Every MLB Contenders' Biggest Need Heading into the Waiver Trade Deadline

If we learned anything this past weekend, it's that blockbuster trades can absolutely take place after the non-waiver trade deadline.

While the trade between the Dodgers and Red Sox impacts the playoff race in the National League, it's unlikely that we'll see other contenders make such bold moves between now and the end of the month.

That's not to say that other contenders don't have needs, because virtually every team could benefit from bolstering some area as we prepare to hit Labor Day and make the turn for the home stretch.

What area could your favorite contender use some additional reinforcements in?

Let's take a look.

Arizona Diamondbacks: Starting Pitching

After being swept by the San Diego Padres and dealing away Joe Saunders, it may be time to cross the Diamondbacks off of the list of contenders in the National League.

I'll leave them on for another week, but with the team sitting at .500 (64-64), seven games behind the Giants in the National League West and 6.5 games behind the Cardinals for the second NL wild-card spot, things are not looking great for Kirk Gibson and company.

When it comes to starting pitching, only Wade Miley (2-2, 1.85 ERA) and Patrick Corbin (3-1, 3.60 ERA) have been pulling their weight in August.

Trevor Cahill (0-2, 5.14 ERA) and Ian Kennedy (2-3, 5.60 ERA) both need to turn things around quickly if the Diamondbacks have any chance of making a run for the playoffs.

If the Diamondbacks were able to bring in an inexpensive veteran arm, you'd think they would, but as previously mentioned, the dealing away of Saunders, who was ineffective in his own right this month (1-3, 7.04 ERA), could be a sign that they are going to go with the four starters and prospect Tyler Skaggs, who has one career start under his belt.

Atlanta Braves: A Left-Handed Bat off of the Bench

It was about two weeks ago when the Boston Globe's Nick Cafardo wrote about the Braves' need for a left-handed bat off of the bench, thinking aloud whether Johnny Damon would be a fit for the stretch run in Atlanta.

The Braves never seemed to have much interest in Damon, but they did wind up bringing another veteran left-handed bat into the fold:

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#Braves signed 1B Lyle Overbay to a minor league deal. He'll report to Gwinnett. To join braves when rosters expand Sept. 1 as bench piece

— David O'Brien (@ajcbraves) August 20, 2012

 

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Overbay, 35, hit .292/.367/.448 with two home runs and 10 RBI in 110 plate appearances for the Diamondbacks this season before being released.

If Overbay can continue to hit when given the opportunity, he could wind up being a valuable piece of the Braves bench down the stretch.

Baltimore Orioles: Middle Relief

The choice here would have been starting pitching before yesterday, but the Orioles acquired veteran southpaw Joe Saunders from the Diamondbacks.

While Saunders has been mediocre this season, he'll provide some valuable innings and take pressure off of the Orioles' rookie ace, Wei-Yin Chen.

To acquire him, however, the Orioles had to trade away a fairly significant piece of their bullpen in Matt Lindstrom. While the team certainly dealt from an area of strength—Baltimore's bullpen has been among the best in baseball all season long—it has plugged in two failures as starting pitchers, Jake Arrieta and Brian Matusz, to fill the void.

Can either of these youngsters be effective pitching out of the bullpen, or have the Orioles significantly weakened the strongest part of their team?

Adding an experienced, veteran reliever to the mix would alleviate the heartburn that skipper Buck Showalter and Orioles fans are sure to experience every time Arrieta or Matusz trots out of the bullpen.

Chicago White Sox: Bench Help

The White Sox continue to hold a 2.5 game lead over the Detroit Tigers for the lead in the American League Central, and at first glance, they don't have any glaring weaknesses in the starting lineup, the rotation or the bullpen.

But if you look into the dugout when the team is in the field, you'll notice that there is virtually nobody on the bench. Skipper Robin Ventura has been running with one of the thinnest benches among contenders in all of baseball, with only a backup catcher in Tyler Flowers, a utility infielder in Ray Olmeido and a fourth outfielder, Jordan Danks, to call upon.

None of the three have much in the way of experience, something that could come back to bite the White Sox in the rear should one of their regulars miss any time due to injury.

Adding a veteran bat to the lineup—Scott Hairston or Andres Torres from the Mets perhaps—would give the team some flexibility late in games and, more importantly, give Ventura some piece of mind that he has a veteran to call upon if needed.

Cincinnati Reds: A Healthy Joey Votto

There isn't a move that the Cincinnati Reds can make that will have as big of an impact as the return of perennial MVP candidate Joey Votto to the lineup will.

