According to Marc Topkin of the St. petersburg Times, the Tampa Bay Rays may look for another bat to replace retired/cheat Manny Ramirez. Though the Rays may not make a move for a couple of months.

Topkin says that part of the reason the Rays will wait for a bit is because there aren’t any quality players available this early in the season.Trade talk doesn’t typically start until mid to late May and doesn’t warm up until after the June draft.

There are also a variety of players that were released, or weren’t in any Spring Training camp, or have agreements with independent leagues to look for, but according to Topkin they won’t provide much help for the team.

The Rays also have the money issue. Although they saved most of the $2 million of Ramirez’s contract, their replacements are costing the team pretty much the same money. Felipe Lopez gets a $1 million salary (with up to $1 million in incentives) and Casey Kotchman $750,000 (with $400,000 in incentives).

Both players are out of options, so neither of them can be sent back down to the Minors without going through waivers. If they decide to go that way, the team could end up losing them and still paying most of their salaries.