As you know, July 31st is known as the trade deadline. But in fact, teams can still acquire players after that, however the players involved in a trade must first pass through waivers.

When players are placed on waivers, any of the 29 other teams can claim him which usually results in the player's current team pulling him back off waivers. In some rare instances, teams will in fact allow players to leave via waivers although the more usual scenario is that teams will work out a trade for that player during the 48 hour window they're given to negotiate.

If a player passes through waivers unclaimed, he can then be traded to any team at any time. However, a player must be on a team's active roster by August 31st in order to be eligible for post-season play.

Now that we've explained the process, who are some of the players we might still see traded this year?

ESPN's Jerry Crasnick gives these starting 9 (which actually includes 14 players)  as the most likely to be dealt:

1. Jon Garland & Doug Davis
2. Heath Bell
3. Lyle Overbay
4. Justin Duchscherer
5. The "Matt Stairs" type which Crasnick says this year includes Nomar Gargciaparra and Kevin Millar
6. The "utility man" category under which Crasnick files David Eckstein, Mark Teahen, and Jamey Carroll.
7. Carl Pavano
8. Reds Relievers of Arthur Rhodes and David Weathers
9. Miguel Batista

Heath Bell would obviously the biggest target on this list and as Crasnick mentions, would probably be claimed. However, even if he's claimed by a team that's not in contention, the Padres may be able to work out a deal.

That being said, I think Rhodes or Weathers are the much more likely releivers to be dealt.

There are also plenty of contending teams that could use a back of the rotation starter like Pavano, Davis, or Garland so I wouldn't be surprised to see their names pop up on several different radars.

We also always seem to hear about one BIG name that passes through waivers making them elligible to be dealt (Manny was put on waivers a couple years back) but deals that big usually happen before August if they're going to happen at all.

Nike St Louis Cardinals #5 Albert Pujols Jersey 2XL XXL    US $22.50

2008 Seattle Mariners RA Dickey #41 Game Issued Jersey    US $95.00

MANNY RAMIREZ #99 AUTHEN MLB DODGERS BLUE JERSEY 44/L    US $24.90

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 7-31:

Jon Heyman is reporting that the Reds have officially traded for Scott Rolen, all that remains is for Rolen to waive his no trade clause.

Bob Elliot of the Toronto Sun reports that the Cincinnati Reds have a "good chance" of trading for Toronto Blue Jays third baseman Scott Rolen.

While the Reds are out of contention this year, Rolen is under contract for next year at a price of $11 million.

The details of the likely deal haven't been publicized although according to Fox Sports' Jon Paul Morosi, Reds third baseman Edwin Encarnacion would likely be headed to the Jays in any deal for Rolen.

The Reds would also likely ask the Jays to assume some of Rolen's contract for next season in order to facilitate the trade.

The New York Yankees have acquired Jerry Hairston Jr. from the Cincinnati Reds.

The New York Post is reporting the deadline deal that will give the Yankees a versatile utility man that can fill in pretty much anywhere in the field.

Hairston is batting .254 with 8 HR and 27 RBI in just over 300 at bats this season.

No details yet on who the Red will receive in return. More as it's available...

The Oakland A's have acquired Scott Hairston from the San Diego Padres for pitching prospects Ryan Webb and Craig Italiano as well as the proverbial player to be named later.

While the Padres and A's are both considered "sellers" for this year's trade deadline, Oakland has attempted to land Hairston for quite some time now. The outfielder is under team control through the 2011 season at a very reasonable rate, making him a natural fit for Oakland's Moneyball GM, Billy Beane.

Also, by landing Hairston who's in the midst of a career year batting .299 with 1o HR before the break, the A's may now be more willing to trade hard hitting outfielder Matt Holliday.

The Mets, Reds, Giants, and Phillies were also rumored to be interested in Hairston but all would likely become suitors for Holliday if Oakland decides to come off their demand of two "high impact" prospects in exchange for the soon to be free agent slugger.

The Padres, for their part, are said to view the PTBNL as the key to the deal. The player will reportedly be one of two Oakland pitchers one of whom is said to have Major League service time.

The player will be announced next month but landing 3 decent arms for a formerly mediocre player having a career year seems to define "selling high" for the Padres.

Pat Burrell is moving from one World Series team, to the other. The Tampa Bay Rays have reportedly signed former Philadelphia Phillies power-hitting outfielder Pat Burrell to a two year deal worth $16 million.

Burrell, never known for his skills with a glove, will serve as an upgrade to the Rays output from their DH slot. Last year the Rays got 24 home runs, 78 RBI, and a .246 average from their DH spot while Burrell hit 33 home runs, had 86 RBI, and a .250 average. Burrell also, and perhaps most importantly for the Rays (who had a collective .712 OPS against lefties), hits well against southpaws, posting an impressive .951 OPS against them last year.

