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Some good lunchtime readin’ for you today…

• This column is about a week old, but worth a read.  Tim Marchman believes the trade deadline should be abolished.  What do you think?  Obviously we here at MLBTR form a biased sample; you probably love deadline day if you read this site regularly.  While I agree that there is no great reason to set a July 31 deadline, it does generate concentrated trade and rumor activity and draw a lot of interest.  A lot of baseball’s rules and systems seem kind of arbitrary, so if the fans love the trade deadline I think that’s reason enough to keep it.
• Jamey Newberg gives us the details of the Rick Helling trades in 1996 and 1997; as always, it’s an interesting account.
• The Cardinals called up their sixth outfielder – Rick Ankiel.  He was given very little chance to crack the Majors as an outfielder, but here we are.  Maybe he can log a few garbage innings if needed, too.
• The Indians flipped Russell Branyan over to the Phillies.
• DRays Bay interviews a young Devil Rays executive. 
• Jacob Jackson at The Hardball Times has a plan to fix the Pirates.
• How about Kevin Millar for Wily Mo?  Could the Orioles even get Millar through waivers?
• Some players to consider if your fantasy team needs Ks.
• This could be useful.

Many trade candidates weren’t moved today.  We’ll get into the August possibilities tomorrow, but for now let’s review who stayed put.

White Sox: Jose Contreras, Jon Garland, Javier Vazquez, Jermaine Dye.  It seems that teams just couldn’t find a market for their crappy starters like Contreras and Steve Trachsel.  As for Garland and Vazquez, Kenny Williams can still trade one of them this winter for an outfielder.  Seems like Dye was nearly a member of the Red Sox, but Williams prefers two good draft picks to Wily Mo Pena and Craig Hansen.  The White Sox, though, required one of Justin Masterson and Manny Delcarmen instead of Pena.  I would be surprised if the Sox sign Dye to an extension.

Nationals: Chad Cordero, Jon Rauch, Ryan Church.  Another situation where the GM asked for the moon at the deadline and decided to just hold off.  These three will also be worth just as much this winter, but may seem more appealing compared to pricey free agents.  Plus, more teams will be in the mix.  Jim Bowden wanted more than just Philip Humber for Cordero from the Mets.

Reds: Bronson Arroyo, David Weathers, Jeff Conine, Adam Dunn, Ken Griffey Jr.  Wayne Krivsky had some opportunities to blow this team up and try to rebuild in 2008.  Waiting until winter makes sense with Junior, though I don’t buy Steve Phillips’ assertion that the fans will stop showing up if he’s traded.  Dunn, I would’ve dealt.  Some no-trade protection kicks in if and when they exercise his $13MM option for ’08.  As Arroyo and Weathers, you keep them around if you expect to win in ’08.  I guess that’s the plan.  I would’ve taken Reyes and Escobar for Arroyo if it was truly offered.

Twins: Torii Hunter, Carlos Silva.  Haven’t really hard of any concrete offers on Hunter, so it’s hard to say whether Terry Ryan was better served to just take draft picks.  Plus, he may want to make some kind of three-year, $40MM offer for PR’s sake.  Keeping Silva, though, I don’t get.  He should’ve fetched something useful and doesn’t need to be on the 2008 team.

Marlins: Armando Benitez, Byung-Hyun Kim.  No one wants these dudes – both have walk problems. 

Devil Rays: Dan Wheeler, Al Reyes, Jonny Gomes.  What was the best offer for Reyes?  Sounds like the Mariners didn’t get desperate and offer Jeff Clement.  As for Gomes, he represents a surplus.  But maybe he can get out of Joe Maddon’s doghouse and be the team’s full-time DH in 2008.  There’s no rush to trade him.

Giants: Steve Kline, Ray Durham, Dave Roberts, Omar Vizquel, Ryan Klesko.  Props to Sabean for ditching Matt Morris’s contract – better late than never.  As McCovey Chronicles points out, a shrewd GM might have shopped Noah Lowry for a sweet bounty of much-needed position players.  I imagine there just wasn’t a market at all for some of the vets listed here.

