The Royals need a shortstop, and they can deal first basemen Mike Jacobs or outfielder Jose Guillen, the Star's Sam Mellinger writes.


But thing is, several teams don't want Guillen and several teams have a backlog at first base/DH. Mellinger suggests the Mariners, Angels and Pirates as trading partners, but, as he rightly points out, none of those teams would really want either player.

One possible trading partner could be the Mets. They need a first baseman (although GM Omar Minaya says he wants to fill in for Carlos Delgado in-house) and they could always use and extra bat, like Guillen's, to serve as a dangerous pinch hitter and solid back-up. But with Jose Reyes getting hurt, it exposed their lack of depth at shortstop which might make them hesitant to deal with young prospect Reese Havens, who made a try-out start earlier this season for the Mets.


For the long term, they also have 17-year-old phenom Wilmer Flores on the fast-track to New York, which may make Havens easier to spare.