AL West

It comes as no surprise that Athletics' names are starting to pop up in trade rumors.

Expectations are that Josh Willingham, Coco Crisp, David DeJesus, Hideki Matsui, Michael Wuertz and perhaps Grant Balfour and Brian Fuentes will at least be shopped before the deadline.

As we close in on the July 31st MLB trade deadline, many teams are in the market for a shutdown closer. 

Closers can serve two purposes for these teams.

In the case of the St. Louis Cardinals, Fernando Salas has been more or less serviceable, but without Eduardo Sanchez, they could use another option in the ninth inning.

Other teams hope to make use of a closer acting as a lights-out setup man.

Mark Trumbo, 1B Los Angeles Angels (40 percent owned in Yahoo, 80.5 percent in ESPN)

Current Stat Line: .261 AVG / 36 R / 17 HR / 41 RBI / 8 SB

With the 2011 All-Star Game set to take place on Tuesday night, we have a pretty good idea of how the American League roster will look. With that being said, there are a few changes that need to be made for this to be the best possible roster.

Fans have the option to vote for All-Stars, and that can lead to problems.

Some fans don't vote for the best player available. They will instead vote for players on their favorite teams, or they will vote based off of name.

To become a true All-Star lineup, the American League would have to make these five changes.

The Texas Rangers farm system got the power outfield bats it had lacked in the form of Nomar Mazara and Ronald Guzman. The Dominican outfielders signed with the Rangers Saturday on the opening day of the international signing period.

Jered Weaver's Final Line: 9 IP 7 H 0 R 0 ER 1 BB 10 K 1 GB/FB Ratio

Jered Weaver continued his dominant 2011 campaign with his second consecutive complete game and his first shutout of the season against the struggling Oakland A's lineup. Weaver lowered his ERA to 0.99, and he has struck out 49 batters in 45.2 innings this season.

Seattle Mariners right fielder Ichiro Suzuki has taken the career path far less traveled, and that has led to uncertainty regarding just how good he really is.

While most prominent stars crack major league lineups in their early 20s after going through the minors, Ichiro cracked the Mariners lineup at age 27 after establishing his game in Japan.

The A's finished a six game week with a 3-3 record.

That was a surprising twist, considering how the A's offense struggled against the Mariners on Thursday and Friday.

I called it at the beginning of the year. Neftali Feliz has yet to throw a pitch faster than 96. While that's still blistering heat, he is used to throwing 100-plus mph. He is in the low-90s consistently, which, for the Rookie of the Year and All-Star, is awful.

Today, the Texas Rangers put him on the 15-day DL.

The Texas Rangers road to an American League championship repeat took another wrong turn on Saturday when the team announced that the team's 22-year-old closer was placed on the 15-day disabled list.