What possible purpose would moving Srod to 3rd and Longoria to SS serve?

That's Yoda with some of his totally off the wall thinking........Longo played SS in college, but he is the best 3B in the AL and one of the best in MLB......Moving Longo to SS would be an offensive disaster because Sean, no matter where he plays is NOT going to hit like he is expected to.....Leave Longo where he belongs 3B and at this point give the former SS, Zobrist, a shot it can't hurt anymore than it does already and it certainly would be an offensive upgrade!

Why Joyce???

I don't think Zobrist should play SS but simply switching Srod and Longo makes no sense.

I think Yoda needs to sit back and listen to my buddy art and absorb the game from the master instead posting looney tooney ideas.

Longoria is a better shortstop ... and S-Rod can pick it at 3B.

Why not make Shields a reliever and Start Howell?

Because Shield has proven he is a starting pitcher and can give you at 7 innings of pitching and keep your team in the game. And Howell was ONCE a very decent starter who knows how to pitch, can get K's for 5 innings. As a reliever he is at a disadvantage of having to come in and pitch with guys on base due to his style of pitching.

You think I was serious? ...Question?? If a guy can't hit playing shortstop,do you think he will hit playing third good enough to replace the best 3rd baseman in th AL east???

Longo isn't a better SS and switching their positions doesn't improve the offense at all.

This guy art seems to know what he's talking about. I'd listen to him. He makes sense...unlike others.

Rodriguez clearly doesn't have the reflexes and range at third that Longoria has. Rodriguez is a natural second baseman.

Howell's main disadvantage is that he's purely a junkball pitcher ... like old Eddie Lopat ... with almost every pitch ... when he's "on" ... running between 69 - 79 mph ... about the speed of a good high-schooler. And ... he'd be lucky to get through five batters ... let along five innings!

You are so totally wrong! 69-79 mph????? Ever seen his curve when it's on, nobaody can hit it, ever see his change when it's on, nobody can hit it....His fastball has never topped at at more than 91-92 and right now it's topping at 89.....But when he is on (look at some film from 2008-9 before the TJ) he has one of the best curve balls in baseball and a change that rivals Shields, who he actually learned it from!

When it's on! When it's on!?

The problem is ... you can NEVER tell when it's gonna' "be on"!

(And ... he hasn't thrown a fastball this season faster than 85 ... and he probably hasn't done that more than twice! And ... "2008-9"? Who cares about 2008-9? Who cares what Upton did in 2007? Who cares what Burrell did for Philadelphia? Who cares about Kazmir's "potential"?

For the money these guys are being paid ... the ONLY REAL QUESTION is ... "What have you done for me lately?"

I feel the same about Howell as I do about Upton (and, for example, Burrell, Kazmir, etc.); their time has come and gone. Both Upton and Howell started with a big flash a few years ago ... and have turned into little more than big fizzles since. They've had MORE than their share of chances with this team. Time for both to go elsewhere, moving on to a fresh start, and maybe taking advantage of an opportunity in a new setting to improve their baseball skills significantly.

(However, I don't believe that will actually ever happen to either. For some reason or another, both have apparently become "permanent" Rays ... no matter what. To me, keeping both around simply takes away the opportunities for two new players to come in who might actually turn out to be better!)

Longo is one of the best shortstops on planet earth ... only Tulo is better.

You have NO CLUE ... about how good S-Rod would be at 3B.

Howell's FB sits at 85. His problem is that he hasn't had control of his other pitches consistently. When he was outstanding a few years ago he'd have the hitters offstride with the offspeed pitches and still be able to lock them up with the fastball. Whether he gets that ability back remains to be seen.

Upton is a pretty good player and there is currently no logical alignment the team can put together which makes the team better without him.

Longo is a better 3rd baseman than SS and moving him to SS would be idiotic. Switching Srod and Longo would be more idiotic since it would serve no purpose at all.

So ... you obviously didn't see him playing third base last season ... and routinely being replaced by Felipe Lopez "for defensive purposes"?

He's a natural second-baseman; his reflexes and range at third are not even remotely comparable to Longoria's.

Yoda does come up with some good comedy doesn't he?....Just like his idea that the starters should split games like Price for five, Hellickson for the other four, etc......yeah right!!!

Howell's FB only occasionally breaks 85. Scott Kazmir was outstanding a few years ago, too. In my opinion, Howell is simply not good enough at this point ... or, if you must, not consistent enough ... to remain in a major league bullpen. And how he was, in terms of pitching quality, in 2008, is totally immaterial.

And the operative issue regarding Upton is ... the team is certainly no worse with Upton being out of the lineup. In my opinion, Farnsworth and Fuld being out are way more consequential than Upton being out. And, likewise, the fact that he had a career year in 2007 has l-o-n-g been immaterial.