So here we are at the quarter mark of the 2008 season. The time of the season when General Managers take a step back to look at what they’ve assembled. It is now that teams begin to decide whether or not they’re going to be legitimate contenders as the season wears on.

Once that decision is made it’s up to the GMs to determine what the next course of action should be. If the team has decided it’s not likely to contend; the next move is generally a sell-off of high-priced veterans with an eye toward the future. However, if the team believes it has a shot—that’s when things get interesting.

Coming into the 2008 season the Mariners, Blue Jays and Tigers were all thought to be potential contenders and in the case of the Tigers, one of the odds-on-favorites to win the World Series. Right now all three are struggling offensively and could use a serious shot in the arm (pun VERY MUCH intended) by the name of Barry Bonds.

I’m going to take a look at all three teams and how Barry Bonds does or does not fit into their playoff hopes going forward.

SEATTLE MARINERS

The Mariners entered 2008 on the heels of a successful campaign that led to the resigning of Ichiro Suzuki and saw the team improve the rotation with the additions of Erik Bedard and Carlos Silva. Many picked the Mariners to unseat the Angels atop the AL West on the back of the retooled pitching staff, strong bullpen and a solid offense. Unfortunately, someone forgot to inform the offense.

The offense currently ranks 23rd with a .250 average and 29th with an on-base percentage of .309. These low totals explain why the team has only amassed a whopping total of 165 runs thus far.

The team is predominantly right-handed with lefties, Ichiro and Raul Ibanez, and switch-hitter Jose Vidro being the only regulars to mix up the parade of right-handed hitters. Bonds is--without a doubt--the best lefty on the market and even at age 43 can still produce at a high level both in terms of power and on-base percentage (28 homers and .480 OBP in 340 at-bats in 2007).

The Mariners—who are currently ten games under .500 and 8 ½ games out of first in the AL West—have already made attempts to shake up the lineup by jettisoning Brad Wilkerson and Greg Norton and replacing them with minor league standouts Jeff Clement and Wladimir Balentien. There were discussions regarding Frank Thomas, when the slugger was released by the Blue Jays in late April, but Thomas’ decision to rejoin Oakland quickly put an end to any chances of the Big Hurt bringing his Hall of Fame credentials to the Pacific Northwest.

Why It Will Happen: Current DH Jose Vidro is “hitting” .193 with two home runs and a .244 OBP, Bonds could hit better than that right-handed…and blind-folded. Needless to say Bonds would be an immediate upgrade and would love having Ichiro on base in front of him all season long, almost as much as Ichiro would love having Bonds batting behind him.

Why It Won’t Happen: The oft-rumored Ken Griffey Jr. to the Mariners deal seems more likely than Bonds landing in Seattle. Griffey would provide the offensive upgrade and the left-handed bat the team so desperately needs. Throw in the fact that he is a hero in the Emerald City and it only makes sense for Griff to return to Seattle for a storybook ending to his career.

TORONTO BLUE JAYS

As is the case every season in recent memory, the Blue Jays entered the season as a popular “dark horse” candidate to make a playoff run in the powerful AL East. The team boasts one of the best rotations in all of baseball and was supposed to have a dynamic offense with Alex Rios, Frank Thomas, Aaron Hill and the returns of a healthy Scott Rolen and Vernon Wells.

What the Blue Jays got was one of the lowest scoring offenses in the American League. The Jays currently sit at 153 runs scored with a .255 team average. As a result of the low output (and the unattractive vesting option he was closing in on) Frank Thomas was released in late April and Seattle cast-off Brad Wilkerson was brought in along with the streaky, yet underachieving Kevin Mench from Texas.

The Blue Jays currently sit in last place in the AL East, five games out of first-place and the only reason they’re that close is because the pitching has been stellar thus far. Without some sort of offensive wake-up call the Jays can right off contending in 2008 and potentially beyond with the window closing on much of the team’s aging core.

The Blue Jays have gotten sufficient results from Matt Stairs, but Adam Lind is overmatched and belongs in Triple-A. Wilkerson, Mench, Shannon Stewart and the plethora of other outfielders the Jays have sent out are not getting it done. The team would be wise to move Stairs to left and put Bonds in the DH slot and use both Bonds and Stairs to split up the right-hander heavy core of Wells, Rios and Rolen.

Why It Will Happen: Blue Jays general manager J.P. Ricciardi has shown that he's not afraid of shaking up his roster. He's already made a handful of transactions this season in an attempt to improve his struggling offense and as a student of Billy Beane’s on-base percentage philosophy, Bonds is the perfect fit for this squad and wouldn’t deal with nearly the level of media scrutiny north of the border.

