Chase Utley

For the first time in his career, Chase Utley will be wearing a new uniform, as the Philadelphia Phillies' star second baseman has agreed to a trade that will send him to the Los Angeles Dodgers, per Fox Sports' Ken Rosenthal:

The New York Yankees have had trouble finding consistency at second base all season.

There have been small sparks of offensive production and defensive flair from both Stephen Drew and Brendan Ryan here and there, but overall, second base has been the biggest flaw in New York's starting lineup this year.

MLB's non-waiver trade deadline came and went on July 31 with plenty of action across the league, but teams are far from done when it comes to attempting to improve for the playoff push.

Organizations are still able to strike deals for the remainder of the season, but the deadline for a traded player being able to take part in the playoffs is Aug. 31. Any player traded between now and the remainder of the 2015 campaign must first pass through waivers.

The days leading up to the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline are consistently some of the most exciting Major League Baseball has to offer, and this year did not disappoint.

The MLB non-waiver trade deadline is officially in the rearview mirror, but that doesn't mean that big leaguers like James Shields are off the market just yet.

Between now and the end of the month, a player can be traded to any team if he clears waivers. If the given major leaguer does get claimed, he can be traded to the club that put in the claim.

1. A Manager Is Just Another Chew Toy for Pit Bull Loria

Everyone knows managers are hired to be fired. But in Miami, they're not just fired; they're sliced, diced, pureed, pulsed, chopped, whipped, crushed, frappe'd and blended too.

So here comes new Marlins manager Dan Jennings, one of the game's most respected talent evaluators, in Miami's craziest move yet.

Nearly five years ago, the character Mac from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia wrote a "love" letter to his favorite Phillies player, Chase Utley, asking if the two could "have a catch." He made sure to compliment Utley's hair and ask about the second baseman's relationship with his father while he was at it.

Now, given that Utley is really busy playing a lot of baseball for the Phillies, Mac has only just now gotten his response.

The trade deadline is less than two weeks away and there is no doubt that several high-profile players will be changing teams before it passes. Players like Matt Garza, Cliff Lee and Chase Utley could all be dealt soon and may end up having huge impacts on playoff races.

Even the teams in first place coming out of the All-Star break know they have holes to fill, and now that there are two Wild Card spots, more teams feel they can make a run, and you can bet that the players on this list will be pursued heavily.

It is about that time of the Major League Baseball season.

Despite having played only a little over a third of their season, the contenders are starting to separate themselves from the pretenders. And with that separation comes speculation of whether certain teams will be buyers or sellers come the MLB trade deadline at the end of July.

The Philadelphia Phillies have struggled in the early weeks of the 2013 regular season. They are 14-16 thus far, 3.5 games behind the Atlanta Braves for first place in the suddenly tight National League East.