Pirates: Shawn Chacon, Salomon Torres, Damaso Marte, Jack Wilson.  It’s easy to rip on the Pirates, so I will.  I can’t believe Dave Littlefield couldn’t get something decent for Marte, who is a premium lefty-killer.  And it seems like the Tigers really wanted Wilson – eat some salary and get him outta there!

Rangers: Sammy Sosa, Brad Wilkerson.  Still liked either for the Mets, but overall the Rangers done good for themselves.

Royals: Odalis Perez, Reggie Sanders, Emil Brown, Mark Grudzielanek.  I’m sure the market was zip for most of these guys, but I would’ve really liked to see Dayton Moore clear ’em out to give more playing time to the kids in the last two months.  Out with the old, in with the nucleus, to quote the Simpsons.  Benching or cutting some of these players might be embarrassing.

Orioles: Steve Trachsel, Chad Bradford, Kevin Millar, Jay Payton.  Trading these four might’ve been akin to admitting their signings were a mistake.  Maybe that’s why the O’s couldn’t get anything done.

Athletics: Mike Piazza, Joe Kennedy, Joe Blanton, Dan Johnson, Shannon Stewart.  The A’s are notorious for collecting draft picks, so it’s not a surprise to see them hang on to Piazza and Kennedy.  Piazza may be moved in August anyway.  We don’t know what offers were out there for Blanton, but he can be shopped this winter when guys like Jeff Weaver are signing for $9MM.  The A’s didn’t unload Johnson, and his value will probably drop if he sits on the bench.

Buster Olney just reported on ESPN that the Mark Teixeira trade is officially complete and does not involve Kyle Davies.  And then Jayson Stark reported that the Davies for Dotel deal is complete.

Visiting MLBTradeRumors.com for the first time today?  Welcome!  I’m Tim Dierkes, and I’m a rumor maniac.  I’m blogging trade rumors nonstop today, barely stopping to eat.  Stick around for the ride and keep refreshing for new stuff.  And if you see a rumor you’ve already read suddenly appear up top, that means I’ve updated it.  The trade deadline is 3 pm CST today, and some stuff might trickle in after that as well.

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Also, if you’re into fantasy baseball, I have another site called RotoAuthority.  It’s a fantasy baseball blog updated daily.

Ken Rosenthal’s latest was updated five hours ago.  He probably didn’t sleep.  Let’s catch up before he breaks six more trades.

• UPDATE: Scratch the Russ Springer stuff below – the Cardinals promised him they would not trade him.  Troy Percival can be had, however.  The Rockies like Percy.
• The Dodgers made a strong push for Joe Blanton last night but their offer fell short.  However, talks are not completely dead. The Dodgers offered two position players and one pitcher from their minor league stash.  Rosenthal suggests those were among Andy LaRoche, Chin-Lung Hu, Tony Abreu, and Jonathan Meloan.  Matt Kemp, James Loney, and Jonathan Broxton would not be part of any deal.  Anyway the Dodgers will now turn their focus to relievers, though I wouldn’t be surprised to see Colletti re-engage on Blanton in the next seven hours.
• Rosenthal adds that the Mets and Phillies inquired on Blanton but the A’s preferred L.A’s deep farm system.  But with the Dodger talks cooling maybe one of those teams will jump in.
• Rosenthal confirms that the Blue Jays will listen on Troy Glaus but doesn’t name any teams that specifically inquired.  He speculates that the Yankees, Rangers, Angels, and Astros might want him.  Aren’t the Texas teams supposed to be sellers?
• Plenty of relievers can be had: Scott Proctor, Kyle Farnsworth, Chad Cordero, Jon Rauch, Russ Springer, Troy Percival, Chad Qualls, Brad Lidge, Al Reyes, Dan Wheeler, and Brian Fuentes.  Fuentes is still on the DL for a strained lat, however.  And we know the Cardinals want to accomodate Springer and his son.  Rosenthal names the Mets, Phillies, Tigers, Indians, and Rockies as teams looking for relievers. 
• The Mariners, Red Sox, Rockies, and Phillies like Qualls.
• The Mariners seem focused on Wheeler and Reyes of the Devil Rays.
• The Padres want Mike Lamb from the Astros a lot more than they want Mark Loretta.
• The Twins don’t have much interest in Morgan Ensberg (described as minimal), but they could compete with the Tigers for Clint Barmes.  Ah, yet another blockbuster for the Twins.

