Obviously by reading what I do here I’m a fan of DRaysBay and I think they do a great job at what they do. I have a problem with some of their opinions in a recent interview now though. They did a nice Q & A with Keith Law of ESPN regarding the status of the Rays and after reading that I have a problem with some of their opinions. First off I’m in agreement with them regarding Evan Longoria in thinking that he should be the Rays opening day third baseman. I think the Rays are stupid here because it appears that they want to send Longoria down to delay his free-agency a year by bringing him up later. This is correct in theory and I understand the financial responsibilities involved in doing this but what everyone doesn’t seem to understand, including the Rays, is that even if the Rays send Longoria down to delay his arbitration eligibility a year he still can qualify as a ’super 2 ‘ player. If Longoria is half the player we think he is he will qualify as a super 2 and this is all meaningless then because he will then be arbitration eligible before the Rays want him to be. Stupid! Now back to DRaysBay. They are dogging Willy Aybar as a bad player, I’m assuming because of their love for Longoria, and they’re 100% wrong there. We all have opinions about people and players and you can judge this in many ways but to call Aybar a bad player is ignorant. He’s an above average hitter, average defensively yet apparently he’s a bad guy. I’m not defending his actions as a person, if you beat your wife you’re a piece of crap, but to say he’s not a good player because of that is stupid. Michael Pittman had domestic violence issues but was he good enough to win a Super Bowl with? Yes. Julio Lugo had domestic violence issues but did he perform well here? Yes. So why are they tagging someone as a bad player because he’s got domestic violence issues? I don’t know. Next there was the issue they brought up saying the Yankees were a “train-wreck waiting to happen”. What?! No matter what you think of the Yanks, and I’m no fan, they’re not a bad team. To pick on a team like the Yankees,with the firepower they still have, for banking on three young starting pitchers and thinking that they can’t overcome those guys not working out this year is dumb! Why pick on them when we’re doing the same thing but worse. If Hughes doesn’t work do you think the Yanks won’t trade for someone to replace him? If Chamberlain implodes do you think they’ll just quit? No! Focus on the Rays guys. If Kazmir gets hurt (which he already is) what will the Rays do? Can they replace him? What if Shields gets hurt, will we trade for a proven player to replace him? I’m not an idiot thinking the Rays can compete with the Yankees and Red Sox now but I do think they’re better. By the development of the team to this point of the Sternberg era this is the year they officially move forward and are taken seriously. This is the year you truly find out what your pitching staff is made of, what to expect from guys like Upton and Iwamura and even Carlos Pena as they all have had one good season. See if you can count on them again and if they can’t find who may be able to fill in. There’s alot of question marks on this team even though the baseball world sees the improvement and future possibilities. Think of these things. We got Matt Garza but was he great last year? No, he was average with great potential. Other than last year how much do we know about what Upton, Iwamura, Pena, Reyes and Garza are going to do this year? What have Navarro, Edwin Jackson, J.P. Howell, Jason Hammel, Andy Sonnanstine, etc… done to make us or anyone think they’re going to be good now? I’m not dogging these guys and I’m not trying to sound like I’m rooting against them. I’m optimistic and excited about the possibilities of the Rays future but what makes any Rays fan think it’s time to start picking on the Yankees? Let’s all continue to be happy about the future of the Rays, let’s be excited about this season because they do APPEAR to be better but let’s all check ourselves a little bit in the reality of what things really are. The Yankees don’t ’suck’ and the Red Sox are the defending champs still so chill on the trash-talking! I can’t wait until it’s actually time to run my mouth about the Sox and Yanks but we’re not there yet. My old coach always told me “confucius say, he who gets cocky gets doo-doo on face”. Remember that everyone as things go on. I’ll be right there with you yelling at every Sox and Yanks fan in and out of the stadium when we’re above them in the standings, but until then they still have scoreboard!