With the MLB trade deadline approaching on Friday, I’ll post everything I see and hear regarding the rumors in baseball. So bookmark this page and come back to it, because I’ll be updating it frequently throughout the day today.

Cliff Lee:
- FOX Sports.com writes that the Dodgers are pushing hard for Indians’ ace Cliff Lee, who is also being pursued by the Phillies. Philadelphia has already made a formal offer of Triple-A right hander Carlos Carrasco, shortstop Jason Donald, catcher Lou Marson and Single-A right hander Jason Knapp to Cleveland for Lee.

- Yahoo! Sports is also reporting that the Phillies are on the verge of acquiring Lee for Carrasco, Knapp and two more minor league players.

Jack Wilson and Ian Snell:
- According to a report by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Pirates have traded shortstop Jack Wilson and Ian Snell to the Mariners for Jeff Clement, Ronny Cedeno and right handed pitchers Aaron Pribanic, Brett Lorin and Nathan Adcock. Clement is a 25-year old catcher who had been hot in Triple-A in May, but the Seattle organization seemingly soured on him long before that.

Freddy Sanchez:
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is reporting that a deal between the Pirates and Giants involving second baseman Freddy Sanchez could be imminent. Sanchez has been held out of the Bucs’ last couple games due to a knee injury, which could have slowed down negotiations between the two clubs. But apparently the injury isn’t serious and a deal could be done as early as today.

- The Gazette is reporting that there is no major issues with Sanchez’s knee and is currently listed as day to day.

- Dejan Kovacevic writes via his Twitter page that Sanchez gave the Bucs a contract proposal of 3-years, $20 million, but the club rejected it.

Jarrod Washburn:
- The Brewers are no longer pursing starter Jarrod Washburn according to FOX Sports.com. Milwaukee apparently doesn’t want to give up any of their top prospects in order to make a push this season, so what you currently see is what you’re going to get with the Brewers the rest of the season.

- Ed Price of AOL Fanhouse is reporting that the Reds have acquired outfielder Wladimir Balentien from the Mariners in exchange for RHP Robert Manuel.

With the MLB trade deadline approaching on Friday, I have zero time to waste writing a creative intro that you’ll either a) take the time to read or b) take the time to read.

So I’ll cut right to the chase: I have got about a million random thoughts and predictions (25, actually) bouncing around in this noggin of mine, so I’ve decided to compile them in one heaping pile of organized chaos below. Feel free to add your own thoughts and predictions in the comments section and then we can play a couple rounds of “I told you so!” after the trade deadline passes on Friday.

1. I was close, but wrong with my prediction early last week that the Blue Jays will trade Roy Halladay to the Phillies. They would have traded him to the Phillies, but Philadelphia didn’t want to give up a promising major league starter in J.A. Happ, their top minor league pitching prospect Kyle Drabek, and a promising minor league outfielder named Dominic Brown in order to complete the deal. And who could blame them? That’s one steep price to pay, even for a player of Halladay’s caliber.

2. Instead, I fully believe that Toronto GM J.P. Ricciardi was never going to trade Halladay in the first place, unless he was so blown away by an offer that he couldn’t pass it up. Halladay isn’t a free agent until after the 2010 season, so Ricciardi used this past month to gauge what he could potentially get for the ace for next year.

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With the All-Star break quickly approaching, many MLB teams are trying to figure out whether or not they’ll be buyers or sellers later this month. It’s a tricky game front offices must play, because they don’t want to alienate their fans by suggesting that their club is already out of contention with half the season left to go, but teams also don’t want to miss out on adding a piece for the future because they’re hanging onto a veteran that won’t play a significant role down the line.

That said, I’ve compiled a ranking of the five most intriguing names that either are on the trade market, or could be. Granted, every player outside of guys named Pujols, Jeter and Howard could potentially be on the trade market, but I tried to keep the list to only those names that continue to pop up in the weekly rumor mill, whether their teams have officially those names as available or not.