Here’s what we’ve got today on White Sox outfielder Jermaine Dye.

• The Chicago Tribune says Kenny Williams slept on Boston’s counteroffer for Dye.  He’s probably awake now so we’ll see what his dreams said about Kason Gabbard.  Just kidding, I don’t know what the Red Sox came back with.  I’m sure Wily Mo was still in there.  Dave van Dyck mentions that the White Sox could re-sign Dye, perhaps through 2008 or 2009 only.  I suppose at the right price.
• Jon Heyman says the Red Sox are one of just four teams covered in Dye’s no-trade provision.  Dye wants to stay in Chicago if he can.  Heyman says the Dodgers, Angels, and Diamondbacks are also in on Dye.  The Mets might be involved as well. The Angels aren’t being aggressive here because they have confidence Juan Rivera’s return will help.  And that probably would be comparable to Dye, really.
• Gordon Edes of the Boston Globe has a Major League source who believes there’s a "good chance" the Red Sox acquire Dye this morning.  We’ll see what Kenny thinks of the counteroffer soon enough.
• Toni Ginnetti of the Chicago Sun-Times has a source saying the Red Sox are "set to send reliever Manny Delcarmen and outfielder Wily Mo Pena to the White Sox for Dye," if Dye waives his no-trade clause.  Does Toni have the scoop here?
• Nathaniel Whalen of the Daily Southtown sees the Cubs and Angels also in the mix for Dye, and believes the right fielder would waive his no-trade clause for either team (if those teams are even among the other three over which he has veto power).

Let’s take a look at the starting pitchers still available at this time (about 17 hours before the trade deadline).  I took some liberties to include relievers who could possibly start.  And I’m being generous calling some of these guys mid-tier.

Top Tier
Javier Vazquez
Joe Blanton
Jon Garland
Bronson Arroyo
Dontrelle Willis

Mid Tier
Jason Jennings
Shawn Chacon
Joe Kennedy
Carlos Silva
Matt Morris
Scott Proctor
Byung-Hyun Kim
Josh Towers
Jose Contreras

Bottom Tier
Odalis Perez
Steve Trachsel
Woody Williams
Wade Miller
Josh Fogg
Kip Wells
Mike Maroth
Ramon Ortiz
Joel Pineiro

Jayson Stark has an update over at ESPN.com.  The latest:

• Looks like the Dodgers could turn to Joaquin Benoit, with Octavio Dotel off the market.
• Stark has the Mets, Yankees, and Red Sox in on Eric Gagne.  The latter two teams hold the advantage as Gagne cannot veto deals to them. Yahoo’s Tim Brown confirms Boston’s interest.
• The Mariners, Yankees, Mets, and Indians have called the Rays about Dan Wheeler and Al Reyes, but they require an "aggressive offer" as both can be kept for ’08.
• Rather than worry about acquiring Jermaine Dye, the Diamondbacks might just call up uberprospect Justin Upton.
• The Astros seem likely to hold onto Chad Qualls and Brad Lidge.

In between posts here on MLBTradeRumors, I’ll be answering questions at ProTrade.  I’ll be hanging out in the Cubs-Phillies game from 3-5 pm CST answering questions and talking trade rumors.  Click here to enter the game (it actually doesn’t start until this evening).

As you may have noticed, our good friend Jeff Sackmann of Brew Crew Ball took over MLBTR for Saturday afternoon.  My wife and I are currently checking out the Warped Tour.

Jeff will be checking out a few hours before I get back, and there could be some good rumorage or actual trades in the meantime.  Feel free to use this post for any links, rumors, or trade discussion if it’s not elsewhere on the site.  Thanks for reading; the next three days are going to be wild so stick around.