espn's reporting of an manny to marlins deal being close to done. that would be exciting news. although, i'd have to think they'd go heavily after bay in that case.

from Will Carroll

by Will Carroll

The Commissioner’s Office has been informed of a deal involving the Pirates, Red Sox, and Marlins. The Commissioner has to sign off on any deal involving cash considerations of more than a million dollars and there was clearly going to be cash involved in any deal. There’s also some formality about Manny Ramirez waiving his 10-5 rights and no trade clause and I’ll admit not understanding the technicalities.

So here’s what Pee Wee Herman would call the “big but.” The teams, I am told, have not agreed on the specific prospects to be included in the deal. It’s expected that in addition to the principals, the Red Sox would get John Grabow and give up two prospects while the Marlins would get one prospect and give up two. There’s still a lot of haggling but my scribbling notes make it look like the structure of the deal is:

Marlins get Manny Ramirez, one prospect (BOS), and cash (likely Ramirez’s remaining salary)
Pirates get Jeremy Hermida and three prospects (two FLO, one BOS)
Red Sox get Jason Bay and John Grabow

There is still potential for this to fall apart over the prospects, though things appear closer now than ever before.

Rays have flat run out of trade targets unless they can get something done with Texas

According to ESPN the Rays are also looking at Dunn.

TBH, the Reds would have to be bowled over to trade him. 40+HR's, 100+RBI's, and more importantly, a .385 OBP...but if any team has the prospects to do it, it's the Rays...


I hope the Reds do NOT go thru with a trade for Dunn and I hope they extend him...4/65M sound about right.

If the Rays aren't giving up that much for Bay, they sure as hell aren't giving it up for Dunn, who has a flat market right now.

Not sure if he gets moved or not, but I highly doubt he brings a haul.

I figure you'd know if anyone around here would. That said, I'm really, REALLY ok if Dunn isn't moved. Obviously I (hoping the Reds are too) aiming real high for the return on Dunn.

We shall see....

This just posted from Will Carroll over at BP:

Wonder what 3 premium prospects means exactly.

Should be interesting.

I can't say I'm unhappy that Dunn is a still a Red

Good luck to your boys the rest of the year. If the pitching holds up, I think at worst a WC spot. That'd be fantastic to see/watch!

They wanted Davis or Hellickson, Brignac, and Niemann

any word on how baldelli's looking? espn reports he could get called up any day now to platoon against lefties.
i see he's got a .974 OPS with 3 HRs/8RBI in 12 games at montgomery, which would appear to be a positive sign.

it'd be great to think he could make a positive contribution down the stretch. is that just wishful thinking?

i'm actually glad the rays didn't make a move for bay or nady if the asking price was really davis/hellickson, neimann, and brig.

Wasn't really paying attention (in and out of the room) when they had Friedman in the booth but the Rays announcers and him discussed Baldelli and I got the impression they don't want to bring him up yet but they feel like they need to. If he is to be brought up this weekend it will be Saturday vs. Rogers, otherwise his call up will wait until at least next series.

16 straight wins with a home crowd of 30K+?

I hope Barlett is ok. Is Percy really going to be our closer for the stretch run?

They just keep fighting. Really cool to see.

wow. 5 wins away from the best season in TB history.

anybody have any guesses on how price will be used?
personally, i wouldn't think they'd want to mess with price by putting him in the pen and i couldn't imagine sonny heading to the pen. he doesn't seem like he's got effective pen stuff. i like sonny alot and hope he doesn't get sent down.

the only options i can think of is e-jax heading to the pen or maybe using some form of a 6-man rotation. i don't think a 6-man rotation would be such a bad thing for the rays. it's going to be a long season (hopefully until the beginning of november) and the addition of price would mean 4 young SP's that could benefit from having their innings limited.

any ideas or any inside info on how price will be used?

Jackson doesn't throw enough strikes to work in the pen. He is behind nearly every hitter.

I think Price comes in and works where Howell has been working and Howell gets pushed back into later innings. Percival has been absolute crap and Miller cannot be trusted as the lefty specialist late because he gets nobody out now.

Big day...huge comeback, coupled with Joba's trip to the DL. The guys get a day and a half to enjoy it.

Kaz's troubles today are a concern though.

Kaz must be smoking dope again

What a great comeback today without Upton and Crawford in the lineup. Gross hit the ever living crap out of that ball.

I heard Maddon benched Upton for not running out a ground ball. That's big with CC already out.

Glad our top notch bullpen could help you guys out.

Thanks for all the help.

I hope that's all it was. I know CC's knee is lingering...not sure about BJ's shoulder. These two are going to be logging some heavy innings down the stretch.

So do Gross and Zobrist stay up for the stretch? Or does one go back down when/if Rocco comes up?

