As deadline nears, anxiety rises

For the next week, baseball's pennant races will be overshadowed by speculation season. The non-waiver trade deadline is next Sunday, so expect plenty of talk about who's going where. In this era of fantasy sports, when some kids actually dream of becoming a general manager, who doesn't like a good trade rumor?

The local conversation: Are B.J. Upton's days numbered with the Rays?

Trades can help both teams. Trades can become one-sided. They can be shocking or predictable. They can tear apart chemistry or bond together a championship run.

"If you're a professional athlete, you can never get too comfortable in one spot,'' said Rays relief pitcher J.P. Howell, who was traded from Kansas City to Tampa Bay in 2006. "It's part of the gig. You walk in one day and the guy next to you might be gone. Or they might be saying that you are gone.''

There are practical implications for players. Homes are put up for sale. Children must change schools.

There are potentially difficult moments for coaches and management.

"You're always trying to make your team better, but the reality is you never get used to these things, at least I don't,'' Lightning coach Guy Boucher said. "I don't want to get used to it because that means that players are numbers. That's not really my style.''

"Whether you're trading a player or cutting a player, which is a lot more common in the NFL, there's the element of ending a relationship, sometimes a long-term relationship,'' Bucs general manager Mark Dominik said. "What players want is the truth. When you give them the truth about what just happened, it's always a little easier for them to handle.''

In the case of Upton, the mercurial center fielder, there are two camps:

• The Rays should keep Upton for his defense, his base-stealing ability and his streaky power, which was manifested with 24 home runs in 2007, then an American League-record tying seven homers in 16 games during the 2008 postseason.

• The Rays should deal Upton for prospects because arbitration will drive him out of Tampa Bay's offseason price range anyway. If the tantalizing potential, which led the Rays to select Upton second overall in the 2002 draft, manifests itself elsewhere, so be it. Maybe a change of scenery would do Upton some good.

"Sometimes, when you're at one place for so long or you've only been at one place, there's a negative feel on you,'' former Detroit Tigers third baseman Brandon Inge said. "You never shake that. You get out of that and it's your opportunity to say, 'I'm free. I can establish myself any way I want.'

"Sometimes, they want you to stay. Sometimes, they ask you to go.''

Inge was asked to go this week, when he was sent to the minors after the team acquired third baseman Wilson Betemit from the Kansas City Royals.

"I was in Mexico, when my dad and my agent started calling and saying I was coming home,'' said Rays All-Star outfielder Matt Joyce, the former Armwood High standout who was traded in 2008 to Tampa Bay from the Tigers, who acquired pitcher Edwin Jackson.

"At first, you think, 'What did I do wrong? Why didn't they want me?' But the other side is, 'The other team is really interested in me. They want me to be part of their future.' Initially, you get knocked out of your comfort zone because you have to learn a new team — and it happens at a moment's notice with no warning — but it obviously turned out very well for me.''

Rays left fielder Sam Fuld, then in the Chicago Cubs' organization, was headed to the airport last December to pick up his parents. His cell phone rang and he noticed a Chicago area code.

Uh-oh, he thought.

"I think it was the first time I actually spoke with (Cubs general manager) Jim Hendry on the phone,'' said Fuld, who was part of a Cubs trade package used to acquire Rays pitcher Matt Garza. "I had been up and down through the minors through my whole career. Moving around was not new to me.

"This was a little surprising and maybe bittersweet. At the same time, I think it really energized me.''

In 1993, former Jesuit High standout Dave Magadan said he thought he had found a permanent home with the expansion Florida Marlins. He was playing well, not far from home, and he never felt better. Then the Marlins acquired Gary Sheffield, who played third base, just like Magadan.

After shifting from regular to platoon player, Magadan requested a trade. He didn't anticipate the fallout after being dealt to the Seattle Mariners.

"One minute, you feel on top of the world,'' said Magadan, now hitting coach for the Boston Red Sox. "Two days later, you're in a different league, moving your family to the other side of the country with two young sons. It was rough. My world completely changed.''