Why It Won’t Happen: The Jays are a middle-of-the-pack spender and don’t figure to increase their payroll. Signing Bonds, even at a discount, wouldn’t be in line with the team’s spending philosophy. The Blue Jays are far more likely to deal from their strength, young pitching, to acquire a slugger such as Adam Dunn, Bobby Abreu, Hideki Matsui, etc…rather than spend to bring in Bonds.

DETROIT TIGERS

Ask just about any baseball “expert” and coming into the 2008 season the Tigers were neck-and-neck with the Red Sox as the odds-on-favorite to win the World Series. Now, with a month and a half of the season in the rearview mirror the Tigers are mired in last-place in the American League Central, four and a half games behind the overachieving Minnesota Twins.

What makes things even more interesting is that the Tigers vaunted offense, which sputtered out of the gates, has finally gotten on a role and the Tigers are in the top five in the AL in team average, on-base percentage and runs scored. The Tigers are getting destroyed by their own overrated starting rotation and the one thing that most experts overlooked in the preseason, the absolute void that is a bullpen.

Detroit currently ranks dead last in ERA (5.03) and saves (5). They are also the only team in the AL without a complete game and one of only two (the Mariners) that have yet to produce a shut-out.

So why am I recommending the Tigers bring in Barry Bonds when he surely can’t help where the team needs him most? What the team lacks—offensively—is a consummate presence at DH and another reliable lefty bat. Bonds could fill both of those voids.

Gary Sheffield and his ailing shoulder have moved back to the outfield with the end of Jacque Jones’ month-long tenure in left-field. That leaves a rotation of aging stars and overweight sluggers like Carlos Guillen, Magglio Ordonez, Ivan Rodriguez and Miguel Cabrera to take their turns at DH and super sub – and dispatched starter – Brandon Inge to fill-in around the diamond. The logical move would be to bring in Bonds, plug him in at DH and watch the lineup continue to rake in an attempt to overcome the inequities of the pitching staff.

Why It Will Happen: The Yankees have proven that a team can make the playoffs without a pitching staff and the Tigers appear to be built in the same mold. With a rapidly aging core and much of the youth sold off in offseason the Tigers’ window to win a championship is closing fast. Throw in the fact that Jim Leyland has proven he can manage Bonds in the past, the Tigers appear to be a perfect fit.

Why It Won’t Happen: The offense is set and with Brandon Inge around the team can afford to appoint Carlos Guillen and Miguel Cabrera as the full-time DHs and let Inge get plenty of at-bats whilst upgrading the defense at third-base. The priority right now is pitching and guys like Joe Blanton, Rich Harden, Huston Street, George Sherrill, etc are more likely to be on the Tigers’ radar than another aging slugger for their collection.

DARKHORSE CANDIDATES

KANSAS CITY ROYALS

It seems that the Royals have put together a respectable rotation and a solid bullpen. What the team lacks is someone to generate runs. The Royals currently own one of the lowest OBPs in the AL as well as the fewest home runs and runs scored. Kansas City would be wise to give Billy Butler a first-baseman’s mitt and give Barry Bonds the DH-role for as long as he’d like to crush baseballs in the Midwest summer heat.

TAMPA BAY RAYS

Sure, sure they’re in first in the AL East and sure, they’re not expected to compete all season long, but let’s throw logic out the window and just say…what if. What if the Rays brought in Bonds and let him DH all season long. With the likes of BJ Upton and Carl Crawford on base in front of him and sluggers Evan Longoria and Carlos Pena behind him in the lineup—I feel like that offense could hang with the Red Sox and Yankees until September.

NEW YORK YANKEES

This isn’t a logical move for a team that is lefty-heavy and possess about half-a-dozen DHs already, but with Hank Steinbrenner at the helm, anything is possible.

NEW YORK METS

This is another move that doesn’t seem logical, especially given Bonds’ diminished skills in the outfield. However, a left-field platoon of Bonds and Moises Alou would allow Alou to stay healthy and would work to get them both sufficient at-bats throughout the course of an entire season. Also, the luxury of having Endy Chavez as a late-inning defensive replacement nullifies any damage they could do in crunch time while still allowing Willie Randolph to have one or the other on the bench as a pinch-hitter.

Day two of the 2007 Winter Meetings were, for the most part, pretty quiet…

Well-traveled outfielder Jose Guillen is a Royal for 3 years at $36 million. The Braves and Cubs swapped spare parts. The Yankees decreed they were pulling out of the Santana sweepstakes, only to find that the Twins called their bluff. The Angels were reportedly in the mix for Santana but Halos-GM Tony Reagins is currently denying any link to the southpaw.

