make the Rangers go to the World Series and not the Yankees.

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Sometimes star players get injured, like when Dustin Pedroia and Andre Ethier got injured, and you need to get someone to replace that star player.

In this list I will tell you what good players you could get at each position for the start of the second half of the season.

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First basemen are always known to have the best power and ability in baseball, and in this list, I will reveal the league’s top 10 first baseman.

They are great players, so it was difficult arranging them. Please comment with your opinion.

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On July 30, 2009, the Red Sox played a day game against the Oakland Athletics at Fenway Park. Little did David Ortiz, or anyone, know that day would change how people would see “Big Papi” for the rest of his life. On that day, Ortiz and his former teammate Manny Ramirez tested positve on a performence enhancing drug test conducted in 2003.

Ortiz treated this situation like the man he was, calmly. He told the media and everyone around him that he was sorry for testing positive, but he also said that he did NOT take any performance enhancing substances. Weeks later, it was shown that when Ortiz was in his home country, he must have drank a juice or energy drink that contained whatever caused the positive test.

Most people believed Ortiz after that, mostly because he is a nice man. But some people still thought he used these drugs. So this year, when Ortiz was asked if he could participate in the Home Run Derby after he was selected to the All-Star team, he quickly said yes for one reason.

Ortiz wanted to prove to everyone that he is a clean, non-drug using player, and that made him want to win this event.

Ortiz captured the Home Run Derby title on Monday night, and he did so in great fashion.

Ortiz hit eight home runs, third place behind Corey Hart and Hanley Ramirez, in the first round. He greatly improved on that total by hitting 13 home runs in the second round, giving him a total of 21 home runs. But Ortiz had one problem.

Hanley Ramirez hit nine home runs in the first round and 11 in the second, giving him the same total as Ortiz at 21. But do not forget about Corey Hart and Miguel Cabrera, who were also in the Semifinals.

Hart did not hit any home runs in the second, which gave him a total of 13 for both rounds. Cabrera had seven in the first round and five in the second, giving him 12 overall. There was no need for a bat-off between Ortiz and Ramirez. They were both in the finals.

Ortiz started out the final round in outstanding fashion. He hit 11 home runs, which tied him with Bobby Abreu for the most in the final round, while Hanley only hit five. Ortiz won the final round by a landslide.

Ortiz hopes that after his great victory in the Home Run Derby, more people will stop thinking of him as a cheater, and think of him more as a player who helped his team win two world series and won the 2010 Home Run Derby. 

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The MLB has many players from all positions who deserve awards like the Cy Young, the MVP, The Rookie of the year, and the manager of the year. In this list I will say what players will get the mid season awards.

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This first half of the season some teams have done well, some have done bad, and some are just right. Some teams met expectations and some did not. In this slideshow I will rank every single team from a grade from A-F. Hope you enjoy!

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Despite the departure of pitching ace Cliff Lee, tonight Mariners fans might see something special, because two stars are coming out when the Mariners take on the Yankees.

Felix Hernandez is the starter today and he is trying to come off of his great outing against the Yankees last week in New York. King Felix’s start last week was the first-ever shutout by an opposing pitcher at the new Yankee Stadium!

Felix is 4-1 with an ERA of about 2.50 in his last five starts against the Yankees, so expect a good outing from Felix. And also expect a good debut from superstar-to-be, Justin Smoak.

Smoak is a 24-year-old, switch-hitting first baseman who was just traded to the Mariners from the Rangers with some prospects for Cliff Lee and Mark Lowe.

He was the No. 11 pick in the 2008 draft and today he will most probably be the starting first baseman. He will have to face Yankees pitcher Javier Vasquez.

Smoak was the main reason why Cliff Lee was traded to Texas instead of the Yankees, and he should be the first baseman for the Mariners well into the future.

Many people compare him to Mark Teixeira, which shows that even though he has not hit well this year, hitting .209 with eight homers and 34 RBIs, he will be great in the future and he will help the Mariners quite a bit.

