Last year on Trade Deadline Day, we got eight trades involving 22 players. Pedro Astacio got traded. Ugueth Urbina got traded. Useful and significant players like Rey Sanchez, Mike Williams and Jason Christiansen got traded.

And this year? Six deals, 24 players. But it sure seemed like a lot of them were named Byeong Hak An and Sal Fasano. Hard to believe, but John Thomson was the biggest name that got traded.

In a year in which the trading season started a month early -- and may continue for another month (unless the labor grinches have other ideas) -- Deadline Day was a bust. But the deals of July left their mark on races in both leagues. So let's try to make sense of it all:

Biggest winners (non-Yankees division)

	Rolen

1. St. Louis Cardinals
A few weeks ago, the Cardinals didn't seem to have much to deal. But when they were through, they'd won the Scott Rolen Sweepstakes for a very modest price. And they wound up with Chuck Finley, whose 6-11 record hides the fact that he actually has a lower ERA than Mike Mussina (who is 13-5).

"You have to give them credit," said one scout. "They're in a market and a division where they don't have to compete with the Yankees, so they don't have to go crazy. But they very quietly go about their business and do a damn good job. Finley is a veteran guy who should benefit from changing leagues. And Rolen will flourish there. He'll be just like McGwire. He'll get traded at the deadline, spend a couple of months there and never want to leave."

	Durham

2. Oakland Athletics
The A's kicked off the action by convincing the Tigers to give them $500,000 as part of the three-way deal with the Yankees that sent Ted Lilly to Oakland. That enabled them to take on Ray Durham's contract without giving up a legit prospect. And they finished their trifecta by dealing for the best left-handed reliever on the market, Ricardo Rincon.

"They're a big winner, to get Lilly, Durham and Rincon without giving up anything that will come back to haunt them," said one AL scout. "Carlos Pena (traded for Lilly) will be a relatively productive guy, but he won't be a star. And Franklyn German (also sent to Detroit) has a power arm. But they got a better arm in Jason Arnold, who was the best pitching prospect the Yankees had. He's got a chance to move up very quickly."

	Floyd

3. Boston Red Sox
Cliff Floyd was, very simply, "the huge impact player out there," said one AL executive. And Boston got him just for two decent, but not spectacular, prospects. And Bobby Howry is an upgrade on Rich Garces and Willie Banks, even though his velocity is way down from his old 97-mph self. "He's learned to pitch," said one scout. But another interested club said, frankly: "We had health concerns."

The Red Sox also get bonus points because Floyd was originally No. 1 on the Yankees' shopping list (before Raul Mondesi).

Best sell-off
Cleveland Indians
General manager Mark Shapiro knew early he'd be trading a bunch of veteran players. So he did a study of all the deadline deals of the last 10 years -- and concluded the best trades were usually made for prospects who were years away.

Most clubs dealing away the Bartolo Colons and Paul Shueys of the world want quick-fix prospects who can arrive in a hurry. Shapiro announced to his fans his team was retooling for two or three years down the road. Then he went out and made deals aimed at the long-term instead of tomorrow's ticket sales.

He wound up with a great group of high-ceiling prospects -- particularly Brandon Phillips, Cliff Lee and Grady Sizemore from the Colon deal and pitchers Ricardo Rodriguez and Francisco Cruceta from the Shuey trade.

"The best thing Mark did," says one NL executive, "was that he was very upfront with everybody about what he was doing. He knew he was going to take it on the chin in Cleveland with some of the guys he was trading. But he was willing to take it. He was willing to be patient. And he got something to show for just about every deal."

Worst sell-offs
1. Tampa Bay Devil Rays
The Devil Rays were 35-70 going into Wednesday. And they had some parts they could have sold off. But fellow GMs complain that Chuck LaMar slapped Mercedes price tags on the Hyundais on his lot, and he aggravated many potential customers.