See, nice and quiet.

…then, like the drunk guys who took your seat while you were getting a hot dog, the Marlins and Tigers decide to shake things up in a real big way.

The second-biggest name on the trade market—Miguel Cabrera—and teammate Dontrelle Willis were shipped to the Tigers in exchange for elite prospects outfielder Cameron Maybin, lefty starter Andrew Miller. Also heading to Florida will be catcher Mike Rabello, and pitchers Dallas Trahern, Eulogio De La Cruz and Burke Badenhop.

This trade is huge for both sides and immediately sends shockwaves through the rest of the American League.

THE TIGERS

The Tigers have to be considered neck-and-neck with the Red Sox in terms of who will be the favorite heading into the 2008 season. That could all change if the Sox wrangle Santana away from the Twins—a move that seems increasingly more necessary for anyone looking to tangle with the new-look Tigers.

On paper the Tigers have one of the most explosive lineups in all of baseball. Let’s go ahead and take a look at what the Opening Day lineup could look like:

Curtis Granderson, CF
Placido Polanco, 2B
Miguel Cabrera, 3B
Gary Sheffield, DH
Magglio Ordonez, RF
Carlos Guillen, 1B
Edgar Renteria, SS
Ivan Rodriguez, C
Jacque Jones/Marcus Thames, LF

Call me crazy, but that’s a pretty potent lineup; perhaps even more so than that of the Yankees and Red Sox; and definitely more potent than that of the Indians or the Miguel Cabrera-less Angels.

This move also opens the Tigers up to the option of trading incumbent third-baseman, Brandon Inge. With many teams in the hunt for third-basemen and the top dog now off the market, perhaps the Angels, Dodgers or even the division rival Twins would be willing to talk. Perhaps a trade of Inge and Chad Durbin to the Twins for Joe Nathan, if the Twins do—in fact—intend to trade him as well.

Moving on from the All-Star Game lineup the Tigers will be putting on the field everyday, let’s turn to their rotation. At the helm are the three faces of the future Willis, Jeremy Bonderman and Justin Verlander all of whom are 25 or younger heading into this season. Also in the mix are veteran southpaws Kenny Rogers and Nate Robertson.

Assuming Willis is able to turn-around his recent regression—something many believe to be the result of large workloads in recent years—he could return to form as the pitcher who won 22 games as recently as 2005.

The only real weakness the Tigers currently possess is the mystery surrounding the back end of the bullpen. Joel Zumaya is out until mid-season and closer-by-default Todd Jones is, well, Todd Jones. How much magic can that dude really have left? Despite that lone weakness the 2008 Tigers look to be a very talented team which means trouble for the rest of the American League.

THE MARLINS

As much as I don’t want to mention that this move was a salary dump for the Marlins, it was—by all means—a salary dump for the Marlins. With arbitration not treating the Marlins kindly the salaries for Willis and Cabrera were quickly escalating and only figured to continue the trend, as such the move makes a lot of sense.

In adding Maybin the team adds a very young, very athletic five-tool player who can finally take a firm hold on the centerfield job and help cover the ground that fellow outfielders Jeremy Hermidia and Josh Willingham can’t. Maybin has been compared to Ken Griffey Jr on numerous occasions because of his blazing speed, incredible defense and his ability to hammer the ball. His presence alongside Hanley Ramirez at the top of the Marlins lineup will give opposing teams fits on the base-paths all season long.

Miller was taken 6th overall in the 2006 draft by the Tigers and he is widely regarded as the best pitcher from that draft which was laden with quality pitchers. The 6-foot-6 southpaw has only pitched 16 games in the Minors, and it's doubtful he'll spend any more time there now. His pitches include a mid to upper 90s fastball, a late-breaking slider and a change-up. Pitching coach Mark Wiley was recently rehired by the Marlins, due to his reputation for handling young pitchers well; a move that could be a very beneficial for Miller and the Marlins.

The addition of Mike Rabello gives the Marlins a second option at catcher and the addition of three minor league arms only adds to the Marlins seemingly limitless supply of solid, young pitching.

Although the Marlins don’t look to contend any time in the near future, this trade sets the groundwork for the next five plus years. With young pitching and a very dynamic offense, this is a team that may only be a few quality parts away from contention. However, as if seemingly the way in South Florida, that isn’t likely to happen without new ownership, a new stadium or perhaps a move to a new locale. Fiscal elements notwithstanding, the talent factor is there, now it’s all about putting it together.