Recovering from two surgeries on his left knee, Votto is set to begin his rehab assignment Monday with Class-A Dayton, and should he have no setbacks, it's conceivable that Votto could return to the Reds lineup by this coming weekend. (h/t Kentucky.com)

Before being sidelined in July, Votto was hitting 342/.465/.604 with 14 home runs and 49 RBI through 86 games played.

The Reds, who have gone 25-12 without Votto in the lineup, will have made the equivalent of a blockbuster trade with the return of a healthy Votto to everyday duty.

Detroit Tigers: Bullpen Help

The Detroit Tigers remain alive and well in not only the American League wild-card race, but in the race for the division title in the American League Central, trailing the White Sox by only 2.5 games.

Detroit, for the most part, is a well-constructed team with little in the way of a glaring weakness, but if there was an area that could use some reinforcements, it would be the bullpen.

Two of Jim Leyland's go-to guys have hit the wall in August—Bryan Villareal (10 G, 5.19 ERA, 1.50 WHIP) and Phil Coke (8 G, 6.75 ERA, 2.44 WHIP)—and neither one is making the Tigers' task of catching the White Sox any easier.

Were the Tigers to add a veteran reliever, they could alleviate some of the pressure currently on Coke and Villareal, who are clearly pressing, and ultimately allow the duo get back on track, giving the Tigers an even stronger bullpen than before.

Los Angeles Angels: Bullpen Help

For as much talent as the Angels have in their lineup and their pitching staff, it's inconceivable that they are nearly 10 games behind the Rangers in the AL West and four games out of one of the American League's wild-card spots.

Yet that's exactly where the Angels finds themselves, and much of the problem can be attributed to their bullpen.

With a combined ERA of 4.15—a number that puts them 22nd out of the 30 teams in baseball—the group has underachieved for most of the season.

Closer Ernesto Frieri, who was untouchable in the first half of the season, has posted a 6.28 ERA since the All-Star break.

Veterans who were solid contributors in the first half are quickly showing signs of age in the second half, specifically Scott Downs (12 G, 13.50 ERA, 2.75 WHIP), LaTroy Hawkins (18 G, 6.35 ERA, 1.65 WHIP) and Jason Isringhausen (14 G, 6.17 ERA, 1.71 WHIP).

If the Angels have any shot at making a run for the playoffs, they need to fix the bullpen in a hurry.

Adding at least one more quality piece to the mix would go a long way toward curing what ails them.

Los Angeles Dodgers: Get the New Guys Acclimated

There isn't a move left for the Dodgers to make.

Consider the players they have acquired since the new ownership group took over earlier this summer:

Josh Beckett, Joe Blanton, Randy Choate, Carl Crawford, Adrian Gonzalez, Brandon League, Nick Punto, Hanley Ramirez and Shane Victorino.

They've overhauled their roster in a very short period of time, positioning themselves to win not only in 2012, but for the next few seasons as well.

Getting all of the new acquisitions to mesh together, however, is a daunting task that falls on the shoulders of manager Don Mattingly and his coaching staff.

Of all the new faces, none may be more important than Josh Beckett.

With Chad Billingsley on the shelf with pain in his right elbow—and it will be a week before he undergoes an MRI exam—Beckett turning his season around with a fresh start in Los Angeles is imperative to the Dodgers' success.

Should Beckett and company get comfortable and on a roll, the Dodgers will be one of the most dangerous teams in either league.

New York Yankees: A Healthy Andy Pettitte

The Yankees have no qualms about throwing CC Sabathia or Hiroki Kuroda against any team at any time—but after that duo, New York's rotation gets a little shaky.

Phil Hughes is still incredibly talented, but continues to be felled by one bad inning per start.

Ivan Nova, on the disabled list, has been a gigantic flop in the second half of the season (8 GS, 7.28 ERA, 1.64 WHIP), and Freddy Garcia is simply hit or miss at this point in his career.

David Phelps, who has been solid both as a starter and in relief, is unproven and unlikely to be someone whom the Yankees are comfortable counting on down the stretch.

No pitcher that the team could add at this point in time would have the same impact as the return of a healthy Andy Pettitte would.

A healthy Pettitte returning to the rotation would change everything for the Yankees—they would have three veterans in whom they have the utmost confidence, allowing them to mix and match the likes of Garcia, Hughes and Nova instead of having to throw them every fifth day.

Oakland Athletics: Starting Pitching

After losing Bartolo Colon to a 50-game suspension, the A's starting rotation is full of question marks.

Veteran Brandon McCarthy continues to anchor the staff, and rookies Tom Milone and Jarrod Parker continue to be solid contributors.

After that, it's anyone's guess what sort of production the A's will get.

Brett Anderson was impressive in his first start of the season, but he's far from a sure thing going forward.

As for the fifth spot in the rotation, who fills that void is up in the air.

