The Major League Baseball non-waiver trade deadline is officially upon us as of 4:00pm today. The activity promises to be fast and furious with some big names like Cliff Lee, Felix Hernandez, Matt Garza, Justin  Upton, Ryan Dempster, and Hunter Pence among others popping up in rumors. We will be updating throughout the day as deals start flying in.

But before we can get there, there were a slew of moves made overnight on Monday that need a bit of recapping.

- The Pirates and Blue Jays both played the sell high card as Pittsburgh sent right-handed reliver Brad Lincoln to Toronto for outfielder Travis Snider. Lincoln was converted to a reliever after a miserable run as a starter and has posted a 0.50 ERA out of the pen, with a 4-2 record and 2.73 ERA overall. Snider was recently recalled and was hitting .250 with 3 home runs and 8 RBI in the 10 games since his recall. Snider has always shown promise in the minors, but has yet to truly translate it in the majors.

- In a separate deal, Toronto also traded outfielder Eric Thames to Seattle for reliever Steve Delabar. Delabar was 2-1 with a 4.17 ERA out of the Mariners's bullpen. Thames had been demoted to the minors earlier this year and has fallen behind Anthony Gose on the team depth charts. These two moves for Toronto are more about 2013 than 2012.

- The Texas Rangers added catcher Geovanny Soto in a deal with the Cubs, sending Chicago minor-league pitcher Jacob Brigham. Soto was the 2008 National League Rookie of the Year, but has struggled since. We're still not sure how this addresses Texas's pitching issues, but Jon Daniels must have a plan...right?!

- The Cubs were pretty Monday night. They also sent lefty Paul Maholm and utility-outfielder Reed Johnson to Atlanta right-handers Arodys Vizcaino and Jaye Chapman. This is quite the steal for as Vizcaino is solid prospect despite missing 2012 with Tommy John surgery, ranking second in the organization prior to the season according to FanGraphs. He'll profile as a future closer.

The San Francisco Giants have acquired right-fielder Hunter Pence from the Philadelphia Phillies in exchange for catcher/first baseman Tommy Joseph.

Pence immediately upgrades the Giants outfield corps, especially since Brandon Belt has yet to find his big boy pants. Pence is hitting .271 on the season with 17 home runs and 59 RBI.

Joseph was hitting just .260 at Double-A with 8 home runs and 38 RBI, but is coming off a season with 22 home runs and 95 RBI at High-A San Jose. Joseph ranked second in the organization's minor league rankings prior to the 2012 season, according to Baseball America.

UPDATE: Outfielder Nate Schierholtz has been told by Giants he is to be included in Pence trade, according to Jerry Crasnick.

The Phillies have been quite busy this afternoon, trading away 2/3rds of their starting outfield in the span of an hour. First Hunter Pence was sent to San Francisco and now Shane Victorino has been flipped to the Los Angeles Dodgers in exchange for reliever Josh Lindblom and minor-league pitcher Ethan Martin.

2012 has been a struggle for Victorino, who is scheduled to be a free agent at the end of the season. For the season, Victorino is hitting just .261 with 9 home runs, 40 RBI, and 24 stolen bases. Still, he'll be a nice piece to add in left field along side Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier.

Ethan Martin ranked 14th on the Dodgers's prospect depth chart heading into 2012 and has had a solid campaign at Double-A Chattanooga, going 8-6 with a 3.58 ERA and 112 strike-outs over 118 innings pitched.

Josh Lindblom has appeared in 48 games out of the Dodger bullpen and sports a 2-2 record with a 3.02 ERA and 43 strike-outs over 47.2 innings pitched.

The Miami Marlins have sent first baseman Gaby Sanchez to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Gorkys Hernandez and a competitive balance pick in the 2013 draft.

Sanchez had shown some promise for the Marlins in both 2010 and 2011, but never quite made it over the hump. In 2012, he struggled out of the gate and was optioned back to Triple-A, came back during June, and then was optioned back when Carlos Lee was acquired. Sanchez will immediately compete with Casey McGhee for playing time at first base, and is a solid low-risk move by the Pirates.

Gorkys Hernandez was once a promising prospect for the Pirates, but never developed the power they were hoping for and ultimately fell out of the outfield depth charts with the rise of Starling Marte.

Of course, the interesting piece in this trade is the competitive balance pick acquired by the Marlins. The competitive balance draft choices are the only picks that can be traded in MLB, and can only be traded once by the team originally awarded it. The Marlins obviously thought they could get a nice sandwich round pick that would eventually be an upgrade over Sanchez's sliding stock.

During rehearsal for Monday Night Raw at the US Bank Arena, there was a minor fire involving the pyrotechnics. They Arena had just opened so the fans that had made it in had to be evacuated. They were eventually let in half hour before the show started.

here is a photo:

Here is a link to Fox News 19:

http://www.fox19.com/story/19150988/fire-ignites-at-wwe-raw-supershow-at-us-bank-arena?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=7560535