The Rays won today if you hadn’t heard. EJax pitched decent, Pena homered and all that good stuff. The game wasn’t televised so I couldn’t watch, but it appeared that Percival wasn’t a complete nightmare today either. A good day all around. Onto the trade deadline stuff. The Rays are currently linked to Jason Bay and are said to have the best offer on the table. What worries me about this story is that the Rays appear set in their offer and not willing to budge. I understand this with Wade Davis, David Price and Jeremy Hellickson, but I don’t understand the unwillingness to move Reid Brignac. I know he’s a “top prospect” and I understand that there is basically no depth with middle infielders in the minors. What I don’t get is the unwillingness to mortgage a little bit of the future to go for it now. Bay isn’t the ideal guy to put in RF, but he’s the exact type of bat that we need there. It’s all conflicting reports but the boys at Rays Index are saying that he’s basically untouchable and I trust what they say. On to the Brian Fuentes stuff, I don’t see it happening so that’s over. Will Ohman is still a possibility but there’s not a lot of info there. It’s crazy but fun with all this stuff. There is more and more talk now that Rocco will be back soon and I’m conflicted on this (I think we all are). There is no way you can count on Rocco, but I think we all want him back. Also, looking at the minor league games over the last week, my boy Justin Ruggiano is getting more playing time in CF. That tells me (maybe I’m just hoping) that he is being prepped for another call up. The other thing I’m excited about is the fact that all of these possible moves make it tough to see a way that Jonny Gomes is on the roster after the deadline. That would make me very happy! To wrap up my completely senseless rambling now, if the Rays do get away with getting Bay for a deal centered around Niemann, that would be a ridiculously one sided deal to me. I stated at the start of the season that I thought Niemann was a bust waiting to happen and there’s been nothing that’s gone on to make me change my mind. Oh yeah, one more thing. My scout buddy (who’s proving to be completely useless right now) also told me that most of the teams the Rays are talking to want Ruggiano put in the deal somewhere. This should tell the Rays that they have someone worth giving the shot I’ve been begging for. Good times at the trade deadline. Sorry for the inane blather here but my head’s been spinning all day.

Scott Brannelly

Links: MLB Trade Rumors, Rays Index