There have been other recent in the division trades. The Indians traded Pavano to the Twins and Peralta to the Tigers. This one just struck me ass odd because 'the team that does things the right way' seemed to sell low on a guy they paid a high price to get and traded him to a division rival. There have been some very questionable moves by the Twins the last year and this one ranks near the top.

The Indians were in a similar spot a year ago to where the Twins are right now, Keyser. That's why they made those deals...

Wandy Rodriguez has been claimed on waivers.

The 32 yr old Rodriguez has 3yr/$36M left on his contract. Early speculation is the Nats made the claim. It will be very interesting to see if the two teams work out a trade or if Houston just hands him over for nothing.

edit: The Nats were not the claiming team. The Yankees and D'Bags are also out.
Boston? Detroit? Texas?

The Diamondbacks acquired second baseman Aaron Hill and shortstop John McDonald from the Blue Jays for Kelly Johnson.

This is an odd one especially for a first place team. Hill has been a huge disappointment since his huge '09 season and is a free agent after the season. John McDonald is an excellent defensive player but can't hit a lick. Johnson is having a down season also but is very good defensively and is a free agent after the season. He currently qualifies a type B free agent.

It was the Rockies. They are currently in 3rd place and 8.5 games out. I guess they freed up some money after trading Ubaldo but 3yr/$36M for Wandy Rodriguez?

I wonder if the last straw for Kelly Johnson came Sunday when he tried to run on Freddie Freeman in Sunday's 1-0 D-Backs' loss to the Braves in Atlanta. Common sense tells you NOT to run on a foul ball attempt and that's what Kelly did Sunday.

Jim Thome, Jason Kubel, and Heath Bell have all been claimed on waivers.

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Jim Thome has accepted a deal to the Indians. The Twins will receive a player to be named later in the deal.

Spending September with the Indians is a better option than with the Twins though not by much. Too bad he couldn't go back to the Phillies and win that World Series.

Indians' manager Manny Acta plans on batting Thome 4th tonight when Cleveland goes to work in the first of 3 vs. the Royals. While it'll be interesting to see what kind of crowd reaction the fans will give Thome after getting booed big time in recent years with the Twins and White Sox respectively, I doubt Jim's addition for a second time with the Indians gets them over the top. The Tigers, who start a series in Minnesota vs. Thome's now former team, Keyser, look like they've taken command of the AL Central and will be hard pressed to be stopped the way they are playing now.