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Rays seek to retain young talent

With a limited budget, one free agent to negotiate with and two players eligible for arbitration, the Rays appear set for a relatively quiet offseason.

But the possibility of a trade shouldn't be discounted.

General manager Chuck LaMar said he received considerable interest about a number of the Rays' young players at the recent GM meetings in Chicago.

"Probably more so than ever before, the quality of our young players has everyone's interest," LaMar said.

"You look at the group of Nick Bierbrodts and Joe Kennedys and Victor Zambranos and Jesus Colomes and Brent Abernathy, Carl Crawford and Josh Hamilton. Obviously we want to hold on to most, if not all, of those guys," LaMar said.

Outfielders Randy Winn and Ben Grieve reportedly have drawn interest from a few teams.

"Possibly we trade young player for young player that fills a bigger hole for us than the player leaving," Lamar said. "Right now our goal is to try and hold on to as many of these kids as we can."

The Rays will have to decide whether to tender qualifying offers to their arbitration-eligible players -- pitcher Bryan Rekar and outfielder Jose Guillen -- before Tuesday. Negotiations with free-agent shortstop Chris Gomez have been slowed because of the uncertainty surrounding contraction.

"I don't foresee our team changing tremendously," LaMar said, "from how we ended up the year."

COMPLETE TRANSITION: By hiring Milt May as batting coach last week, Hal McRae filled out a coaching staff that almost is all his. Only bench coach Billy Hatcher remains from the staff that began last season with Larry Rothschild as manager.

McRae has hired coaches Lee May (first base), Tom Foley (third base), Glenn Ezell (bullpen), Jackie Brown (pitching) and Milt May since taking over April 18.

"I think it's an experienced staff," McRae said "It's all people that I worked with before. I think it's always important when you have to work together that you know the staff and that staff is familiar with you."

WAITING AROUND: Player representatives for the Rays, Twins, Expos and Marlins recently took part in a conference call held by the Major League Players Association.

The message was that nothing had been decided, though Friday's decision by a Minnesota judge that the Twins must play their 2002 home schedule hampers plans commissioner Bud Selig and the owners have for contraction.

"It's almost a hurry up and wait thing," Montreal catcher Michael Barrett said. "There's a feeling that the owners might not even be able to contract, let alone have a dispersal draft. My opinion is that a lot of the logistics are just too difficult to work out before the season starts."

BIG RED GOODBYE: The most significant decision last week came easily for Mark McGwire. The St. Louis first baseman walked away from a two-year, $30-million contract extension when he announced his retirement.

"Driving to the park every day this year, I was saying, "Show me something that keeps me out there, that keeps telling me baseball is what I need to be doing,' " said McGwire, who hit .187 with 29 homers on a surgically repaired right knee this season. "Throughout this whole year, there was no sign at all."

NAME GAME: Enron Field in Houston could have a new name by next season. Enron Corp, which paid $100-million for stadium naming rights, is close to be being bought out by Dynegy. The Internet domain name dynegyfield.com was registered Thursday.

TICKET INFO: Should contraction or a labor dispute affect the Rays' schedule in any manner, team officials said Thursday that ticket-holders -- season or single game -- would receive a full refund.

RAYS BITS: Fifteen Rays employees participated in the Great American Teach In on Wednesday in various elementary and middle schools throughout Hillsborough and Pinellas counties. Among those who participated were chief operating officer John McHale Jr., senior vice president and general counsel John Higgins and Bierbrodt. ... Jason Standridge and Delvin James, who combined on a seven inning no-hitter with Brewers prospect Brian Mallette on Nov. 5 for Maryvale in the Arizona Fall League, were named pitchers of the week.

THE FINAL WORD: McGwire has stated publicly that he hopes St. Louis can sign free-agent first baseman Jason Giambi. Cardinals manager Tony La Russa spoke with Giambi last weekend at a wedding for an Oakland clubhouse attendant. "It was like the E.F. Hutton (commercial)," La Russa joked. "Every time I said something to him, half the Oakland organization was standing next to us."

-- Information from other news organizations was used in this report.

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