The St. Louis Cardinals have finally found slugger Albert Pujols some protection in the lineup, as the Red Birds traded three minor league prospects to the A’s in exchange for outfielder Matt Holliday according to ESPN.com.

One of those three minor leaguers was Brett Wallace, who was Baseball America’s 40th-best prospect entering the season, while the other two were 24-year old right-hander Clayton Mortensen and outfielder Shane Peterson, who was a second rounder in 2008. Apparently Oakland will also chip in $1.5 million to help pay for some of the $6 million still left on Holliday’s contract.

After a slow start, Holliday is now hitting .286 with 11 home runs and 54 RBI. He instantly makes the Cardinals the favorites to win the NL Central and challenge the Dodgers and Phillies for the NL Pennant by adding much-needed protection behind Pujols in the lineup. His presence in the order should also make players like Mark DeRosa and Ryan Ludwick better as well.

Billy Beane once again did well in a trade. The Oakland GM wanted to get Holliday’s contract off the books (or as much of it as he could), but he also didn’t want to just stick a for sale sign in Holliday’s forehead and give him away for free after trading multiple players to acquire him from Colorado last winter. With Holliday set to become a free agent at the end of the season, Beane did well to not only shed salary, but also get one of the Cards’ best prospects in Wallace.

What will be interesting to keep an eye on over the next two weeks as the trade deadline approaches, is whether or not the Cubs or Brewers will make a big move to counter this trade. Chicago doesn’t have much to offer in its farm system, but Milwaukee, as usual, is stacked and could look to add a pitcher. Although it would require giving up a haul, it’ll be interesting to see if the Brew Crew makes a run at Roy Halladay or the Tribe’s Cliff Lee.

Feel free to whip out your crystal ball in the comments section but before you do, please do everyone a favor and take off your favorite team prescribed glasses and be objective for once in your life, will ya?

1. The Blue Jays will trade Halladay…to the Phillies.
Toronto GM J.P. Ricciardi is reminding everyone who will listen that he doesn’t absolutely need to trade Roy Halladay – which he doesn’t. But the bottom line is that he’ll probably get more in return for the “Doc” this season than he would next when Halladay is set to become a free agent after the 2010 season. And despite Ricciardi stating that he’s open to trading Halladay within the division, he’s not stupid. He’s not going to trade Halladay to the Red Sox or Yankees and risk becoming public enemy No. 1 in the eyes of Jays fans for not only getting rid of their best and most popular player, but also trading him to a division rival in the process. In the end, I think Ricciardi will trade Halladay to an NL team and my guess is that it will be Philadelphia that will eventually puts a package together to acquire him. Although they might balk at the $7 million that’s remaining on Halladay’s contract, the Phillies are built to win now and need more starting pitching to make another run at a World Series. They also have enough appealing prospects to entice Ricciardi to make a deal.

2. The Dodgers won’t win the NL Pennant.
The Dodgers are the best team in baseball and I’m not afraid to put that in writing (which I did here). But something tells me that while they’re almost a shoe-in to in the NL West and probably go to the NLCS, they won’t be heading to the World Series. Chad Billingsley had a great first half, but he’s starting to look more human with every outing and while Clayton Kershaw is a phenomenal young pitcher, the back of L.A.’s starting rotation is very beatable. Of course, their lineup is outstanding and can certainly compete against anyone in the NL. But this team kind of reminds me of the 2008 Angels and Cubs. Neither team suffered any slumps throughout the season and essentially was on cruise control in the second half. When they got to the postseason and the games were all tight, neither team responded well. Will the same thing happen to the Dodgers? Again, this is more of a hunch than anything and I wouldn’t blame the Dodger faithful (or anyone for that matter) for eating my soul and preaching how wrong I’ll be. But I just think that this club could get overly content and even if they don’t, their pitching might still fail them in the end.

3. The Cubs will make a run in the second half.
Two things led to the Cubs’ lackluster first half: Injuries and a lack of offense – and one may have had an effect on the other. Losing Aramis Ramirez for a huge chunk of the first half due to a shoulder injury took a significant bat out of Chicago’s lineup. But now that he’s back and guys like Kosuke Fukudome and Alfonso Soriano are starting to heat up again, the Cubs should see a rise in run production. Derrek Lee has also been solid and young players like Jake Fox have contributed as well. If Geovany Soto (DL) can get his act together, the Cubs could put pressure on the Cardinals in the NL Central. I’m not saying that Chicago will win their division and make the postseason, but considering that their starting pitching was a major strength in the first half, I wouldn’t count this club out. Of course, the back end of the bullpen is still a serious question mark and Fukudome and Soriano could start slumping again at a moment’s notice, but keep an eye on this team.

