The trade deadline has come and gone and left a TON of trades in it's wake. We've compiled a list of all the trades that occurred during the entire month of July in one giant trade recap. One interesting note, unless I've missed something, 27 of the 30 teams completed at least one trade last month. The Astros, Angels, and Rangers were the thre teams to stand pat in July.

• The Cubs traded for Jeff Baker from Colorado for Alberto Alburquerque.
• The Indians traded Joan Meloan from the Rays for Winson Abreu.
• The A's traded Ryan Webb, Greg Italiano, and a PTBNL (Sean Gallagher) for Scott Hairston from the Padres.
• The Orioles traded Ryan Freel to the Royals for a PTBNL.
• The White Sox acquired Tony Pena from Arizona in exchange for Brandon Allen.
• The Royals acquired Yuniesky Betancourt from Seattle for Danny Cortes and Derrick Saito.
• The Mets and Braves made a straight up trade of Ryan Church and Jeff Francoeur.
• Seattle acquired Jack Hannahan from the M's for Justin Souza.
• The Brewers traded for Felipe Lopez from the Diamondbacks for Cole Gillespie and Roque Mercedes.
• The Orioles and Padres made the second straight up trade of Oscar Salazar and Cla Meredith.
• With the third straight up trade, the Cards sent Chris Duncan to Boston for Julio Lugo. Lugo was recently DFA'd by the Red Sox.
• The Red Sox added another left-handed bat when they acquired Adam LaRoche from the Pirates for Hunter Strickland and Argenis Diaz.
• The Cardinals acquired slugger Matt Holliday for Brett Wallace, Shane Peterson, and Clayton Morentsen.
• The Giants trade Scott Barnes to the Indians in exchange for Ryan Garko.
• The Pirates and Mariners made a 7 player deal that sent Jack Wilson and Ian Snell for Jeff Clement, Ronny Cedeno, Nathan Adcock, Brett Lorin, and Aaron Pribanic.
• The Reds acquired Wladimir Balentien from Seattle in exchange for reliever Robert Manuel.
• The Yankees acquired Jason Hirsh from the Rockies for a minor leaguer and released Brett Tomko to make room.
• The Phillies traded for Cliff Lee and Ben Francisco for Carlos Carrasco, Jason Donald, Lou Marson, and Jason Knapp.
• The Giants acquired Freddy Sanchez from the Pirates in exchange for Tim Alderson.
• The Royals acquired Josh Anderson for cash considerations after he was DFA'ed by the Tigers.
• The Dodgers acquired George Sherrill from Baltimors for Josh Bell and Steve Johnson.
• The Cubs acquired both Tom Gorzelanny and John Grabow from the Pirates for Kevin Hart and Jose Ascanio.
• The Tigers acquired Jarrod Washburn for Luke French and Mauricio Robles.
• The Dodgers and Brewers swapped Vinny Rottino and Claudio Vargas.
• The Red Sox made the biggest trade by acquiring Victor Martinez in exchange for Justin Masterson, Nick Hagadone, and Bryan Price.
• The Blue Jays acquired Sean Smith from the Pirates for future considerations.
• The Yankees added Jerry Hairston Jr. from Cincinatti for minor leaguer Chase Weems.
• The Red Sox then went ahead and traded Adam Laroche to the Braves for Casey Kotchman straight up.
• The Marlins traded for Nick Johnson in exchange for Aaron Thompson.
• The Rockies added two pieces to their bullpen, a righty and lefty. Joe Beimel and Rafael Betancourt.
• The White Sox acquired Jake Peavy surprisingly and they traded Aaron Poreda, Clayton Richard, Dexter Carter, and Adam Russell for him.
• The Reds and Blue Jays exchanged third basemen, with Scott Rolen going to Cincinatti in exchange for Edwin Encarnacion, Josh Roenicke, and Zach Stewart.
• The Twins got Orlando Cabrera from the A's for Tyler Ladendorf.

