When Sunday's 4 p.m. non-waiver trade deadline passed, Aubrey Huff was still at DH, Julio Lugo remained at shortstop, and Danys Baez kept his seat in the bullpen.

The Rays explored deals right up until about 3:30 p.m. on Sunday, but nothing attractive enough was offered to prompt the Devil Rays to pull the trigger.

"I don't think we've ever worked as hard going into or during the trade deadline [as] this year," said Rays general manager Chuck LaMar.

LaMar added he was tired of criticism directed at the Rays organization for not making a move.

"If they want to criticize me or this organization for our won-loss record, then so be it," LaMar said. "Or how we've done in the past, then that's fine. But reports that we have held up a lot of trades, that we were the ones that squelched big trades, [that is false], and the people involved know that." LaMar said they made their intentions clear.

"We said to everybody before the trade deadline that for us to trade Aubrey Huff, Julio Lugo, or Danys Baez, or a combination thereof, that it was going to take young prospects that we can build and win with," LaMar said.

The Rays were a player in the blockbuster deal that would have sent Mike Cameron of the Mets to the Red Sox, Manny Ramirez of the Red Sox to the Mets, Baez and Lugo to the Mets, and Huff to the Red Sox. In return, the Rays would have received close-to-Major League-ready prospects.

LaMar said the Rays proposed the deal.

"I called [Red Sox general manager] Theo Epstein," LaMar said. "I had had talks with the Mets concerning both Danys Baez and Julio Lugo. I had a discussion with Boston about Aubrey Huff. And those talks individually weren't going anywhere, ... so we met for three hours as a baseball staff and came up with this proposal, knowing what we knew about Manny [Ramirez] and his situation possibly going to the Mets because we had had discussions with those two teams. We thought there might be the chance to make a blockbuster deal and sort of be a part of that kind of deal, so we proposed that deal to Boston and to New York."

But the prospects needed to satisfy the Rays did not come through.

"I told both teams from the very start so there was no gray matter here that I think this proposal is a very good deal for the New York Mets and a very good deal for the Boston Red Sox and we may be the team at the end of the day that has to pull the plug if it gets to that point," LaMar said.

"And all three of our players were involved -- Danys Baez, Julio Lugo, Aubrey Huff. ... For me to move all three of those players in this deal, I have to have a package not only numbers-wise, but [get] prospects back that would ensure [that] our organization [is] moving forward. Conceptually, that's about as close as it got. Very candidly, you're going to read that we asked Boston for a package of prospects coming to us, including two very good prospects coming back. And at the end of the day, Boston said no. So, for us to be looked upon as we pulled the plug on it, there was a lot of moving parts on it.

"The Mets were giving up a guy they didn't want to give up. Boston was going to have to give up some kids they didn't want to give up. And at the end of the day, Boston made the decision [that] Manny Ramirez was going nowhere. So for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, it was a baseball trade that happened to involve two big teams, a tremendously productive player, Manny Ramirez, and a lot of money. If we didn't get the prospects we wanted, there was no way we were going to do the deal. So, for us to take the heat over being the ones to pull the plug is just outlandish.

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At the end of the day, they were not willing to give up the young prospects we wanted. So, there were no trades made. That's baseball. That's business. ... When you look back at the end of the day for the actual offers we got for those players, [not making a deal] was a no-brainer."

Lugo said he was expecting some moves, adding, "It's out of our hands. We just have to play. Whatever happens, happens."

When asked if he was happy about not getting traded, Huff answered, "Absolutely."

"I like it here," Huff said. "I've got a home here. We're starting to win."