In the past year Rays Index featured 1,205 posts and saw our readership increase by 43% to 1.1 million page views and over 600,000 unique visitors (By comparison, the Rays’ attendance increased by 4.0%. Let’s take a look back at the year that was 2008 here at Rays Index…

January

• Andrew Friedman and Company made their first big splash in free agency since taking over the front office. They signed Pat Burrell.
• Lot’s of people offered their opinions on the Pat Burrell signing. Keith Law of ESPN.com was the only one that saw the red flags. Oh yeah, and there was one writer that referred to a fellow Rays fan as a “dummy” for predicting that Burrell would struggle.
• The Rays unveiled an alternate jersey.
• We were perplexed by the irony of Al Roker donning a Rays cap.

February

• Akinori Iwamura flirted with pitching in the WBC.
• The Rays hired Kevin Kennedy to replace Joe Magrane in the TV booth. How’d that turn out?
• Rocco Baldelli looked horrible in red, but the Rays batting gloves were a nice touch.
• The Rays traded Juan Salas, and signed Jason Isringhausen.
• And then Jason Isringhausen took James Shields’ locker.
• And we still owe the Rays a bag of seeds.

March

• The Rays were suspiciously idle on St. Patrick’s Day for the second year in a row. Stuart Sternberg and Company really don’t want the Rays wearing green uniforms.
• We wondered if David Price’s glove might be illegal. He later switched to a darker model.
• We don’t do many interviews, but we couldn’t pass up a chat with Stuart Sternberg.
• Matt Garza had a dead arm in Spring Training and we were worried.

April

• The projection models had the ’09 Rays at 90 wins.
• Jason Hammel was traded to the Rockies, giving Jeff Niemann the final spot in the rotation.
• Joe Maddon blamed the Rays slow start on “Dig-me” week.
• The Rays apparently discovered a new undervalued market in baseball: Sexiness.
• Tim Beckham was interviewed by Kige Ramsey of Deadspin.com fame.

May

• Carl Crawford’s throw from left field caught Dustin Pedroia in a very sensitive area.
• In one of his last significant acts of his Rays career, Troy Percival, a player that cost the Rays many games in two years, screamed obscenities at a fan for almost costing the Rays one.
• Evan Longoria graced the cover of ESPN the Magazine.
• Stuart Sternberg was recognized by Sports Illustrated as one of the best owners in baseball.
• Matt Garza revealed in Sports Illustrated that he is envious of a certain body part belonging to Joe Nelson, earning Nelson the nickname “Vulcan Tripod.”
• We started a campaign to call the Rays the “Devil Rays” as long as they continued to play like a loser. We gladly paid the fine.
• Joe Maddon had a little trouble filling out a lineup card, giving Andy Sonnanstine a chance to provide his one shining moment of the season.
• Pat Burrell went from naked to brawling in less than 20 seconds.
• Joe Maddon signed a three-year extension.
• Boy, we loved Dale Thayer’s ‘stache while it lasted.

June

• The Rays nixed a promotion by the Clearwater Threshers in which they planned to give away Phillies bobbleheads.
• Many Rays fans took advantage of free pizza in Denver.
• Evan Longoria apparently prefers squinting over sunglasses.
• Matt Silverman made it clear that the Rays were not happy with the attendance in 2009.
• We wondered if Edwin Jackson’s and Jason Hammel’s success with their new teams would benefit the Rays in the long run.
• All those empty seats that are featured so prominently on TV during Rays games? Might be because they are some of the most expensive in baseball.

July

• Four Rays were named to the AL All-Star squad.
• Did Todd Kalas conspire to give Jeff Niemann the shaving cream-pie treatment.
• The Rays wore Devil Rays throwbacks and played like the Devil Rays. Of course, they couldn’t even get the throwbacks right. They wore the wrong cap.
• Mark Buehrle threw a perfect game against the Rays, and we didn’t take it well.
• We may never know just how close the Rays came to trading for Cliff Lee and Victor Martinez.
• A Rays employee was seen on TV celebrating a Yankees win at The Trop.

