Another Trade Deadline has come and gone, and once again the front office has decided, for the most part, that the status quo is good enough. Good enough for what? We shall see. This is no surprise for many of us, as we are used to rumors abounding in July, only to find our Phillies only marginally better (or worse) than we were before. While rumors are fun, and the intellectual exercise of revamping lineups and rotations is plenty of fun for the baseball enthusiast, we once again must come to terms that the Phillies just do not make the big move that everyone wants.

As per usual, it is more fun to talk about the speculated trades than what actually happened, but for the sake of completeness, here we go: Joe Blanton for Adrian Cardenas, Josh Outman and Matthew Spencer. Great. Nothing wrong with this deal other than the fact that this is about as big as they get here in Philadelphia. With Adam Eaton and Brett Myers having trouble and being generally unreliable, we needed a boost to the rotation. And since the team bosses act like they are so broke they can’t rub two nickels together, Blanton will have to do. We will never see the Phillies make a deadline move for a marquee pitcher (a la C.C. Sabathia), unless that pitcher’s name is Mike Williams. Blanton’s acquisition should help sure up a shaky rotation, and gives us some flexibility in the bullpen so long as Eaton can make some progress in the Minors. Now I’m bored.

Dana Carey?

The rumor mills were churning when it was speculated that the Phillies were considering acquiring Matt Holliday and Brian Fuentes, possibly for Shane Victorino, pitching prospect Carlos Carrasco, catcher Lou Marson, and pitcher JA Happ. That is a hefty price tag, but would have yielded some considerable talent. The Rockies were reportedly sellers this year after a disappointing season following their World Series bid, and the deal seemed to match up well with the Phillies needs. Fuentes has put together a solid season and would fill our need for a lefty specialist and make our bullpen even better, but would likely just have been a rental. Matt Holliday is as consistent as they come. Parting with our prospects and Victorino would be tough, but then maybe they could have a Flyin’ Hawaiian giveaway that included fans older than 14, just in order to clear stock. It would have been a blockbuster deal but in the end it looks like managements hesitancy, coupled with the fact that the Rockies, despite being eleven games under .500, are still in the race for the weak West, killed that deal. Or it was just a rumor.

Late in the game came a potential trade for Manny Ramirez. Last week Ramirez declared his openness to a trade so long as his option for 2009 was declined, and the rumors swirled. The Manny trade that was realized involved 19 teams and 48 players, and in the end he ended up in Dodger Blue (the actual deal: Dodgers get Manny, the Red Sox get Jason Bay, and the Pirates get Andy LaRoche, Bryan Morris, Brandon Moss and Craig Hansen from their respective teams). But before then, reports came out that Philly was his preferred choice and the rumors were fueled further by his affinity for his former hitting coach and manager, Charlie Manuel. Pat Gillick shot down the trade talk quickly before speculation on what a deal would entail got momentum.

The also-rans: The Phillies were also speculative buyers in players such as Royals journeyman reliever Ron Mahay, Padre pitcher Greg Maddux and Pirate John Grabow.

In the end, it was another unexciting year for actual trades by the Phils, but that is not always a bad thing. Just think, Ed Wade picked up Randy Wolf and LaTroy Hawkins in the past week.

Around the NL East:

The Mets were quiet and only took a cursory look at Xavier Nady, Manny Ramirez, Jason Bay and Arthur Rhodes(what?!). In the end they did nothing, which was slightly surprising considering their aging roster.

The Florida Marlins were in the middle of major talks regarding Manny Ramirez, and many Phillies fans were livid. The Marlins have established themselves as shrewd negotiators over the years, often leveraging their seemingly inexhaustible young pitching talent into major deals that vault them onto the league leaderboard. In the end however, the Marlins big pick up was Arthur Rhodes (WHAT!?).

The Nationals, who last week moved Closer Jon Rauch for Emilio Bonifacio, traded Jhonny Nunez to the Yankees for shortstop Alberto Gonzalez. Both young players should see Big League time in the coming weeks.