“We try to get our own seeds, throw them in the dirt, watch them rise up and become something good. I like that.”

Followed up by this to Marc Topkin of the St. Petersburg Times:

“I should have been an agronomy major at some point.”

In context, he’s referring to the Rays’ home-grown talent that exists in their farm system.  Centered around the belief that ownership will significantly cut payroll after this season, the youth like Desmond Jennings and Jeremy Hellickson should play a big part in keeping this team competitive.

I hope this deal is cheap.  I’m just not sure how much Hank Blalock adds to the Rays.  Sure, he’s nice insurance if Pena or Longoria goes down.  But, is he appreciably different than Dan Johnson? 

***

Matt Lutovsky wrote a piece in The Sporting News with this as the first sentence.

We’ve introduced you to Sean Rodriguez before, but that was when he was a 2B prospect with the Angels. Now, he’s an OF prospect with the Rays.

It’s great to watch the national spin on what’s happening here in Tampa Bay.  I’m not sure Sean Rodriguez really fits into the outfield mix.  But, I’m sure Joe Maddon’s looking at his versatility.  And, I’m confident that if he fits in on a consistent basis, it will be at second base.

***

This from the Globe’s Nick Cafardo:

Privately, some Rays personnel hope he (BJ Upton) becomes like his little brother, Justin Upton, who signed a $51.25 million, six-year deal with Arizona last week.

What does that mean?  Privately?  Some?  Wouldn’t everyone in the organization want BJ to have a season like little brother Justin had last year and be willing to talk openly about it?  Yes, I’m going to go out on a limb and say that everyone associated with the Rays are hoping BJ hits .300 with 26 home runs, 86 RBI and 20 SB. 

Cafardo does a thing called “Updates on nine” every week.  This was #9.  It’s almost like he got through eight and didn’t know what else to write.

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.

Offensively, the Rays managed only five hits.  In the battle for second base, Sean Rodriguez hit a solo home run while Reid Brignac drove in the other Rays run on a single.

Adding insult to the opener, ex-Rays minor league first baseman Rhyne Hughes hit a pair of two-run home runs.  The Rays traded Hughes to Baltimore last season in exchange for catcher Gregg Zaun.

Says Rocco:

“I’m going to have fun with it. I think I’m going to have fun being out on the field again and having the Rays jersey on and going out and trying to do anything I can to help the young players in the organization.”  I don’t think I’d want to do it in any other organization than this. I feel like this is my home.”  

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. 

***

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

***

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.

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?

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. 

As I see it, the options are to trade him now or to settle for the draft picks that they will receive when he signs his mega-deal elsewhere.  I would at least have to think about trading him now.

So, let’s consider.  The Seattle Mariners would probably love to have him.  Their off-season has been all about building a winner.  How about the Anaheim Angels?  They’re trying to hold off the Mariners.  In the National League, let’s consider the Chicago Cubs.  Or the New York Mets.  What about the Houston Astros?

I’m sure there’s no shortage of teams that are checking in with Andrew Friedman regularly to see if he’s ready to make a deal.  The Rays will be able to pick and choose among the best that another team has to offer. 

So, the question is, how far do the Rays fall if they enter the season without CC?  The answer to that question depends on what the Rays receive in return. 

Desmond Jennings is a clear option for replacing Carl at some point.  But, is he ready?  There’s not much available on the free agent side.  Garret Anderson’s still unsigned, but his time has past.  You could take a flyer on Corey Patterson, but his 2009 season was disastrous.  In trade, Seattle could probaby include Michael Saunders in a deal.  The Mets could probably give up prospect Fernando Martinez.  The Astros could make it easy by trading Hunter Pence.  Or, the Rays could go with an outfield of Ben Zobrist, BJ Upton and Matt Joyce. 

Like I said at the beginning, I’d hate to see Carl Crawford in a uniform other than the Rays’.  But, getting only draft picks for him doesn’t appeal to me, especially when he should be coveted by just about everyone.  Rays ownership has already said that the salary will be cut after this season.  I say, either sign Carl Crawford now, or trade him.  Before the season starts.  It just won’t work as the season plays out.

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.