4. Billy Beane will have to accept a lesser package to move Holliday.
Let’s call it like it is: Trading for Holliday last winter has proved to be a dud for the A’s. Not only has he not contributed much to Oakland’s offense, but the A’s are also currently 14 games back of the Angels in AL West and now GM Billy Beane has to find a trade suitor for the left fielder, who becomes a free agent at the end of the year. Holliday isn’t going to re-up with the A’s after the season and considering he’s hitting below .280 with only nine home runs, Beane probably won’t get the haul he normally does in trades. If Beane wants to move Holliday (and his contract) before the deadline, then he’s probably going to have to accept a deal that won’t net him a top prospect in return. Granted, the GM isn’t going to just give Holliday away, but if he thinks that he’s going to get two top prospects (and a couple of promising mid-round prospects) for the struggling left fielder, then he’s probably in for a wake up call.

5. The Cardinals will find their protection for Pujols…in Ryan Ludwick.
Many pundits feel as though St. Louis will eventually make a move for Matt Holliday to ensure that Albert Pujols gets the protection he deserves in the lineup. But if they wind up standing pat around the trade deadline, don’t look too far for who could eventually fill the role batting behind the phenomenal Pujols. Ryan Ludwick is only hitting .265 as of this writing, but he’s starting to heat up after slumping since coming off the DL with a hamstring injury in mid May. He hit two home runs on the last day of the first half (he now has 15 dingers on the year) and is hitting .409 (18 for 44) in his last 44 at bats. Acquiring Holliday would be great, but don’t discount Ludwick’s potential to bat cleanup for the Cardinals either.

6. Cliff Lee and Victor Martinez aren’t going anywhere.
The Indians have been one of the most disappointing teams in baseball this year, freefalling into last place in the AL Central despite many pundits predicting in spring training that they could win the division. But just because they’re 13.5 games back of the Tigers in the Central, it doesn’t mean that GM Mark Shapiro is going to have a fire sale as some have suggested. Ace Cliff Lee has a very manageable salary ($5.75 this season, $8 million club option with $1 mil buyout) through next season, as does catcher Victor Martinez ($5.7 million in ’09, $7 million club option with $250,000 buyout in 2010). So there’s no reason for Shapiro to feel as though he has to trade either player to acquire more talent. The fact is that Cleveland has talent, at least offensively. It’s their pitching that has been horrendous since trading CC Sabathia at the deadline last year. If Shapiro can get through this season and hang onto his core on offense, then maybe he can add an arm or two in the offseason in order to get the Tribe back into contention next year.

7. Pitching will sink the Rangers in the end.
Look, I’m all about the Rangers’ postseason run this year. I think they’re a fun team to watch and they certainly have the lineup to contend. But their pitching staff overachieved a bit in the first half and I just don’t trust Scott Feldman, Vicente Padilla or any of the other arms after Kevin Millwood. I think this club will hang with the Halos for a little while, but at some point they’re going to start slowly sliding out of contention because they just don’t have the horses in the starting rotation to match what they bring to the field offensively.

8. The Giants will stand (somewhat) pat at the trade deadline.
The Giants have some of the best pitching in the NL, but it’s no secret that their offense is incredibly suspect. That said, don’t expect GM Brian Sabean to make a huge move at the trade deadline. San Fran has a couple of budding minor league stars in pitchers Madison Bumgarner and Tim Alderson, as well as position players like Buster Posey and Angel Villalona. They’re set up for the future so don’t assume that just because the Giants are in contention this season, that they’re going to cough up any of their top prospects in order to get a bat. That means no Matt Holliday, no Jermaine Dye and probably no Freddy Sanchez, either. If they make a move, think more Scott Rolen than a big name, because Sabean will be more inclined to trust that Randy Winn and Bengie Molina will heat up in the second half than he would be to giving up a significant piece (or two) for Holliday, Dye or Sanchez. If he can get a big bat and not give up Bumgarner, Alderson, Posey or Villalona, then all bets are off. But it’s doubtful that he would be able to make move without throwing in one of his top prospects.

9. The NL Wild Card race will be the most exciting storyline of the second half.
The Giants, Rockies, Cubs, Brewers, Braves, Astros and Marlins are all within five games of each other in the NL Wild Card chase and each team brings a little something different to the party. San Fran has outstanding pitching, Colorado has played some of the best baseball in the league over the past two months, Chicago is getting healthy and Milwaukee has a potent lineup and will probably make a move at the trade deadline. I could see Atlanta, Houston and Florida eventually fading, but I also wouldn’t be surprised if they hung in there for the entire second half. The bottom line is that no team is going to run away with the NL Wild Card this season and I could see this race not being decided until the final couple days of the season.

10. The Phillies will play the Angels in the World Series.
Hey, what would a prediction piece be without a projected World Series finish? Philadelphia is starting to have that World Series glow about them again and even though their starting pitching is suspect, don’t forget that I’m also predicting that they’ll acquire Roy Halladay. Nobody seems to be talking about the Halos this season, which is exactly why I like them to upset whomever they play in the postseason. Right now, their pitching isn’t that great, but it could certainly be one of the better rotations in all of baseball once healthy. I wouldn’t count them out for making a move at the deadline either.

