The trade deadline is over, leaving winners and losers and other things. Here is a quick recap.

Winners
Cardinals: In Scott Rolen, they acquired the best everyday third baseman in the National League. Rolen joins Albert Pujols, J.D. Drew, Jim Edmonds and Tino Martinez in a formidable middle of the order. With Rolen, Edgar Renteria, Fernando Vina and Martinez, St. Louis arguably has the best defensive infield in the league. The Cardinals have a chance to sign Rolen long-term, though not for the $140 million that the Phllies once offered him. Remember, when Mark McGwire was traded to the Cardinals in 1997, there was little chance that he'd re-sign with them. But as many do, he fell in love with baseball in St. Louis.

Red Sox: They needed a bat to stay in the AL East race with the Yankees and, more realistically, in the wild-card race with the three AL West teams. Floyd will hit fifth, giving cleanup hitter Manny Ramirez the most protection he has had in Boston. Floyd and Ramirez can rotate between left field and DH, keeping them fresh. Floyd also should be helped by being reunited with Red Sox coach Tommy Harper, one of his mentors during Floyd's first stay in Montreal. When Floyd was acquired by the Expos this season, infielder Mike Mordecai, who was involved in that deal, said it was "like getting Gary Sheffield." That's how much impact Floyd can have on a lineup. And the Red Sox got him without giving up a major leaguer. They also got a useful reliever in Bobby Howry from the White Sox for two minor leaguers.

Phillies: They were going to lose Rolen to free agency after the season. Instead of getting two draft picks, they got three major-league players in return. Placido Polanco is a young, useful player, a lifetime .300 hitter (1,500 at-bats) who is exceptional defensively at third (but not as good as Rolen), can play the middle infield and could play the outfield if needed. Mike Timlin has a great arm, and should help in middle relief. Bud Smith has had a terrible season, but he's 22, he has good stuff, and could be part of a very good, very young Phillies rotation alongside Vicente Padilla, Brett Myers, Brandon Duckworth and Randy Wolf.

Mets: They traded pitcher Bobby Jones, who had been designated for assignment, for Steve Reed, a handy, durable reliever who is very tough on right-handers. They traded an average center fielder (Jay Payton) to the Rockies for pitcher John Thomson, who, despite winning only one of his last 10 starts, has a chance to be very good pitching outside of Coors Field. He probably was the best pitcher available in the final two days of the trading deadline.

Losers (far less clear)
Rangers: They couldn't trade pitcher Kenny Rogers, who used his no-trade provision to turn down a deal (for three young players) to Cincinnati, then said he didn't want to go to the Diamondbacks. The Rangers didn't come close to trading catcher Pudge Rodriguez, who can be a free agent after the season, and likely won't re-sign. They couldn't trade pitcher Ismael Valdes. All this hurts in their effort to rebuild the team and cut the payroll.

Royals: Paul Byrd could have helped any contender, including the Mets, Red Sox and Mariners. He comes with a low salary, but the Royals wanted too much in return, specifically a second baseman or a third baseman who would be ready to play in the major leagues at the start of the 2003 season. The Royals are going nowhere this year, and should have taken the best offer, then re-signed Byrd after the season, since he said that he wants to sign long-term with Kansas City.

Mariners: They've got the Angels and A's all over them. Oakland made some moves, the Angels traded for Alex Ochoa, who provides outfield depth. The Mariners did nothing significant. But never count out GM Pat Gillick. He'll come up with someone before August 31.

Team that had to make a trade and did
Giants: For a couple of games in July, hamstring injuries to three of their outfielders left the Giants with a starting outfield of Ramon Martinez (an infielder who made his first career start in the outfield), Tom Goodwin (in the minor leagues most of this year) and Tony Torcato (who made his major-league debut). So the Giants acquired center fielder Kenny Lofton from the unloading White Sox. It didn't matter that Lofton had hit just over .200 for a couple of months. He's healthy, he's cheap and he homered in his first at-bat with the Giants.

It will never be as bad as the last one
The A's quietly traded for left-handed reliever Ricardo Rincon from Cleveland. He was quietly acquired by the Indians from the Pirates in 1998 for Brian Giles. That trade turned out to be a horrible one for the Tribe.

Why no Thome
Jim Thome wants to stay with the Indians and the Indians want to re-sign him. They probably can if they can move a player -- specifically, Ricky Gutierrez. But no one would take Gutierrez's contract, and no one would give the Indians the young third baseman (a Sean Burroughs, Hank Blalock type) they needed, so they never strongly considered trading Thome. The Indians want to build their young team around Thome and shortstop Omar Vizquel -- not a bad idea.

Most likely to be available in August
There will be a lot of players who will pass through waivers, and become available to any team that is willing to pick up the contract. Carl Everett, Roberto Hernandez and most any other highly-paid, marginal player on a non-contender can be had. But most teams won't claim a player who makes too much money, fearing what happened with San Diego and Randy Myers several years ago, when the Padres got stuck with an injured player and an expensive contract.

Tim Kurkjian is a senior writer for ESPN The Magazine and a regular contributor to Baseball Tonight. E-mail tim.kurkjian@espnmag.com.