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This team is lacking in heart and motivation, we even saw a rare glimpse of Joe's frustration yesterday against the Padres. Some moves need to be made to get the payers attention. Sadly I see no options at the moment for Upton & Pena.

There are two moves that need to be done. Navi is the sacrifical lamb. Send him down - send a message.

The other move due is Davis. Not that I think he should be punished. I have been his advocate all season. My thought was "he is a rookie strugging with command - typical" but he hasn't showed improvment. At this point its torture for us fans, his teamates and most of all his confidence. Let him move to AAA and work this issue out.

Then bring up Hellickson and hope he provides a spark. Win-win. Davis works out his command and the Rays get some new blood and a possible spark to right the ship.

Sorry. I'm not ready to be quite as reactionary as you.

I assume you are talking about Davis unless you are the lone Navi fan. lol

When do you draw the line? Can Davis not work on his control elsewhere and not at the expense of the big league club?

i'm as frustrated as everyone else with davis, but if the rest of the starters hadn't all plummeted at the same time, the travails of our #5 starter wouldn't be an issue. i think the only place to work on your issues staying on top of MLB hitters is in the MLB, we've gotta ride this out with davis like we had to with price. sonnanstine seems to have been way more reliable than wade in the last 6 weeks, but that actually makes him a great choice as long reliever. i don't know if wade davis would be my choice to enter a close game where i need a reliever to give me 3 scoreless innings, if he's gonna make a mess of things i would rather it be at a point in the game where we can work our way back.

after your first 10 or so starts is when the league starts forcing a rookie pitcher to adjust, and so wade is not an exception. i'm pretty sure strasburg will find himself more hittable 2 months from now as well. i can't advocate sonny leaving long relief right now, and bringing up hellickson and demoting wade davis just pushes further struggles into the future. i wouldn't be upset to see cormier out and hellickson in, though.

still the spark needs to come from a guy currently on the roster, durham is just extra pieces. every position player aside from kapler and aybar has looked studly in 2010, but nobody can seem to keep it going.

Maddon and Friedman are so slow and cautious to make changes that we will certainly be 5 or 6 games back in the wild card race before too long.

I've said all season that the worst thing that could happen is for us to be a couple games back in third place and still think we have a chance.

This season is do or die, but I'd rather gut the roster with helpful trades than cling to a false hope of contending. I just hope the path is clear.

How do you figure that? We only have three players with an OPS above .800 and one of them wasn't even on the roster on Opening Day (Jaso).

My sentiments exactly.

Yeah. Offense is down this season but, when you look at the Rays lineup, who reasonably is having a down season?

Zobrist, Longo and CC have been fine. Pena's been down. Then again....Jaso' been up.

The problem is Bartlett is once again Bartlett. Navi is Navi and Shoppach either hasn't played enough or hasn't gotten it done when he's played.

It's also time to come to the conclusion that BJ is BJ and what we are seeing is what we are getting.

That lineup is absolutely full of holes.

Maybe somebody already mentioned this: I feel that the recent negative vibes from Sternberg are hurting team morale.

The Yanks enjoy playing in a new billion-dollar stadium, the old Boston stadium has sold out since Abe Lincoln was President, but the Rays players must feel like nobody wants them, with all the renewed stadium controversy.

sorry, i didn't phrase that correctly, each guy has looked studly for some stretch of time - didn't mean to imply all our position players have been studly all year. they've all flashed the levels we feel they should be at and then regressed in demoralizing fashion

It's time indeed.

Navi optioned. Joyce called up.

Sweet...come on Joyce!

another lefty hitter who can't find a spot in the field, or is he able to play defense now?

Barring injury, Joyce is an excellent defender. The knock on him was his inability to hit LH pitching. He's improved much in this area.

His arm is still a question mark, but we will find out quite soon just how healthy that arm is.

I can't think of a better move to make considering CC is on the shelf for a few days and Kapler is still on the DL.

last i heard, his arm wasn't doing well enough for him to play outfield. after a little internet research i guess he has been playing some outfield. with CC potentially hurting the move does make sense, i stand corrected.

if he is still having trouble with the arm defensively, i'd be concerned about his utility, given how little action we've been able to get to blalock. and if CC were healthy, i'd also wonder about the fit with us already trying to juggle rodriguez, brignac and zobrist daily. i guess joyce slots into the bottom 3 of the order and jumps straight into the lineup until CC feels better