NFL
By: Chandler Ragsdale
There are some teams so far this season who have not had the start that they were hoping for…AT ALL. There comes a point every season when thought to be contending teams either trade for more pieces to pursue a possible World Series run, or they do the opposite and they trade their best players, realizing that they aren’t where they thought they’d be. Here are some teams who already seem to be at that decision-making point, and what I think they should do.
Orioles (14-32, 17.5 GB AL East)
The Orioles have been in my opinion the most disappointing team so far this season, by far. They’re lineup is underachieving greatly, and that has been the main reason for their horrific start. They’re only 23rd in the league in batting average, and they simply aren’t doing enough to win games like they have in recent seasons. We already knew that their starting pitching wasn’t the best, and now that that’s coupled with an underachieving lineup, we’re seeing the very poor results.
Obviously their big trade piece is SS Manny Machado. Not only is he a great-caliber player who could benefit another team and provide some good return to the Orioles farm system, but he’s also a free agent at the end of the season. It makes all of the sense in the world right now for the Orioles to trade him, but the question is, when? I see this trade happening sometime between the all-star break and the trade deadline, predictably. Overall, I think that the Orioles need to clean house, being that they’re more games out of 1st in the AL East then they have wins right now.
Twins (19-23, 2.0 GB AL Central)
The Twins are not playing to the same success that they had a year ago so far in 2018. They’ve obviously got many good players that they could trade, but I think that they’ll be okay. Byron Buxton has gotten off to a slow start, hitting only .164 so far, but he can bounce back. Baseball produces slumps for everyone, and the Twins as a whole just seem to have been experiencing a slump as a team. However, it may be a good thing that they’re going through this now, because once they heat up, if the AL Central stays as bad as its been this season, they can easily win the division.
Dodgers (20-26, 5.0 GB NL West)
The Dodgers went all the way to the World Series in 2017, and have only played below-average ball in 2018. They are without SS Corey Seager and great SP Clayton Kershaw right now, and their absence has shown. However, the Dodgers still weren’t doing hot when Clayton Kershaw was pitching at the beginning of the season. This team hasn’t been hot as of late and that’s obvious, but they did just finish the weekend with a 3-game sweep of the Washington Nationals. However, this is coming just one week after the team was swept in a 4-game set by the Cincinnati Reds. Overall, I don’t think that the Dodgers need to abandon ship and trade any of their key players, but they could benefit by maybe moving a few guys and shaking things up, while looking forward to if not at least a wild-card berth, a better and more competitive season in 2019, when everyone would be seemingly healthy.
Sources for factual information regarding the MLB: mlb.com
