In all fairness, I should preface this by saying that I am known to several of my friends as the "Hey here's this crazy theory that will probably never actually happen but let's discuss it anyway" Guy. That being said, I did my best to put as much logic as possible into this babbling ramble.

Obviously, trade speculation is ramping up as the deadline inches closer, and I thought I would take a chance to realistically take a look at who out there needs what we have (relievers and corner OF) and if there is a logical give and take that could happen between us and them.

1. Tampa - This team is obviously starting to come together, with a decidedly above average rotation and plenty of good young/young-ish talent in the field; Upton and Longoria, and to a lesser extent (either talent or age-wise) Pena, Crawford, and Navarro.

However, they have this large mess in right field comprised of Eric Hinske, Jonny Gomes, and Gabe Gross. Sure, Hinske is hitting right now, but I don't think that he has the track record to justify the notion of his simply becoming the everyday RF as a solution when Pena returns. Neither Gross nor Gomes has proven they can hit on any sort of regular basis either. So I don't think it would be unreasonable for them to either acquire Xavier Nady or Jason Bay, which would go a long way towards improving at least their offense, if not their outfield defense (hey, can't win 'em all).

So what's in it for us? Well, a simple inspection of Tampa's roster tells you all you need to know. They don't really have any hitters that are remotely lighting it up (outside of a couple way-old-for-their-level guys) right now, but what they do have is pitching. Pitching out the wazoo. Right now, Tampa has a 40-man roster with 12 pitchers who are 26 years old or younger, only one of whom possibly doesnt belong there anymore (Jae-Kuk Ryu ). On top of that, they have another four pitchers who are good enough and young enough that they're bound to wind up on the 40-man once there's room. Obviously, this is far more pitching than they will ever really have room for at the major league level (unless you realistically expect them to turn a majority of these guys into relievers), and is their biggest bargaining chip in trade talks by a wide margin.

Given that our system features Brad Lincoln and a bunch of organizational depth, acquiring a little depth couldn't hurt. I would toss out the concept of either Xavier Nady or Jason Bay for one or maybe two of Mitch Talbot /Jeff Niemann /J.P. Howell/Jeff Hammel/Richard De Los Santos - one in return for Nady, or two for Bay.

Howell and Hammel being the two stud starters who are in Tampa's bullpen only because there's no room in the rotation, Talbot and Niemann being the guys killing time carrying AAA Durham's rotation, and De Los Santos  being the guy at AA not named Houser, McGee, or Davis but putting up just as good of numbers.

2. New York Mets - The Mets are a bit of a muckpile right now, but some people would say that they still have a chance, and that some outfield and middle relief help would go a long way towards bridging the gaps in their everyday roster. Who knows if it's better than 50/50 that the Mets are a buyer approaching the deadline, but if they are, we may have what they need.

Obviously, I might first offer these guys Nady (since they love him so much) and Marte. They don't have a lot of prospects to deal, so I think they only have enough to get either those two or Bay straight up in a trade, and I would throw out the idea of either Nady & Marte or Bay for Mike Carp /Nick Evans  and Jonathan Niese.

3. Boston - The Red Sox bullpen has perhaps come apart a bit lately, with Craig Hansen getting knocked around all season so far, and Timlin, Okajima, and Tavarez not being particularly good the last couple weeks either. Perhaps this corrects itself, perhaps not. If it doesnt, Boston could probably use some quality relievers and hey! we've got some of those. Marte would make a solid LH option if Okajima doesn't turn things around, or John Grabow might be appealing if they want a righty. I doubt we'd get a ton for either of those guys, but perhaps we could offer Boston either Marte or Grabow for someone like Zach Daeges , Bubba Bell , or hell, maybe even Mike Bowden .

4. Cleveland - I include them not because they're a true contender who has the money to make a splash, or because they just need that one piece as much as because this is Huntingdon's old team, the one whose talent he knows the best...

That being said, if Fausto Carmona isn't on the DL too much longer, I don't think a rotation of Sabathia, Carmona, Laffey, and Lee (assuming he doesn't regress beyond league-average) is anything to be trifled with. Add in Ben Francisco, Sizemore, Garko and Marte, and you have, again, a significantly less than terrible offensive core that has room for a corner outfielder. Their bullpen could also use some help, and here's where we come in.

Cleveland's needs are not unlike New York's (and a similar situation as far as the variety of opinions as to whether they are a buyer or not), and I think an offer of similar value would not be out of line. Some combination of Bay, Nady, Marte, and Grabow would certainly make sense for Cleveland, and in return, I don't think it would be unreasonable for us to ask for some combination of Brian Slocum /David Huff /Ryan Edell  and Chris Gimenez /Wes Hodges . (one strange note about Huff: his AA Akron numbers are a bit skewed by the fact that three of his 10 starts were against Altoona, so his AAA numbers should be a better measuring stick).

Obviously, I didn't include any minor league prospects who are relievers, mainly because I consider the term "quality reliever" to be a very relative one at best. That being said, I think I made a solid effort to keep these ideas at least on the fringe of feasibility, so I'm wondering what you-all might think about these.