Tampa Bay Sports Blog

The Rays have inked Gabe Kapler to a one year $1 million deal to be the fourth/fifth outfielder for 2009. They have been fairly active with minor leaguers too but I’ll leave that stuff to Rays Index. I’m as conflicted as a person be about this signing considering he’s a reserve outfielder. I like it in a sense because Kapler’s a decent outfielder and could platoon well with Gabe Gross if needed, but why do we need a platoon backup situation? I’ve never been in favor of platoons in general because I’ve always felt that if a guy can play, he can play, screw the other crap. Stats say otherwise and that’s the world we now live in so I’ll go with it. I don’t know much about Kapler other than he was once a highly touted prospect who turned into a journeyman type that was coaching before he decided to jump back into the player ranks. The problem I have with this signing is that Kapler got a mil and Rocco got less, granted there’s incentives, from the Red Sox.

Marc Topkin tried to justify by saying that the Baldelli deal “could be” worth more because of playing incentives, but how much more? Someone is either lying or just not getting it here. If you give Roc the same deal you give Kapler, he walks. If you offer Roc the same deal that Boston did, I think he stays. Putting this into perspective, how much does anybody think Rocco is actually going to play with the Sox? If he does play enough to earn the incentives in his contract wouldn’t that mean that someone got hurt and Rocco is healthy? All that being said, wouldn’t anyone rather pay a little more for a healthy Rocco than a Gabe Kapler if they are needed full time? I understand the Rays penny pinching, but this is stupid.

I can make sense of it thinking that Fernando Perez needs another year in AAA, but how did we end up with an overrated Gabe Kapler over Rocco Baldelli. This is why Boston is the most well rounded organization in baseball right now and not the Yankees, Rays, Phillies, etc. The Rays may be the best at operating as a small market, but they aren’t there just yet. It’s a tough position for the Rays to be in here and it’s hard to pick on them for the moves that they make, since they’ve been so good under tough conditions, but this move I can’t rationalize at all. Kapler over Baldelli, really?

Technorati Tags: Boston Red Sox, Fernando Perez, Gabe Kapler, New York Yankees, Philadelphia Phillies, Rocco Baldelli, Tampa Bay Rays

The Heater has put out a post that Rocco Baldelli is all but gone. Rocco has basically become an afterthought now with the signing of Pat Burrell and the limited funds left that we assume will go toward the bullpen. That’s fine. The Rays owe nothing to Rocco and Rocco owes nothing to the Rays. I do find myself lost at the destinations that are being mentioned though. Here’s the list being reported.

• Pirates/Orioles:The Rays just got themselves out of the perennial losers club and Roc got to be a part of it, why go back to one? Either of these teams would be a horrible decision for Roc unless it was a one year deal just to prove he can play again, but he has even stated that he’s unsure if he can play the field everyday. Bad Choices here.
• Yankees: Why why why?! It’s bad enough that Roc has drawn comparisons to Joe DiMaggio, why go and put that type of pressure on yourself? Injuries, the Joe D comparison and the pressure to win would make Baldelli target practice for the firing range of reporters and fans in New York. Bad!
• Reds: Can’t DH there and they’re another non contender. The Reds could get better though and Rocco could be in a platoon situation there. This is puzzling only because of Rocco’s statements about playing the field, but if the money is right I could see it.
• Phillies: There is a combination of things I see wrong with this, though it’s not as bad a choice of the previously mentioned. First, don’t you think it would bother a guy playing for the team that just beat you in the World Series? It would bother me, but maybe I’m being a little juvenile about it. The same things about pressure and playing the field come into play here also, but the city bothers me most. Why would someone as laid back as Rocco want to go to that hellhole? The team seems classy, but the fans are the worst in sports. He might as well go play soccer in Germany!
• Red Sox: This would be the toughest for all of us Rays fans to swallow. How could Rocco do this?! I realize he’s from Rhode Island and it would basically be going home, but why? The Sox are generally a classy team and the city would embrace him like a long lost son, but why?! He could DH on occasion and be a fourth outfielder, but….never mind.

