We aren’t talking about what waiver deals will occur before the end of the month in this article but instead the deals that took place prior to the non-waiver deadline on July 31st. There were some players traded who everyone expected to be traded and some players traded that came as a shock to a lot of people around baseball. One of those surprise moves included Toronto Blue Jays third baseman Scott Rolen.

Rolen was sent to the Cincinnati Reds by the Jays for Edwin Encarnacion, right handed pitcher Josh Roenicke, and minor league right handed pitcher Zachary Stewart. This deal surprised a lot of people around baseball because of all the Blue Jays players Rolen’s name almost never came up in the rumors leading up to the deadline unlike his former teammate Roy Halladay. Halladay, with all the rumors swirling for three weeks, stayed put at the deadline and will continue to pitch for the Jays until at least the end of the 2009 regular season.

The biggest surprise of the deadline came when the San Diego Padres announced that they traded ace Jake Peavy to the Chicago White Sox for four pitchers. The pitchers headed to the Padres include Clayton Richard, Aaron Poreda, Adam Russell, and Dexter Carter. A deal for Peavy between these two teams was agreed upon in May but Peavy would not waive his no-trade clause. The same four pitchers heading to the Padres were agreed upon by the two teams in the original proposal back in May. Poreda was the White Sox’ top pick in the 2007 First-Year Player Draft.

Other deals that went down on July 31st prior to the 4pm EST deadline included the following:

• Athletics trade shortstop Orlando Cabrera to the Twins for Tyler Ladendorf.
• Nationals trade reliever Joe Beimel to the Rockies for right handed pitchers Ryan Mattheus and Robinson Fabian.
• Nationals trade first baseman Nick Johnson to the Marlins for left handed pitcher Aaron Thompson.
• Indians trade cathcer Victor Martinez to the Red Sox for right handed pitcher Justin Masterson, right handed pitcher Bryan Price, and left handed pitcher Nick Hagadone.
• The Reds trade third baseman Jerry Hairston Jr. to the Yankees for catcher Chase Weems.
• The Braves traded first baseman Casey Kotchman to the Red Sox for first baseman Adam LaRoche.
• The Dodgers traded right handed pitcher Claudio Vargas to the Milwaukee Brewers for catcher Vinny Rottino.
• The Mariners traded pitcher Jarrod Washburn to the Detroit Tigers for left handed pitcher Lucas French and left handed pitcher Mauricio Robles.

The 2009 MLB trading deadline was one of the busiest in recent years and waiver trades will more than likely be just as busy as non-waiver trades in the coming weeks. Plenty of top prospects were traded on deadline day or prior to the deadline including deals that involved outfielder Matt Holliday, Cliff Lee, Jack Wilson, Freddy Sanchez, George Sherrill, Kevin Hart, Tom Gorzelanny and John Grabow. Some of the top prospects on the move were Brett Wallace, Dexter Carter, Lou Marson, Carlos Carrasco, Jason Knapp, Jason Donald and Jeff Clement.