I think Zobrist goes back down and comes up 9/1 since he still has options. The Rays traded for Chad Bradford today so I think Reyes gets DFAd. If Rocco is activated, either Floyd or Hammel goes. The Rays are unnecessarily carrying 12 pitchers right now so I think Hammel will get sent away because the team needs Floyd's presence come the stretch run.

Love getting Bradford.

Start of a 10 game road trip tonight. Granted there are some patsies on it in Seattle and Oakland but they definately aren't as good on the road, they may get tested here.

First off, nice of my Tribe to lay down 2 of 3 times for you after dominating over the last couple of years. At least you won't face us in the playoffs.

Per the bolded, Tom Hamilton on the Indians radio said that Upton was benched for not running hard. Maddon had a meeting last week with the team (1st team meeting of the year). He said that the average time home to first was 4.2 seconds and with you guys getting 4 AB per game, you should be able to run hard for 17 seconds/day. He said the next guy he caught loafing around the bases was getting a day off...and it was Upton.

Ironically, Garko failed to run out a slow roller to 1st the very next half inning after Hamilton told this story. Wedge was fit to be tied and jerked Garko from the game.

I'm guessing 5-5 roadie, which would be fine by me.

Price now 11-0 with a 1.87 ERA in AA.

They're wasting him in the minors.

I think Price joins the team when they get home from this roadie at the latest.

And I thought Longoria was a lock out of ST. If I had to make a wager, I'd say we'll see him on the first.

Hell of a win last night!

Price was promoted to AAA as well

Oh and the next win will set the mark for wins in a single season. The Rays won 66 games all last year and have already won 70 (have only one 70 games once in the entire history of the club) with this win last night.

Yea that was a great, gritty win last night.

I wish they were moving Price a little quicker, but as long as he's up before Sept 1 (and I have to assume he will be) then it's cool.

It will be interesting to see how they handle this CC thing. Rocco can't be counted on every game (or even a full game), Gross is going to be Rocco's caddie and Hinske isn't much of an everyday player or a capable left-fielder. Zobrist isn't really an option either.

I imagine they send Benzo down and bring up Ruggiano or Gomes. Hopefully Ruggs it is.


Nice pasting of the Ms today. I was hoping for a 5-5 trip and that may have been modest.

Congrats to 'us' for the team record win!

I guess the bright side of this injury bug is that it's not Sept or Oct. But that Bay non-trade hurts a little more now.

I hope the club DFA's that POS Hammel and calls up Ruggiano. Zobrist deserves to stay up and Hammel isn't needed. We're carrying 12 pitchers and Hammel is only used in blowout situations. Cliff Floyd is another guy that is just about done. He can't play the field and he is a well below average DH. I'd rather Hinske have DH time and let Ruggiano play left with Rocco and Gross working in RF.

They're not going to DFA Hammel. He has value.

I dare another team to pick him up and put him on the bump. I told you early last year he was a stiff.

I know you're not a fan and he's certainly no star, but he could be a suitable 4/5 for some team. He'll be moved this off-season. His numbers really aren't that terrible.

4.5 up on the Sox, an amazing 8.5 on the Yanks and most importantly, 6 games up on the potential Wild Card. Franchise record for wins, Rocco is back and Price is on his way. On pace for 98-99 wins.

Un####ing-believable.

Good times
We'll have the ROY , Manager of the Year, and GM of the year as well.

If we had not had that disastrous week before the all-star break and had just gone 3-4 on that roady, we'd be up 6 games.

Funny how when Boston is up 4.5 in this division, people say they're running away with it. When we're up 4.5, we're barely hanging on.

Onto Oakland where it is 2 lefties and The Duke

Not really worried about Oakland. Those players rightfully quit on Beane. Has to suck being in contention and then having your GM pull the rug out from underneath you.

The Texas series could be tricky though.

Olney now saying CC could be out 2 weeks or out of the year! I hope he's just being an alarmist...

As poor as CC has played, we need him in Sept.

if longo plays well over the last month and a half, the rays might have a serious MVP-candidate on their hands too.

based on player performance as well as team performance, personally, the only AL MVP candidate i'd put clearly over longoria right now is carlos quentin.
the only other players that are having better years than longo. are playing for teams that are unlikely to make the playoffs.
hamilton probably won't be in the playoffs and his team could be out of it for much of september.
arod may not make the playoffs.
morneau would likely make a stronger candidate than longo., assuming the twins stay in the hunt.

either way, i can't envision an MVP discussion without evan longoria.

I am not expecting CC back until October. A hitter is nothing without their hands and if he has a torn tendon in it, he's done at least 6-8 weeks.

Sign Barry
or
Trade for Nelson Cruz
while
promoting Justin Ruggiano from AAA

If you Rays fans hear anything on the radio about CC's prognosis, I'd appreciate a heads up. I'm holding onto hope that it'll just be a 15 day vacation.

It's not going to be 15 days, Stat.

Never realized that "Baldelli" was so difficult to say...until I watched SportsCenter twice this morning.