A few weeks ago this email landed in my inbox:

Story idea: With the trade deadline approaching, why not show what each team's roster would look like with no free agency or trades? Who would be in the best/worst position based on who they've signed? For example, the Cubs could pick starters from Mark Prior, Kerry Wood, Carlos Zambrano, Greg Maddux, Jamie Moyer, Dontrelle Willis and Jon Garland. But the last catcher they produced is the Yankees' bench coach.
--  Mark Norrod, Ionia, Mich.

The Cubs took future 300-game winner Greg Maddux in the second round of the 1984 draft. Otto Greule Jr.

A good idea, though the Cubs have produced a major league catcher since Joe Girardi. (Somehow Mark let Jose Molina, whom Chicago drafted in 1993, slip through the cracks.) So, a few weeks after the trade deadline, here goes. I reshuffled all 30 rosters to fit an area scout's dream, sending players back to the clubs that originally drafted them (or, in the case of foreign free agents, signed them to their first professional deals) as if the terms "trade" and "free agent" had never entered the baseball lexicon. I placed players who were drafted multiple times -- J.D. Drew and Nomar Garciaparra, for example -- with the teams that ended up signing them. Thus, Drew lands with the Cardinals, not the Giants or Phillies, and Nomar goes to the Red Sox instead of the Brewers.

The result: A list of 30 All-Star teams, with the best active player each franchise has drafted listed, as well as some honorable mentions in cases where a team is deep at a particular position. (The question marks mean a team hasn't drafted anyone of note at that spot.) What does the reshuffling tell us? When it comes to talent evaluation, trust the Indians' and Nationals' judgment. If you need a pitcher, find out who's on Oakland's draft board and go after those players. And teams like the Royals and Devil Rays can't siimply blame their small payrolls for their inability to compete. Aside from a few gems (Carlos Beltran, Johnny Damon, Carl Crawford) those teams have not drafted well. On with the list:

AL East

Orioles
1B: ???
2B: Brian Roberts
3B: ???
SS: ???
C: Gregg Zaun
LF: Larry Bigbie
CF: Steve Finley
RF: Jayson Werth
SP: Mike Mussina, Erik Bedard, Josh Towers
RP: Armando Benitez

Red Sox
1B: Jeff Bagwell
2B: ???
3B: Shea Hillenbrand, Kevin Youkilis
SS: Nomar Garciaparra
C: John Flaherty
LF: ???
CF: ???
RF: Trot Nixon
SP: Roger Clemens, Curt Schilling, Carl Pavano, Jeff Suppan
RP: Paul Quantrill