MLB Trade Rumors

The San Francisco Giants have started the season well, as they are in second place in the NL West at 34-27.

However, they still have one gaping hole: shortstop.

While you could argue that they have a hole in the rotation because of Tim Lincecum's slow start, Brandon Crawford's inconsistent play at shortstop has hurt the Giants. He has a .219 batting average and a 24.5 percent strikeout rate.

Oh, and his defense hasn't been too great either (as you may have noticed from the picture above). 

Adding a pitcher before the trade deadline can be the difference between a playoff berth and an offseason of disappointment.

There are plenty of teams in the league that will need a starting pitcher if they want to make the postseason in 2012. Fortunately for those teams, there are a few starters on the trade market who would be able to step in and make an immediate impact on the playoff race.

Kevin Youkilis is a hometown boy—born and raised in Cincinnati and a product of the University of Cincinnati. What a story it makes for the hometown boy to make good on his hometown team. But, unfortunately for Youk, the Cincinnati Reds don't need him, nor should they pursue him.

Prior to the 2011 trade deadline, a number of big names were on the move. That should be the case once again this year.

The trade winds have begun to pick up and more and more rumors have been flying around. A number of big names have already been mentioned as possible trade candidates this season.

Big bats like Hunter Pence and Kevin Youkilis could be dealt, and they will come with a fairly high price tag. Acquiring one of these players could be the piece that a team needs to make the playoffs.

The 2012 baseball season has entered its third month, and that means there are plenty of rumors floating around the league—it’s the MLB way of life.

Some trade rumors turn out to be true, while others are so asinine and crazy that only the naïve and/or inebriated would believe them.

It is getting to the point of the year where MLB trade rumors are starting to pick up and more and more players are getting mentioned as possible trade candidates.

Most of the players that are mentioned in trade rumors will not be going anywhere, but their names will come up over and over again during the course of the next few months.

What can you really say about the whole Roy Oswalt signing with the Texas Rangers scenario other than thank God its over?

The rich certainly got richer in this case.

When Major League Baseball finalized its decision to incorporate a second wild card berth into the league's postseason format, everyone realized that things were going to be very different going forward.

The second wild card is already starting to make its presence felt. We're still many weeks away from seeing teams lock up postseason berths, but we're really not that far off from MLB's trade deadline. The existence of the second wild card is going to make things even crazier than usual as we get closer to July 31.

The first month of the MLB season is a time for evaluation. Clubs will see what they have out on the field, what works and what doesn't and what kind of adjustments need to be made going forward.

April is over now. Teams know what they have and they know what they don't have. The question in the coming months is, how will the league's would-be contenders find the pieces that they don't have?

In January of this year, the New York Times ran a story that said the Yankees are saving now for a potential free-agency splash next winter.