Some names – Adrian Gonzalez and Roy Oswalt for example – have already surfaced in trade rumors. But some of the players we'll hear about in trade talks this summer have yet to appear. To find out when we should have a good sense of who is available, let's look back to last summer and see when some of the biggest names first appeared in rumors:
- Jake Peavy – Peavy was essentially involved in non-stop trade rumors from the 2008-09 offseason until his near-deal to Chicago in May. Things quieted down for a couple months until the two clubs successfully pulled the deal off in July.
- Victor Martinez – V-Mart first came up in trade rumors around this time last year, when Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports said the Red Sox had inquired on the catcher and exchanged names with the Indians.
- Cliff Lee – The buzz around Lee started early on. Danny Knobler of CBS Sports reported that executives around baseball were chattering about a possible trade on April 24th. That was three weeks after MLBTR's Tim Dierkes wondered aloud if the Indians would deal him.
- Roy Halladay, the player everyone was talking about last summer, wasn't on anyone's radar as an early trade candidate. It wasn't until July that then-GM J.P. Ricciardi told reporters he'd listen to offers for the Blue Jays' ace.
Some of the players we're reading about now will remain in the rumor mill non-stop for a few months, but we haven't necessarily heard all the big names – there could easily be some surprise trade candidates to come.
