A Little Baseball Foresight

With the trading deadline looming at the end of the month, every baseball fan is naturally buzzing over who their team might acquire or unload. I'm going to look one step further today, and talk about high-profile guys who may be on the move between now and NEXT year's deadline.

The first is Grady Sizemore. I've never been a huge fan of him; the media is trumpeting him as an up-and-coming star, and his best year WAS last year (.268-33 HR-90 RBI-38 SB), but nothing about him says "sure-fire star." He's gone from .290 in 2006 to .277 in '07, .268 last year, and so far this year, a less-than-impressive .230. 30-30 ability is attractive, though, and one would think his RBI's would go through the roof on a good team. The Indians have unloaded major stars in each of the past two seasons, and may consider getting rid of Sizemore if a team offers a number of solid prospects, as they're clearly in no shape to contend right now.

Moving westward, San Diego has REALLY struggled this year, with a 39-62 record as of this writing. They've been hesitant to deal Jake Peavy, but one guy bound to get attention is first baseman Adrian Gonzalez. He's a tremendous power hitter, even in spacious Petco Park. His homer and RBI totals have increased each of the past three full seasons (24-82, 30-100, 36-119), and with 27 dingers to date in 2009, 40 is well within reach. This would be akin to hitting close to 50 somewhere else, and to top it all off, his batting eye has improved, as he leads the league in walks with 79. At age 27, his best years could very well be in front of him, and he may want to spend them on a bonafide contender rather than the otherwise-punchless Padres.

The final target of examination is Brandon Phillips, the second baseman for the floundering Cincinnati Reds. You generally don't expect too much offense out of second sackers, but Phillips has established himself as a 25 HR-25 SB guy, and he won a Gold Glove last year to boot. His batting average is just that, average, but his strikeouts have decreased in recent years (109 in '07, 93 in '08, 41 so far this year), and he's got a great chance to record his first-ever 100-RBI season here in 2009. He's a great piece for a contender to utilize, and the Reds are nowhere near that level right now.