The July 31 non-waiver trade deadline has passed, but teams MLB can still make trades. Check out Eye On Baseball for an overview on how deals can be made in August, with MLB's waiver system now in play.
Meantime, MLB Rumors has analyzed the past 10 years and found five August trades of significance. The Cubs trading Derrek Lee ranks as the CBSSports.com's Rumors blog's second-best August trade-deadline deal since 2001.
Year: 2010
Trading partner: Atlanta Braves
Who the Cubs acquired: Pitchers Jeffrey Lorick, Ty'Relle Harris and Robinson Lopez
Who the Cubs gave up: First baseman Derrek Lee
Why the deal worked for the Cubs: In the summer of 2010, Lee was playing out the last year of a five-year, $65 million contract he signed in 2006. The Cubs were more than 20 games below .500 when they sent Lee to the Braves, who were in first place in the NL East on August 18.
It was a classic sell situation for the Cubs, who also sent some money to Atlanta in the trade, But Lee, 34, did have 10-5 no-trade rights, and had vetoed a trade to the Los Angeles Angels. In sending Lee to the competing Braves, Chicago received three young pitching prospects in return, to help rebuild its farm system. The Cubs had already traded Ted Lilly, Ryan Theriot and Mike Fontenot, and had to get something in return for Lee, who wasn't in the Cubs' plans for 2011.
Where are they now: The left-handed Lorick, 24, has spent time in Class A and Class A-Advanced this season, for the Cubs, and is 1-2 with a 3.13 ERA in 37 games and 46 innings of relief. He's allowed only 39 hits and struck out 55 batters. There's potential in his arm.
Harris, 25, is a right-handed reliever, and has split most of the 2012 season in Class A and Double-A. He's also pitched in three games with Triple-A Iowa, in the Pacific Coast League. In 33 combined games in three levels this season, he's 2-4 with a 2.95 ERA in 58 innings. While Harris walks too many batters, he's another arm with some potential.
Lopez, 21, was released by the Cubs in February, after he struggled in 2011 in Class A, striking out only 35 batters in 69 innings. Lopez was thought to be a solid prospect when he was acquired, but it didn't turn out that way.
The Cubs by no means "won" this trade; it all depends on how Lorick and Harris fare in the future. But getting something of value, in terms of prospects, in return for Lee, was the absolute right move to make.
Lee hit .287/.384/.465 down the stretch with Atlanta in 2010, but struggled in the postseason, hitting only .125/.176/.125 in four games in the NLDS, which the Braves lost to the Giants in four games. Lee split the 2011 season between the Orioles and Pirates, and hasn't played in 2012. He's technically a free agent, since he hasn't filed his retirement papers -- yet.
For more up-to-the-minute news and analysis on the latest rumors from bloggers Chris Cwik, Jack Moore and Navin Vaswani, follow @MLBRumorsCBS.
