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.

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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.

The Minnesota Twins have reportedly traded for shortstop Orlando Cabrera sending minor league short stop Tyler Ladendorf to Oakland.

The deal had been buzzing around the rumor mill this morning but it appears it has been finalized, giving the Twins another experienced veteran for their strech run.

Oakland continues their trend of turning soon-to-be free agents into minor league prospects.

Update IV

ESPN's Buster Olney is on 101ESPN in St. Louis and reports that the A's will include $1.5 million to help off-set the cost of Holliday's contract. There is no word on a Holliday extension with the Cardinals but the deal is still breaking.

Update III

Per ESPN the deal if official and only 4 players are reportedly involved. This is a fantastic trade for the Oakland A's and certainly makes the Cardinals the team to beat in the NL, if only for the rest of this year.

Excuse me as I try to go figure out why the Cardinals just traded two of their best prospects & a 3rd player for a two month rental.

Update II

According to FanHouse's Ed Price sources say the trade is "going down" and is being finalized "as we speak".

Update:

ESPN is reporting that the two teams are "close" to a trade that would send Matt Holliday to St. Louis for outfielder Shane Peterson, pitcher Clayton Mortensen, and top prospect Brett Wallace.

It's tough for me to be objective on this one but that seems like a hell of a price to pay for a rental. As a Cardinal fan I would certainly hope there is more coming back than just Holliday. As an A's fan, I'd try and figure out how to get Cards GM John Mozeliak to sign as quickly as possible.

The St. Louis Cardinals and Oakland A's are reportedly discussing a trade that would send All Star outfielder Matt Holliday to the Cardinals. Oakland is said to be requiring Cardinals top prospect Brett Wallace in the deal and ESPN's Buster Olney says the likelyhood of the deal is at 50/50.

The Cardinals have been searching for a bat to protect the best hitter in the game, Albert Pujols. While Pujols has put up incredible numbers thus far this year, he's also been walked 74 times already. Cardinals manager Tony LaRussa has been vocal in his desire for Holliday, believing him to be the perfect cleanup hitter to bat behind Albert.

Rumors of this deal had been kicked around earlier in the year, but the Cardinals had been reluctant to include Wallace, ranked among the top 25 prospects in the game, for Holliday who will be a free agent at the end of the year and is represented by notorious money chaser Scott Boras.

As a Cardinal fan, I'd certainly  love to have protection in the lineup for Pujols, but I just can't justify trading Wallace for a few months of Holliday. Sure Wallace may not turn out to be a perrenial All Star, but he's our top trading chip right now and has been discussed in our potential pursuit of Roy Halladay. Plus, as we've seen from Colby Rasmus' performance this year, the farm system has gotten much better at producing legitimate Major League tallent.

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 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.

Trade rumors have already begun swirling around the Oakland A's star outfielder Matt Holliday. But, according to ESPN.com, the slugger doesn't mind.

The A's have struggled so far this year and the always money conscious team seems highly unlikely to resign Holliday who's making $13.5 million this year and figures to cash in on free agency next year. Holliday, for his part, has only fanned the smoldering trade rumors saying:

"I'm not going to be mad either way, let's just say that. I'll be OK to stay and play it out and see what happens. Or, if  Billy [Beane] thinks he can get a couple good players for me and give me a chance to go play in the postseason, I'll be OK with that too."

The list of teams interested in the All-Star outfielder will depend largely on the number of teams that think they can resign him at a reasonable price. While big spenders like the Yankees, Red Sox, Dodgers and Cubs can always be mentioned as possible suitors for high dollar players, several other teams in need of an offensive boost would be interested if there's an indication Holliday would be anything other than a rent-a-slugger.

While detractors point to Holliday's down numbers in his first year away from Coors field, the rumors are certain to intensify as we move towards the July 31st trade deadline.

ESPN's Buster Olney is reporting that the Oakland A's have signed short stop Orlando Cabrera to a one year deal and are "closing in on a deal" with Nomar Garciaparra.

If Oakland finalizes a deal with Nomar, current shortstop Bobby Crosby would likely be reduced to a utility role but should see significant playing time spelling the two veteran middle infielders.

Cabrera's deal is said to be for roughly $4 million and is contingent on the former Gold Glover passing a physical.

Olney reports that Garciaparra, the former Red Sox and Dodger, has narrowed his choices down to the A's or retirement and a decision between the two could come soon.

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.

The Atlanata Braves have reportedly reached a deal with free agent shortstop, Rafael Furcal, to return to Atlanta. Financial details of the deal haven't been released yet but it is rumored to be for three years with a vesting option for a fourth. Ken Rosenthal of FoxSports calls the signing a "major offseason upset" as the Oakland A's had been considered the major favorites to land Furcal, having extended a guaranteed 4th year in their $40 millon offer.

It appears, however, that Furcal desperately wanted to return to one of his former teams, which meant either the Dodgers or the Braves, and Atlanta made a hard late push to bring their former shortstop back into the fold.

The Furcal signing might allow Atlanta the luxury of another major deal as well. Current Atlanta shortstop, Yunel Escobar, had been discussed as part of a potential deal for San Diego Padres ace, Jake Peavy. The Padres, as it happens, are in need of a cheap young shortstop after trading Khalile Green to St. Louis a couple of weeks ago. With talks between the Padres and the Cubs for Peavy reportedly dead, the Braves might be able to ressurect their failed bid for the former Cy Young award winner.