Joe Saunders would have made a lot of sense for Oakland, but the Orioles beat them to the punch. If the A's add a veteran starter to the mix, they would have another experienced starter to count on, and it could help alleviate some of the pressure the rookies are facing down the stretch. 

Pittsburgh Pirates: Starting Pitching

I've been pulling for the Pirates to end 20 years of futility all season long, but it's becoming more difficult to believe that they can accomplish the feat with each passing day.

The team has gone 9-15 in August, largely because of awful starting pitching.

Only Jeff Karstens, with a 2.81 ERA and 0.91 WHIP over five starts, has been any good in the month of August for the Pirates.

Wandy Rodriguez (4 GS, 4.94 ERA, 1.43 WHIP), A.J. Burnett (4 GS, 5.27 ERA, 1.54 WHIP), Erik Bedard (4 GS, 5.91 ERA, 1.45 WHIP) and James McDonald (4 GS, 5.91 ERA, 1.45 WHIP) have been atrocious, putting the Pirates in a hole early and often.

There's little chance that the Pirates add another starting pitcher between now and the waiver trade deadline, so unless they plan on calling up one of their coveted pitching prospects—Gerrit Cole or Jameson Taillon—the Pirates are going to go with what they've got.

Another thing the Pirates should look to avoid is epic, extra-inning games.

Since beating the Cardinals 6-3 in a 19-inning marathon on August 19, the Pirates have lost five of six games.

Flash back to last July 26 when the Pirates lost 4-3 to the Braves in 19 innings. At that point, the Bucs were one game behind the lead for the National League Central.

Seven days later, they had lost six of seven games and found themselves 5.5 games out.

That's a strange coincidence, don't you think?

San Francisco Giants: A Left Fielder

Updated Aug. 27, 9:00 PM ET:

Ideally, the Giants would love to add an everyday left fielder, but at this point, they'll settle for someone that they can platoon with Gregor Blanco.

Buster Olney had reported over the weekend that the Giants had interest in Houston's Steve Pearce, but he's since been dealt to the Yankees for "cash considerations."

The Giants need to make a move if they want to keep the Dodgers at bay, but their biggest problem will be the Dodgers themselves—as long as the Dodgers trail in the standings, they can claim every single player who lands on waivers before the Giants have a chance to.

Money is obviously not an obstacle for Los Angeles, so chances are that if the Giants are going to find a suitable platoon partner, it's going to have to come from within the organization.

Xavier Nady anyone?

St. Louis Cardinals: Nothing

The Cardinals may not catch the Cincinnati Reds for the NL Central title—though if we've learned anything over the past few years, it's that no lead is safe when the Cardinals are chasing you—but they are in excellent position to make a deep postseason run as a wild-card team.

Looking up and down their lineup, rotation and bullpen, it's hard to find an area of weakness or need.

You've heard the adage "if it ain't broke, don't fix it."

That's applicable to the Cardinals right now.

As long as they can stay healthy, they have no reason to make a move.

Tampa Bay Rays: Nothing

I'd love to point to Tampa's lack of offense as an area of concern, and let's be honest—a team batting line of .236/.315/.379 is pretty pathetic.

But the Rays keep winning.

They've won seven of their last 10 games, are four games behind the Yankees in the American League East and find themselves sitting in the top wild-card spot in the American League entering today's games.

For the month of August, they are 16-7.

It's hard to argue with success, and as with the Cardinals, whatever Tampa is doing right now works, so there's no reason to try and change things.

Texas Rangers: Starting Pitching

There's no question that the Rangers have one of the most prolific offenses in baseball, and their lineup is powerful enough to atone for mistakes made by their pitchers.

The question that has been asked for quite a while is: Do they have the pitching needed to make a deep postseason run?

Rangers starters have a 4.23 ERA on the season, good enough for 18th in baseball.

While that isn't a pretty number, things are looking up for the Rangers rotation.

Ryan Dempster seems to be comfortable in his new surroundings and has been outstanding over his last two starts, allowing three earned runs over his last 14 innings of work. Yu Darvish has gotten off the schneid and pitched to a 3.95 ERA over his past two starts.

Derek Holland continues to throw as he has all season long, and Matt Harrison continues to be the ace of the staff.

You could make the argument that adding another starting pitcher to the mix can only help things, but whether it's truly necessary is up for debate.

Washington Nationals: Nothing

Replacing Stephen Strasburg's production once he's shut down will not be an easy task for the Nationals, but in Gio Gonzalez and Jordan Zimmerman, they have two pitchers who are up to the task.

While they could potentially add another starting pitcher to pick up some of Strasburg's starts, they have enough internal options in Chien-Ming Wang (if he's ever healthy) and John Lannan to pick up the slack.