Rosenthal has the scoop on the latest offers for our ailing, morose and quite productive shortstop.

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2006/07/rosenthal_angel.html

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/5825796

Here's the breakdown:

Angels have already offered Ervin Santana and AAA shortstop Erick Aybar.

Astros have offered unnamed players, but their offer is more generous than the Adam Everett, Brad Lidge, Willy Tavarez/Jason Lane offer they made last offseason.

The Halos need an impact hitter. They were the second-best team in the Carlos Lee and Ben Broussard Sweepstakes. They offered Aybar for Lee, and he was the Indians unmet asking price for Broussard. Naturally this mean's they're scouting Soriano as well.

DEAR PETER: TAKE THIS DEAL BEFORE IT GOES AWAY!!!

Two major league ready players, including a possible Cy Young winner, is a steal for Tejada. If the Minnesota Twins have taught us anything this year, it's that dealing a pair of aces can drastically improve your playoff chances, even against a runaway division leader and a defending world champion.

As has been said here before, Miggy is not going to be the player our winning team is built around.  But if he's traded at deadline, the O's payroll drops significantly (Miggy and Javy are the highest paid by far), giving them the flexibility to sign another impact player or two in the offseason. Add to that his failing knees, slow movement to the ball and very likely meltdown once the competitiveness is gone from the season, and the trade is a no-brainer. He is simply of much greater value to the energetic, competitive Angels.

Now imagine a rotation that features Bedard, Santana and Benson with Penn, Loewen, Johnson and Cabrera competing for fourth and fifth starter roles. Keep one of the question marks in the bullpen with BFFs Roddy and Bruce, send one to Ottowa: presto, a young, talented and deep pitching rotation without any free agent signings.

Sign Jason Schmidt and you've got a staff ace to supplement the young arms and wisened pitching coach. (Just look at what Johan Santana and Carlos Silva have done with Liriano.)

Even if no major signing happen in the offseason, the O's will have enough in the bank to make bids on the top players (See Wells, Vernon) and make their contracts more expensive for the contenders who win out.

I'm not going to be surprised to see the trade deadline come and go without this offer being accepted. I will be disappointed, however.