Peter Gammons of MLB.com mentions splitting the Yankees and Red Sox up. His situation puts the Yankees and Mets in one division and the Red Sox and Rays in another. This situation would be great because, IMO, the Rays are better than the Red Sox. I would like to see this because I am tired of the Yankees spending all the money, like most of us are.

My only question is, which division would have the Phillies, Marlins, Blue Jays and Orioles? I still think this would be great for the Rays as we would not have to deal with the Yankees anymore. The question is, would it be good for the Rays ticket sales. The Rays sell a lot of tickets to Yankees fans when they are in town, so it is likely the Rays would lose some ticket sales.

His piece also contains this quote:

From a National League scout: “I know Wade Davis and David Price have tremendous talent, but learning to pitch in the American League East is different from any other division. Let’s see what those Baltimore and Toronto young pitchers do. We’ll see Joba Chamberlain and Phil Hughes make a jump soon. Clay Buchholz may be the best of them all.”

I have to disagree. The Rays have the best young talent in the rotation of all the teams in the AL East except maybe the O’s. I think it has already showed that Davis and Price can make the adjustment just like Shields, Garza, and Niemann did. I would have to take Davis or Price any day over Buchholz and we will see what this scout has to say at the end of the season.

“Grey” at razzball.com critiques the ESPN mock fantasy baseball draft results in a post from yesterday.  In his words, “here’s some head scratchers from ESPN’s 2010 fantasy baseball mock draft:”

Carl Crawford – 7th overall. Ha!  Seriously, I don’t even know what to say about this.  Michael Bourn is that different at around pick 100?

Did I just read that right?  Did CC just get compared to Michael Bourn?  If we only look at stolen bases, they’re close.  But, for those of you who actually play fantasy baseball, leagues usually include other stat categories.  Bourn’s career high RBI total is 35.  Thirty-five.  He’s a career .262 hitter with a best of .285.  Again, I ask, did he just compare the two? 

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Over at advancedfantasybaseball.com, blogger Jon Williams posted the players he will not own in 2010.  BJ Upton made his list. 

I should begin by admitting that I have owned this Upton on various teams since he was drafted. I believe in his tools. He could be a great player. But I no longer believe he will be. It is not just that I’ve been let down by him in the past…but not only have signs of growth been few and far between but the Rays are now willing to trade him. They offered him to Toronto for Roy Halladay. The Rays also have Desmond Jennings who has all the tools of Upton plus strike zone judgment. Upton would not be the first tool-laden superstud athlete to fail to become a productive regular player in MLB. I think B.J. Upton is much closer to that fate than to becoming a superstar.

Seems harsh.  Many who read my posts know I’m hard on BJ.  But, this post has a rather outsider/uninformed smell to it.  I’m not sure that Desmond Jennings is being groomed as BJ’s replacement.  Right now, I think most of us see him as Carl Crawford’s replacement as it looks more and more like Carl will disappear via free agency or a trade prior to the end of the 2010 season. 

And to note that the Rays were willing to trade him for Roy Halladay is a stretch to consider that a negative.  I don’t think the Rays were ever seriously considering trading for Halladay.  But, to get arguably the best starting pitcher in baseball takes giving up talent.  The fact that BJ was included in the rumors makes him a pretty decent talent.

I say, if he’s there and the pick makes sense, take him.  BJ’s going to have a good year this year.

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Finally, the rotoprofessor has some pretty good things to say about Desmond Jennings.  But, then again, if you’re following the fantasy gurus, who doesn’t?  This post has him in the Rays outfield (right field) by the all-star break.

With the type of upside he has, he could be a fantasy gem by 2011.  For 2010, he may not be the best propsect in the game, but with his speed, he’s clearly a Top Five at worst.

• The LoHud.com Yankees Blog gave a 2010 Rays preview. They, of course, predict the Rays to finish third in the AL East. This post says the Yankees are better than the Rays in rotation. I think that the Rays rotation has the potential to be a great rotation if they are all on. The Yankees rotation has the right now factor, as all of them are pretty good right now, but the back end of their rotation is iffy at best. This post also says that the Rays have better speed and a better outfield.
• Minor League Ball lists their top 20 Rays prospects. Desmond Jennings, Jeremy Hellickson, and Wade Davis top the list. No surprise there.
• Buster Olney gives a rundown of the Rays offseason additions and says the Rays may be one of the four or five best teams in the Major League.
• Finally, CBSSports.com gave their fantasy outlook on the Rays. They think the Rays breakout will be BJ Upton and a sleeper will be Sean Rodriguez. They also call Ben Zobrist a bust for the next season. He did have a great year last year, but I do not see a dropoff in his production this year. They also include the Rays 2010 outlook.