The most frustrating thing to me with all this is that all signs point to Boston. He’s a homer, a great guy and a great story. It would probably be a childhood dream come true for him, but damn, why Boston? Given the rivalry that the Rays have developed with the Sox over the years, even before the Rays were good, how could he switch sides like that? It’s just sickening to me.

I’ve heard people tell me they think Rocco should give the Rays a discount and come back for a year because they were so patient with him and his condition, but I don’t agree with that. He couldn’t help what happened and neither could the Rays. Giving guys money like the Rays gave Rocco are always a risk and that’s why. It’s not like Baldelli didn’t want to play, he couldn’t. Again, no one owes anyone anything here. My problem with this whole thing, and I think I speak for most fans, is the rivalry part of it.

The bottom line is this whole thing is this, Roc will most likely be in a Red Sox uniform next year and that will suck. It is a scenario I’m not used to as a fan. It’s not like Clemens going to the Yankees or anyting. It’s a guy going back to play for his hometown team and continuing his baseball career. As easy as that is to understand, I’d like to think that we mean as much to him here as he did to us and that would prevent him from going. It’s so hard to wrap my head around because I don’t think he’ll chase the money, I think he wants to go home. I understand it all, but it’s still hard for me to get.

For me it’s like this. I was a Marine. Marines are a department of the Navy. Anyone who’s been in the military knows there is a huge rivalry between branches and we all talk shit about each other. That being said, there is no Marine Corps football team. There’s an Army, Navy and an Air Force, but no Marine Corps. Being a department of the Navy, we root for Navy when these teams play each other, but I would never want to be in the Navy. Get it? I respect everyone, but I’m a Marine and I take pride in that and could never don another’s uniform. The problem with me relating it this way is because there isn’t big money involved. Every jarhead I know would tell you the same thing I just did, but if someone offered me a couple mil to put on the ice cream whites, well.

Capping this drawn out thing off, I wish Rocco well where ever he goes, I just hope it’s not Boston.

Technorati Tags: Air Force, Army, Baltimore Orioles, Boston Red Sox, Cincinatti Reds, Joe DiMaggio, Navy, New York Yankees, Pat Burrell, Philadelphia Phillies, Pittsburg Pirates, Rocco Baldelli, Roger Clemens, Tampa Bay Rays, United States Marine Corps

According to Ken Rosenthal, via MLB Trade Rumors, the Rays are close to signing former Phillie outfielder Pat Burrell to a two year $16 million deal. This move makes way too much sense for all parties involved to not happen. Burrell is the right handed bat that the Rays are looking for to slot at DH on a regular basis and he comes fairly cheap. The contract that’s speculated on above is a perfect fit for the Rays and their budget. I really like this move for a few reasons.

Burrell can still hit and we won’t have to watch him stumble around in the outfield too often. He comes with no baggage and seems like he would fit right in to the clubhouse the Rays currently have.This move also allows the Rays to hopefully leave Fernando Perez in AAA Durham for at least another year of seasoning.

It also would allow the Rays to put the Abreu/Giambi fiasco to bed and focus on upgrading the bullpen. I was no fan of Abreu or Giambi so it makes me pretty happy there. With Burrell coming fairly cheap as well this may put Brandon Lyon and/or Joe Beimel into the picture as I’ve so desired. It would be a lovely thing to see if the Rays jumped on one of those guys.

This move doesn’t necessarily kill the idea of Rocco returning either, even though it most likely did. If Roc wants to come back for another year as a fourth outfielder it could easily make Ben Zobrist or Gabe Gross expendable and that would be no real tragedy either.

Even without all my speculation on what this could all lead to, this is about the most sensible and logical move the Rays could’ve made at this point. All in all, a good day for the Rays.

