On the same day that the Giants signed starter Brad Penny and the Rockies added starter Jose Contreras, the Dodgers one-upped their division rivals by acquiring starter Jon Garland from the Diamondbacks and slugger Jim Thome from the White Sox.

From MLB.com:

In return, the White Sox will receive Minor League infielder Justin Fuller. The D-backs will receive a player to be named, who, according to several Dodgers, will be Tony Abreu, but Abreu needs to first clear waivers. Abreu once was considered a top infield prospect, but his progress was stalled by three years of injuries.

The right-handed Garland, 29, moves into a rotation that has struggled to find a fifth starter all season and has been further weakened by the loss of Hiroki Kuroda, who was hit on the head by a line drive. Garland is expected to take the place of knuckleball specialist Charlie Haeger, with Vicente Padilla holding the spot for Kuroda, who could return to the rotation as soon as Sunday.

Thome, 12th on the all-time list with 564 career home runs, will give the Dodgers the left-handed threat that Matt Stairs provides the Phillies, who beat the Dodgers with a home run off the bench in the playoffs last year.

Coupled with their addition of Ronnie Belliard over the weekend, the Dodgers have set themselves up for a World Series run with these two moves. After the Rockies got within two games of the division lead in the NL West last week, L.A. clearly isn’t taking any chances as they head into the final month of the season. These moves fortify the back of the rotation, their bench, and their overall position depth.

The Los Angeles Angels gave their starting rotation a boost on Friday night, acquiring Tampa Bay Rays left-hander Scott Kazmir for third baseman Matt Sweeney, left-hander Alex Torres and a player to be named later.

While Kazmir has been solid in his last three starts, his velocity is down and he’s always an injury risk. Still, this move gives the Halos much-needed depth in their starting rotation and they also net a pitcher who has plenty of experience against the Yankees and Red Sox. (Two teams the Angels could face in the postseason.)

For the Rays, Kazmir never panned out to be the ace the club thought he would become when they acquired him from the Mets earlier this decade. Injuries have limited his effectiveness, although he still owns a career ERA of 3.92. He’s also the club’s career leader in wins, strikeouts and innings pitched.

Overall, Tampa gets significant salary reliever in the trade by shedding most of the three-year, $28.5 million extension Kazmir signed in May of last year.

They also get a solid strikeout prospect in Torres, who can pitch for the groundout and has been largely overlooked in the Halos’ organization. Sweeney has 25-30 home run potential, but an ankle injury cost him virtually his entire ’08 season and he’ll have to work his way up from High-A ball.

The Tigers acquired left-handed pitcher Jarrod Washburn from the Mariners on Friday in exchange for minor league prospects Luke French and Mauricio Robles. Both Fench and Robles are left-handed pitchers as well.

Washburn is no spring chicken at 34, but his 2.64 ERA and 1.07 WHIP makes him one of the better values on the trade market and Detroit didn’t have to give up much to acquire him. His pitching approach should do wonders in spacious Comerica Park.

Washburn is a workhorse and is a solid addition to a Tigers’ starting rotation that already features Justin Verlander, Edwin Jackson and youngster Rick Porcello. He’ll eat up some innings, give the bullpen a much-needed break and gives the club a boost as they contend with the White Sox and Twins in the AL Central.

As for Seattle, they seeming undersold Washburn. French did post a 3.38 ERA in seven appearances this season, but his ceiling isn’t very high and Robles has some potential, but is extremely raw at this point.

I love the move for the Tigers, but think the Mariners could have done better.

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.

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.

The Braves and Mets swapped outfielders on Friday, as Atlanta sent struggling right fielder Jeff Francoeur to the Big Apple for the equally struggling Ryan Church.

The clubs make this trade essentially hoping that they can each find success turning the still-promising young outfielders around. Francoeur has struggled the past two years, but the Mets must feel as though he offers more offensive potential than Church, who, for whatever reason, has never been given a fair shot by manager Jerry Manuel.

The Mets could also obviously use the upgrade defensively, where trained circus monkeys could perform better than what New York puts on the field on a nightly basis. Francoeur might have his struggles at the dish, but he’s got a cannon for an arm and will certainly be a welcome sight in right field for the Mets’ pitching staff. He also offers more power potential than Church.

Church, meanwhile, should love the new scenery in Atlanta. He’ll give them a significant boost in terms of on base percentage and he seemingly has a better chance of turning his offensive misfortunes around than Francoeur does.

It’ll be interesting to see who got the better end of the deal at the end of the year.

According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Pirates have agreed to trade speedy outfielder Nyjer Morgan and pitcher Sean Burnett to the Nationals for outfielder Lastings Milledge and right-hander Joel Hanrahan.

