MLB Trade Scenarios: 5 Sputtering Contenders Who Need a Big Deal ASAP

Unless you were hiding under a rock last year, you witnessed what many call the most exciting day in baseball history at the end of the regular season, where of the 15 games played, eight had playoff implications.

What did that prove? The answer is a simple one.

Every. Game. Counts.

Up until now, teams have waited until the non-waiver trade deadline to make significant changes to their rosters, giving themselves ample time to determine if they are buyers or sellers.

With the additional wild card spot in each league this season, there will be far more buyers than sellers come July 31st.

In a seller's market, the cost to obtain the reinforcements that a team desires could prove to be far more costly than before.

For those teams who fancy themselves a contender and have already identified areas of need, it pays to make a move sooner rather than later.

Let's take a look at five teams who should be working the phones as we speak—because while it's still early in the season, the competition isn't going to stop playing winning baseball so that these teams can get back on track.

Boston Red Sox

Red Sox general manager Ben Cherington told Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe how the team expects to have Carl Crawford, Jacoby Ellsbury, Daisuke Matsuzaka and Kevin Youkilis back at some point this season, and that he believes "that would be better than anything we could do in a trade deadline deal."

Boston is six games under .500—the only team in the AL East with a losing record. They are 7.5 games behind the division-leading Tampa Bay Rays and 4.5 games behind the Toronto Blue Jays for the second AL Wild Card spot.

Who says they can wait until the end of July to make a move?

With roughly $78 million in 2012 salary sitting on the disabled list, Boston can no longer wait for people to return to action.

Cherington needs to be proactive and start adding pieces if he has any thoughts about contending in 2012.

Pitching wins championships, and Boston needs to shake things up.

A move that would strengthen two spots at once for the Red Sox is to go get a closer—Chicago's Carlos Marmol or Houston's Brett Myers would allow the Red Sox to move Alfredo Aceves back into the starting rotation where he belongs.

Sure, Andrew Bailey will return from injury eventually, but eventually is a long ways away from today and Boston cannot afford to wait for eventually.

Additionally, Cherington should give the Arizona Diamondbacks a call to see what they'd want in exchange for current long-reliever Josh Collmenter.

With incumbent catcher Miguel Montero asking for more than Arizona seems willing to pay him, it's been widely reported that GM Kevin Towers has a list of young catchers around the league that he's interested in.

A deal that involves Boston's Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Collmenter as the focal points makes sense for both sides—Boston gets another starter while Arizona gets three-quarters of a season to see if Salty is the catcher they're comfortable moving forward with.

This would allow Boston to move Daniel Bard back to the bullpen (where he belongs) and begin the Ryan Lavarnway era behind the plate in earnest.

Los Angeles Angels

Why are the Los Angeles Angels four games under .500 and seven games behind the first place Texas Rangers in the AL West?

There are a number of reasons, and many will point to their sluggish offense with good reason. But with big money locked into under-performing players like Erick Aybar, Albert Pujols and Vernon Wells, there's not much that the team can do about that. 

However, one area that was an issue even before the season started and that they can do something about was their bullpen, which as of today is one of the worst in baseball.

Angels relievers have combined to go 0-6 with a 4.32 ERA and only four saves. Opponents are batting .262 against them, which isn't all that bad in itself were it not for their ineffectiveness.

As with Boston, the Angels would benefit greatly from solidifying the back-end of their bullpen.

Scott Downs was their best setup man, but he's now been forced into the closers role with incumbent Jordan Walden having lost both his confidence and the ability to throw strikes.

This is a fixable situation.

Carlos Marmol of the Chicago Cubs, Brett Myers of the Houston Astros or even the currently injured Huston Street from the San Diego Padres would all be upgrades over the Angels internal options for the position.

With Aybar and Howard Kendrick both signed for the foreseeable future, the Angels could dangle shortstop prospect Jean Segura in a deal without losing any sleep.

Milwaukee Brewers

Brewers GM Doug Melvin knew that 2012 would be a challenging one, trying to replace the production that Prince Fielder bought to the club.

He didn't expect that he'd lose one starting pitcher for the season (Chris Narveson) and that his ace, Yovani Gallardo, would be sitting with a 5.35 ERA and 1.55 WHIP or that the rotation as a whole would have a 9-11 record, 4.75 ERA and .273 BAA.

But pitching isn't their major problem.

Outside of 2011 NL MVP Ryan Braun and the catching tandem of George Kottaras and Jonathan Lucroy, the Brewers offense has been, well, offensive.

Mat Gamel, the 26-year-old prospect tagged with replacing Fielder at first base was unimpressive in 21 games with a batting line of .246/.293/.348, one home run and six RBI.

With Gamel out for the season, Melvin told Trenni Kusnierek of WTMJ 620 AM radio that the team had spoken with representatives for free agent first baseman Derek Lee, but that the two sides were not a match. He insists that the team will not make a deal until about a week before the trade deadline to replace Gamel.

That's simply foolish if they plan on contending for a playoff spot in 2012.

With the Chicago Cubs in a rebuilding mode, it would behoove Melvin to have a chat with Cubs GM Jed Hoyer.

The Cubs have Anthony Rizzo, their first baseman of the future, raking in Triple-A and Bryan LaHair, a 28-year-old rookie, raking in the majors.

With a farm system that includes a number of young pitchers who could be attractive to the Cubs, a deal for LaHair could make sense for both teams.

Philadelphia Phillies

According to Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe, the Philadelphia Phillies insist that they are not looking to make a move. "We’re just trying to hold our heads above water until we get our guys back," an unnamed Phillies official told him.

While the eventual return of first baseman Ryan Howard and second baseman Chase Utley will undoubtedly bolster their lineup, the Phillies will still be left with a gaping hole in left and a quickly aging Placido Polanco at third base.

Domonic Brown, who has been one of their top prospects for a number of years, seemingly has no future in Philadelphia as the team continues to trot out John Mayberry Jr., who has been close to an automatic out in 2012 and Juan Pierre, who at this point in his career is nothing but a singles hitter.

With Jack Hannahan entrenched at third base in Cleveland, the Phillies would be wise to give the Indians a call and see what it would take to acquire third base prospect Lonnie Chisenhall, currently on the disabled list with a strained calf.

A package revolving around Brown and Chisenhall would make sense for both teams.

Washington Nationals

OK, so the Washington Nationals aren't exactly sputtering.

But it's no secret that they have been searching for a long-term answer in center field for quite some time, and now may be the time to strike.

While Nationals GM Mike Rizzo insists that the team is not looking to make a move, according to ESPN's Jayson Stark,

With the Minnesota Twins going absolutely nowhere, Denard Span makes a ton of sense for the first place Nationals.

They could put a package together that revolves around pitching prospect Alex Meyer, who figures to have his path to the nation's capital blocked by the Nationals current crop of starting pitchers.