With just a few weeks away from the trading deadline in MLB, a couple of surprise teams are putting forth claims that they are contenders.
Despite fourth or fifth-place spots in their divisions, some of these clubs believe they are still in the thick of the division and or wild card race.
Take the Florida Marlins for example.
The Marlins are one of the more interesting teams in the National League right now.
The Marlins won’t win the NL East division. The Braves are just too far ahead at this point (13 games).
Florida, though, feels that the NL Wild Card is within reach despite the fact that the club is in fourth place behind both the Phillies and Expos.
The Marlins acquired Texas closer Ugueth Urbina on Friday for a couple of solid prospects. More importantly, Florida management recently took All-star third baseman Mike Lowell off the trade market.
Those two decisions signal that the Marlins are serious about the playoffs even if their chances are slim (four NL non-divisional leading clubs have better records).
The Royals are another compelling club.
Kansas City started hot then cooled and was in second place to Minnesota for a while. Recently, though, the Royals have regained first place and are steadily moving ahead of the rest of the pack in the AL Central.
Now this particular division is weak this season.
The Tigers and Indians are bad while the White Sox and Twins are horribly inconsistent.
Kansas City isn’t a great team by any stretch of the imagination but is leading the division comfortably.
The Royals have the difficult task of trying to fill in the weak holes on the squad without taking on much payroll.
In a recent trade rumor with the Red Sox, the Royals would exchange young center fielder Carlos Beltran (.280 12 HRs, 49 RBIs) with former Royals’ outfielder Johnny Damon (.254 avg).
Outside of the fact that this potential deal makes absolutely no sense for the Royals from a personnel perspective, the Royals would take on an additional $8 million.
That isn’t going to happen anytime soon.
What the Royals need is significant bullpen help although it is unclear who they can get at a reasonable price.
While the Royals and Marlins have made it clear they aren’t going to disband their squads, Toronto and the White Sox could in a few weeks.
Remember when the Blue Jays offense was on a torrid pace, thrashing clubs night after night? Well, that same offense has slowed down recently and the Blue Jays pitching staff hasn’t picked up the slack.
The Kelvim Escobar “closer-turned-starter” experiment has failed illustrating the biggest problem with the Blue Jays.
Toronto doesn’t have enough pitching to sustain a long push for the playoffs.
The Blue Jays should trade some of that offense for pitching if it hopes to remain in contention.
Leadoff man Shannon Stewart (.301 6 HRs, 33 RBIs) is prime bait for other clubs in search of an extra bat and could be moved before the deadline.
The White Sox recently added Robby Alomar and Carl Everett to their offensive lineup in hopes of adding a spark.
Instead, Chicago’s lineup has struggled to score runs.
The White Sox have solid pitching with Esteban Loaiza and Bartolo Colon but need some consistency with their younger arms.
Chicago might have to unload one or more offensive veterans such as a Paul Konerko (.184 average) or Carlos Lee (.266) in order to get better arms for the stretch run.
It will be an interesting few weeks as teams add to their playoff resumes.
