Nick Cafardo has a long preview of the 2010 Rays in the Boston Globe.  If he spent much time in the Rays camp, he didn’t come up with too much new stuff.  Of course, it mentions the pending free agency of Carl Crawford and Carlos Pena. 

He mentions that the Rays have Desmond Jennings waiting in the wings for an outfield spot, but settles for Ben Zobrist as Pena’s possible replacement.  Personally, I don’t see taking a versatile fielder like Zobrist and planting him at first.  Perhaps that’s just me. 

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On a side note, the Globe’s Christopher L. Gasper takes a light-hearted look at the phenomenon of the UZR (Ultimate Zone Rating).     In talking with  a few Red Sox players, he discovered this:

“I don’t even know what it is.  Hopefully, my UZR is sick.” — Kevin Youkilis

“Whatever it is. I know I had a pretty good one. It’s got to be pretty good.”  — Mike Cameron

“I still don’t really know what it is.” – Jacoby Ellsbury

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USA Today’s Fred Goodall talks about the upcoming season of DH Pat Burrell.   There are a lot of reasons that can explain the poor season Burrell had last year.  Injuries, new experiences in the American League and at DH are a few of them.  But, by most accounts, Pat the Bat has arrived in camp optimistic of a turnaround.

“You can’t spend a whole lot of time thinking about the past…You want to put it behind you, but you also want to be able to build from it.  I’ve had bad seasons before, and it is extra motivation for you to come in and give it that much more focus and determination to turn things around.”

Some players have bad weeks.  They go into slumps.  I’m not sure it’s comforting for Burrell to admit this wasn’t his first “bad season”.  Not when you’re being paid $16 million over two seasons to have something better than bad.

The Rays have a new season slogan this year: W.I.N. No more math. Now we have an acronym. Last year’s slogan didn’t work, and 9=8 was the best, now I am just feeling this one. Joe Maddon is at it again with this acronym: W.I.N.- What’s Important Now.

This is a great motto for the season because this is the year. The Rays need the playoffs and World Series now. The front office have spent the money on this season, so the players need to perform to make it happen, or in other words, WIN.

Where can I get my t-shirt?

Cliff Floyd appeared today on MLB Homeplate. He gave his take on the Carl Crawford contract situation:

My feeling is I think he will outprice himself in Tampa.  Of course, it’s a win-win for CC.  My advice to him would be to stay with Tampa because it makes him a ten-five guy and then he can pretty much pick anywhere he wants to go as opposed to being a free agent.  But he’s a smart young man and I think the biggest thing he’s got going for himself is the game has changed right into his corner.

Am I the only one that thinks he will stay in a Rays uniform? I guess I just don’t want to see CC anywhere else but in St. Pete.

Having said that, I can at least make an argument for trading Carl Crawford during Spring Training.  Why?  Because this is going to get messy.

The hype is here.  The Rays enter Spring Training with its most talented team ever.  They’re all saying it.  I tend to agree.  So, here’s my problem.  I am convinced that the Rays will not be able to re-sign CC.  His price tag is going to be too high.  He will be the prize of the off-season free agent class.  The Yankees and the Red Sox will fall all over each other trying to bring him on board. 

I would hate to see the Rays get only draft picks for Carl.  The return that he could bring in a trade should be pretty high.  So, when do you deal?  If this is the most talented team in Rays history, they will be flirting with playoff contention on August 1.  Trading CC at deadline if they are within sneezing distance of the playoffs would be a PR nightmare.  Read the rest of this entry »

And this from the Red Sox flagship, NESN:

Tampa should be stronger at the end of games if Soriano performs up to expectations, but with the loss of Red Sox killer Akinori Iwamura and several other departures from their middle relief corps, the Rays don’t seem to have made up a considerable amount of ground on either the Red Sox or Yankees.

Looks like bulletin board material for me.  According to them, Aki was the key to this season.  That, and the departure of several middle relievers?  Will someone help me out with that?  I guess they are referring to the rejects that the Red Sox picked up.

ESPN’s Jayson Stark gave his early assessment of the Rays.  And, Rays fans should be happy.  I won’t dwell, but the highlights are “It isn’t last year anymore” and “They have a closer”.  Enough for me. 

So, if there’s anything from Stark’s piece that sums it up, it’s this:

By the way, this team also has Keith Law’s No. 7-ranked pitching prospect in baseball, Jeremy Hellickson, looming just over the horizon. So while this might not be as ballyhooed a rotation as the groups in Boston and the Bronx, if all these light bulbs go on at once, look out.

