The last few days have brought upon a slew of trades around the majors. Here are a few notable deals from the past week. Keep in mind there are still a few more hours left before the deadline comes at 4pm EST on Saturday!

Yankees Bolster DH, Bench with veteran Bats
It was first reported on Friday that the Astros and Yankees struck a deal to send Lance Berkman to New York. The odd thing about this is that the Astros practically handed him over in exchange for two minor leaguers. This …

Well I didn’t expect this one and I still haven’t seen this on ESPN (read it on the Twins website).  The Twins have acquired Nationals closer Matt Capps in exchange for Wilson Ramos, the Twins #2 prospect, as well as LHP Joe Testa.
I’m glad the Twins traded Ramos to give him an opportunity to catch for someone since Mauer is locked up for the next 8 years but a few weeks ago the Twins were in talks of trading Ramos for Lee and they settled for Capps.
I don’t know how …

The San Diego Padres are serious about the playoffs this season.  I absolutely bashed the crap out of this team in the preseason and even in April but now they sit at 60-40 and are buyers at the trade deadline this year after acquiring Miguel Tejada from the O’s for a minor league pitcher.
Miggy Pop brings veteran leadership to a fairly young team.  He will play some 3B and even shortstop.  The Padres don’t want to move Headly to the OF but Tejada will relieve him some games at 3B …

The Phillies have acquired the Astros ace Roy Oswalt for RHP J.A. Happ and two prospects, Anthony Gose and Jonathan Villar.  The two minor leaguers combined for over 110 steals in the last two seasons and both players are very young. 

Philly is now the favorite to win the NL East I feel.  Their hitting was always better than the Braves but their pitching didn’t quite match up 1-5 with the Braves but now the Phillies have the best 1-2 punch in baseball.
Oswalt was just 6-12 this season with an very …

And then there were two. (I’ll get to that in a bit.)

Tampa Bay Rays SP Matt Garza has thrown the first no-hitter in Rays history against the Detroit Tigers. He faced the minimum amount of batters following a walk in the second inning and a subsequent double play. Garza totaled six strikeouts, but his ability to pound the strike zone led to many easy in the 5-0 victory.
The ninth inning consisted of a dribbler to second base by Don Kelly, a Gerald Laird strikeout looking, and finally Ramon Santiago pinch …

MLB POWER RANKINGS (July 19 – 25)
1. Yankees (62-35) – Why does Alex Rodriguez get media coverage of every at bat while he attempts to hit homerun #600? He is a self-proclaimed cheater.
2. Rays (59-38) – The Rays have done it, they’ve gotten over the hump. That hump was snapping an 18-game losing streak in Cleveland.
3. Padres (58-39) – Every time I look at the NL West standings I check to see what the lead for the Padres currently is. Well, every time I look, they have at least a …

With less than six days now remaining before the 2010 MLB trade deadline, another name is coming off the market after a trade has been completed on Sunday. The Los Angeles Angels have acquired SP Dan Haren from the Arizona Diamondbacks for SP Joe Saunders, two minor leaguers and a player to be named later.

The Diamondbacks higher-ups pulled Haren aside during Sunday’s game against San Francisco and actually asked him to guess where he was going. Haren said his first guess was the Yankees, noting that he really wasn’t sure …