Technorati Tags: Ben Zobrist, Bobby Abreu, Brandon Lyon, Fernando Perez, Gabe Gross, Jason Giambi, Joe Beimel, Pat Burrell, Philadelphia Phillies, Rocco Baldelli, Tampa Bay Rays

It was a busy week in the AL East and I had to sit down and look at it tonight. I’ve been listening to the radio and reading about the moves being made and I came up with this. The Rays are much smarter than the Yankees.  There are a few good things about being a small market team and they’re showing during the winter baseball season. Let’s break it down.

• The Yankees signed CC Sabathia to a $161 million deal and brought one of the best pitchers in baseball to New York. But how much did this improve them? I honestly don’t think it improved them much at all. Think about it like this. They signed a guy that won 17 games last year to replace a guy that won 20. Now I’ll say that Sabathia is better than Mussina and he would’ve probably won 22 or 23 games with the Yankees last year with the same run support Mussina got, but that’s still only a 3 game improvement. Not enough for that kind of money. They also signed AJ Burnett to fill in the rotation but they haven’t re-signed Andy Pettitte yet. That’s a 4 game improvement if Andy doesn’t come back. Not enough either. If Pettitte comes back and teams with Wang and Sabathia that should be a decent three man rotation. Then they’re counting on Joba Chamberlain and Phil Hughes to handle the rest of the load. I’ll take my chances. Burnett will get hurt, Wang and Sabathia will probably be ok, but I don’t think Chamberlain and Hughes will do what they’re expecting. The Yanks also are going to lose Bobby Abreu and Jason Giambi, Jeter is another year older and slower and A-Rod will be useless when needed as he always is. I’m not writing the Yankees off before the season starts, but how many of these store bought teams have done what they’re supposed to do? Even Sabathia realizes that the pressure in NY is so silly that he got an opt-out clause after three years. How much you wanna bet that that gets exercised?
• In comparison, the Rays traded their fifth starter for a young RF prospect who is already an upgrade over anything they put out there last year in Matt Joyce. Replacing Jackson will be the best pitching prospect in baseball who already proved himself at the Major League level at the end of last season, including the playoffs. This move also puts a guy on the bench, Gabe Gross, who contributed in a major way throughout a championship season.  
• If we look at who’s not coming back and who is it’s a big difference as well. The Yankees may not have lost all these guys yet but have Andy Pettitte, Bobby Abreu, Mike Mussina and Wilson Betemit. Kyle Farnsworth is gone and so is Carl Pavano (useless) . I personally think Abreu will end up in Chicago and Pettite with the Dodgers. Mussina is retired and that tells me something right there. This is a guy, who at the age of 40 and just came off his first 20 win season, has decided to retire rather than come back to NY or anywhere else. How big a toll did playing in NY take on him? I can’t think of any other reason that he wouldn’t come back to play somewhere for a couple years and try to get his 300th win other than the pressure of playing in NY completely beat him down. There’s no telling what the same pressure will do to Sabathia, who has an awful postseason record, and Burnett. Burnett comes in with an injury history similar to Carl Pavano’s and don’t think that the NY media won’t be harping on that either. The Rays lost Jonny Gomes (finally), who was phased out anyway, Trever Miller and possibly Rocco Baldelli. Miller can be replaced without damage and Baldelli wasn’t counted on anyway.