So tonight, I would watch the debut of Smoak and get used to seeing him in Seattle, because he will be a star for years to come.

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Outstanding Mariners pitcher Cliff Lee has been traded to the Texas Rangers.

As part of this deal the Texas Rangers will receive Cliff Lee and Mark Lowe and the Mariners will receive Justin Smoak, Blake Beavan, Josh Lueke, and Matt Lawson.

Cliff Lee was scheduled to start tonight against the New York Yankees but David Pauley will take his place instead.

The Rangers got Lee for a few reasons.

One reason is because they wanted a number one pitcher who can go deep in games and almost guarantee a victory whenever he is on the mound. The Rangers hope he can bring them their first division title in 11 years.

This season Cliff Lee is 8-3 with a 2.34 ERA, and he leads the league in ERA and complete games with five. The Rangers rotation will now be very good with Lee, Colby Lewis, Scott Feldman, Tommy Hunter, and CJ Wilson (with other starters Derek Holland and Rich Harden on the DL).

Their pitching will be very deep and it will be hard to face them if the Rangers make the playoffs along with their outstanding offense in Josh Hamilton, Vlad Guerrero, and Nelson Cruz.

The other player who will join the Texas Rangers is Mark Lowe.

Mark Lowe is currently on the DL and he will miss the entire year with his injury, but he is quite a good pitcher. He was the setup man for the Mariners last year and part of this year and what makes him special is his “stuff.” He has a fastball in the upper 90s and sometimes in the 100s with a slider that many players in the Majors call un-hittable.

Last season he had a 2-7 record with a 3.26 ERA in 80 innings and he also piled up 69 Ks. Lowe could be used as a seventh or eighth inning pitcher, and expect him to do well in the Rangers organization.

The Mariners got quite a bit of good young talent in this deal, too, starting with the highly regarded and talented Justin Smoak.

This season Smoak has not lived up to his hype at all but he is a switch hitting first baseman who is known for having power from both sides of the plate (and he is also known for being a patient hitter).

This season so far he is hitting .209 with 8 home runs and 34 RBI’s in 70 games.

Those numbers do not look very good, but he is only 23 so he has time to get better, and since the Mariners have Russell Branyan this year they do not need to rush him to the majors. Instead, they can give him time to develop in the minors and be a much better hitter when he gets back to the Majors.

Another prospect the mariners got was Blake Beaven.

Beaven was the number one draft pick by the Rangers in 2007 and he has done quite well in double-A. In double-A this year he was 10-5 with a 2.78 ERA in 17 starts and he is about to go up to triple-A so expect to see him maybe this year and definitly next year for the Mariners.

Another pitcher that was chosen by the Mariners was Josh Leuke.

Leuke is a closer who was selected in the 17th round in 2007 and he has done very well in single-A and has done pretty good in double-A, too. In single-A he was 2-1 with 10 saves and a 0.46 ERA in 17 appearances. In double-A he was 1-1 with a 3.86 ERA and two saves.

These double-A stats show that he does not do well with a challenge like moving from an easier league to a more difficult one, so the Mariners might need to give him some time; however, based on his single-A stats he is a good pitcher no matter how long you have to wait for him to come up.

The Final prospect the mariners got in this deal was infielder Matt Lawson.

Lawson is currently in double-A and he has done pretty well there. He was hitting .277 with 16 doubles, seven homers, and 34 RBI in 70 games. He was also selected to play for the Texas League all-star game and he was selected in the 14th round in the 2007 draft.

He looks like a good all around hitter and, in a year or two, he will be in the Majors and we will see if he can produce for the Mariners or not.

The Reds were making a very hard push for Lee but they came up just short because of the offer from the Rangers.

Both teams should be happy because the Rangers finally got a number one pitcher in Lee and the Mariners finally got a power hitting first baseman in Smoak.

This was a great deal which will make Texas good in the present and Seattle a better team in the future.

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