While Burnett and Hanrahan are decent relievers, the two outfielders will determine which club gets the better of this deal in the end. Morgan has been a pleasant surprise this year for Pittsburgh (he’s batting .277 with 39 runs scored and 18 stolen bases), but he turns 30 in a couple of days and doesn’t have a ton of upside.

At just 24-years old, Milledge does have long-term upside, but he’s yet to fully cash in on his raw talent. He’s a better all-around athlete than Morgan is, but he underwent surgery to repair a broken finger in mid-May and continues to be sidelined because of it. He has top-of-the-order potential, but he’s been slowed by injuries and when given the opportunity to be the Nats’ leadoff hitter at the start of the season, he stumbled to a .167 average and had no extra base hits in 24 at bats. He was optioned to Triple-A Syracuse on April 15 and hasn’t seen major league action since.

What’s interesting is that even though they’re currently 17.5 games back in the NL East and have zero hope of competing this season, Washington still decided to trade for a player in Morgan who doesn’t have as much long-term upside as Milledge. That should tell you that the club didn’t think too highly of Milledge’s potential and decided to get a productive player for him while they still could. Milledge is worth taking a flier on if you’re the Pirates, however, because he could still wind up developing in the future.

One of the more coveted veterans on the trade market has officially been snatched by the Cardinals, as the Red Birds acquired super utility man Mark DeRosa from the Indians in exchange for pitcher Chris Perez and a player to be named later.

The versatile DeRosa was a very sought-after player, especially by National League clubs. He can fit as a third baseman for the Cardinals. The Giants, Mets, Braves and Cubs were other teams believed to have had some interest. The Indians have been shopping him for a couple weeks.

DeRosa, who the Indians acquired from the Chicago Cubs in a trade last offseason, was hitting .270 with 13 homers and 50 RBIs.

Perez has a 4.18 ERA in 29 appearances with a 1-1 record and one save.

Both teams essentially get what they wanted with this trade. Cleveland coveted a young pitcher (Perez is only 24) in exchange for DeRosa (who becomes a free agent at the end of the year) and St. Louis wanted to add another bat to protect Albert Pujols in the lineup. They also needed help on the left side of the infield, which DeRosa can certainly offer.

Kind of rough market when Mark DeRosa is one of the more coveted players, although that’s not a dig at DeRosa, who can play almost every position and is a solid hitter. But one year ago CC Sabathia was the top name making its rounds on the rumor mill, while two years ago it was Mark Teixeira. DeRosa doesn’t really compare to those names now does he?

After sending Jason Giambi packing after the 2008 season, the New York Yankees traded Wilson Betemit and two minor league pitchers to the Chicago White Sox on Thursday in exchange for Nick Swisher, who could be a candidate to play first base next season.

“We’re excited with the addition of Nick Swisher,” Girardi said in a statement released by the team. “We feel he has a ton of upside. He’s a patient switch-hitter, adds versatility at a number of defensive positions, including first base and the outfield, and will be a positive presence inside the clubhouse.”

The Yankees are currently looking at a possible outfield alignment of Johnny Damon in left field, a platoon of Brett Gardner and Melky Cabrera in center, and Xavier Nady in right. Hideki Matsui is also coming back from knee surgery, and could play left or be a designated hitter.

Swisher made 69 starts in center field, 47 starts at first base, 16 starts in left and 11 starts in right for Chicago last season. His arrival in New York could lessen the chances of the Yankees offering salary arbitration to right fielder Bobby Abreu, who hit .296 and drove in 100 runs last season.

This is kind of a strange move considering the Yankees need so much pitching – not too mention Swisher was one of the worst hitters in baseball last year. But obviously the Bombers needed to fill the vacancy Giambi left at first and it doesn’t sound like they gave up too much. (Betemit has never lived up to his potential.)

According to YAHOO! Sports, the Colorado Rockies are nearing a deal that would send outfielder Matt Holliday to the Oakland A’s for multiple players, including closer Huston Street.

The Oakland A’s are close to acquiring Colorado Rockies outfielder Matt Holliday, according to a source familiar with those discussions, having agreed in principle to a deal the source believed would send outfielder Carlos Gonzalez, starting pitcher Greg Smith and closer Huston Street to the Rockies.

A’s general manager Billy Beane, who gathered more than a dozen prospects during recent sell-offs of Dan Haren, Rich Harden, Joe Blanton and Nick Swisher, refused to comment Monday morning. But it appears he is ready to cash in on some of those hauls with Holliday, a great offensive player who could be a free agent after next season.

Holliday spoke in the morning with Beane and assistant GM David Forst, according to a source, and now the A’s and Rockies must wait on physicals.

This isn’t a typical Billy Beane move, but as the report notes, the GM has loaded up on top prospects over the years. It’ll be interesting to see whether or not Holliday has any interest in staying in Oakland after his contract expires at the end of the season or if the A’s are renting him for one year. Either way, it looks like Oakland is attempting to make a run this season.