MLB Trade Rumors

For the second time this offseason, the Florida Marlins have hit a stumbling block with one of their core players, this time it's pitcher Ricky Nolasco according to Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports. 

Coming into the 2011 season, the Twins have a lot of questions marks:

Relief Pitching has been the main concern. After losing Matt Guerrier and Jesse Crain out of free agency, only a few bullpen locks remain. Matt Capps was the steady closer for 2010, and Jose Mijares will most likely return with a bigger roll in 2011. Returning All-Star closer Joe Nathan should be ready for spring training, but it doesn't make sense to expect too much from him after so recently undergoing elbow surgery.

Cliff Lee is a Philadelphia Phillie. Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez are Boston Red Sox. Russell Martin is a New York Yankee. Jayson Werth is a Washington National.

Yes, this offseason has been full of big-name players switching teams. But we're not even close to being done yet.

The Los Angeles Angels missed out on Crawford and Lee, so they will almost certainly make some sort of big move before the 2011 season starts. In fact, they are interested in four of the five players on this list.

The New York Yankees are in trouble, no denying that. The Boston Red Sox have flown past them this winter, and the Yankees' inability to lure free-agent ace Cliff Lee with a colossal seven-year contract offer leave them hurting badly for starting pitching.

Zack Greinke, the second-best available pitcher and current ace of the Kansas City Royals, seems to be on their radar screen.

Assuming that the Royals do not lessen their sky-high price tag for Greinke, though, the Yankees are hardly in the right position to make a deal.

While all of the big chips in free agency have fallen this season, a team looking to make a big splash will need to turn to the trade market, and there may be no more intriguing trade chip than Prince Fielder.

Whether he is traded in the offseason or at the deadline, it seems a foregone conclusion that Fielder is on his way out of Milwaukee with the Brewers unable to re-sign him.

So here are eight deals that make sense, not only for the team acquiring Fielder, but also for the Brewers, as they look to bolster their pitching and fill what will then be a hole at first base.

The Cliff Lee signing really shook up a few things, but the biggest effects should be on American League teams like the Yankees and Rangers, who now must turn to the Royals, Rays and Twins for a backup plan.

Over in the National League, things are a little quieter. 

A few big trades have already gone down. The Padres got a huge haul of top-notch talent in exchange for Adrian Gonzalez. The Braves added slugger Dan Uggla and a solid bullpen piece in Scott Linebrink. And the Brewers bolstered their rotation by swapping top infield prospect Brett Lawrie for Shaun Marcum.

Late Monday night, word came out that not only was there a mystery team in the Cliff Lee sweepstakes, but that they had won his services.

The Phillies got back the piece they sorely missed last post-season, and in the process put another 500 pounds of pain on the Yankees off-season.

When the Yankees found out they would be playing the Texas Rangers in the American League Championship Series, everyone in baseball figured Cliff Lee would be auditioning for his new team. 

He took the mound in Game 3 in New York and dazzled everyone in attendance with his eight innings of one-hit ball and added in 13 strikeouts as well.  I would say that is a pretty solid audition, wouldn't you?

The Cliff Lee contract will eventually impact almost everyone in the league in some way, but for Philadelphia Phillies' right-handed pitcher Joe Blanton, that time is now. Phillies' GM Ruben Amaro acknowledges he will eventually need to make a trade to move some money and make room in the team budget for Lee.

"It's the most wonderful time of the year!"

It's not the most original statement, but for baseball fans, especially those of middle-of-the-road teams, there are few times of the year that hold as much excitement as the months leading up to spring training.

Hope is alive (even for my Orioles) and everyone is on (somewhat) even footing. Teams like the Padres and Royals have the ability to become headline news-makers, even if it's just for a day, and teams like the Brewers and Blue Jays can give the Yankees and Red Sox a run for their money in terms of "offseason rankings."