Five former All-Stars are dealt on final day

Former All-Stars Jake Westbrook, Ted Lilly, Ryan Ludwick and Kerry Wood were traded Saturday as pennant contenders played a game of beat-the-clock. Lance Berkman went to the World Series champion New York Yankees after rejecting the Chicago White Sox.

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Octavio Dotel, Rick Ankiel, Kyle Farnsworth, Chad Qualls and Ryan Theriot also joined the playoff chase and Ryan Church highlighted a five-player deal between last-place teams.

The swaps came as clubs scrambled before the 4 p.m. deadline for making trades without waivers. It was a day full of deals between haves and have-nots -- veterans for prospects, mostly.

The NL Central-leading St. Louis Cardinals were the prime players in a three-team trade, getting Westbrook from Cleveland and sending Ludwick to NL Central-leading San Diego.

"I'm excited to go to a club that's contending for a playoff spot and pitch in some meaningful ballgames," Westbrook said. "That's why you play the game, to get a chance to play in the playoffs and I look forward to doing that."

Westbrook was scratched before he was set to start at Toronto. Ludwick leaves a crowded outfield in St. Louis.

The Yankees plucked Wood from Cleveland, shortly after finishing off the deal to get Berkman from Houston. The Astros sent $4 million and Berkman, the Yankees' new designated hitter, for reliever Mark Melancon and minor league infielder Jimmy Paredes.

"You don't want to play games that don't have anything riding on them. This is a chance to get back into that mode of playing games that are meaningful and that there's an excitement about," Berkman said.

In other deals:

- The Los Angeles Dodgers, seven games behind San Diego, got the left-handed Lilly, Theriot and about $2.5 million from the Chicago Cubs for infielder Blake DeWitt and minor league right-handers Kyle Smit and Brett Wallach. The Dodgers also boosted their bullpen by obtaining Dotel from Pittsburgh.

- AL West-leading Texas traded catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia to Boston for pitcher Roman Mendez, first baseman Chris McGuiness, a player to be named later and cash.

- Tampa Bay got Qualls from Arizona for a player to be named.