"We asked about Esteban Yan, and he told us it would take two top-quality prospects, and a fringe major leaguer," grumbled one team. And we heard similar talk all over both leagues. As for LaMar's most marketable player, Randy Winn, he's so young and cheap, we probably would have driven a hard bargain for him, too. One disgruntled GM said: "What's he need him for? So he can stay there and help them win 50 games?"

2. Chicago White Sox
The aim of this team was to move veterans out of the way to make room for the Josh Pauls and Joe Credes. But the consensus was, they didn't get much back for Ray Durham, Bobby Howry, Kenny Lofton and Sandy Alomar Jr.

"I don't understand what the White Sox did," said one AL scout. The best pitching prospects they got, Franklin Francisco (for Howry) and Felix Diaz (for Lofton), have had arm problems. And most of the other guys "aren't even on the radar screen," said one GM. "Their philosophy," said one scout, "was just addition by subtraction. . . . But stack up what they did against what Cleveland got, and there's no comparison."

3. Texas Rangers
The Rangers and Toronto Blue Jays were both owned by people complaining they were losing money and losing ball games. Toronto was able to pare millions by dealing Mondesi, Dan Plesac and Pedro Borbon Jr. Texas, on the other hand, was able to dump only half of the final year of Gabe Kapler's contract (at $3.3 million), on Colorado, in exchange for impeding free agent Todd Hollandsworth.

But the Rangers got stiffed by Kenny Rogers and had absolutely no success in selling off Ivan Rodriguez, Ismael Valdes or any of their other high-priced flotsam. So by the deadline, firefighters were being called in to put out the smoke coming out of GM John Hart's ears.

"John's about at wit's end," said one executive who had talked to him. "It's a good thing he's making so much money, or I think he'd quit."

Deals that didn't get done

	Byrd

1. Paul Byrd, Royals starting pitcher
Royals GM Allard Baird said from the beginning he was only going to trade Byrd for a young second baseman or third baseman who could start for him next Opening Day. And since many teams assumed Byrd would just be a two-month rental who ran right back to Kansas City as a free agent, it limited the market for the second-winningest pitcher in the American League.

But two major-league sources say Baird went down to the wire talking about a potential three-team deal that apparently would have involved the Mets and Blue Jays. The Mets would have gotten Byrd. It appears the Royals would have wound up with Toronto's big-time second-base prospect, Orlando Hudson. The sticking point may have been the Mets' reluctance to part with their best pitching prospect, Aaron Heilman.

	Schoeneweis

2. Scott Schoeneweis, Angels starting pitcher
Always-active Mets GM Steve Phillips had potential deals flying all over the map. Another trade reportedly would have sent relievers David Weathers and Mark Guthrie to Anaheim for Schoeneweis. But the Angels need to keep Schoeneweis around as insurance in case one of their starters goes down. In the end, though, Anaheim wound up not dealing for any bullpen help.

Between a rock and a hard place
Philadelphia Phillies
From the moment the Phillies delegation left the winter meetings without dealing away Rolen, you could almost see their pre-deadline crisis looming right over the horizon. So considering how limited their options were at the end, the consensus of folks we talked to is that they did the best they could when they finally shipped Rolen to St. Louis.

Even GM Ed Wade admitted the Phillies were a worse team after the trade than before it. But in Placido Polanco, he gets what one scout called "a Tony Phillips-type super-utility guy" who can be a short-term answer at third and maybe a long-term answer at second base or a play-all-over-the-diamond fill-in.

The real key to the deal, pitcher Bud Smith, was described by people we surveyed as "a poor man's Tom Glavine" and "a crafty lefty with big intestinal fortitude" who "can and will pitch well again."

But there were also concerns that Smith "used to be able to dial up his fastball to 88-89 if he needed to -- and this year he's topped out at 83-86." And one GM thinks you have to deduct some of those "had-no-choice" points because "they painted themselves into this corner -- and when you paint yourself into a corner, this is what happens."

Nevertheless, one NL executive said: "Considering everybody knew they couldn't re-sign him, they did better than I thought they'd do."

