Jason Bay the Ray?

[love_that_reefer]

The Pittsburgh Post Gazette reports that the Pirates and Rays "are deep into trade talks" over Jason Bay. The newspaper notes that "no truly elite prospect is being offered for Bay," but "that has not stopped management from entertaining offers." However, an unnamed sourced guessed that there's a "better than 50-50" chance of Bay remaining in Pittsburgh beyond the trading deadline. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that Reid Brignac and Jeff Niemann are the names that keep coming up the most in the Jason Bay-to-Tampa Bay talks. The Rays are apparently refusing to part with their top three prospects (David Price, Jeremy Hellickson and Wade Davis), but they're one of the few teams that could take such a stance and still land a player like Bay. SI.com's Jon Heyman believes there's a 50-50 chance of a deal getting done. However, the Cardinals are reportedly still in the mix.

Brignac would be a good replacement for Wilson and Niemann isn't that great. Pirates can do better but after looking at the Nady/Marte deal, they might not be able to. I still think they need to keep their franchise player if they ever want to be good or at least hold him to the offseason where they are likely to get more.

[love_that_reefer]

ESPN's Jayson Stark reports that trade talks between the Pirates and the Rays regarding Jason Bay have slowed. Bay was included in Pittsburgh's lineup tonight, while Reid Brignac started for Triple-A Durham. Stark says one reason talks may have slowed is because the Pirates suspect the Red Sox will go after Bay is a Manny Ramirez trade gets done.

I hope the Saux don't take Bay from the Rays hands.

[missionhockey21]

Supposedly it's Bay for Reid Brignac and Jeff Niemann.

[DirtyKash]

Is Bay going to play RF? I guess it's better than Gabe Gross/Eric Hinske/Cliff Floyd. Only thing is Bay has a total of 1 game in RF in his career.

[perforatededge54]

I'd imagine Bay might DH. He's not exactly graceful with the glove.

[HollywoodLeo]

Originally Posted by DirtyKash Is Bay going to play RF? I guess it's better than Gabe Gross/Eric Hinske/Cliff Floyd. Only thing is Bay has a total of 1 game in RF in his career.

Is RF really that much different than LF?

Brian Giles didn't seem to flinch at the switch.

[CrazyEights]

According to Jason Stark, the deal is not done yet.

[missionhockey21]

Yep, I read the same thing on Mayo's blog. Supposedly the Rays might not make Brignac available.

[realmofotalk]

No kidding. If Brignac is that good, the Rays wouldn't continue to keep Bartlett at shortstop. Niemann is pretty good, but he's not enough for Bay.

[DirtyKash]

Well they'd better hurry up because it just turned 4 pm right this second!

[perforatededge54]

Apparently it's dead. Good news for the Yankees. Yay.

[love_that_reefer]

Tough break for the Rays as Bay would have been a huge addition. Bay is signed through next year and has his bat back. Bay would have been back and forth between DH and RF. The only difference between between LF and RF is the balls tail differently and the eyesight to the mound. Nothing an athlete can;t handle.