As Yankees power up, Rays ponder doing same

As word circulated Friday night that the New York Yankees had essentially completed a deal for Houston's Lance Berkman, and then added Cleveland's Austin Kearns, it was tempting to wonder if caution had gotten the best of Andrew Friedman and the Rays.

Friedman, the Rays executive vice president, is not afraid to make a deal but no one is going to pressure him into anything. Deadlines like the one today at 4 p.m. represent pressure, the end of the non-waiver trading period. As of this writing, the Rays had been linked to basically every major trade floating out there in rumor space - including Berkman - but hadn't said yes to anything.

Berkman certainly could help the Yankees, as if they really need to make their lineup more formidable. So the situation would demand a decisive counter-move by the local lads, particularly with the uncertainty surrounding Ben Zobrist's back injury.

The last big piece out there right now seems to be Washington's Adam Dunn, a left-handed piece of long-range artillery who would look awfully nice in the middle of the Rays lineup. Think, Carlos Pena's power with 63 more points on his batting average and 29 points higher in on-base percentage.

There has been some question whether Dunn, a first baseman, would want to go to an American League team as the designated hitter. That didn't work out so well for Pat Burrell, you may recall. But Dunn told The Washington Post he was willing to give it a try if need be, and pretty soon there were rumors bouncing everywhere that something might be up.

But that was about the time Matt Joyce hit a three-run homer into the right-field seats at Tropicana Field off Phil Hughes. It was all the offense the Rays needed to beat the Yankees 3-2 before 36,973 fans - a sellout crowd (I just like saying that).

I'm not saying that single shot killed the Rays' interest in Dunn, or perhaps some other guy out there we don't know about just yet, but Joyce has nine RBIs in his past five games and is starting to look comfortable in that No. 5 spot in the order.

In other words, he could just be the bat a lot of people - including me - have believed the Rays need to carry this season to the heights everyone would like. Pena is hitting .270 with 15 home runs in his past 45 games, too. And the Rays keep winning.

It's also worth noting that the Rays have made only two deadline-day deals in franchise history. Both were essentially salary dumps back in the bad old days, including 2006 when Friedman unloaded shortstop Julio Lugo on the Dodgers.

So when Manager Joe Maddon was asked if he expects something to be done in time to beat the clock, he replied, "I'd say no. I'd say less than 50 percent."

Maybe the Rays are good enough to seal this deal as currently configured. They've gotten this far with their pitching and defense philosophy, although I have to admit I'm perplexed at how they keep scoring just enough runs to win.

Tell me how a team can rank 22nd in the majors in both hits and batting average and 14th in home runs, yet be third in RBIs and runs scored. Maybe a big bat enhances those numbers, but maybe it messes up the chemistry that has taken the Rays to 64 wins in 102 games.

Remember when 64 wins was a season's worth? It's still July, folks. That's four more wins than they had at this point in 2008.

"We don't want to do anything to impact negatively our pitching and defense, but if we could somehow (improve) offensively we would. We don't want to take any of that away. I love watching that every night," Maddon said.

"That's the more predictable part of our game. Solid arms, catch the ball on defense, throw accurately, that's something that should show up every night. The offense is the variable. If we could keep all that going on and improve the variable, that would be very good."

We don't know what Washington is asking for Dunn, if indeed the Rays are serious negotiators for him and not some figment of a blogger's imagination. We do know Friedman, though, and if he has a price he's willing to pay for Dunn or any other player, he'll stick to that price.

The way things are going, it's hard to argue with that.