ESPN's Jason Stark expects the Rays' deal with Burrell along with the Cubs signing of Milton Bradley, to prompt the A's to finish their deal-in-the-works with Jason Giambi as well as possibly prompt several other outfielders to sign. As more and more teams ink power hitters, the demand for future hall of famer, Manny Ramirez seems to be dwindling. If the flurry of deals happens as Stark expects, it might leave the Dodgers as Manny's only option. While Manny seemed to enjoy his time in LA, as we all learned in high school when demand drops, so does the price, a prospect Ramirez and his supposed super-agent Scott Boras won't like much.

Here's a quick rundown of some of the free agent signings that you might have missed in the midst of all the Sabathia, Yankees, Mets madness lately.

The Cincinnati Reds signed reliever Arthur Rhodes to a 2 year deal worth $4 million. The veteran lefty put up impressive numbers last year, pitching in 61 games with the Mariners and Marlins and going 4-1 with a 2.06 ERA.

The Minnesota Twins re-signed infielder Nick Punto to a 2 year deal worth $8.5 million. The infielder batted .284 with 2 long balls and 28 RBI in 99 games for the Twins last year and will likely be the team's starting shortstop going forward.

The Toronto Blue Jays gave Matt Clement a minor league deal with an invitation to Spring Training. The pitcher hasn't appeared in a major league game for two years due to injury but if healthy, could be a great cheap option for the Jays rotation.

The White Sox agreed to a 4 year deal worth $10 million with 19 year old infielder Dayan Viciedo. The former Cuban League All-Star, Viciedo, is expected to compete for the starting third base job and the White Sox project him as an impact player for years to come.

The Washington Nationals re-signed journeyman outfielder Willie Harris to a two-year, $3 million deal. Harris had a career year in terms of home runs (13) and runs driven in (43) after getting a chance to be an everyday player in the second half of the season.

The Pitsburgh Pirates inked infielder Ramon Vazquez to a two-year, $4 million deal. Vazquez will likely be a super-sub and could also act as an insurance policy should the Pirates find a taker for shortstop Jack Wilson or 2nd baseman Freddy Sanchez but the market has been pretty weak for Wilson (especially with Lopez and Punto both filling middle infielder needs).

Infielder Felipe Lopez signed on with the Arizona Diamondbacks, agreeing to terms on a one-year, $3.5 million deal. Lopez resurrected his career last year in St. Louis, batting .385 over 156 at bats after being released by the Nationals. He'll likely replace the Orlando Hudson as the D'backs every-day second baseman and could prove to be one of the most under-rated signings of the winter.

The Kansas City Royals signed reliever Kyle Farnsworth to a two year deal, reportedly worth $9.5 million. Farnsworth had a  3.65 ERA in 45 games with the Yankees but struggled after being traded to the Tigers, putting up a 6.75 ERA in 16 games.

The Cincinnati Reds have agreed to trade Ryan Freel and two prospects to the Baltimore Orioles for catcher Ramon Hernandez and cash. The O's are expected to be paying a significant portion of the backstop's $8 million salary and the deal is awaiting approval from the commissioner's office since more than $1 million is changing hands.

Freel hit .298 last year with the Reds playing in just 48 games and has only appeared in 123 games total over the past two years. Hernandez put up a .257 average over 133 games and regained a bit of his power, hitting 15 home runs after dropping from 23 in '06 to just 9 in '07.

While this obviously isn't a winter blockbuster, the move could easily help both teams and provide a needed change of scenery for both players.

Update: Just as I suspected, Walt Jocketty, the Reds GM has denied making a deal with the Sox and in fact said that he hasn't had any discussions with the AL Chicago team since before Thanksgiving.

The Dayton Daily News has been told by a "source" that the Cincinnati Reds have traded pitcher Homer Baily to the Chicago White Sox in exchange for slugger Jermaine Dye.

A major-league source close to the situation told The Dayton Daily News on Sunday, Dec. 7, "The deal is done and will be announced this week."

Now, the Winter Meetings do have a history of churning out "done" deals that either never get completed or never existed in the first place. However, if it's printed in a legitimate source, I'll post it here for you to to decide for yourselves.

If the deal is legit, the White Sox must know something I don't. Yes Bailey is young and had been hyped as the next great Reds pitcher, but he put up a 7.93 ERA with the Reds last year and a 4.77 ERA with the Triple-A club. That's hardly what I'd expect in return for Dye who has as least been rumored to be attracting interest from several teams and hit 34 home runs last year with a .292 batting average! Reds or White Sox fans, I'd wait for confirmation on this one before getting too worked up about it.

The Detroit Tigers can check "catcher" off their offseason shopping list after they, according to Fox Sports' Ken Rosenthall, acquired Gerald Laird from the Texas Rangers in exchange for right handed pitching prospect Guillermo Moscoso as well as a 17 year old pitching prospect.

Laird had drawn interest from several teams (especially the Cincinnati Reds) and with the Rangers' depth behind the plate it was only a matter of time before one or more of the Texas backstops was shipped out.

Laird is known for his defense but did hit .276 last year in 344 at bats, and is elligible for arbitration for the first time this year, meaning he'll be under team control for at least another two seasons.

The Rangers had been rumored to be seeking Tigers pitcher Zach Miner in exchange for Laird but it appears they decided two young arms was a good enough return to pull the trigger on the trade.