Rays Winter Meetings Roundup: Day 2

Another day is in the books for the 2011 Winter Meetings in Dallas. More rumors began to come to fruition yesterday, with the biggest ones revolving around BJ Upton. Here is the Rays news from day two of the 2011 Winter Meetings.

• Jon Morosi tweeted that the Nationals and Rays are once again having talks on BJ Upton. It would be nice if a deal finally gets done since the Nationals have some good players that the Rays could get in return. They have some great catching prospects as well as some first base options that could intrigue the Rays.
• Also on the Nationals front, Pete Kerzel of MASN Sports tweeted that the Nationals are “fixated” on getting a new center fielder in Dallas. This means that they could be willing top give up a good package to the Rays for BJ Upton. We will see if anything happens this time around after the Rays failed to trade him the last couple Winter Meetings and Trade Deadlines.
• According to a tweet from Jim Bowden, Joe Maddon said on MLB Network Radio that Yonder Alonso‘s name has come up in meetings for the Rays and that they realize they would have to trade a starter to get him. It would be nice if the Rays could figure out a way to trade Wade Davis and/or Jeff Niemann in a package to get him, but it would most likely take James Shields to get Alonso. Alonso would be the Rays first base answer for many years to come. He had an amazing season last year in AAA and hit .330 with 5 homers in 98 plate appearances after a late season call-up. Alonso would be great for the Rays to get, but I think the Reds would have to include one more prospect to get James Shields.
• Dave O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal Constitution tweeted that the Marlins would look to trade Gaby Sanchez if they signed Albert Pujols. As I mentioned earlier this offseason, the Rays could look to trade for Gaby Sanchez if that is the case and the Marlins need starting pitching, so the deal could easily work.
• And finally some actual news, the Rays signed Juan Miranda, Matt Mangini, Jhonny Nunez, and Ricky Orta to minor league contracts yesterday. The biggest name of the four is Juan Miranda, who spent last season in the Diamondbacks organization. He made 202 plate appearances last season with the big league D-Backs and could be a Dan Johnson type for the Rays, the Durham starting first baseman and big league fill in.