The Rays tend to stand pat at the trade deadline, and you can expect the same this time around, writes Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. Right now, the Rays have one of their best squads in the past six seasons, strong pitching, a solid bullpen, and the offense is doing better than expected. "I like what we have now," manager Joe Maddon said. "With everybody staying well I don't anticipate us doing anything." Here's more out of the AL and NL East..
- Consistent with what we've been hearing, the Mets say that they aren't in a rush to trade outfielder Marlon Byrd, writes Mike Puma of the New York Post. ”It would have to be significant [talent],” Alderson said before last night's game. “I don’t want to add to the speculation because I don’t know what’s going to happen, but we want to remain competitive.” Byrd is hitting .267/.313/.498 with 15 homers while the Mets are 40-50, 12 games back from the first place Braves.
- Domonic Brown is shining for the Phillies, but they almost let him get away, writes Matt Gelb of the Philadelphia Inquirer. Brown was an untouchable during talks in 2009 with Toronto for Roy Halladay but two baseball sources said Brown's name was discussed in the 2011 trade with the Astros for Hunter Pence.
- The Red Sox aren't feeling pressured to make a trade before the deadline, writes Michael Silverman of the Boston Herald. Even if Clay Buchholz has another setback, the BoSox can still get by with what they have, in Silverman's estimation.
