Trade talk should heat up in baseball's 2nd half

The All-Star game was a bit of a snoozer.

No matter, now. The baseball season is about to heat up. A group of underdogs in Pittsburgh, Washington and Baltimore have an even better chance of getting to the postseason this year thanks to the expanded playoff format.

Over the next few weeks the contenders and pretenders will separate and the trade chatter will increase. Are the last-place Phillies going to fold up the tents and become sellers? Are the first-place Pirates going to add an arm or a bat to chase their first division title since 1992?

And all eyes will be on some key players to see if Matt Kemp, CC Sabathia and Evan Longoria can overcome injuries and return to get their teams to the playoffs.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2012-07-11-BBO-Second-Half-Begins/id-50410139cad745d0814ff20e069ec43f

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