Talk of New York (T.O.N.Y) Sports tabs Desmond Jennings as its AL Rookie of the Year candidate.  While that would be great, I’m not sure where Jennings gets the playing time, at least initially.  The prediction is a good one.  But, it might be a year premature.

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Sportsnewsnetwork.org has the Rays as the fourth best team in all of baseball for the 2010 season.  Not sure how much value you stake in this post, considering this is a Chicago blog and lists the Cubs at #3 and the White Sox at #5. 

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A little fantasy talk…fantasybullpen.com tabs Jeremy Hellickson as the 10th best prospect.  I guess due to size alone, he draws his MLB comparison of Hellickson to Scott Kazmir.  For me, I’d like to think Hellickson’s the next Greg Maddux. 

For what it’s worth, this site hasn’t posted its top-5 yet.  But, Desmond Jennings hasn’t appeared yet in his count-up from 25.  So, I’d assume that DJ gets the nod in the top-5.

Baseball Prospectus has recently came out with their top 11 Rays prospects. Here is the list: Read the rest of this entry »

• The Heater has the list of Baseball America’s top prospects for the Rays in 2010. Desmond Jennings tops the list, which is not really a surprise. No real surprises on the list. Here is the list:

1.  Desmond Jennings
2. Jeremy Hellickson
3. Wade Davis
4. Matt Moore
5. Reid Brignac
6. Tim Beckham
7. Alex Colome
8. Jake McGee
9. Alex Torres
10. Nick Barnese

• Bleacher Report’s Joel Reuter listed his top 10 players in Rays history.

• Roto Professor.com ranked the top 35 outfielders in the MLB. Two Rays made their list, with Carl Crawford at 3 and BJ Upton at 26. BJ should not be on the list anymore, but it is great to see that CC is finally getting his dues.

Reportedly, the Chicago White Sox are kicking the tires on BJ Upton.  And with that, of course, comes speculation of what he might bring in return.

ChicagoNow.com’s SoxNet wonders whether the Rays would take closer Bobby Jenks and top catching prospect Tyler Flowers in a trade to get BJ.  Their belief is that the two players wouldn’t be enough to get the deal done.

The problem with Bobby Jenks is that he’s arbitration eligible for 2010 and a free agent after that.  He made $5.6 million last year, and would probably see an increase again in 2010.  It’s doubtful that the Rays would invest anything close to that type of money for perhaps just one year of service.

Tyler Flowers, on the other hand, looks like he could be a fit.  He hits for a ton of power, although his home run numbers fell off upon his call-up to Triple-A Charlotte for the last 31 games this season.  He slugged 13 for Double-A Birmingham in 77 games, but managed only two in 31 games for Charlotte.

Trading BJ Upton and his potential would be risky in any deal.  To me, it would take a top catching prospect among others to make it work.  Flowers might be that fit.  I just don’t see Jenks as a viable closing option.

Picture:  commons.wikipedia.org

Proballnw.com took hold of Bob Nightengale’s tweet that the Tigers, the Mariners and a mystery third team were in talks of a deal that would include Edwin Jackson and Brandon Morrow.  And, they inserted the Rays as that mystery third team.

I can see it.  The Rays and the Mariners were linked at trade deadline and Brandon Morrow makes some sense.  But, this blog and its commenters went a little overboard with their dreaming.  It’s a good read, and they are creative.  But, most everything they throw out there has Curtis Granderson coming to the Rays.  I just don’t see that happening, unless they were to turn him around in yet another deal. 

My favorite fantasy?  Check out one of the comments that has the Rays ending up with Miguel Cabrera, Curtis Granderson and David Aardsma while giving up a virtual laundry list of players including Pat Burrell, Jeff Niemann, Carlos Pena, Willy Aybar and Nick Barnese.  At this point, any trade involving Pat Burrell would be welcomed.  Well, just about any trade….

Bay City Ball explains why the San Francisco Giants should sign Gregg Zaun.  It seems strange.  The Giants actually have depth at catcher.  There’s Bengie Molina as the regular starter.  There’s Buster Posey as the up-and-comer.  This post thinks the Giants should let Molina go, make Posey the everyday starter and bring in Gregg Zaun as the veteran backup.  Hmmm.  Makes sense. 

I like Gregg Zaun.  Before games, it was fun to watch him take ground balls in the infield.  I’m hoping that the Rays bring him back.  He’s the veteran prescence that a team like the Rays need.

It’s funny, my hope for the 2010 season matches those of Bay City Ball.  I trade Carl Crawford to the Giants for Buster Posey.  And I re-sign Gregg Zaun to back him up.  A Posey/Zaun catching duo makes sense to me as well.