In wrapping this up I come up with this. The Rays got better already while making one move, the Yankees may or may not have depending on who comes back. The Yankees could still get Abreu, Giambi and Pettite back and that would make them a better team. The main component there would be Pettitte. Even if all these guys came back, who do the Yankees have to fill in if someone goes down? The rotation could end up being a high priced nightmare if one or more of their pitchers get hurt. Who do they have to replace any one of those guys if someone goes down, Darrell Rasner? Again, I’ll take my chances. Their bullpen has already been weakened as well with the loss of Farnsworth and Chamberlain. They could sign Derek Lowe, but I think he’ll end up in Boston. On the Rays end, they have replaced Jackson with Price, Gross with Joyce and still may sign some guys to fill out the DH and bullpen needs. If one or more of the Rays pitchers gets hurt there’s guys like Wade Davis, Jason Hammel, Mitch Talbot, Jeremy Hellickson and Jeff Niemann to fill in. It shows that being small market forces a team to think about the future. Remember when George Steinbrenner was forced out and the team finally had to develop players? They got Bernie Williams, Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera out of that deal, among others. They got role players then like Scott Brosius, Chuck Knoblauch and Jim Leyritz to fill out the roster and that’s how they won all those Series rings. That’s the path the Rays are on now with pieces like Longoria, Price and Upton as they sign guys like Iwamura, Pena and Percival to fill things out. It’s the smart baseball people that win, not the big money teams. We’ve seen it over and over again with teams that try to outspend everyone and don’t succeed and it amazes me that more teams don’t do it better. The Red Soxhave the best combination of both sides right now unfortunately as they have great development and lots of money. They can sign anyone if they want and are developing guys like Papelbon, Pedroia and Youklis. That’s a hard mix to beat but the Rays have the core to compete with them right now, maybe not forever, but right now. The entire perception of these things make me laugh because people are too caught up in the money aspect to see what’s real. The Yankees are supposed to win because they have the most money, they won’t because they don’t have good baseball people. The Red Soxwin because they have both money and good baseball people. They can afford to pay Ortiz, Beckett and Matsuzaka but they don’t win if they don’t develop Pedroia, Youklis and Papelbon. We all hope the Rays can spend the money to keep all these guys but the realistic fact is that, 2 or 3 years from now, they will have to trade a Kazmir, Crawford or Upton to help reload with younger, cheaper players. I hate the thought of that but it’s the reality we live in as a small market team. The great part of it though is that we don’t have distorted thoughts about our teams here and appreciate the winning much more because of it. I can’t wait to see what happens during the rest of this off-season and the regular season next year.

Technorati Tags: AJ Burnett, Akinori Iwamura, Alex Rodriguez, Andy Pettitte, Bernie Williams, BJ Upton, Bobby Abreu, Boston Red Sox, Carl Crawford, Carl Pavano, Carlos Pena, CC Sabathia, Chien-Min Wang, Chuck Knoblauch, Darrell Rasner, David Ortiz, David Price, Derek Jeter, Derek Lowe, Dustin Pedroia, Edwin Jackson, Evan Longoria, Gabe Gross, George Steinbrenner, Jason Giambi, Jason Hammel, Jeff Niemann, Jeremy Hellickson, Jim Leyritz, Joba Chamberlain, Johnathan Papelbon, Jonny Gomes, Kevin Youkilis, Kyle Farnsworth, Los Angeles Dodgers, Mariano Rivera, Matt Joyce, Mike Mussina, Mitch Talbot, New York Yankees, Phil Hughes, Rocco Baldelli, Scott Brosius, Scott Kazmir, Tampa Bay Rays, Trever Miller, Troy Percival, Wade Davis, Wilson Betemit

MLB Trade Rumors has a post up that the Rays have traded Edwin Jackson to the Detroit Tigers for OF Matt Joyce. I’ve been duped by these rumors before so I’m not reporting it as being true, but if it is I really like this move. I obviously wanted a different Tigers OF but this one really makes sense for the Rays. Joyce is a young player, 24, with a lot of upside and is a decent outfielder from my understanding. I only saw him play a couple times so it’s hard to judge, but by numbers alone I would think the 12 homers he hit in 242 at bats in Detroit would translate to around 17-19 in our stadium. This fits extremely well into the Rays plan in every way as Joyce is cheap, under team control for a few years and has tremendous upside. It doesn’t hurt that he’s a Tampa native as well either. He’s left handed, which goes against what the Rays were shopping for, but he’s young and should be able to play every day. It solves the RF problem for us in theory and opens a spot in the rotation for David Price. It looks good from a management standpoint too as the Marlins were asking for a lot more from basically the same type of player in Jeremy Hermida, but better by numbers. This move would also free up the Rays to focus on the bullpen and DH for the rest of the offseason, and that’s good considering most free agents haven’t signed yet. I like this for Edwin Jackson personally too as I think he could put up better numbers in the giant stadium in Detroit than he did here. I would like to see the Rays focus on guys like Joe Beimel, Rocco Baldelli and Pat Burrell now. I really think this creates the perfect scenario for Rocco as he could be the right handed DH as much as he could play, not be counted on too much to play the outfield and, on the nights he can’t play, Willy Aybar could handle things. On the note of Willy Aybar I would love to see him drop some weight, learn some outfield and him become the super utility player Maddon covets. I’m very excited over this move if it’s true. If not we can all just pretend this never happened, OK?

