LOS ANGELES - The trade between the Milwaukee Brewers and Texas Rangers on Friday gave both teams what they were seeking as Monday’s non-waiver trading deadline draws near.

“We obtained a professional hitter,” said a member of the Rangers’ organization.

That would be All-Star outfielder Carlos Lee, who will fit nicely into the middle of the Rangers’ lineup.  He has five consecutive seasons of 25 or more home runs and is on pace for 45 homers and 130 RBI this season.

“We have to have depth and flexibility, and that’s what we got in this trade,” said a member of the Brewers’ front office.

It was a deal that made sense because the Brewers had no real choice but to trade Lee. A free agent at the end of the season, he reportedly rejected an offer of $48 million for four years.

Assuming he stays healthy over the next two months, Lee will do better than that on the open market.  Considerably better, in fact.

Chicago White Sox first baseman Paul Konerko is a statistical matchup to Lee and he signed a five-year, $60 million deal last offseason.  The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim made a push to sign Konerko, but he decided to stay with the White Sox.

In the hunt in the tightly bunched American League West Division, the Rangers were looking to add some punch before the trading deadline and had one of their top scouts in Milwaukee for recent games.

This was a trade where two general managers — a veteran is Doug Melvin of the Brewers  and a rookie in Jon Daniels of the Rangers — listened very carefully to their scouts, then decided the deal balanced out.

In addition to Lee, the Rangers acquired a promising young outfielder in Nelson Cruz, who was important to the deal.  If Lee departs as a free agent, Cruz could help fill the void.

“Cruz definitely has the ability to be a regular outfielder,” a Rangers scout said.

The Brewers are in the National League wild card chase. Melvin’s desire for depth and flexibility came in the form of reliever Francisco Cordero, outfielders Kevin Mench and Laynce Nix and minor league lefthander Julian Cordero.

Francisco Cordero has a power arm and had 49 saves in 2004, a mark that has been topped by only eight pitchers in major league history.  Although he lost his closer job earlier this year, he has 117 career saves and knows what it’s like to pitch the final inning.

Cordero has rung up 54 strikeouts and just 16 walks in 48 2/3 innings this season.  Those are the numbers you look for when you want a guy to close games.

The Brewers also can retain Cordero for next season with a $5 million option.  They also control Mench for two more seasons and Nix for three.  If Lee had departed as a free agent, the Brewers would have been left with a couple of draft picks next June.

The Brewers did as well as they could in that there was no reasonable way they could sign Lee at this point in the season. And they certainly weren’t going to be able to compete for Lee’s services as a free agent.

Even though the Brewers traded Lee, they definitely helped their bullpen.  And Mench is an outfielder with power, having homered in seven consecutive games earlier this season, one shy of the major league record.

The bottom line is the Brewers lost Lee but retained a chance to stay in the hunt for a postseason berth.

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Meanwhile, the Rangers have put themselves in a position to win the AL West and will try to find another experienced reliever. They haven’t been to the playoffs since 1999, when their general manager was a guy named Doug Melvin.

You can be assured Melvin would be happy to see young Jon Daniels and the Rangers in postseason play again this year, even if Lee is leading the way.  That is, of course, as long as the Brewers can get there as well.

That’s the way good deals are supposed to work.