The 2009 non waiver trade deadline was completed at 4:00pm Eastern Standard time today.

The last week has seen major blockbuster moves made, including big player names such as Matt Holliday, Cliff Lee, Victor Martinez, Jake Peavy and Jarrod Washburn traded from their respective teams.

The Cleveland Indians, and Pittsburgh Pirates certainly cleaned house, dumping numerous parts of their current roster in exchange for building towards the future.

Teams such as St.Louis, Philadelphia and Boston added to their already potent teams, in preparation for a push towards the playoffs and a possible World Series title.

So where did that leave the Toronto Blue Jays?

For weeks, speculation all over the baseball world was presented in the form of Blue Jays ace Roy Halladay and his expectance to be traded before the 4:00pm July 31st deadline.

Numerous sources reported that Halladay drew interest from teams such as Philadelphia, Boston, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and Texas.

Toronto Blue Jays General Manager J.P Ricciardi drew a hard bargain and floated Halladay out on the trade market with a large asking price.

The Jays rejected a large trade offer from Philadelphia of J.A Happ, Carlos Carrasco, Michael Taylor, & Jason Donald.

The Phillies ended up nabbing Cliff Lee from Cleveland instead.

Yahoo! Sports reported that the Red Sox offered the Jays Clay Buchholz, Michael Bowden and Ryan Westmoreland for Halladay. Boston denied this report and nothing was heard from them afterwards.

According to ESPN.com the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim were interested in acquiring Halladay.

The Jays wanted either Jered Weaver or Joe Saunders, shortstop Erick Aybar and two other pieces in return for Halladay and that was the end of that. You can read the article here:

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=4356851

And finally, the Texas Rangers showed last minute interest in Halladay.

The Rangers had the farm system to ensure a deal was completed, but the Rangers were unsure about the financial situation that would come with Halladay’s salary for this year and next.

Also, the Jays requested Derek Holland, Justin Smoak and two other prospects.

The large package of players combined with the possible financial problems of acquiring Halladay turned the Rangers away.

So Roy Halladay remains a Blue Jay.

Most are happy, some are not, but it’s clear that the Jays are sticking to their word made before spring training 2009 about contending in 2010.

Or are they?

Minutes before the trade deadline expired today, the Jays pulled off a move that was only expected to happen if Halladay was traded (if Halladay was traded it would create a trickle down effect of trades to dismantle the squad we would try and contend with next year to decrease payroll and rebuild for the future).

Blue Jays third baseman Scott Rolen was traded from Toronto to Cincinnati for Edwin Encarnacion, Josh Roenicke and Zach Stewart.

Rolen was easily one of the most consistant offensive and defensive players the Blue Jays had all season.

Rolen played Gold Glove calibre defense at third and was having his best offensive season since 2006.

Rolen was loved by Toronto fans, his teammates, and was a quiet leader in the clubhouse.

So why the trade?

Jon Paul Morosi & Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports reported that: Toronto general manager J.P. Ricciardi said in a teleconference with reporters that Rolen asked to be traded for “personal reasons.”

The article can been read here:

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/9876768/Jays-trade-Rolen-to-Reds-for-three-players

One can only assume that Rolen wanted to play closer to his family in Indiana.

The move was no surprise to Rolen, as he had to waive his no trade clause before the deal would go through.

Toronto fans will certainly miss the defensive wizardy of Scott Rolen at third base and will only have to hope that the three players in return, most notably Encarnacion, can prove that the deal was a good one for Toronto.

In other Blue Jays trade news, Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that the Jays have acquired Pirates AA pitcher Sean Smith for future considerations.

That’s about all the noise the Blue Jays created at this year’s deadline.

It has been quite a long past few weeks for Toronto Blue Jays fans, with tons of rumours and speculation regarding Roy Halladay, but in the end he remains in Blue Jays blue.

Expect the same antics next season if the Jays lie in the same situation they are in currently, well except that the possibility of a Roy Halladay deal in the same circumstances next year will all but mean a trade, no matter what.

For all the 2009 trade deadline moves made in Major League Baseball please see below:

Matt Holliday from Oakland to St.Louis for Brett Wallace, Shane Peterson, & Clayton Mortensen.

Cliff Lee & Ben Francisco from Cleveland to Philadelphia for Jason Knapp, Carlos Carrasco, Jason Donald and Lou Marson.

Victor Martinez from Cleveland to Boston for Justin Masterson, Nick Hagadone and Bryan Price.

Jake Peavy from San Diego to Chicago White Sox for Aaron Poreda, Clayton Richard, Dexter Carter and Adam Russell.

Jarrod Washburn from Seattle to Detroit for Luke French and Mauricio Robles.

George Sherill from Baltimore to Los Angeles Dodgers for Josh Bell and Steve Johnson.

Tom Gorzelanny & John Grabow from Pittsburgh to Chicago Cubs for Kevin Hart, Jose Ascanio and Josh Harrison.

Ryan Garko from Cleveland to San Francisco for Scott Barnes.

Freddy Sanchez from Pittsburgh to San Francisco for Tim Alderson.

Jack Wilson & Ian Snell from Pittsburgh to Seattle for Ronny Cedeno, Jeff Clement, Aaron Pribanic, Brett Lorin and Nathan Adcock.

Orlando Cabrera from Oakland to Minnesota for Tyler Ladendorf.

Casey Kotchman from Atlanta to Boston for Adam LaRoche (LaRoche was picked up by Boston from Pittsburgh just last week).

Nick Johnson from Washington to Florida for Aaron Thompson.

Jerry Hairston Jr from Cincinnati Reds to New York Yankees for Chase Weems.

Adam LaRoche from Pittsburgh to Boston for Argenis Diaz and Hunter Strickland.

Joe Beimel from Washington to Colorado for Ryan Mattheus and Robinson Fabian.

Claudio Vargas from Los Angeles Dodgers to Milwaukee Brewers for Vinny Rottino.

Julio Lugo plus cash from Boston to St.Louis for Chris Duncan.

Mark Kotsay plus cash from Boston to Chicago White Sox for Brian Anderson

Wladimir Balentien from Seattle to Cincinnati for Robert Manuel.

Josh Anderson from Detroit to Kansas City for cash.