Technorati Tags: David Price, Detroit Tigers, Edwin Jackson, Florida Marlins, Jeremy Hermida, Joe Beimel, Joe Maddon, Matt Joyce, Pat Burrell, Rocco Baldelli, Tampa Bay Rays, Willy Aybar

Technorati Tags: Akinori Iwamura, Andrew Friedman, Andy Sonnanstine, Ben Zobrist, BJ Upton, Boston Red Sox, Brandon Lyon, Brian Fuentes, Carl Crawford, Carlos Guillen, Carlos Pena, Chad Bradford, Dan Wheeler, David Price, Dioner Navarro, Edwin Jackson, Elijah Dukes, Evan Longoria, Francisco Rodriguez, Gabe Gross, Gary Sheffield, Grant Balfour, J.P. Howell, James Shields, Jason Bartlett, Jason Hammel, Jeff Niemann, Joe Beimel, Joe Maddon, Jonny Gomes, Los Angeles Dodgers, Magglio Ordonez, Matt Garza, Miguel Cabrera, Mitch Talbot, Pat Burrell, Philadelphia Phillies, Reid Brignac, Rocco Baldelli, Scott Kazmir, Shawn Riggans, Tampa Bay Rays, Trever Miller, Willy Aybar

   Time to wrap up the Rays season. What a season we had here, never saw this coming. I thought, the same as everyone else, the Rays would improve but not to this extent. Let’s wrap it up…