Update:

Danny Knobler reports that the Braves are sending Casey Kotchman to the Red Sox in exchange for LaRoche. The Red Sox obviously don't need another first baseman although Kotchman is both younger and cheaper than LaRoche.

The Atlanta Braves have reacquired Adam LaRoche from the Boston Red Sox.

LaRoche became expendable for Boston after they acquired Victor Martinez from the Cleveland Indians and the Braves quickly showed interest.

LaRoche, who was traded from the Braves to Pittsburgh after the 2006 season, then to Boston earlier this year, and now back to Atlanta is batting .248 this season with 13 HR and 43 RBI. His most productive season was with the Braves in '06 when he smacked 32 HR while driving in 90 runs and batting .285.

The Oakland A's have been dangling slugger Matt Holliday as trade bait for months now, and it appears the Atlanta Braves may be biting.

Mychael Urban, MLB.com's beat writer for the A's, reported today (scroll down) that he's hearing rumblings again of a Matt Holliday and Orlando Cabrera for short stop Yunel Escobar and prospects.

Urban writes that Atlanta would need the A's to take on most of the roughly $6.5 million remaining on Holliday's contract, which certainly wouldn't seem like much of a roadblock for the deal.

Both Holliday and Cabrera are free agents at the end of the year so Atlanta would be acquiring two rental players, but Holliday projects as a type A free agent so they would also receive draft pick compensation should Holliday sign somewhere else.

The Braves have been looking to bolster their offensive output, especially from the outfield, however Holliday hasn't produced the same gaudy numbers we've grown accustomed to over the past few years. He's batting just .276 with only 8 HR on the year.

Escobar, despite struggling with some back issues, is batting .293 with 7 HR and 44 RBI.

Personally, I don't really see this moving making Atlanta all that much better. While I am a believer in Matt Holliday, I'm not sure his turnaround is going to happen this year. It may come next year after he's landed a big contract somewhere and that would be too late for the Braves.

The New York Mets and Atlanta Braves have swapped right fielders, with the Mets sending Ryan Church to the Braves for Jeff Francoeur.

Francoeur had been rumored to be on the trading block for well over a month now, having been mentioned in a possible deal for Boston's Brad Penny.

Francoeur had two great years for Atlanta in '06 and '07 compiling 48 home runs and 208 RBI over that span. He's dropped off considerably since then, batting just .239 last year with 13 HR and 71 RBI. His performance this far this year hasn't been any better, batting only .250 with 5 HR and 35 RBI before being benched from his staring role in Atlanta's outfield.

Church on the other hand is hitting .280 thus far this year but with hardly any power, hitting only 2 home runs with 22 RBI.

While Francoeur is making about half a million more than Church it's hard to see the upside here for the Braves. Francoeur is 5 years younger than Church and has been a great RBI man for the Braves in the past. Church's best year statistically was also in '07 when he smacked 15 HR while driving in 70.

There had been some rancor in the contract negotiations between the Braves and their young right fielder this offseason but had things really soured to the point that the Braves felt they need to get rid of him in exchange for a mediocre at best player like Ryan Church?

There's bound to be more to this story and we'll keep you up to date as the story unfolds.

Reports are that Atlanta will also be sending cash along with Francoeur, who while playing on a one year deal is still under team control until 2011. The trade keeps looking worse and worse to me from Atlanta's perspective.

Update: MLB.com's Atlanta beat writer Mark Bowman claims the Braves are NOT in fact interested in Penny stating:

"contrary to an ESPN.com report, a Major League source said that the Braves don't have any interest in acquiring Brad Penny from the Red Sox. " and that "the Braves won't be among the teams showing interest in the big right-hander. "

The Atlanta Braves are interested in acquiring Boston Red Sox pitcher Brad Penny, according to unnamed sources cited by ESPN's Buster Olney.

Penny's name has been floated in just about every rumor involving the Red Sox but it appears there may be something to this one as the Red Sox have been evaluating Brave outfielder Jeff Francoeur.

The Braves recently acquired outfielder Nate McClouth and still have Matt Diaz who could step in to right field so Francoeur could easily be available.

