MLB Trade Rumors: Cardinals, Dodgers and Tigers to be Aggressive Buyers

The St. Louis Cardinals, Los Angeles Dodgers and Detroit Tigers are expected to be the most aggressive teams leading up to Major League Baseball’s trade deadline, according to Buster Olney of ESPN.  Olney spoke with executives who believe that, due to their current situations, the Cardinals, Dodgers and Tigers will all be actively looking to upgrade their rosters for a potential playoff run.

With the trade deadline steadily approaching, the landscape of teams that will be become buyers and sellers is becoming more and more clear.  With the introduction of an additional wild-card team to each division, there figures to be more buyers than sellers this year.

Still, while more teams may be in the market for upgrades, some teams are certain to be more aggressive than others when it comes to acquiring players.  Olney and his unnamed executives expect the Tigers, Dodgers and Cardinals to head the list of aggressive buyers this summer.

One of the executives Olney spoke to said that the Tigers are likely to be aggressive this summer after handing Prince Fielder $214 million this past offseason.  Detroit has been better-than-average offensively on the season, but their pitching staff has struggled.

Justin Verlander has done his thing and Drew Smyly’s been a pleasant surprise, but Doug Fister’s been hurt and Rick Porcello (5.12 ERA) and Max Scherzer (6.26) have severely underperformed.  For these reasons Olney believes the Tigers could target pitching this summer.

The Dodgers and Cardinals are in a good spot when it comes to starting pitching, but each team could use some help in the bullpen.  St. Louis’s offense has been hitting on all cylinders to start the season, but the Dodgers could afford to keep an eye open for another bat this summer.