• The defense: The most dramatically improved thing on this team was the defense. The arrival of Jason Bartlett and Evan Longoria made this into the best left side defense in baseball. I was skeptical of Bartlett in the beginning (no need to bring my stupidity there again) as he had some unexplained throwing errors early but recovered to have a great season (should’ve got the gold glove over Young in my opinion). Longo was great defensively from day one and that’s that. Aki transitioned nicely over to second and Pena (won gold glove) was phenomenal. Having Pena at the corner saved Barty and Longo at least 5 errors a piece. Navarro’s improvement behind the plate was far and away the most amazing difference I saw. He was such a different player all around this year that I want to compare images from last season to see if this is the same guy. Unreal! Crawford and Upton were very good and have the speed to make up for other mistakes they might make. Right field was our problem child but Gabe Gross, Eric Hinske, Nathan Haynes (remember him?), Jonny Gomes (worst of all), Rocco and Fernando Perez did good enough to stay out of the conversation. Riggans did fine as a backup and Ben Zobrist was also good enough in learning new positions that he warranted to complaints. Willy Aybar was a godsend. He started the year at third and gave up his spot to Evan after getting injured. When he returned he helped fill the voids left by Pena and Longoria while they were injured (separately of course).
• The starting pitching: The pitchers improvement was made by maturation and the defense if you ask me. James Shields continued his development into an innings eating machine who we can count on every fifth day to give us a quality start. Kazmir started great after his injury and reverted back to the 5 inning 100 pitch nightmare we’ve gotten too used to. I still think he was pitching through injuries as his slider was gone and we saw hitters make better contact off of him than ever before. Matt Garza was better than advertised and he should improve as he gets his emotions under control. Sonny ate innings as we expected and showed the mental toughness of an ace. Edwin Jackson pitched better than anyone expected. I would like to see more strikeouts from a power arm like his, but it’s hard to complain about 14 wins. We also saw the arrival of David Price. Not much to say there except, hello king David! Now either Sonny or EJax has to give way to Price, one of those nice problems we’ve heard about but rarely seen here. We also saw Jeff Niemann, Mitch Talbot and Jason Hammel make starts. Hammel should be a starter, just not here. Niemann and Talbot could be swingmen or trade bait. We also were lucky here in that there were no major injuries and we basically saw the same five guys all year. That’s a great accomplishment for that reason and for the fact that all five guys performed well enough to stay in the rotation.
• The bullpen: The second most surprising turnaround to me. JP Howell went from prospect on the bubble to a dominating short inning reliever who has become invaluable to this team. I gotta admit, I didn’t see that one coming. Howell not only dominated lefty’s but he shut down righty’s as well. Dan Wheeler rebounded from his bad showing after getting him back from Houston last season and was very good at the setup and closer roles. Grant Balfour was unhittable after his early season demotion and Trevor Miller did enough to get by. Troy Percival was very good until his age and weight caught up with him and his career should be over now. Jason Hammel played the villain role as the mop up/long relief guy and was doing decent until the meltdown against the Yanks. Chad Braford was a nice late season acquisition who performed well in his first round with the team. We saw Juan Salas, Mitch Talbot, Scott Dohman and Kurt Birkins make appearances and we said goodbye to Gary Glover and Al Reyes (yay!). Again this historical improvement I attribute to maturing and the defense.
• The offense: The offense was average for the most part all year and did enough to win. Longoria should be rookie of the year, Pena performed as expected and Aki continued his transition into the leadoff role. We saw down seasons from Upton (until the playoffs) and Crawford, mostly due to injuries. We saw marked improvement from Navarro who finished with the highest batting average at .295 (not .300 though, sorry Cork) and Jason Bartlett. Both of these guys shut me up with authority and became two guys I really like having now. Aybar was awesome off the bench filling in when needed. Gross had some big hits that we didn’t count on out of him. Zobrist and Hinske were good for some bombs at the right times. Floyd was decent at the DH role. Gomes played his way back to the minors (hopefully out of town) and Riggans did what a backup catcher should do. This is the area of the team you could say disappointed and needs to be improved on in the off-season.

   Overall it was the best season we’ve had and looks to be the start of something very special here. These guys are young for the most part and are still learning. Much of the way Her Rays thinks now, maybe there’s something to the fact that this was my first year blogging, it was the first winning season in Rays history. I only hope that I can improve as much as these guys did. It was a season that was great for me as I said it was my first year doing this site, it was the first year my son really got into baseball and it has given us all a sense of excitement that we’ve never had here before. I’ve heard people telling me that they can’t wait for next year already, that’s never been said to me before! Thanks to everyone out there who supported me, especially Rays Index.  Great season guys!

Technorati Tags: Akinori Iwamura, Al Reyes, Andy Sonnanstine, Ben Zobrist, BJ Upton, Carl Crawford, Carlos Pena, Chad Bradford, Cliff Floyd, Dan Wheeler, David Price, Eric Hinske, Evan Longoria, Fernando Perez, Gabe Gross, Gary Glover, Grant Balfour, J.P. Howell, James Shields, Jason Bartlett, Jason Hammel, Jeff Niemann, Jonny Gomes, Juan Salas, Kurt Birkins, Matt Garza, Mitch Talbot, Nathan Haynes, Rocco Baldelli, Scott Dohman, Scott Kazmir, Shawn Riggans, Tampa Bay Rays, Trevor Miller, Troy Percival, Willy Aybar

