All three are likely to clear waivers. Any claiming team most likely would be a club like the Yankees -- unafraid of winning the claim and the ensuing salary commitment. Walt has proven he's willing to deal in August. A lot of the pre-deadline chatter (and dreaming) is over, and teams with serious postseason aspirations may still need to address some needs. And the Reds need to clear a little money off the books next season to fill some additional needs.

Personally, I think they acquired Rolen as a building block (and example) to go with Votto, Cueto, probably Phillips and, hopefully, Bruce. I think they see a core in place around those players, and they plan to try to fill holes around them. But they need a little payroll flexibility to do that. Which is where the August trade comes into play.

They need a SS, two outfielders, at least one starting pitcher and some bullpen depth. In a perfect world, they would get help from the minors for one of those positional needs (not sure who it is yet -- maybe Stubbs/Heisey - CF, or Frazier - LF), requiring outside acquisitions for "just" the SS and arms.

But I do think they will need to free up some money to make it all happen.