The Rays didn't get Billy Wagner, but it appears they are about to announce the signing of a younger, equally talented closer in Rafael Soriano, who last year saved 27 games for the Atlanta Braves, the team that picked up Wagner.  More than any other acquisition, this was a master stroke for Andrew Friendman and his team of talent evaluators.  Now, for the first time since Troy Percival got hurt, the Rays have someone who can come into the game in the ninth inning and blow away the oppostion.  Can Soriano bring a pennant back to Tampa Bay?  The possibility now is there.  Last year the team won 84 games despite a miserable start and a mid-season eleven game losing streak.  JP Howell, who blew ten saves, can go back to doing what he does best, get batters out in the 7th and 8th, and with the young kid Jake McGee coming up and Grant Balfour still throwing heat, it appears that Dan Wheeler just might be the odd man out of a very talented bullpen. 

     There are two huge questions that need to be answered: Is BJ Upton Rickey Henderson or is he the marginal hitter he was last year?  And who is going to catch?  Dioner Navarro, as sweet a guy as he is, appears headed somewhere else in order to give Kelly Shoppach a shot at the job.  Shoppach, who started in the Boston organization, is a better hitter and better receiver than Navarro, but last year slumped so bad that his numbers were worse than Dioner's.  Who to keep and who to let go?  There is no easy answer.

      Finally, what to do with Pat Burrell, who has joined Ben Grieve and Vinnie Castilla as those most often cited as "the worst Ray of all time."  Grieve, who looked at more called strikes than any batter in history and never uttered a word or made a facial expression in disgust, and Castilla, who came to the Rays and decided to make as many errors as he could and strike out as often as he could in order to get his ass traded somewhere else, were horrible.  Burrell, who hit thirty home runs four years in a row before coming to Tampa Bay, struck out as often as Grieve for his $8 million, hit fourteen home runs, drove in sixty, batted crappy, and was a downer in the clubhouse.  Reports of his drunken behavior did not sit well with the front office either, which is why the Rays would consider trading him for Milton Bradley, the second-most disruptive player in baseball.  Bradley can switch hit, and he's not a bad outfielder.  Burrell was too slow to play the outfield, which is why the Rays made him a DH.  And as a DH, he was a dismal failure.  If the Rays had batted anyone else at DH, they'd have won five or six more games. 

      The Yankees front office is allowing GM Brian Cashman to work his magic, and the savvy Cashman just traded for and signed the talented Curtis Granderson to lead off, keeping Derek Jeter in the second spot.  The only way the Yankees don't repeat is if their older players are hit with injuries.  Andy Pettitte signed for $11 million to return for another year.  Damon and/or Matsui, two older players, might be back.  The Yankees have to figure out what to do with Jorge Posada, a star for years but now an injury-prone liability behind the plate.  Look for them to sign one of the Molinas. 

       The Red Sox with Theo Epstein at the helm are equally cagey.  They just traded Mike Lowell, a stalward, and seem about to sign Beltre formerly of the Seattle Mariners.  Roy Halliday and John Lackey, two pitchers the Rays can't afford, are still out there, and the addition of one of them will make the Red Sox very difficult to catch. 

       If the Rays were in either the Central or the West, they'd be considered as favorites (with the Angels), but in the East the question remains, as it does every year: can the Rays catch the Yankees or the Red Sox with a salary a third of the other two teams?  With Rafael Soriano at the back of their pen, the answer is: if no one gets hurt, yeah, maybe they can.