Two steps forward, one step back
Montreal Expos
Well, Omar Minaya sure proved he could make a deal. He got the best pitcher on the market, in Bartolo Colon, and the best hitter on the market, in Cliff Floyd. Then, 19 days after trading two young pitchers (Carl Pavano and Justin Wayne) for Floyd, he traded Floyd away -- for two other young pitchers (Sun Woo Kim and Seung Song).

Of course, if the Expos had gone 11-7 with Floyd instead of 7-11, they never would have thought of trading him. But they dropped seven out in the wild-card race, they were concerned that the turf in Stade Olympique was already bothering Floyd's knees and they knew they had no shot to re-sign him. So they restocked themselves with pitching-prospect inventory, and now they'll see where they are in a few weeks.

One big question: Were the two pitchers they traded for Floyd better than the two they got back when they dealt him to the Red Sox?

"I'd call it pretty much a wash," said one scout who has seen all four. "Pavano's got more experience than Kim, so I guess I'd take a healthy Pavano slightly over Kim. But I'm not as high on Pavano as some people. And I'd take Song over Wayne. Song's got a good breaking ball and a good split and he's a competitive kid. Wayne doesn't throw that hard, and he doesn't have a whole lot of movement on his fastball. He's probably just a fifth starter for me."

Deadline dealers

	Thomson

1. New York Mets
All Steve Reed does is come out of the bullpen and get right-handers out. John Thomson, meanwhile, isn't Curt Schilling, and his 5.26 ERA away from Coors Field is a concern. But he does throw 94 mph. He gives the Mets a third starter who's signed beyond this year (with Al Leiter and Pedro Astacio). And remember, this team had a great experience with the last pitcher it rescued from Coors (Astacio).

"What the heck," said one NL scout. "Thomson's got a lot of upside if he's healthy. His stuff is good. And they were really down on Jeff D'Amico. I also think they needed to move Jay Payton. Really, all he is, is a fourth outfielder, even though his numbers will be better in Colorado."

2. Colorado Rockies
It isn't often a team that's not in contention -- and is set in right field (Larry Walker) and center field (Juan Pierre) -- trades for three outfielders on Deadline Day. But that's what the Rockies did, getting Payton from the Mets, and Kapler and Jason Romano from Texas.

"It always seems like they feel like by changing bodies, they make themselves better," said one GM. But another said he thinks Kapler is worth the gamble, even though bringing a guy with no home runs all year to Coors seems puzzling. And Romano is an athletic outfielder with speed whom a lot of teams like.

Maybe the most intriguing hitter the Rockies added, though, was one-time Mets prospect -- and modern-day Rob Deer -- Rob Stratton (50 homers in the minor leagues the last two years -- and 284 strikeouts). Sounds like a Coors kind of guy to us.

Names being shopped on Deadline Day
In the hours before the deadline, these were some of the names that reportedly were being dangled actively but never went anywhere:

Tom Gordon, Jeff Fassero, Doug Glanville, Delino DeShields, Roberto Hernandez, Tanyan Sturtze, Bubba Trammell, Lenny Harris, Matt Stairs, Brandon Larson, Neifi Perez, Mark Redman.

Deals that could still get made
One GM said he saw "no way" a relatively low-priced hot commodity like Byrd could get through waivers in August. But speculation is that almost anybody making $3 million to $4 million and up will go unclaimed.

So the Mets figure to add another outfielder. The Mariners were nibbling on Jose Cruz Jr. and Byrd before the deadline, and figure to keep on shopping for a bat, another starter and a left-handed reliever. The Angels and Giants were also looking for left-handed relievers.

The Cardinals were after another starter. The A's would be interested in another middle-of-the-order bat. The Astros will pursue a set-up man if they rise in the wild-card standings. The Braves could deal for a bat off the bench. And the Reds are always looking to make another deal (money permitting).

So don't touch that cursor. Rumor Central will be alive and well in August.

Jayson Stark is a senior writer for ESPN.com.