With the trade deadline a little more than a week away, the Rays are 6.5 games behind the Yankees for the Wild Card and they are 8.5 games behind the Red Sox for the A.L. East. They can’t afford to lose any more ground or the team could look at lot different on August 1st. James Shields and B.J. Upton are likely to be traded regardless of how well the Rays do next week. That’s because rookies Alex Cobb and Brandon Jennings are ready to replace them. But, if the Rays don’t right the ship soon they could look for new homes for a few of the other players on the team. Johnny Damon, Casey Kotchman, Kyle Farnsworth and Joel Peralta would likely appeal to other teams. Kelly Shoppach, Andy Sonnanstine and J.P. Howell could also be on the move. I hope the Rays get going quickly because I don’t want to see another fire sale in Tampa, as that was the method of operation every year when they were the Devil Rays.

The Tampa Bay Rays seem more than willing to deal righty starting pitcher James Shields. The Reds, Cardinals and Tigers look to be the teams most after Shields. The Reds and Cardinals seem to have to most chance of dealing with the Rays for Big Game James. The Reds might also be interested in expanding the deal to include B.J. Upton, Johnny Damon or Sam Fuld as they are also looking for a LF to leadoff games. I don’t see the Rays packaging Shields and Upton as they can get more for them dealing seperately. Adding Damon or Fuld to the pot will likely increase the return more than most people think. The Reds could offer the Rays a package of catcher Devin Mesoraco, 1B Yonder Alonso, IF/OF Juan Francisco and IF/OF Todd Frazier. That would almost be an impossible offer to turn down because of the Rays’ need to add offense. The Cardinals could entice the Rays to make a deal by offering 1B/3B/OF Allen Craig, CF Colby Rasmus and righty starter/reliever Lance Lynn for Shields, Fuld and Ruggiano. That would make it very tough to decide between the packages. The Tigers don’t really match up with what the Rays need back for Shields.

The Tampa Bay Rays have holes at 1B, DH and in the bullpen right now and they are huge ones. I feel that they are waiting out some players that are free agents looking for bargains. Russell Branyan, Troy Glaus, Casey Kotchman, Jason Giambi, Manny Ramirez, Johnny Damon, Scott Podsednik, Lastings Milledge, Jim Thome and Gary Sheffield are all likely on the Rays’ radar. The Rays are also linked to relievers like Octavio Dotel and Jon Rauch as possible closers. They are also holding out hope that Grant Balfour will give them a discount and return to Tampa but that’s not likely at this point. Scot Shields, Todd Coffey and Chris Ray are cheaper alternatives that could pique the Rays’ interest. The Rays also have James Shields & Andy Sonnanstine who they could deal for help in the needed areas. Rumors have the Rays willing to deal Matt Garza but count me as someone saying that would be dumb.

Keeping up with the Yankees is going to be tough and with that in mind I think the Rays need a thumper at DH and another lefty reliever for the pen. I would go after Adam Dunn of the Nationals. I would offer them lefty starting pitcher Alex Torres, righty starter Aneury Rodriguez, catcher Dioner Navarro and outfielder Matt Joyce. I think the Nationals would take that offer not knowing if Dunn will re-sign with them after the season. Then I would call up the Cleveland Indians and offer them Andy Sonnanstine straight up for lefty reliever Rafael Perez. I think the Indians would take that deal with the idea of starting Sonnanstine who is from Ohio. Getting Perez would allow Randy Choate to only pitch to lefty hitters which is his most effective role. Making these two trades would put a scare into the Yankees.

The Tampa Bay Rays are 49-33 on the season which has them in second place in the A.L. East, 2 games behind the Yankees. The Rays are only 1/2 a game ahead of the Red Sox for the A.L. Wildcard right now. The Wildcard is not the goal so with that in mind the Rays will likely be on the hunt for a difference maker at the trade deadline. The Rays really need a big bat to help the offense and I think that’s the #1 need. I would target either Prince Fielder or Adam LaRoche. Fiedler would cost the Rays a lot but he would give the team a legit cleanup hitter to bat behind Evan Longoria. Adam LaRoche would likely cost a lot less in terms of players and he always has a strong second half of the season. I also think either Luke Scott or Jose Guillen would make sense if the Rays want to go that route. I hear whispers that the Rays are on the fringe of talking about Cliff Lee. The Mariners are said to be very interested in B.J. Upton. If the Rays could move Upton while getting a pitcher the caliber of Cliff Lee that would be a no brainer to me. While I don’t think the Rays need another starting pitcher you have to listen when Cliff Lee is getting talked about. The Rays also need a second lefty in the bullpen but they might have fixed that need with the recent signing of Brian Shouse. It will be interesting to see how many chips the Rays push to the middle of the table.