After writing about the Cubs a couple days ago, it's now time to talk about the team I picked to beat them in the World Series: the Boston Red Sox. Now let's look at the defending World Champs to see if they have areas to improve before the trade deadline.

First, among position players, their only two potential weaknesses are at SS and C. At SS, Julio Lugo is getting on base really well this season, but his defense is once again suspect, at least according to the advanced statistics. He's at -2 FRAA, 83 Rate, and .770 RZR. That RZR ranks last among MLB shortstops. The bad news is that Lugo is still signed for 3 more years, so he needs to play if he's to provide value (either on the field or in trade). If the Sox end up looking for alternatives, they might not have to look any farther than Jed Lowrie. Lowrie has hit at both AAA (.279/.375/.435) and in the majors (.310/.340/.476). Plus, he's held his own on defense, though in very limited time.

At catcher, Jason Varitek's age might have caught up to him. He's striking out 26.9% of the time. While that's not much worse than his career 22.9%, his walk rate has also dropped to 8.6% (career 10.6%). That amounts to a career low 0.35 BB/K (career 0.52). On top of it, his liner rate has dropped to 11.7% (career 20.4%). However, there aren't really any alternatives. Even if there were options, could you see the Red Sox choosing someone over Varitek? (On the other hand, did you expect them to trade Nomar Garciaparra?)

On the mound, the Red Sox have an embarrassment of riches. With Josh Beckett, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Jon Lester, Justin Masterson, Tim Wakefield, Clay Buchholz, and Bartolo Colon, the Red Sox have plenty of SP to choose from, but that hasn't stopped them from coming up in the C.C. Sabathia trade rumors. Moving to the later innings, the Red Sox also have a full stable of options: Jonathan Papelbon, Hideki Okajima, and Manny Delcarmen among others. If they choose to acquire a pitcher, more power to them.

Potential holes to fill: C, SS

Potential trade bait: Jed Lowrie, Coco Crisp (he's still here?), Ryan Kalish, Lars Anderson, Clay Buchholz, Justin Masterson, Michael Bowden (Buchholz and Masterson only listed for a potential Sabathia deal)

Unlike the previous two teams I covered, it's obvious the Cubs, at 48-29, are going to be contenders in 2008. The Cubs are also one of the most balanced teams in the league: 2nd most runs on offense and 5th fewest runs on defense. What do they need to put them over the top in their elusive hunt for a championship?

On offense, they currently have no holes, but there are a couple of question marks in my mind. One, can Ryan Theriot keep this up all year? Two, has Jim Edmonds found the fountain of youth buried deep inside Wrigley Field? To answer the first one, there's nothing in Theriot's advanced or batted ball statistics to suggest that he's not for real. On the other hand, his batting line is held up by a great April. He hit .340/.415/.457 in April, followed by .308/.407/.337 in May and .308/.349/.333 in June. That's right; he only has 5 extra base hits since April. If he has lost his stroke, the Cubs should still be okay as they can always turn to one of Ronny Cedeno, Mike Fontenot, or Eric Patterson (I still think DeRosa could handle shortstop). Center field might be a different story. After hitting .252/.325/.403 for the Cardinals last year, Edmonds opened the year hitting .178/.265/.233 for the Padres. That prompted the Padres to release him May 9th, and the Cubs signed him to a league-minimum contract 5 days later. In the same amount of playing time in Chicago as San Diego, Edmonds has hit .300/.352/.587. All told, he's hitting .235/.305/.400 and his defense has been okay (.955/.914 RZR and 100/104 Rates with Chicago/San Diego). If he goes back to being 38 (okay, so he's not 38 until Friday), the Cubs will need to look for another solution. The 23-year old Felix Pie hasn't re-found his swing at AAA (.222/.274/.393), and on top of it, he recently injured his hand. Basically, if Edmonds falls apart, there's a hole in center.

Moving to the pitching staff, the bullpen has been outstanding, led by non-closer Carlos Marmol. Over 40 innings, Marmol has struck out 64 and only walked 20 with an ERA of 3.00. The actual closer Kerry Wood has also pitched well. In his 38.2 IP, Wood has an ERA of 2.56 with 46 strikeouts and 8 walks. So if the bullpen doesn't need any help, what about the rotation? Recently disabled Carlos Zambrano has pitched well as has the surprising Ryan Dempster. In the other three rotation spots, Ted Lilly, Jason Marquis, and Sean Gallagher have held their own. If the Cubs wanted to enhance their chances of both getting to and doing well in the playoffs, the starting rotation is a good place to target. They've been in several rumors, including those for C.C. Sabathia and A.J. Burnett. They have spare middle infielders (Cedeno, Fontenot, and Patterson), outfielders (Pie and Matt Murton) and starting pitchers to use as trade bait (Rich Hill and Sean Marshall). If they could land a top pitcher like Sabathia or Burnett, they'd have to be considered favorites in the National League. Maybe this is the year for the Cubs to break the 100-year curse.

Potential upgrades: SS, CF, SP

Possible trade bait: Cedeno, Fontenot, Patterson, Pie, Murton, Hill, Marshall

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Interesting note about the Cubs: They have pretty much everyone locked up for the next couple years. Their only 2008 free agents are Dempster, Wood, Bob Howry, Jon Lieber, Daryle Ward, and DeRosa's their only 2009 free agent.

The Mariners are a team I generally take a lot of flack about, but I think that might be a little different now. The Mariners are doing worse than anyone expected, and at 19.5 GB, the Mariners are expected to be sellers this season. With several high salaries on the roster and not much down on the farm with Jeff Clement already in the majors, it's hard to say when the Mariners should target for contention. Let's take a look before setting a target year.

