Dan Wheeler News

A playground came to life on a rainy Friday thanks to the Rays and local volunteers at YMCA Camp Cristina.

With a number of decisions pending heading into next week's winter meetings, the Rays gave themselves room to operate Thursday, releasing reliever Ramon Ramirez to open a spot on the 40-man roster.

The Rays will arrive at Major League Baseball's 2010 Winter Meetings with a chance to make a blockbuster deal at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis.

Alright, along with being a professional baseball player, and a sportswriter for ESPN, The Mag, a general manager for an MLB team is on my short list of dream jobs.

The free-agent season officially begins at midnight ET on Friday, and the Rays will be looking to add quality pieces to improve an already solid club.

So Ken Rosenthal at FoxSports is reporting the Rays and Cubs have rekindled the trade talks over the bad contracts of Pat Burrell and Milton Bradley.

Longoria: Dude, relax, Andy H just said you had the two best starts of the year.

It seems as if every aspect of the 2009 Rays is considered a disappointment when compared to last year's group.

Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Dan Wheeler kicks the mound as Seattle Mariners' Jose Lopez, left, rounds the bases after hitting an eighth-inning home run during a baseball game Tuesday, Sept.

That's a bit of an oversimplification, of course, as Friedman and his staff do plenty of wheeling and dealing from April through September.

There was his outfield assist in the seventh, when Zobrist kept it a one-run game by throwing a one-hopper to get Michael Saunders at the plate on a potential sacrifice fly.

Ichiro Suzuki had one hit in eight career at-bats against Jeff Niemann before facing the Rays starter with two out and a runner on the fifth inning Tuesday night.

Jose Lopez, left, is congratulated by Ken Griffey after hitting a solo homer off Rays reliever Dan Wheeler in the eighth inning that provided the eventual winning run.

Carl Crawford grimaces after being called out trying to steal third in the seventh.

James Shields allows four runs over six innings but gets the win in part because of the Rays' six-run third inning.

With the Rays ' chances of returning to the postseason dwindling, he'll be the next one to try and end the skid.

Last week I took a look at how the Rays ' 2009 high leverage FIP of 4.87 underperformed their season FIP of 4.36 while the average team fares 0.25 better in high leverage situations.

The Yankee's Magic Number to win the A.L. East is now.....drum roll, please....Thurman Munson.. Another day, another walk-off win.

WELL, it would seem that Stephen King has come down with a killer case of writer's block.

The Rays maintain - however half- or quarter-heartedly - they still have something to play for.