MLB Trade Rumors: 4 Buyers Who Need to Face Reality

It's safe to say that the second wild-card spot in each league has made things interesting, don't you think?

So it should come as no surprise that a week away from the trade deadline, more teams consider themselves buyers than sellers—more than half of the teams in baseball either sit in a playoff spot currently or are within four games of one.

But there are only 10 playoff spots to be had, and some teams need to start taking a deep look in the mirror.

Will the moves that they are considering making really put them in a position to contend for a World Series title?

Let's take a look at four teams who can answer that question with a resounding "no."

Atlanta Braves

Record: 52-44, 2nd place NL East (4.5 games out of 1st place)

Wild Card Position: 0.5 games back

Multiple sources, including CBS Sports' Jon Heyman, report that the Braves are on the verge of sending pitching prospect Randall Delgado to the Cubs in exchange for 35-year-old Ryan Dempster, though the odds of the deal going through are 50-50 at best, according to Heyman.

While the Braves are right in the thick of things, both in the division and in regards to the wild card, does adding Dempster really put them over the top in the National League?

The answer is no, though he does strengthen their rotation for sure.

Braves starting pitchers have been pretty ineffective in 2012, pitching to a combined 4.32 ERA—good for 14th in the National League, ahead of only the Houston Astros and Colorado Rockies.

But the Braves' issues go deeper than only one pitcher. After Tim Hudson and Tommy Hanson, who have both been good but not great, the Braves rotation is full of question marks, even if Dempster is added.

Mike Minor has been inconsistent and Jair Jurrjens has shown the same issues that forced the Braves to demote him earlier this season. Ben Sheets, who has been fantastic in his two starts for the Braves, has only made those two starts since the end of the 2010 season—you simply cannot count on him to throw effectively every fifth day.

From a sentimental point of view, it makes sense for the Braves to try and make a playoff run, with Chipper Jones retiring after the season.

But doing the right thing by Chipper's standards and doing the right thing for the team over the next few years are two different things. As the Braves rarely sign free agents to lucrative contracts, moving their prospects for players under team control—or keeping those prospects and playing them—is the way to go.

Baltimore Orioles

Record: 51-45, 2nd place AL East (7 games out of 1st place)

Wild Card Position: 0.5 games back 

You really can't fault Orioles GM Dan Duquette for being fired up about his team, considering that nobody expected them to do much of anything in 2012. Yet here we are, a week from the trade deadline, and the Orioles are essentially tied for a wild card spot.

So it's not surprising to read the comments that he made to Fox Sports' Ken Rosenthal only a few days ago:

"

Our future is now. We’re going to try to do everything we can to get into the playoffs this year. I just think it’s important to the fans that they know we’re trying to put a good team on the field and have a good season.

"

The future is now? Not really Dan.

The Orioles only had two quality major league starting pitchers to begin with and one of them, Jason Hammel, is on the DL for a month after undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his right knee.

While they've been linked to pitchers such as Seattle's Jason Vargas and Oakland's Bartolo Colon, neither one—nor even a combination of the two—is going to make the Orioles a dangerous team come October.

Simply put, Duquette needs to take a step back.

The Orioles are not going to overtake the Yankees in the AL East, and while they have as good a chance as anyone to clinch a wild-card berth, what does that really get them? One playoff game, a game that isn't guaranteed to be played in Camden Yards.

Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun says that the team has had preliminary talks about a trio of corner infielders: the Cubs' Bryan LaHair, the Padres' Chase Headley and the Phillies' Placido Polanco.

Duquette and O's skipper Buck Showalter have done a very good job getting the Orioles back to respectability, but they aren't contenders just yet. They unquestionably need to add some pieces—but they should be targeting players like LaHair and Headley, not short-term rentals like Colon and Polanco.

Cleveland Indians

Record: 48-48, 3rd place AL Central (4 games out of 1st place)

Wild Card Position: 3.5 games back

Indians GM Chris Antonetti has been looking to add a right-handed bat and some starting pitching for the stretch run to the playoffs, but what he needs to do is learn from his mistakes.

Rewind to last year's trade deadline, when Antonetti traded four prospects—including two of their best in pitchers Drew Pomeranz and Alex White—to the Rockies in exchange for the grossly overrated Ubaldo Jimenez, who has been an unmitigated disaster since joining the Tribe, going 12-13 with a 5.18 ERA and 1.55 WHIP over 30 starts.

The fact that his record is almost .500 is a testament to how solid the Indians' offense has been: their 446 runs scored on the season rank 13th in all of baseball.

Then again, you can't put all the blame for Cleveland's rotation woes squarely on Jimenez—Indians starters have gone a combined 35-41 with a 4.68 ERA, 26th in the majors.

So while talk about trading for the Twins' Francisco Liriano is somewhat intriguing, it should stay as talk and nothing else. Liriano isn't going to come in and play the part of savior, he can't play that role—because the problems with Cleveland's rotation are more than one pitcher can solve.

With that being the case, it makes sense for the Indians to investigate moving a few pieces to strengthen the club for 2013 and beyond; pieces like closer Chris Perez, whom Fox Sports' tag team of Jon Paul Morosi and Ken Rosenthal report that the Giants have interest in trading for.

Toronto Blue Jays

Record: 48-47, 4th place AL East (9.5 games out of 1st place)

Wild Card Position: 3 games back

Injuries have decimated Blue Jays pitching in 2012—as of today they have nine pitchers on the disabled list, including a large chunk of their starting rotation as well as their closer.

Ricky Romero, the ace of the staff, has struggled mightily this season and the fact that the Jays remain in the playoff hunt is a testament to how solid their offense has been.

While the Jays have the deepest farm system in baseball, moving prospects to acquire players like J.A. Happ don't get them any closer to the playoffs. The same can be said for Minnesota's Francisco Liriano, whom the Jays have been linked to as well.

They simply don't have enough healthy arms to make a considerable playoff run in 2012 and mortgaging the future for a shot at one game as a wild-card team simply isn't intelligent.

Toronto needs to be forward thinking, and with that, look to move some of its prospects and expendable major league pieces to acquire the pieces that it needs for 2013 and beyond.

One player that could find himself with a new team by next Tuesday is shortstop Yunel Escobar, according to CBS Sports' Jon Heyman:

"

keep hearing #jays want to deal yunel escobar. #braves, who have simmons out and had yunel, not interested.

— Jon Heyman (@JonHeymanCBS) July 18, 2012

"

Packaging Escobar with some of their prospects could bring back a game-changer for the Jays to head into 2013 with—someone like Arizona's Justin Upton, perhaps.

The Jays, when healthy, are close to becoming a force to be reckoned with in the American League. Unfortunately for them, health isn't something they can acquire at the deadline.