What Were the Rays Doing Today?

The Tampa Bay Rays are one of the best run organizations in baseball. They've accumulated the kind of young talent that most organizations can only dream about. They're also in the thick of a pennant race this season and by not moving today, may have dealt a serious blow to their playoff hopes this year.

They were involved in serious talks with the Pirates all week about moving Jason Bay to fill their hole in right field in return for some of the Rays' young pitching talent. Talks stalled and not only did the Rays fail to land Bay, but he went to their division rivals. Now they're playing Rocco Baldelli in right field and the Red Sox managed to get rid of their Manny Ramirez distraction and replace him with Bay, who should make up for the difference in offense by actually playing the field and running the bases and not acting like a six-year old. That's a double loss for the Rays.

The sticking point seemed to be the Rays' refusal to give up Jeremy Hellickson or Wade Davis (pictured) to the Pirates. Hellickson and Davis are both very good, young prospects, but the Rays are loaded to the gills with pitching talent. In addition to those two, they've still got David Price and Jake McGee in the minors with Scott Kazmir, Matt Garza, and James Shields already in the rotation in Tampa. This was a price they could afford to pay for a big upgrade in right field and by failing to pay it, they helped one of their biggest rivals in the process. The Rays have done a lot right in the past two years, but they got today all wrong.