I’m very excited.  I was reading the sports wire, and I saw that the Rays are one of the teams who have expressed interest in signing free agent Billy Wagner.  He's just what the team needs, an experienced guy who can close out games.  The Rays let Aki go, saving themselves a bunch of money, and for the team to have any chance at all to catch New York or Boston, they are going to need to be able to finish games.  As it stands no one on the roster can do that with the exception of David Price, and I doubt if the Rays want to take him from the rotation.  Jake McGee, the kid in the minors who the experts say has the stuff to close, should have a couple of years as the set-up guy before being handed such an important job. 

  There is also talk that the Mets are talking to the Rays about signing Pat Burrell, who started the season with a stiff neck and finished it with a flaccid bat.  Burrell is your quintessential National League.  He can't field worth a lick, and he sure can't hit American League pitching.  If the Rays can figure out some way to gull the overpriced, hapless Mets into taking Burrell, they should do it, and after they do it, they should go out and get drunk. 

   Meanwhile, Carl Crawford will be a Ray for at least one more season.  CC has been the heart of this franchise for a long time, and even though he speaks with marbles in his mouth and has never found a way to get the fans warm up to him, he is still the best player the Rays have ever had.  If BJ Upton can hit .250, the tandem of Crawford and Upton should produce a lot of runs this year.