Potential Starters under Contract for 2009

C Kenji Johjima, C Jeff Clement, 2B Jose Lopez, 3B Adrian Beltre, SS Yuniesky Betancourt, OF Ichiro Suzuki, OF Wladimir Balentien, OF Jeremy Reed

SP Felix Hernandez, SP Erik Bedard, SP Jarrod Washburn, SP Carlos Silva, SP Miguel Batista

CL J.J. Putz

If Washburn, Silva, and Batista were not performing so poorly, I'd suggest that they try to trade them off for prospects. Alas, that doesn't appear to be an option. What does this team need to win in 2009? In my opinion, they'd need Washburn, Silva, and Batista to return to league-average form, and they'd need to bring in two of the top offensive free agents (Mark Teixeira, Pat Burrell, Adam Dunn, Milton Bradley). Given that you can't expect all three of those pitchers to return to form, that means they'd need to bring in a good starting pitcher as well. In the end, it would be nearly impossible to get three top free agents to join the Mariners in the same offseason, mostly due to cost. In the end, I'd implode this thing and start from scratch. That means making trades that will make the 2008, 2009, and 2010 teams worse, but as Billy Beane says, "You're either building something that's special or you have something that's special. In between is just no man's land." It's time for the Mariners to get out of no man's land and start building something special. Let's set 2011 as the target date.

Players to Cut

1B Richie Sexson and DH Jose Vidro

Just like when managers get fired, sometimes players become scapegoats as well. However, Sexson and Vidro have played so horribly that they deserve their fate. I don't think either will get anything back in trade, and since they aren't part of the organization's future, it's time to move on without them.

Players to Trade This Season

3B Adrian Beltre, LF Raul Ibanez, SP Erik Bedard

Raul Ibanez is the obvious name here as he's a free agent this offseason. Beltre and Bedard are both under team contract for 2009, but they shouldn't be a part of a rebuilding effort. Beltre is 29 and starting to enter the decline phase of his career. The Mariners should get what they can for him now rather than wait for him to leave as a free agent. Bedard is also 29, and as I read somewhere (sorry, I can't find it back), remove his 2007 season and all of a sudden, it doesn't look like Bedard is having a down year. His K/9 rates over the last 5 years are 7.93, 7.94, 7.84, 10.93, and 8.06. Now, you tell me which one looks out of place. It's starting to look like last year was a fluke for Erik Bedard. As I said, he's a free agent following the 2009 season, and it doesn't sound like the Mariners clubhouse is going to miss him anytime soon. They might as well turn him into prospects now.

Players to Trade down the Road

C Kenji Johjima, SP Jarrod Washburn, SP Carlos Silva, SP Miguel Batista, RP J.J. Putz

Right now, they have to hold onto these guys due to underperformance and/or injury, but I wouldn't consider any of them to be worth holding onto over the long-term. Only Silva's younger than 30, but the Mariners need all of them to regain their productivity in order to get meaningful offers in return.

Core to Build Around

C Jeff Clement, OF Ichiro Suzuki, SP Felix Hernandez

Clement might not stick at catcher due to defensive concerns, but his bat appears to be capable of starting at 1B. They should give him as much time as possible at catcher to see if he can stick, but he has his doubters. King Felix needs to stay healthy, but the guy I want to talk about is Ichiro. While I'm skeptical that he's worth the $90 million he signed for less than a year ago, Seattle's the only place where he's possibly worth it. If the Japanese influence wasn't so large, I'd suggest they (gasp) trade Ichiro, but it is. While they rebuild, maybe they can use Ichiro to fool people into thinking they're not.

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Let me hear your thoughts about what the Mariners should do. I'm sure there are several people who disagree with mine. It took a while to get myself off the fence about their future, but remembering the Billy Beane quote did it for me.

Sitting 12 games back in the division and 14 games back in the wild card, the Washington Nationals should be sellers in this year's trade market. Given their current roster and farm system, this is going to be a long rebuild. They could always thank Omar Minaya for that, although there were thoughts that the organization wouldn't even exist the year after that trade. I'm going to set the target date for contention at 2011. Let's run down the roster and see who should stay and who should go.

Core to Build Around

C Jesus Flores, 3B Ryan Zimmerman, LF Elijah Dukes, CF Lastings Milledge

Zimmerman's last year under team control is 2011, so he's a contract extension candidate a couple of years down the road. As a Rule 5 pick a year ago, Flores has five more years under team control while Dukes and Milledge are under team control through 2013. Even better, all four players are only 23 years old.

Possible Trade Chips

C Paul Lo Duca, 1B Dmitri Young, SS Cristian Guzman, RP Jon Rauch, RP Saul Rivera

Jon Rauch might seem like a strange name here, but he is eligible for free agency following the 2010 season. Given how outstanding Rauch has been this year filling in at closer and his age (29), his value is probably at its peak. Combined with the typical year-to-year volatility of RPs, now would be the right time to pull the trigger on a Jon Rauch trade.

Possible Trade Chips if They Can Prove They're Healthy and Productive

1B Nick Johnson, RF Austin Kearns, RP Chad Cordero

All three players should be back before the trade deadline. Hopefully, they can be productive enough to garner interest from another team. If not, the Nationals can always wait until the offseason or next season's trade deadline to trade Johnson, Kearns, or Cordero as all three are signed through 2009.

If you haven't heard of Pat Venditte of the Staten Island Yankees, you're missing out on something that's not very common in baseball. Venditte pitches with both hands. His stuff isn't considered very good, but he's got a pretty good advantage in that he never faces someone from the opposite side of the plate. Check out the video linked at the top of this article to see what happened in his professional debut when he came up against a switch hitter. It's pretty comical.