2011 MLB Trade Deadline

With the trade deadline only a few weeks away, there are rumors flying left and right, some of which involve all of the Oakland Athletics and Kansas City Royals being traded to other teams.  And there is one team that needs to make a move right now.

That team is the Detroit Tigers.

During the last weeks of July there will be major trades coming for MLB.  This article will provide some answers as to why major league teams trade away certain players; whether it is to make a playoff push or if they have run into some financial trouble, there is always a reason why teams in MLB trade athletes.

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I’m a St. Louis Cardinals fan. All of my friends know this. I have been since the day my favorite player, Mark McGwire got traded to them in 1997. The next year Big Mac broke Roger Maris’ age old HR record.

The San Francisco Giants heard it throughout 2010.

“Not enough hitting. There’s no way they’ll even make it to the postseason with such a stagnant offense.”

92-70, NL West Champions.

“So what, they made the playoffs. Let’s see them try and score runs against Derek Lowe, Roy Halladay, Roy Oswalt…”

NLDS: SF – 3, ATL – 1
NLCS: SF – 4, PHI – 2

As the MLB season creeps toward the end of April, all 30 teams have now played approximately 20 games each, and while there were certainly some surprises at the start, the expected cream is starting to rise to the top, while the expected bottom feeders, with some exceptions, are trending toward the bottom of the pack.

The New York Mets are only 6-13 on this young season, but the possibilities of a mid-season fire sale are quickly becoming a reality if the team continues playing uninspired baseball.

Honestly, the worst thing that could happen to the 2011 Mets is they play bottom-of-the-barrel baseball, and when the July trade deadline comes around, GM Sandy Alderson plays no favorites and puts a majority of the team on the trading block.

It is no secret that the Cleveland Indians have been playing some great baseball in their torrid start to the 2011 season. For the first time in a few years, the Tribe could find themselves in the position in the American League Central standings that they could emerge as 'buyers' at the All-Star Break rather than 'sellers'.

Over the last couple seasons, we have seen C.C. Sabathia, Cliff Lee, Victor Martinez, Rafael Betancourt, Jhonny Peralta, Ryan Garko, among many others be dealt around the Break.

The Milwaukee Brewers farm system has been talked about all spring, but for all the wrong reasons.

After unloading a boatload of young talent to acquire two top-tier starters before Christmas, a common thought has been that the Brewers have the worst system in all of baseball. Yes, in order to acquire Zack Greinke and Shaun Marcum, the Brewers had to shell over their top prospects in Brett Lawrie, Jake Odorizzi and Alcides Escobar, among others.

I saw this today on ESPN.com and just couldn’t help but comment on it: 

"There's nothing the Mets would love more this spring than to have Carlos Beltran play well enough to make himself tradable in July. So scouts are already bearing down on him just in case.

Starting pitchers are clearly an important part of a Major League team's success throughout a season. Just as important is the assembly of relievers that a team keeps in their bullpen.