Looking Ahead to Interleague Trading - Part IV

In my previous non-FAAB post, I looked at the A.L. East and N.L. East to review which players might get traded and what sort of impact that might have if they were traded to the "other" league. Today, I'll continue with the Central Divisions.

St. Louis Cardinals
I never thought I'd lead off a post like this with the Cardinals, but their offense has been awful and their pitching hasn't been the same without Chris Carpenter. As far as the Cardinals packing in their season, this is a team that could help a few contenders if they choose to go in that direction. Jason Isringhausen would be the most obvious help; the question is whether he landed somewhere as a closer or as a set-up man. Despite his ugly numbers to date, Preston Wilson could probably land a job somewhere in a platoon role or off the bench. Similarly, contenders always want any kind of arms they can land, and Kip Wells, Russ Springer and Ryan Franklin all could be shipped elswhere as component pieces. David Eckstein is more helpful in real life than Roto, and I could see a contender being moved by his high level of "scrappy". Of the non-2007 free agents, Juan Encarnacion would be the guy most likely to move if the Cards decided to go in that direction.

Kansas City Royals
This is another team with a lot of 2007 free agents and a significant opportunity to clean house. On offense, Mark Grudzielanek, Jason LaRue, Reggie Sanders and Mike Sweeney are all free agents after this year. Sweeney has a limited no trade clause, but I could see him waiving that if the Royals aren't brining him back in 2008 anyway. If healthy, Sanders would be a great part time OF/DH for someone. LaRue's been terrible to date but could still move, and Grudzielanek reminds me of Eckstein: someone in real life will be more inclined to bite because of all of those intangibles. The pitching's a little thinner, but once again teams at the deadline get a little crazy about needing to add arms. Octavio Dotel is the biggest asset here if healthy, but David Riske could also help out of the pen, and Odalis Perez might be moved as well. Scott Elarton is probably a long shot given his health issues.

Cincinnati Reds
Unlike the Cardinals and Royals this isn't a deep list, but the Reds might have the most significant marquis name moving at the deadline if they decide they can't re-sign Adam Dunn. Dunn would be one of those players worth blowing your entire FAAB on if he wound up in the American League. The Reds do have an option, but that option is voided in a trade.

Beyond Dunn, Jeff Conine and Scott Hatteburg both could be moving, particularly if hot hitting Joey Votto proves he's ready by the All-Star break. Not much in the way of pitching help here. Kyle Lohse is the most interesting name, and Eddie Guardado and Eric Milton are of interest (Milton marginally so) if healthy.

Pittsburgh Pirates
Despite the most promising cast of young pitchers in forever, the Pirates probably be out of contention at the deadline once again. However, this team is so young that there isn't much to sell. Damaso Marte and Salomon Torres are both free agents after 2008, so they could move but don't necessarily count on it. Otherwise, there isn't much to predict here. Tony Armas and Shawn Chacon are stretches to help a contender even in a pitching hungry market.

Minnesota Twins
I don't think the Twins will be sellers unless they really fall off the table, but the A.L. Central is starting to look like the toughest division in baseball, with the resurgent Indians, young Tigers, and a White Sox team with a deep rotation and bats that are finally starting to sizzle.

I list the Twins because this might be one of the deepest teams in baseball in terms of free agents, and GM Terry Ryan really could add some quality bats to a farm system already deep in pitching. Torii Hunter, Luis Castillo and Joe Nathan are the huge names, with both Hunter and Nathan being excellent catches for a team in the running; Nathan is one of the few relievers who probably would be a closer almost anywhere he went. Carlos Silva and Ramon Ortiz are lesser options if they haven't imploded by July, and would actually give the Twins an opportunity to improve their team by promoting from within.

Of course the name that already is being bandied about in baseball circles is Johan Santana's. You should embezzle FAAB from your opponents to grab him if he comes to the National League. Of course, I don't see Santana going anywhere, at least not in 2007, unless the Twins are going to get 3-4 very good major leaguers in return, and that wouldn't make sense for a contender. But this winter and next year will be interesting in terms of what the Twins will do with Santana. Complicating matters is that Santana has a full no-trade clause in his contract that kicked in when he won the Cy Young award last year, so any deal would have to go through him first. I'd imagine that this would limit the Twins, and Santana and his agent would only want him to go to a team like the Yankees, Mets or Red Sox; that is, a team willing to negotiate the $20-25 million a year that Johan is certainly going to fetch on the open market.

Complicating this even further is the fact that the Twins have a new stadium set to open in 2010, and are already trying to entice fans by rewarding partial season ticket holders now with prime seat selection for the new stadium. Selling a few players won't have an impact on a new stadium, in my opinion, but moving Santana and getting kids would. Again, I'm intrigued to see how the Santana situation plays out.