Now that the All-Star Game is past, the next item on the MLB calendar is the July 31 trade deadline. Although it's still more than two weeks away, names are already being floated around as potential trade targets as teams looks to gain an edge over one another. The competitiveness in the American League -- every team is within 7½ games of the wild-card spots -- should ensure that plenty of teams will be looking to improve before the deadline passes, while National League teams will hope to bolster their lineups for their playoff runs.
The big-name players attract most of the attention during this time of the year, but there are other ways for teams to improve besides paying exorbitant prices for the top hitters and pitchers. Many of the contending teams have struggled defensively at one position or another, and fixing that defensive hole could be the deciding factor as to whether they are playing in October. Here are some teams with clear defensive holes and some ideas of how I think they could address them.
New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox -- Third base