A list of potential future Brewers

With the trade deadline approaching, the Brewers are still in the mix. Whether or not the team decided to trade Carlos Lee is somewhat irrelevant; the team can still remain competitive without him in the lineup everyday, provided they get major-league ready talent in return.

With that in mind, here are some players that could find themselves on a Midwest Airlines flight to Miller Park in the next two weeks:

1. Greg Maddux, Cubs: This rumor started when the Brewers played a four-game set at Wrigley Field but has died down since then. Brewers pitcher Tomo Ohka is set to come off the disabled list on Tuesday to make a start against the Giants. Ben Sheets shouldn't be far behind, although it remains to be seen if he will actually make a start this year. Still, it never hurts to have too much pitching, and there aren't too many that'd be opposed to having Maddux join his pitching coach brother, Mike, in Milwaukee.

2. Bob Wickman, Indians: With Derrick Turnbow on the fritz, it also never hurts to have valuable bullpen help. Wickman, a former Brewer, isn't what he used to be but he's better than anything the Brewers have in the bullpen now. It'd probably take a low-level prospect to get him and while nobody has won a World Series on the strength of a set-up guy, these are the types of trades that pushes a team over the top.

4. Jon Garland, White Sox: Teams that are contenders are usually looking for pitching, not trading it away, but the defending World Champs have six starting pitchers they can deal with. In case the Yankees or Red Sox don't sweep in and pick up Javier Vazquez or Freddy Garcia, the Sox may be willing to part with Garland for a package of Brady Clark and Jorge De La Rosa.

5. Jack Elliot, Nagoya Chunichi Dragons: The fictional character from the 1992 movie "Mr. Baseball" really doesn't fit any pressing need on the Brewers, but I'm watching it right now on TBS and it'd be nice to have a left-handed power bat off the bench. Plus, with the quick defensive reflexes needed to play on Japan's all-dirt infields, he could make a great late defensive substitution for the worst fielding team in baseball.