For past update’s on B.J. Upton’s trade status, see our articles from Friday and Saturday.
As far as the Rays are concerned, not much has changed on the trade front since yesterday. The Nats and Braves are both still without an outfielder, although it sounds like the Nats are very close to landing Denard Span.
If that’s the case, that really bring the Rays’ list of suitors for B.J. Upton down to just the Braves. The Braves have expressed interest in a variety of outfielders — they have been hot on Michael Bourne recently — and my guess is they shop around a bunch before going with the player that seems like the best deal. They seem hesitant to include multiple of their top pitching prospects in a deal, but I imagine the Rays would be happy receiving any one of the Big Four in a deal for Upton (along with some other throw-ins).
And then there was this little nugget that Marc Topkin left us with yesterday:
Latest from #Rays: Nothing is close, any action likely would be near or at deadline
Despite the relative quietness of the rumors, there is reason to believe the Rays will be active today. The Rays love to wait for the deadline to make moves, since the market tends to get at its most expensive and desperate then, so I’m still relatively hopeful that they’ll make a trade today. The trade deadline is 4pm today, so it could be an exciting day.
As always, stay tuned. For breaking news on the Rays as the trade deadline approached, follow SB Nation Tampa Bay on Twitter or Facebook.