While, the Braves already have an impressive rotation featuring Lowe, Vazquez and Jurrjens their bullpen could certainly use some help. And, as Olney points out that trading for Penny would allow Atlanta to shift Kenshin Kawakami into the 'pen.

The Atlanta Braves offense got a boost today when the team traded for Pitsburgh Pirates All-Star outfielder, Nate McLouth.

In exchange, the Pirates receive outfield prospect Gorkys Hernandez, who had been ranked towards the top of Atlanta's farm system, as well as pitchers Charlie Morton and Jeff Locke.

McLouth has 9 home runs and 34 RBI so far this year after smacking 26 long balls and driving in 94 runs in his first All Star season last year. The outfielder should provide an instant impact to a power starved outfield that has combined for just one more home run (10) than McLouth has hit on his own.

The St. Louis Cardinals have reportedly traded outfielder Brian Barton to the Atlanta Braves for right handed reliever Blaine Boyer.

Barton was fairly productive last year for the Cardinals playing largely in a utility role in the outfield. Batting .268 last year and providing speed off the bench, Barton will likely prove useful for the Braves but was part of a glut of outfielders in the Cardinals organization.

Boyer, a 27 year old reliever, had a mediocre year for the Braves last year, turning in a 5.88 ERA over 72 innings. The stat is a bit misleading however, as Boyer had a respectable first half (3.93 ERA) and then exploaded after the All Star break (11.17).

Boyer is off to a rough start this year as well giving up 6 runs on just 1.1 innings pitched, but the Cardinals bullpen is in serious need of some help. If St. Louis pitching coach Dave Duncan can figure out a way to get Boyer back to the pitcher he was in the first half of last year, the Cardinals will have gotten a decent return for Barton who was a rule 5 draftee from the Indians last year.

The Atlanta Braves have once again reportedly reached an agreement with a free agent. For the Braves' sake, let's hope this one sticks.

ESPN.com is reporting that the Braves have signed Garret Anderson to a one year deal for $2.5 million with the announcement coming tomorrow.

The Braves have experienced a frustrating off season, having been linked to a possible trade for Jake Peavy, and signings of Rafael Furcal and Ken Griffey Jr. all of which fell apart after public reports had them pegged as done deals.

Anderson, a long time Angel, will likely platoon with Matt Diaz and will be asked to provide some power from the left side of the plate. The 36 year old veteran batted .293 and had 15 home runs for the Angels last year, all but one of them coming off right handed pitchers.

The Atlanta Braves are believed to be making a late run at signing free agent Ken Griffey Jr. according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Atlanta has been looking for an outfield bat during the offseason, and Griffey could be a great fit, at least against right handed pitching.

Junior was reportedly close to a deal to return to Seattle where he spent the first 11 years of his career. However, Atlanta is rumored to be Griffey's first choice due to it's proximity to his home in Orlando and his friendship with Bobby Cox.

Should Atlanta sign the future Hall of Famer, he would probably be used in a platoon situation, maximizing his at bats against righties as well as giving the 39 year old veteran plenty of rest. While "the Kid" still has the sweetest swing in baseball, his body has broken down over the years and he's lost significant time to injuries over the past several seasons.

The Los Angeles Angels seem to be close to landing free agent slugger Bobby Abreu to a one year deal.

Abreu initially sought a three year deal in the neighborhood of $48 million, however as the economic reality of this offseason set in, it became clear that the outfielder would have to settle for something drastically less.

ESPN's Jerry Crasnick reports that Abreu may be willing to accept a one year deal in the neighborhood of $8 million and Fox Sports' Ken Rosenthal is reporting that the Angles asked for waivers on Nick Green, possibly in preparation of an Abreu deal.

The Angels lineup has been depleted this offseason by the free agent defections of Mark Teixeira and Garret Anderson and Abreu's 20 home runs and 100 RBI's last year with the New York Yankees would be a welcome addition.

The Atlanta Braves had been rumored to be interested in Abreu, but apparently could not meet the player's salary demands, even on a one year deal.