Of course we fans like to speculate on who the front office will be looking at for middle infield help as the main goal this off season; and find an "impact bat" to help Pujols.  Instead of listing off all of the players we would like to see in the Lou next season, lets go a different route.  Lets take a look at teams who are most likely to have a fire sale this off season. The most logical teams are the Mariners, Padres, and yes the Marlins.

Lets just get the Marlins out of the way first.  Of course we all salivate at getting a bat like Dan Uggla's.  Sadly, he is not likely to be traded.  It seems the Marlins would like to improve their infield defense and move Cantu to first.  This opens up third for Uggla to shift over to, the position he played the most time at in the minors.  The other players likely to be traded are Jeremy Hermida and Kevin Gregg.  Knowing the Marlins, if we want a player, we will drastically overpay.

Padres...oh, the good ol' Friars.   Obviously they wont be trading players such as Adrian Gonzalez, Peavy, or Young...but they could potentially have holes in their outfield and have some middle infield players to spare.  Depending on what their front office decides, a Khalil Greene could become expendable.  Not a great fit, but defenitely a possibility.

Now to the team that really grabs my attention: The Seatle Mariners.  The M's have globs of players that could be available: Jose Lopez, Yunieski Betancourt, Eric Bedard, and yes...even Ichiro.  Lopez is an offensive based second baseman...and he wont win any gold gloves, but his bat would definitely improve the offense.  Betancourt is a decent shortstop (has trouble ranging to his left) who is not too bad with the bat.  He isn't Derek Jeter, but he did hit right around .270 with 6 HR and 47 RBI.  Not to bad in my opinion.  Bedard is a non-tender candidate if his medical report comes back bad...so he really could be of no help.  If his exploritory surgery comes back negative, then he would cost a decent package in terms of prospects.  The player that intrigues me the most is Ichiro.  Yes we are overloaded with outfielders at the moment, but Ichiro would be that impact bat that Tony wants.   I personally wouldn't mind having one of the M's middle infieders...both are young and would help solidify the offense. Ichiro is a dream...but still would be kick ass to have in St. Louis.

Is this a great fanpost?  Absolutely not.  But atleast is opens up some more ideas for us to think about than the almost cliche rumors of Uggla and Roberts.