"The Rays insist they don't put any greater emphasis on getting deals done at the annual baseball winter meetings, which open today in Dallas. They've actually made trades at each of the past four get-togethers — ditching Elijah Dukes in '07, getting Matt Joyce in '08 and Rafael Soriano in '09, agreeing to the Jason Bartlett deal last year — but tend to let the market, especially for free agents, play out a bit before doing the bulk of their business.

At some point in the next few days or weeks or months, however, they're going to have to make at least a couple of tough decisions.

While executive VP Andrew Friedman keeps saying it's possible they will bring back both DH Johnny Damon and 1B Casey Kotchman, that doesn't make sense if they are determined to improve an offense that scored the fewest runs in the AL East. The Rays loved Kotchman's defense and Damon's clubhouse presence (and liked the versatility he provided in playing the field), but they got only 26 homers and 121 RBIs total from them, which just isn't enough.

To truly improve the offense, they'll have to move on and upgrade at least one of those spots — unless they find more offense elsewhere, such as an unexpected move for a top shortstop or catcher. Or, despite downplaying it, trading CF B.J. Upton (the Nationals are still interested) and re-investing the $7 million he'll make through arbitration for other hitters."