Oh yeah: Halos in 6.

- Anthony Riber of Newsday writes that if the Yankees really want ace Roy Halladay, they might have to take Vernon Wells too, who could fill their potential void in left field…

…however, Ken Davidoff of Newsday essentially contradicts his co-worker by writing that GM Brian Cashman prefers to improve his roster this year without taking a dive into the trade market. So in essence, the Bombers might be fine with staying pat around the trade deadline.

- Speaking of Halladay, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes that the Brewers could have the ace in their sites, as GM Doug Melvin has already had a conversation with the Blue Jays regarding the “Doc.”

- The Giants are still in search of bats, but it’s unclear if GM Brian Sabean wants to pull the trigger or not on a bat like Matt Holliday or Jermaine Dye. Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News threw out Blue Jays third baseman Scott Rolen as a possibility for San Fran as well.

- Bill Ladson of MLB.com is reporting that there isn’t much of a market for Nationals outfielder Austin Kearns, who has been delegated to back up duty in Washington.

Following the Brewers’ 8-2 loss to the punch less Cubs on Sunday, Milwaukee outfielder Ryan Braun called out his pitching staff and said that he hoped the club would make a move to acquire more help.

“Their starting pitching is a lot better than ours,” Braun said after the Brewers were beaten 8-2 Sunday. “They threw the ball a lot better than our starters did. They certainly swung the bats better than we did. Clearly they were the better team. It’s nice to get the one win but they clearly outplayed us and outperformed us all series.”

“No matter who is in there, we have to find a way to throw the ball better for us to have success,” said Braun. “I think when you’re constantly behind in games, it’s not easy and it’s not fun. Their starting pitcher was clearly better than ours this series.”

The Brewers host St. Louis for a three-game series beginning on Tuesday and Braun is hoping Brewers general manager Doug Melvin makes a move soon to improve the Brewers.
“I wish I got to make decisions like that. But I know he’s trying to make our ballclub better,” Braun said. “I know he understands the significance of making a move and making it soon.”

Considering Braun is hitting .326 with 16 home runs and 58 RBI, he’s certainly doing his part to help the Brew Crew win. He’s also entitled to vent his frustrations after Milwaukee’s pitching staff gave up 21 runs in four games to a Chicago team that couldn’t itself out of a wet paper bag the past couple of weeks.

Braun’s right – the pitching staff has been brutal lately, but him calling out his teammates is a slippery slope. As long as his ‘mates respect Braun as a leader (which is totally different than respecting him as a player), then his comments will probably inspire. But if they view him as a star shooting off his mouth, then the backlash isn’t going to help the Brewers in the long run.

Who knows, maybe Braun’s comments are exactly what the pitching staff needed to hear to get their act together. We’ll see if what he said has a positive or negative (or neutral) affect on the club.

First base
Leader: Albert Pujols, St. Louis Cardinals
Mike’s pick: Albert Pujols, St. Louis Cardinals. Well, this one is a no-brainer. Is it possible that Albert gets better with age? Yes, and his numbers border on staggering. 81 games in, he’s batting .336 with 31 homers and 82 RBI and a slugging percentage of .748. That projects to 62 homers and 164 runs batted in. What’s more, dude has a .993 fielding percentage. There is little doubt Pujols is the best player in the game, and he gets to flaunt it in front of his hometown crowd a week from Tuesday.

Second base
Leader: Chase Utley, Philadelphia Phillies
Mike’s pick: Chase Utley, Philadelphia Phillies. This one is also a no-brainer that the voters got correct, though as a Mets fan it pains me to say that. Utley has 17 homers, 54 RBI, he’s batting .303 with 16 doubles and a .980 OPS—all unbelievable numbers for a second baseman. This guy is a gamer.

Shortstop
Leader: Hanley Ramirez, Florida Marlins
Mike’s pick: Hanley Ramirez, Florida Marlins. This is getting to be a trend, but the numbers in the National League don’t seem to lie, do they? Hanley is batting .344 with 13 homers and 58 RBI, 26 doubles, 12 stolen bases and a .972 OPS. By comparison, he is hitting 119 points higher than JJ Hardy and 132 points higher than the slumping Jimmy Rollins. Case closed.

Third base
Leader: David Wright, New York Mets
Mike’s pick: Mark Reynolds, Arizona Diamondbacks. Wright was leading the league in batting for quite a while, and he’s currently hitting .333 but with just 5 homers and 42 RBI. By comparison, Reynolds has clubbed 22 home runs with 57 RBI while batting a respectable .271. At a power position, I’m giving the nod to the guy barely anyone gets to see play.