Two names you won’t find on the list are Dan Haren and Jake Peavy, even though they have been brought up in various trade rumors. The Diamondbacks aren’t going to trade Haren unless some team offers a ridiculous package (as in multiple top prospects) and Peavy’s injury situation has all but killed his trade value. I would be shocked if either player gets dealt this season.

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- According to SI.com, the Mariners have yet to receive any interest for third baseman Adrian Beltre, who Seattle would love to move because he’s in the last year of his $64 million contract.

- One name that continues to be involved almost daily on the rumor mill is Indians utility man Mark DeRosa. According to ESPN’s Buster Olney, the Cardinals and Yankees have expressed interest in DeRosa, but neither are willing to give up young pitching like Cleveland covets.

- The Mets are rumored to be interested in DeRosa, Nationals first baseman Nick Johnson and Orioles one-bagger Aubrey Huff, but Newsday’s Ken Davidoff writes that the club shouldn’t make any stupid trades just to fill a spot while Carlos Beltran is on the DL.

- MLB.com reports that the Diamondbacks could become sellers soon and that pitchers Doug Davis and Jon Garland, as well as second baseman Felipe Lopez could all be on the trade block.

- The Phillies want to add an arm, but the pitchers they’re looking at (Erik Bedard, Jake Peavy, Aaron Harang, Bronson Arroyo and Jason Marquis) are either hurt or playing for contending teams.

- The Dodgers have interest in Seattle pitcher Jarrod Washburn according to MLB Fanhouse and Juan Pierre’s name has come up as a potential trade piece.

I get it – baseball trades are fun. They’re fun to speculate about, they’re fun to debate and they’re fun to analyze. But just because a club needs a bat, an arm or is just looking to shrink salary, doesn’t mean that a trade needs to happen.

I’ve compiled a list of five trade rumors and where they originated. I then discuss why each of them makes sense, but why they also don’t necessarily need to happen.

Rumor #1: The Red Sox will trade for Pirates shortstop Jack Wilson (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
Why it makes sense: Boston is growing impatient waiting for Jed Lowrie to recover from a wrist injury that has held him out since mid-April. They’re also tired of watching Julio Lugo (who is equally bad offensively as he is defensively) make a mockery of the game whenever he trots onto the field. While Nick Green has done well filling in for Lowrie while he’s been hurt and for Lugo while he continues to work on being the most overpaid player in professional sports, the Sox feel they could do better with Wilson. (There’s also a rumor making the rounds that Boston wouldn’t have to give up any top prospects in order to acquire Wilson – they just would need to take on the rest of his salary.)
Why it doesn’t need to happen: Wilson is excellent defensively, but he brings very little to the table in terms of offense. He’s also overpaid himself, as he’ll make $7.25 million this year and $8.4 million in 2010 despite being limited at the dish. While waiting for Lowrie to return to the field has been a slow death for the Sox, he’s cheaper than Wilson and gives the team a better overall player at the position (when he’s healthy, of course). Plus, Green has played well and Boston might be better served holding onto prospects in order to make a more productive move around the trade deadline (i.e. adding another bat in case David Oritz plans on hitting south of .200 all season) than one involving Wilson.

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The Chicago Tribune is speculating that the Giants could make a push to acquire Cubs first baseball Derrek Lee. The paper notes that San Fran’s pitching is good enough to keep them in contention, but the team desperately needs a big bat and Lee could be a viable option given that Chicago has a couple of replacements for him in Micah Hoffpauir and Jake Fox.

While rumors are definitely fun to discuss, this one looks like it has no teeth. The Cubs haven’t given any indication that they want to deal Lee and even if they have considered it, he’d still have to waive his no-trade clause. (And why would he waive it to go to a team like the Giants?)

