The Rays officially sent top prospect Evan Longoria down to AAA Durham today according to Marc Topkin. As I’ve been harping on this issue alot recently this move really disappoints me. I understand what the Rays are trying to do but it still doesn’t make sense. In doing this they officially tell Longoria, and every other young prospect, we don’t care what you’ve done we’re going to try to save money. They also have rid themselves of any good will keeping Longoria on the roster now would have gotten them when it comes time to negotiate a new deal. In a way it also hurts the good will created this off-season in the signing of James Shields and Carlos Pena long term as well as the signing of Cliff Floyd and Troy Percival. This is not a situation where know one knows who the best player for the position is, we all do. This now leaves us with Willy Aybar, Joel Guzman and Eric Hinske (presumably) to fill the third base role. That is not ideal for any team. I’m not saying these guys are bad players, I’m saying they probably won’t be great and Longoria probably would be great. Bad move here as it creates a hole that shouldn’t exist. I still love the Rays, hate the move.