Opinion

The Yankees and the Rays faced each other for the weekend series at St. Petersburg. This series has its significance not only for the standings, but it came down to which team made their moves.

On this Saturday, it was the Yankees that outmanuever the Rays in bolstering the club, and then after the deadline was over, the Yankees beat the Rays on the scoreboard to even the series at one.

The non-waiver trading deadline has passed.

The Texas Rangers made arguably the biggest move in the AL with the acquisition of ace Cliff Lee.

They also added some depth with shortstop Cristian Guzman, infielder Jorge Cantu, and catcher Bengie Molina.

In typical New York fashion, the Yankees have put themselves in a position to repeat as World Series champions with the additions of first baseman Lance Berkman, outfielder Austin Kearns, and pitcher Kerry Wood.

When the clock struck four today, the most hectic period in baseball, the trade deadline came to a close. Here is a look at who the top 5 winners of the deadline were after today.

The Phillies got their guy in Roy Oswalt, but just missed my list.

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Entering another critical intra-division series against the San Francisco Giants over the weekend, the Los Angeles Dodgers find themselves continuing to fade in the standings while their offense remains dormant. 

The entire squad is struggling at the dish, especially in terms of power, which is reflected in the team ranking 25th among the 30 teams in Major League Baseball in the homerun department.

It’s been six years since Jeffrey Lurie armed the Philadelphia media and fans with one of the most explosive pieces of ammunition possible.

Fresh off four straight NFC Championship berths and a trip to the Super Bowl, Lurie kicked off the 2004 season by declaring that the Eagles were the “gold standard” for NFL franchises.

So the 2010 non-waiver trade deadline has come and gone.

Amid all of the speculation, Dan Uggla and Cody Ross still remain in the Florida Marlins lineup. The club remains on the fringe of both the divisional and Wild Card races heading into tonight's tilt with the Padres out west. 

Phoenix was the epicenter of the July 31 MLB trade deadline this year.

In four separate deals, a total of 16 players changed hands.

From the Arizona Diamondbacks side, the club parted ways with ace Dan Haren, Edwin Jackson, Chris Snyder and Chad Qualls.

Although the core of the Diamondbacks is still in tack, the organization over the next few years will see many new faces take the field in Phoenix.

Get to know these names, Arizona fans, you will be hearing a lot about them.

The MLB "Non-Waiver" Trade Deadline has come and gone but another has yet to arrive, the August 31st Waiver Trade Deadline. This simply means teams can still trade players but with the requirement of placing their players on the waiver wire, which is pretty secret in MLB and often if a contract is too hefty a player goes free.

Last year the Chicago White Sox shocked the baseball world by claiming outfielder Alex Rios from the Toronto Blue Jays and his expensive contract, in the neighborhood of $50 million left on it and getting him with no trade whatsoever.

The Pirates had another busy trade deadline, but unlike years past, this year there were no salary dumps or accumulation of prospects. The Pirates made three trades today and all appear to be good baseball moves.

The Pirates acquired catcher Chris Snyder and minor league shortstop Pedro Ciriaco from the Arizona Diamondbacks, in exchange for Ryan Church, Bobby Crosby and D.J. Carrasco.

They also sent closer Octavio Dotel to the Los Angeles Dodgers for right-hander James McDonald and minor league outfielder Andrew Lambo.

The Dodgers go out and trade for Scott Podsednik, Tedd Lilly, Ryan Theriot, and Octavio Dotel.

San Diego went out and traded for Miguel Tejada and Ryan Ludwick.

What did the Giants do? They traded for Ramon Ramirez and Javier Lopez.

Could they have done more? Should they have done more?

The answers are yes and no.

Sure, they could have traded more Adam Dunn. They could have traded for Corey Hart. If they really wanted, they could have traded more Prince Fielder.

Why didn't they? The price was too high.