In 2008, pitcher Nick Masset, of Pinellas Park High, felt he was settling in nicely with the Chicago White Sox. He went to bed late after a road game at Minnesota, then was awakened by his cell phone. "What do you think of the trade?'' a reporter asked.

"What trade?'' Masset said.

He thought it was a prank. Then he switched on ESPN and saw his name on the news crawl.

Masset had been traded to the Cincinnati Reds — for Ken Griffey Jr., his favorite player while growing up.

"I used to have his poster in my room,'' Masset said. "Later on, I got him to sign a White Sox jersey for me and we even played golf together. It's a big headache to change teams in the middle of a season, but getting traded for Griffey was just wild.''

After the 1973 season, the Kansas City Royals traded promising outfielder Lou Piniella to the New York Yankees, who had just entered the George Steinbrenner era. Piniella made four World Series appearances and played in 44 postseason games with the Yankees. Eventually, he became the team's manager, then its general manager.

And he had a front-row seat to one of the most volatile and colorful clubhouses.

"It made me a better player,'' Piniella said. "A town like New York, it's either going to make you or break you. A lot of good players come over and they just freeze up. I think I was able to respond to it. That's a trade that changed my life.''

Rick Sutcliffe feels the same way.

In 1984, Sutcliffe was a struggling 4-5 pitcher for the Cleveland Indians, hoping to bounce to his hometown Kansas City Royals as a free agent after the season. Meanwhile, the Chicago Cubs entered the summer seeking their first postseason appearance since 1945.

Clairvoyant Cubs general manager Dallas Green traded for Sutcliffe, sending away outfielders Joe Carter and Mel Hall to Cleveland, and the results were stunning.

Sutcliffe went 16-1 with a 2.69 ERA for the Cubs, who won the National League East title. Sutcliffe captured the NL Cy Young Award. After being offered a lifetime deal with the Royals, he instead re-signed with the Cubs.

"I owe everything to the Cubs,'' Sutcliffe said. "That meant something to me. George Steinbrenner called me and said, 'Look, I don't finish second. You get the best deal you can. I'll give you two more years and more money.' It wasn't about that. Wrigley Field is like my second home. I thought I'd be with the Royals. As it turned out, the relationship I had with the Cubs was something I cherished.''

Not everyone has a Sutcliffe-like deal, though.

Former University of Florida basketball center Dwayne Schintzius, of Brandon High, was the NBA draft's 24th overall pick in 1990. He liked the San Antonio Spurs and anticipated a long career there. But Spurs general manager Bob Bass didn't care for Schintzius' "lobster'' hairstyle.

"He told me to cut it,'' Schintzius said. "So I got it cut and sent him the shavings in an envelope. I'm not sure he appreciated that. And then, away I went.''

After his rookie season, Schintzius was traded to the Sacramento Kings for Antoine Carr, thus beginning an odyssey that saw him play for six teams in an injury-plagued, nine-season NBA career.

"After the first time, it wasn't a big deal to move around,'' Schintzius said. "Whoever signed my check, as long as I got paid, I was good.

"You're always moving, finding a new place to live, new places to eat and shop, making new friends. All of the above. But you just say, 'Oh well. It is what it is. I'm a professional athlete.' It's part of the deal.''

That means trades — or, at the very least, a lot of trade rumors.

And that's the landscape for this week in baseball. Who knows what's ahead for the Rays? In past deadline deals, they have sent away Fred McGriff and Aubrey Huff. They have welcomed Scott Kazmir and Ben Zobrist, who became All-Stars.

"It's impossible to completely remove emotion, but you must try to do that,'' said Rays executive vice president Andrew Friedman, speaking in generalities about deal-making, not specifically about any players. "If the industry is running one way, we have a responsibility to almost run the other way. We can't be dogmatic. We have to be fluid. Our margin for error is less than other teams in our division, so we're always looking to creatively seek some kind of competitive advantage.''