Will Carroll of Baseball Prospectus posted a Rumor Mill yesterday afternoon with some excellent follow-uyp to many of the rumors that have been posted here at Fake Teams, been mentioned in the local papers and floated in the internets for days.  With BP offering free access to all visitors through Sunday the 27th, I highly recommend reading this.

He explains why the Oakland A's are showing-up everyhwere, and it is not because they have dealt 3/5s of their starting rotation in the past year.  He also reports why the Atlanta Braves may not be the easiest teams to tell with over the next six days.  Actually, he reported the asking price for Mike Gonzalez.  I added one to come-up with the rest.

Here are additional trade-rumor-related info from around the internet including info on the New York Yankees view of the catcher market and the Florida Marlins on Mike Jacobs amongst other rumors.   If Jacobs is dealt, it is because of Gaby Sanchez.  Look at the OPS, SBs and BB:K!

Newsday:

There were three areas of need on the table: a hitter, a lefthanded reliever and a starting pitcher. According to a source, none of those needs takes priority over the other two. It's a simple matter of what presents itself on the trade front and whether anything makes sense....The Rangers' Gerald Laird, the Blue Jays' Rod Barajas and the Nationals' Paul Lo Duca might be available, but the Yankees don't necessarily view any of them as upgrades. A source said: "There doesn't seem to be much out there that's better than [Jose] Molina and [Chad] Moeller."

Chicago Sun-Times:

A source told the Sun-Times this week that the Sox have several trade scenarios in place to acquire pitching, but each one involves moving third baseman Josh Fields in a package. The team hopes to have first-round pick Gordon Beckham signed in the next few weeks, and while he is a natural shortstop, he could be groomed as the third baseman of the future, especially if Fields is moved.

Names such as Jarrod Washburn, Derek Lowe and A.J. Burnett have come up in the last week as possible targets, but each one is flawed as a realistic move, especially Washburn, a client of agent Scott Boras.

 Cleveland Plain-Dealer:

Casey Blake, with the July 31 non-waiver deadline for making trades a week away, continues to draw interest. It appears most teams see him as a fallback position in case they don't get a more prominent hitter...

 South Florida Sun-Sentinel:

Former Marlin and ESPN analyst Orestes Destrade said on Baseball Tonight last weekend the Marlins might be willing to deal Jacobs for relief help. Not an outlandish concept, considering Jacobs is one of 16 potentially arbitration-eligible players on the roster.

Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel:

Melvin said he had not engaged the Orioles in trade talks for Sherrill and indicated that he didn’t think that would change. Baltimore is looking for a shortstop in a deal for Sherrill, and the Brewers aren’t going to trade J.J. Hardy or prospect Alcides Escobar.