Catcher:
Leader: Yadier Molina, St. Louis Cardinals
Mike’s pick: Brian McCann, Atlanta Braves. This is close, because Yadier’s brother Bengie has 10 homers and 46 RBI for the Giants, but McCann is batting .311 with 8 home runs and 33 driven in, with 15 doubles and a respectable .988 fielding percentage.

Outfield
Leaders: Raul Ibanez, Philadelphia Phillies
Ryan Braun, Milwaukee Brewers
Carlos Beltran, New York Mets
Mike’s picks: Raul Ibanez, Philadelphia Phillies
Ryan Braun, Milwaukee Brewers
Brad Hawpe, Colorado RockiesIbanez is having a career season, batting .312 with 22 homers and 59 RBI, and Braun just continues to rake, with 16 home runs, 58 driven in and a .326 average. But Beltran, while he plays in the biggest media market and makes mega-bucks, is not going to get my all-star nod over Brad Hawpe. Beltran is hitting .336, but has just 8 homers and 40 RBI. Hawpe is hitting .328 with 13 homers and 56 runs batted in, 25 doubles and a stunning .993 OPS. If Manny Ramirez was playing most of the season, he’d probably be on this list, but I can’t consider a guy who’s only played 28 games, regardless of why he missed all that time.

Starting pitcher
As you all know, pitchers are chosen by the managers and will be announced this Sunday.
Mike’s pick: Tim Lincecum, San Francisco Giants. Last year’s NL Cy Young winner got off to a slow start, but has been mowing hitters down lately, to the tune of 8-2 with a 2.37 ERA and league-leading 132 strikeouts with just 28 walks in 114 innings. Arizona’s Dan Haren is a close runner-up, with a 7-5 record for a crappy D-Backs’ team, and a league low 2.19 ERA with 113 K’s and 0.81 WHIP.

Relief pitcher
Mike’s pick: Heath Bell, San Diego Padres. When this former Met helped christen Citi Field by mowing down his ex-teammates in April, I thought it was just a phase. But dude leads the NL in saves with 22, and is 3-1 with a 1.34 ERA and 36 strikeouts in 33 innings of work. And here’s the best stat of all—Bell has saved or won 74% of his team’s wins. If he keeps that up, Bell will contend for the NL Cy Young and even garner some MVP votes.

With the 2009 MLB Draft set to kickoff at 6:00 ET tonight on the MLB Network, SI.com did a cool feature in which they rated how each club has fared over the past 10 years when it comes to the draft.

The Brewers were rated number one and it’s hard to argue with the ranking after looking at the names Milwaukee has drafted over the years: Prince Fielder, Corey Hart, J.J. Hardy, Manny Parra, Rickie Weeks, Ryan Braun and Yovani Gallardo. Amazingly, this club also drafted Hunter Pence (Astros), but couldn’t sign him.

The Red Sox were rated No. 2, with Kevin Youkilis, Jonathan Papelbon, Dustin Pedroia, Jon Lester and Manny Delcarmen leading the way, but the site left off a glaring omission: Jacoby Ellsbury. The Rays actually drafted Ellsbury in the 2002 draft, but never signed him. The Sox then nabbed him with the 23rd overall pick in 2005 and he’s currently their starting centerfielder.

Speaking of the Rays, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Tampa ranked higher than No. 4 in the next couple of years. Evan Longoria, Carl Crawford, B.J. Upton, James Shields, Andy Sonnanstine and David Price are just some of the names they’ve drafted in the past 10 years. Don’t forget that they were the team that also drafted Josh Hamilton before he got injured and then became the poster child of what not to do when you’re an inspiring ballplayer with loads of free time on your hands.

You look at a club like the Nationals ranked No. 8 and you wonder why they’ve been so awful over the years despite drafting so well. Then you realized they dealt Grady Sizemore, Cliff Lee and Brandon Phillips all in the same trade for Bartolo Colon and it all starts to make sense.

If you’re wondering whom SI had ranked last, it was the Astros; only Hunter Pence was worth noting of the players Houston drafted the past 10 years. The White Sox were second to last, although if Josh Fields, Chris Getz, Clayton Richard and Gordon Beckham develop like the club hopes, I highly doubt Chicago will be ranked that low again if SI does another ranking like this in the next couple of years.

Glavine feels his release was done for financial reasons and not to clear a spot in the rotation for hot prospect Tommy Hanson, who is making his major league debut today against the Milwaukee Brewers.

Rosenthal asked Braves general manager Frank Wren for his reaction:

Wren said the decision was made for performance reasons, not business reasons. The team promoted top prospect Hanson rather than activate Glavine.

According to the MLB collective-bargaining agreement, no player can be released from a team because of financial reasons. Glavine would have received a $1 million bonus if he had been activated from the disabled list for Sunday’s start.