The Giants make an easy target in all of this because yes, they do need a bat. Aaron Rowand, Pablo Sandoval, Bengie Molina, Randy Winn and Juan Uribe don’t exactly strike the fear of God into opposing pitchers. But GM Brian Sabean has to be smart here and even though San Fran is playing well, it’s probably not worth it for the Giants to trade young arms (which they’ve got plenty of) so that they can put a band-aid on a deep gash.

Now, if a situation comes up and a club is willing to part with a young bat in order to get a couple of arms, then all bets are off. If the Giants can get a young, productive bat this season that could also add to their rebuilding process, then Sabean would be a fool not to jump on the opportunity. But how often do clubs make young bats available?

The Giants have already been linked to the Marlins’ Dan Uggla and the Nats’ Adam Dunn. Now Lee’s name has been throw into the mix and while it would be tempting for Sabean to add a bat to his weak lineup, none of the aforementioned names are going to help the Giants win a World Series this year so why bother? Why sacrifice the future for half a season?

We’ll see if this rumor grows any legs, but I hardly doubt it will.

Apparently the near-Jake Peavy deal between the Padres and White Sox woke up other general managers in baseball, because trade rumors are starting to kick up around the league.

One of the bigger rumors is that the Giants are interested in Marlins’ second baseman Dan Uggla. According to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, the offense-needy Giants would have to give up a young starter to swing a deal for Uggla, and both Matt Cain and Jonathan Sanchez’s names were brought up in the report.

Even though San Fran has one of the worst offenses in baseball (they currently rank dead last in the NL in runs scored, on base percentage and slugging percentage), Giants’ GM Brian Sabean should be kicked repeatedly in the stones if he trades Cain for Uggla straight up.

Cain is pitching in his fourth year already and he’s only 24. His career record of 35-44 suggests he’s light years away from becoming a productive pitcher, but his career ERA of 3.63 paints a better picture. He’s a pitcher that has been cursed with poor run support over his career, but that has changed this season and he’s now finally getting the attention he deserves while posting a 5-1 record and 2.40 ERA so far in ’09.

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NBC Sports is reporting that Jake Peavy could be heading to the Chicago Cubs as part of a four-team trade.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that the world champion Phillies are one of the additional teams. Philadelphia reportedly would receive utilityman Mark DeRosa from the Cubs for a pair of prospects, one of them possibly being lefthander J.A. Happ. The Cubs would then flip those prospects to the Padres as part of the package for Peavy. The Union-Tribune reported that the Padres would get DeRosa first, then flip him to the Phillies for the prospects. Either way, DeRosa would wind up in Philly as insurance for injured second baseman Chase Utley, and the Padres would get the prospects.

The Union-Tribune reported that the Baltimore Orioles also are involved in what Towers called the most complicated trade negotiation of his 14-year tenure as Padres GM. San Diego likely would obtain Orioles lefthander Garrett Olson for Cubs outfielder Felix Pie, after Pie is sent to the Orioles in the package for Peavy. Olson-for-Pie has long been rumored.

Cubs reliever Kevin Hart, another name frequently tied to the Peavy talks, might also be headed to San Diego. Righthanded starter Jason Marquis, whom the Cubs reportedly are shopping, is unlikely to be part of the deal.

Interesting enough, ESPN cites a source close to the situation that says the Cubs are nowhere close to dealing for Peavy:

First, the source said, the Cubs’ “No. 1 priority” is adding a left-handed-hitting outfielder, not a starting pitcher. And the team isn’t close to acquiring that bat. The Cubs have interest in a half-dozen outfielders who meet that description, with free agents Raul Ibanez and Bobby Abreu seemingly at the top of that list.

Second, the Cubs’ muddled ownership situation leaves Hendry and his baseball people unsure about whether they would be permitted to take on a contract as large as Peavy’s. The 27-year-old right-hander will make $11 million next season and has as much as $81 million remaining over the next five years if his team picks up his 2013 option.

Hmm. Are the Cubs just trying to protect themselves by not making the news public or are the Peavy-to-Chicago reports a fabrication?