Buyers sellers and middle is nowhere

In trade season, there are buyers, sellers and purgatory. And GMs know it.

Unless a team is going so well you don't want to disrupt it -- and perhaps the Cincinnati Reds are the only team that fits that description right now -- every team needs to be looking at a trade.

The American League has several teams on that precipice.

The Red Sox are in last place in the rugged AL East and have plenty of payroll room. But are they really going to win this year? Might be best to trade out a veteran or two and get younger.

How about the Rays? They might decide they're in the sellers' camp, dangling James Shields and B.J. Upton despite being tied for second place in the AL East, two games out of the final wild-card spot.

The Indians are just 5.5 games out in the AL Central, but at 50-52 they aren't an elite team, and they were swept by the Twins over the weekend. And they know it, too, as rumors are swirling that Shin-Soo Choo could be traded. He's due a big pay raise in arbitration after the season, and the Indians don't have a deep budget. But do you give up at 5.5 games out?

It's a tough call, but it's one that has to be made.