Jan 30
The Mighty MJD took the following picture at Radio Row in Phoenix. Maybe the Tampa Bay Rays new what they were doing when they decided for an image overhaul.
Let us get this straight…The Yankees get LeBron James, the Red Sox get Jennifer Garner, and the Rays get Peter King? Actually…sounds about right.
[Ed. note: We really wanted to go with Renee Russo for the Sox, but could not find an image of her wearing a Sox hat]
The Tampa Bay Rays new cap has now been seen in public on a celebrity more than all previous incarnations of the Devil Rays caps combined:
Circa 1998: 0
Circa 2005: 0
2008: 0.5 (We are not giving Peter King full credit for being a “celebrity”)
Radio Row is filled with celebrities; quite boring [NFL Experts Blog]
Jan 30
Patrick Reusse of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune wrote a piece entitled “Young has makings of winner” in which he offers evidence that Delmon Young is an adequate replacement for Torii Hunter.
Twins followers now have the choice of continuing to lament the departure of the productive, gregarious Hunter, or to be optimistic that the Twins were aggressive in finding a righthanded hitter of outstanding potential to replace him in the batting order, if not in center field.
We have our own reservations with Young’s “outstanding potential” (He is a 5-tool player that has never displayed three of those tools [Speed, Average, Glove] at any level). But our problem with this piece is the assertion that Young will be a “winner”. Young has a history of showing that he is anything but a “winner”.
- Suspended 50 games for hitting an umpire with a bat.
- Returned from suspension and refused to answer questions about bat-tossing incident and snapped at reporters repeatedly.
- Told reporters he had not talked to manger or teammates after the incident because he did not need to “socialize on past events”.
- Complained openly to the press about not being promoted to the majors sooner.
- Complained openly to the press about having to play center field after the suspension of Elijah Dukes and an injury to BJ Upton, leaving Rays with no other options.
- Blasted manager Joe Maddon for the way he was treated after failing to run-out a groundball in the penultimate game of the season, which led to Young being pulled from the lineup. The tirade led to a 1-game benching (later rescinded).
Did we mention that all those incidents occurred in a two-year span?
We are surprised that anybody that follows the Minnesota Twins would refer to a player with this much baggage as somebody with “the makings of a winner”. The Twins of the last 20+ years have been the beacon of respectability in baseball and the ultimate example of the proper way to do things. The Twins have always been the classic example of “team”. Players are taught from the lower-levels on, that the “team” comes first, with strong emphases placed on sacrifices, moving runners over and fundamentals in the field. Delmon Young is a talented baseball player, but he has yet to show any signs of having “the makings of a winner”.
Young has makings of winner [Minneapolis Star-Tribune]
Jan 30
Tampa Bay Rays (15 days until pitchers and catchers report)
Today is national croissant day, which of course means that we are making American croissants for breakfast.
DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…
- Just in case Marc Topkin is looking for material today, here are two more positions that the Rays are trying to fill. HERE and HERE. [TampaBay.com]
- The Baseball Analysts take a look at the correlation between wins and payroll in 2007. [The Baseball Analysts]
- Keith Law has ranked the top prospects at each position. And as a surprise to none, the list is littered with Rays. Reid Brignac is the #3 shorstop. Evan Longoria is the top ranked third baseman. Desmond Jennings is the #3 center fielder. Wade Davis is the #4 right-handed pitcher. David Price and Jake McGee are the #3 and #4 left-handed pitching prospects, respectively. [ESPN]
- We don’t ever pick apart Bill Chastain’s mailbag at DevilRays.com. We understand he pretty much has his hands tied with the questions. But this week he skirted an answer that could use a little more substance. Chastain was asked when we can expect to see John Jaso at the major league level. In short, Chastain answers “I don’t look for Jaso to be with the team on Opening Day, but stranger things have happened. Right now Dioner Navarro, Shawn Riggans and Mike DiFelice are blocking Jaso’s way. I think the Rays want to see Jaso compete at the Triple-A level before thinking about giving him the call.” Well, he isn’t wrong, but he never really answered the question. It is OK to speculate even if we don’t know. A quick look at Jaso’s minor league record and we see that in his 5 minor league seasons, 2007 marked the first year he played more than 100 games and 35 of those we as the biscuits DH (he is oft-injured). He has moved up a level each year, but has never been promoted in-season (the team is being patient as all teams do with catchers). He has yet to appear in AAA. All that adds up to a 2008 season spent entirely at AAA Durham. He will be 25 on opening day in 2009, his second year on the 40-man roster. We will see Jaso at the major league level sometime during the 2009 season. Whether he is on the opening day roster or not is more dependent on how Dioner Navarro performs in 2008, and whether he still requires a veteran back-up. We are on the record as saying previously that we drool over the idea of a Navarro-Jaso platoon in 2009. [DevilRays.com]
- The Dugout is back with part 2 of their Evan Longoria chatroom. [AOL Fanhouse]
- Roto Authority has begun their list of Spring Training cliches, as this is the time of year when it seems as if every player shows up having lost 20 pounds, or packed on 20 pounds of muscle or are in the best shape of their career, etc. While not on the list yet, we should be able to add Carl Crawford and Jeff Niemann as we have already heard about how both are in better shape than recent years. [Roto Authority]
