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For baseball fans, nothing is more entertaining and contentious than discussing potential trades. All pre-season predictions aside, there are always teams in contention at the All-Star break who were written off as also-rans. This years Tamba Bay Rays and Minnesota Twins are examples. Likewise, teams who many thought would be well on their way to the postseason have stumbled and left the door open for their rivals. One only needs to look at the New York Mets and the Cleveland Indians to see that the best laid plans mean very little. Noth situations create great material for trade speculation and as July approaches and teams look at where they stand, armchair general managers everywhere start to pay a liittle more attention to the transaction line in the baseball section of our newspapers. Here are a few candidates that deserve attention as the deadline draws near:

1) C.C. Sabathia, LHP, Cleveland Indians - The reigning Cy Young winner finds himself in an interesting situation. His team was one win away from the World Series last year and he enjoyed his best season. Many thought Cleveland would dominate the Central Division once again with Sabathia leading the way. Despite a rocky start this year, Sabathia has returned to form of late and is leading the American League in strikeouts. His team, however, is stumbling along and has been eclipsed by the rise of the Chicago White Sox, Minnesota Twins and surging Detroit Tigers. Sabathia is in his walk year and with the rise of salaries among players, he is in position to cash in come 2009. He has tremendous upside as he is young, lefthanded and a hard-thrower. Cleveland GM Mark Shapiro talks about retaining the lefty, but with a team slowly dropping off the radar, he would be wise to talk to contenders about his free agent to be ace. Lining up for his services are any contender with a good bunch of prospects to offer and deep pockets. These include the Yankees, Red Sox, Cubs, and Dodgers. The Yankees passed on Johann Santana in the winter and might be regretting it now. They could offer some of the prospects they refused to give up then like righty Phillip Hughes. The Red Sox have talented pitchers like Justin Masterson and Clay Buchholz. Shapiro could play the two against each other to get the best possible package as both need another veteran arm. The Cubs are a darkhorse but don't have any standout young talent to offer. In the end, whoever antes up the best package could land the lefty. PREDICTION: Sabathia

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