The Chad Qualls trade happened earlier than any of us were ready for.
This will serve as our thread for the rest of the day. The Slowinski brothers and myself will be posting trade rumors and any other updates that happen here throughout the day. Be sure to check back often for any news, and feel free to rosterbate in the comments.
Hopefully it's an exciting day.
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For the final two hours we'll be posting all new updates here, at the top of the page. All rumors from this morning and the past few hours can be found after the jump.
2:00 pm: FINALLY! From Ed Price, "Source: #Rays and #Orioles in talks. Could involved Luke Scott, or a reliever (Ohman?)."
2:19 pm: From Joel Sherman; Rays have interest in Downs (Blue Jays), League (Mariners), but cost still high in relief market. Also, Jon Morosi reports that the Mariners are calling a Triple-A reliever to the majors. Unclear why at the moment.
2:42 pm: Per Ken Rosenthal, "Hearing #Rays, #Dodgers on League."
2:51 pm: Talk about buzzkill. Jayson Stark, "If #Mariners trade Brandon League, doesn't look as if it's to #Rays. Hearing Tampa Bay unlikely to make another deal today."
2:57 pm: From Tom Krasovic, "#Dodgers are making a push for Orioles OF Luke Scott. #Rays also in the mix." STAY AWAY FROM OUR PRECIOUS!
3:08 pm: From Tim Brown, "Luke Scott getting play. But, not from the Dodgers."
3:25 pm: Sounds like the Yankees may end up with Kerry Wood (per Buster Olney). Ugh. Why don't they just stop already?
9:58 am: Per Jayson Stark, "Now that Rays have added bullpen arm (& payroll), looks unlikely they'll add bat today. Not pursuing any bat out there aggressively"
11:44 am: Per Ken Davidoff, "Exec who knows Nationals well insists, 'They won't mind taking the picks (on Dunn). Unless they get blown away, no trade.'"
12:08 pm: Per Joel Sherman; "Rays still looking for RH bat to hit 5th, inquired a while back on Manny Ramirez, but went nowhere with Dodgers."
12:13 pm: Per Jim Bowden, "Confirmed... 3 Teams are still 'in' on Adam Dunn: Detroit, Chicago WS and Tampa Bay... 50/50 he's moved.... Confirmed"
12:32 pm: Per Tim Brown, "Manny market heating up. Sources: Three teams have called Dodgers about him -- White Sox, Rays and mystery club. Dodgers are considering."
1:10 pm: From Joel Sherman, "Rays are losing Balfour to injury for a while, so not stopping at Qualls, looking for more relief"
1:24 pm: If the Rays don't end up with Adam Dunn, it sounds like it's because the Nationals have a very high asking price. From Jon Heyman, "from exec trying for adam dunn: 'the nats are tough to deal with.' allegedly they brought up matt garza's name (before no hitter)"
1:34 pm: So the Yankees have now officially traded for Lance Berkman. As if their line-up wasn't stacked enough...
1:52 pm: Conflicting reports out there on Manny Ramirez at the moment. Dylan Hernandez says the Angels are said to be in the mix; Tim Brown says they're not. White Sox have supposedly tapped out, leaving the Rays and Yankees (?) still in the mix. Oh wait...now they Yanks are out.
"Money is no object" according to the Rays, and Manny would be a free agent after this season. He's AL East tested - I'd take Manny in a heartbeat, but it all comes down to what the Dodgers are asking.