Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports has trade speculation in the sidebar of his latest column.
- Rosenthal sees shortstop Mike Aviles as the Royals' weakest link, given his .523 OPS in 97 plate appearances. Most projection systems had Aviles in the .720-.750 range. Rosenthal runs through potential trade targets such as Orlando Cabrera, Jack Wilson, Miguel Tejada, and Marco Scutaro. The first three have their flaws, and Scutaro doesn't figure to be available.
- Rosenthal suggests the Rockies could accomplish their goal of more playing time for Ian Stewart by trading Garrett Atkins. However, Atkins is fairly pricey and is off to a .224/.287/.367 start through 108 plate appearances.
- Orioles reliever Danys Baez is generating trade buzz with his 2.30 ERA through 15.6 innings. Baez is still owed $4.55MM of his $5.5MM '09 salary, and he also gets a $500K bonus if traded. So just moving the contract might be a feat for Andy MacPhail, in my opinion.
- Aubrey Huff, with $6.62MM left on his contract, could eventually draw interest from teams like the Royals and Mariners, in Rosenthal's opinion. Huff seems back to his pre-2008 level; he's hitting .270/.331/.423 in 124 plate appearances.