   A couple of Rays notes for the day. The snagged reliever Chad Bradford off of waivers from the Orioles and will be sending the infamous “player to be named later”. Bradford is a capable reliever who I can’t stand watching, but is effective. He is one of the few submarine style pitchers left in the game and is a groundball machine. I would expect to see him in those situations that require a double play ball and against tough right handed hitters. He’s having a good season to the tune of a 3-3 record with a 2.45 ERA. We can only speculate on who’s going to be the odd man out and I would have to guess Al Reyes. Rays Index thinks Jason Hammel may be gone (who they don’t seem to be a big fan of) but I gotta think that Hammel serves more of a purpose than Reyes and there isn’t anyone to really take his long relief spot. After watching the 85 mph balloons Reyes has been throwing lately I gotta think he’s on the way to the DL at least. In other news The Heater is also reporting that Carl Crawford will be back in the lineup tonight. He’s been having some leg problems and has not been nearly as aggressive on the basepaths. This is probably something that will linger for the rest of the year so I’m not gonna get too excited either way. It’s not looking as good for Jason Bartlett tonight though as he’s out of the lineup. His finger is probably still too swollen to throw so it may be another day or two before he’s back. I would assume when he’s back in the lineup then Rocco will be activated and Zobrist will be optioned. Back to work again.

Scott Brannelly

Source: The Heater

Technorati Tags: Al Reyes, Baltimore Orioles, Ben Zobrist, Carl Crawford, Chad Bradford, Jason Bartlett, Jason Hammel, Rocco Baldelli, Tampa Bay Rays

   There are a ton of rumors swirling around the Rays as the deadline approaches this Thursday and they’ve got everyone guessing as to what they’re gonna do. I know my stomach dropped Friday when I saw the Yankees had obtained Xavier Nady and Demaso Marte from the Pirates. I really wanted Nady and thought the Rays could’ve gotten him using some sort of package involvingguys like Edwiin Jackson, Jason Hammel, Jeff Niemann or Andy Sonnanstine. The Pirates need pitching and the Rays have some to spare, so what happened? It’s anybone’s guess. This is hard for me to swallow for two reasons. It really helps the Yanks, who are coming fast, and it blocked the Rays from the deal. They killed us twice so to speak. This all leaves me wondering what the Rays plan to do. They’re being linked to guys like Brian Fuentes, Ron Mahay, Clint Barmes (god no), Jason Bay (no way that’s going to happen), Matt Murton, Mark Texiera and Matt Holliday (just for fun on the last two). I’m getting more frustrated with this because they don’t seem to be actively trying to move a Jackson, Hammel or Sonnanstine the way they should be. When David Price is ready to come up, one of these guys needs to be gone and they’re not looking to create an opening. This makes me think that we won’t see Price this year until September at the earliest. Their lack of moves also makes me believe that they’re are counting on Rocco to make an impact and that’s just crazy. I love Roc but we all know he’s one step away from a hospital bed at all times. I’m really curious about this whole thing. If they do get a Brian Fuentes, who’s gone? I would like to see Trevor Miller take a walk as he’s been disappointing. Any move they make for a bat must involve Gomes’ removal from the roster (finally!). If they don’t want to mortgage the future for today then they need to start using some of that future to see if it fits. Gomes has to go and Ruggiano should be given a shot to replace him if no trade is made. There is no trade market for Gomes so a DFA should be made asap. I would love to have seen the Rays capitalize on Jackson’s improvement this year and move him to make room for Price. I would like to see Sonnanstine stay because we do need an innings eater and Jackson isn’t it. I will be following these rumors closely this week and I’ll begin to list what I see as it’s close enough to watch now. I really do hope a move is made, even if it’s not a trade but a move to bring someone up and try to improve this team.

Scott Brannelly

Technorati Tags: Andy Sonnanstine, Brian Fuentes, Clint Barmes, David Price, Demaso Marte, Edwin Jackson, Jason Bay, Jason Hammel, Jeff Niemann, Jonny Gomes, Justin Ruggiano, Mark Texiera, Matt Holliday, Matt Murton, New York Yankees, Pittsburg Pirates, Rocco Baldelli, Ron Mahay, Tampa Bay Rays, Trevor Miller, Xavier Nady