Yoenis Cespedes is enjoying a great season, but a majority of national attention has been received by fellow American League West rookie Mike Trout.

Trout is the obvious choice for AL Rookie of the Year and maybe even MVP, but Cespedes has meant a ton to the Athletics.

Oakland is 61-35 with Cespedes in the lineup, 12-22 without.

"Trout deserves all the accolades he's getting," manager Bob Melvin said. "But I don't think he means any more to his team than Yoenis means to ours."

It once seemed impossible that the Red Sox could afford to extend Jacoby Ellsbury's contract, but having shed the huge deals of Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford it now seems possible.

Ellsbury's agent has talked about him as a "franchise player," but it's unlikely that the Red Sox will pay him as such. Still, the idea of a new long-term deal will probably be discussed this offseason.

His ability to stay healthy and lone MVP-caliber season (2011) should keep any team from paying him too handsomely.

The Red Sox placed Jon Lester on waivers this month and he was claimed, according to a report.

After the claim was made, the Red Sox pulled Lester back off waivers rather than trade him or allow another team to assume his contract.

Lester will earn $11.625 million next year and his contract includes a $13 million team option for 2014.

It appears as though Alfonso Soriano will spend the remainder of the season with the Cubs.

Soriano, who vetoed a trade to the Giants last month, was placed on waivers.

Chicago is expected to address trading Soriano this winter.

The Chicago Cubs may have found a diamond in the rough in the form of Juan Carlos Paniagua, who they signed for $1.5 million in July.

The deal marked Paniagua's third Major League contract. He signed with the Diamondbacks in 2009, but the contract was voided because he signed the deal under an assumed identity. The pitcher then went through a similar issue after signing with the Yankees in 2011 due to fraudulent identification papers.

Paniagua made his second appearance for the Cubs on Sunday night, facing five batters across two innings of work.

"He was at 92-94 mph in his first inning and 93-97 in the second, with the velocity about as effortless as you can imagine," writes Keith Law.

"His slider was above-average, 83-87, very sharp with some tilt but more vertical than horizontal break. His changeup was below-average at 79-80 and if he'd told the hitters it was coming via semaphore it wouldn't have been more obvious."

With the Dodgers having taken on a ton of salary via trade over the last month, it's unlikely that they will target Josh Hamilton as a free agent this winter.

The Red Sox cut salary, but there are a number of other major-market clubs that will likely pass on the slugger, including the Yankees, Phillies and Angels.

"So it's going to be a fascinating market for him, because of his history," one American League executive said of Hamilton.

"Any player who can have the impact on a game he can have, you'd love to add. But on a nine-figure deal … I wouldn't say he's a slam dunk to make a team happy for the next seven years. To be honest, it wouldn't surprise me to see a mid-market team come out of the woodwork and step up and pay him, kind of like the way the Reds did with Joey Votto. As we always say, all you need is one team."

The Athletics are 51-27 since June 2, the best record in the Major Leagues.

Oakland has gotten contributions for almost their entire roster during the hot streak and put themselves in the thick of the playoff race.

They have been even hotter as of late. They have won six in a row, eight of nine and 12 of 14. For the first time since the conclusion of the 2006 campaign, the A's are more than 15 games over .500.

The Dodgers have made headlines for all the players they have acquired over the last month.

On Thursday night, the first four batters in their order were playing for different teams a month ago -- Nick Punto, Shane Victorino, Adrian Gonzalez and Hanley Ramirez.

Los Angeles entered action on Friday 4.5 games back of San Francisco in the NL West. On July 15, they were just 1.5 games back of first place.

J.J. Hardy isn't sure what impact youngster Manny Machaco will have on him playing shortstop for the Orioles going forward.

"Does it cross my mind? Yeah. I'm not going to lie. I was in the same situation in Milwaukee with Alcides Escobar coming up," Hardy said. "I don't know what's going to happen. He's 20 years old. He is going to be really big. He's doing a great job at third base right now, so I feel like all I need to worry about is playing shortstop as good as I can and things will take care of themselves. If I'm too old, if he is 22 years old and he's a better shortstop and has more range, well that's just the way the game works. You pick your spots, but I feel like right now all I am doing is worrying about playing the best shortstop I can and he is doing a great job at third base."

While Machado has been playing third for Baltimore since a recent promotion, they drafted him as a shortstop.

Shane Victorino is interested in re-signing with the Dodgers this winter, but will be looking for a starting role with the team that traded for him last month.

The 31-year-old might find L.A.'s outfield to be crowded.

The Dodgers have Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier in the outfield. They also acquired Carl Crawford, who is under contract through 2017, in a trade last weekend.

"Are you crazy?" Victorino told Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times. "I'm not even thinking about stepping back. Why would I? I'm 31 years old. ... I'm going to be an everyday play, whether it be here, whether it be Philly, whether it be any uniform."