Felipe Lopez finished last season with a .310 batting average and a .386 OBP.  He hit over .300 vs. both left-handed and right-handed pitchers, so no need for a platoon.  He has a year of 44 stolen bases, so he has some speed and some Joe Maddon-esque skills. 

Felipe Lopez earned $3.5 million last year.  But, we are into spring training and he remains unsigned.  You have to figure his price tag is taking a hit.  According to yahoo.com, the Rays are not currently among four team entertaining interest in Lopez.  Maybe he becomes more appealing now that he has canned  uber-agent Scott Boras.

Win or else.  Felipe Lopez makes sense.  Stabilize the infield.  Anchor Zorilla in right field.    Owner Stuart Sternberg has said that 2010 is THE year.  Payroll will decline after this season.  If the Rays are playing “all in”, signing a veteran second baseman like Lopez makes sense. Last year, he hit .315 as a leadoff hitter, so he would give the Rays another option to top the batting order. 

If the Rays are going to contend with the Yankees and Red Sox, Felipe Lopez makes sense.  He would remove any question about the lineup and what it would look like on a daily basis.  If this is the year, sign this free agent and see where the Rays end up in the standings.

Today could quite possibly be my favorite day of the year. Today marks the start of workouts down in Port Charlotte for the Rays. The baseball season will be no longer at any point than it is today. Today marks the start of non-stop baseball talk until October and, hopefully, beyond. I know, no actual games will not be played until later this month, but we have made it through another offseason, and it only gets better from here.

Now, you may be saying that some Rays have been working out at the Trop for a couple weeks and the actual reporting day for pitchers and catchers was yesterday, but today is the first mandatory workout for pitchers and catchers and a voluntary workout for position players, so this is the first day I will count as the first day of the baseball season.

The Rays will hold FanFest again this Saturday and it will mark the first time since October many of us have been to the Trop. I was one of the lucky ones who went to a football game at the Trop, but this is different. The whole thing will be about the Rays. It is time to see our Rays in person for the first time since the disapointing end to last season.

Let’s all hope this will be another great season in Rays baseball and we will be covering it all right here on Rise of the Rays.

Here’s to another great baseball season!

NOTE: There is still time to sign up for the Rise of the Rays fantasy baseball league. If you are interested, please email me at devonrogers@tampabay.rr.com.

As reported by MLB.com, the Rays are one of six teams taking a look at Cuban first baseman Jose Julio Ruiz.  The 25-year-0ld left-handed hitter hopes to be signed sometime this week. 

One of his agent’s Jorge Luis Toca says that Ruiz hopes to sign with a team where the opportunity to play right away is the best.  Could that be the Rays?  We know that Carlos Pena has one year left on his contract.  Depending how the season goes, he could be traded at some point during the 2010 season.  And, if Ruiz is the real deal as a hitter, he might make a decent platoon at DH with Pat Burrell.

When last he played, Ruiz hit .305 with a .408 OBP and .468 slugging percentage for his Cuban team.  But, supporting the idea of a platoon, Ruiz hit just .214 against left-handed pitchers while batting .338 against righties.  If nothing else, his past ability to steal bases might appeal to the Rays.  In his last full season in Cuba, he stole 32 bases.  But, that was at a reported playing weight of 194 lbs.  Reports now has his weight in the 230-240 range.

“Last year, we had a lot of problems with the back end of our bullpen. Now, I think we’ve got that settled signing Rafael Soriano away from the Braves. Now, we don’t have to panic in the eighth and ninth inning when we have a one- or two-run lead.”

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CBS Sports’ Danny Knobler posted his preview of the 2o10 Rays the other day.  I thought it was a typical review taken from a national perspective.  It highlights the star players a little, takes swipes at attendance, and speculates that they won’t be able to retain Carl Crawford.  One piece I do take issue with is this:

You can even argue that if the Rays hadn’t made two mistakes last winter (trading Jackson for underwhelming Matt Joyce, and signing Pat Burrell to a terrible two-year contract), they would have had more of a chance to make big moves this winter. 

I maintain that it’s still too early to assess the Matt Joyce trade.  Edwin Jackson really didn’t have a place on last year’s roster.  And, in the end, were his numbers that much better than Jeff Niemann’s?  If, at the end of the 2010 season, Matt Joyce hasn’t progressed with the big league team, then the trade can be proclaimed a disappointment.   

As far as Pat Burrell goes, of course hindsight says it was a bad signing.  But, I don’t think that’s the main reason the Rays haven’t been more active in this off-season.  They Rays had several other contracts that elevated over the winter.  It’s hard to strap the blame on these two moves.

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Finally, Buster Olney’s report on Carl Crawford airs this afternoon at 12:30 p.m. ET on ESPN’s Baseball Tonight.