Today marks the unofficial opening of the second half.
For Rays closer Roberto Hernandez, it also marks the start of the trade rumor season. Each year, for what seems to him like forever, Hernandez hears reports and talk and chatter that he is going somewhere. It happened once, in July 1997 when the White Sox shipped him and Wilson Alvarez to San Francisco, and may have been close last year. Now the rumors are starting this year, with St. Louis, Cleveland and Atlanta mentioned among the potential suitors. But he also acknowledges that the team's poor performance could lead team officials to consider change.