August

• The Rays sure didn’t like playing on Getaway Days in 2009.
• James Shields and Matt Garza were not as dominant in 2009 and it may have been due to the extra effort given in 2008.
• In one of our favorite moments of the season, Evan Longoria was so relaxed during a dash to score a winning run that he took time to blow a bubble.
• The father of LeVon Washington claimed the Rays backed out of a pre-draft deal with his son.
• The Scott Kazmir era in Tampa Bay came to an end as he was traded to the Angels.

September

• Trading Scott Kazmir had the power of making fans invisible.
• Stuart Sternberg provided the quote of the year: “This is who we are.”
• B J Upton revealed that his surgically repaired shoulder was never 100% in 2009.
• The Rays bullpen was much less effective at stranding runners in 2009.
• The Rays do not do drag well.
• Some wondered if the ’09 Yankees had the best infield ever. We wondered if they even had the best infield in the ’09 AL East.

October

• Attendance in 2009 fell below expectations.
• The pitching staff may have struggled at times in 2009, but the Rays put them in a position to succeed next season.
• The Rays hired a new hitting coach.
• Joe Maddon did not get the most out of the talent available to him in 2009.
• The mayor of Tampa openly rooted for the Yankees in the World Series.

November

• The Rays traded Akinori Iwamura in a move that some seemed to think was revolutionary.
• We looked at how much value the Rays have gotten from the free agency market during Andrew Friedman’s tenure.
• Carl Crawford is not a sure-thing to be a Type A free agent.
• Evan Longoria joined the Twitterverse…but not really.
• Amongst closers, JP Howell was not that good in 2009.

December

• The Rays farm system was ranked the second best in baseball.
• We looked at the benefit to the Rays of not signing their top two picks from the ’09 Draft.
• The Rays “traded” for free agent Rafael Soriano. We looked at why it was a good move and why fans should still be worried.
• The Gabe Gross era came to an end in Tampa Bay when he was non-tendered.
• Mitch Talbot was dealt to Cleveland to complete the Kelly Shoppach deal.
• Desmond Jennings and Jeremy Hellickson top the Rays latest prospect ranking.

If you have been hanging around these parts for a while, you know that the model for this site is to tell you what the Rays have done, what they are doing and try to project what they will do based on what we have learned. Unlike most team blogs, we do not very often tell you what the Tampa Bay Rays should do. We prefer to live under the premise that the people that run the Rays are smarter than we are, and know many, many more things that even the most learned fan will never know.

However, for the next 12 days we will step away from the standard, and we present to you 12 “presents” the Tampa Bay Rays should give to their fans. Looking back at last year’s 12 Days of Raysmas, we see that the Rays didn’t come through on very many of our wishes, and the result was a somewhat disappointing season. Let’s hope that changes in 2010.

On the seventh day of Raysmas, the Tampa Bay Rays gave to us, SEVEN games with the same batting order…

BJ Upton
Carl Crawford
Evan Longoria
Carlos Pena
Ben Zobrist
Pat Burrell
Jason Bartlett
Gabe Kapler
Dioner Navarro

The above looks like a fairly standard batting order from the first-half of last season. In fact it was the most common lineup used by Joe Maddon in 2009.

It was also only used six (6!) times. For comparison, the Yankees had one lineup they used 15 times and a second that was used 8 times. And the Red Sox had three different lineups that were used at least 6 times.

If we have had one consistent complaint against JoeMa over the years, it is that he can overthink the game at times and make it more complicated than it needs to be. In 162 games, Maddon used 125 different batting orders. Would it kill him to pick one and stick with it for a while?

Of course, injuries play a big factor here also. So part of this wish is that the Rays stay relatively healthy all year.

And if the Rays can stay healthy and Maddon can resist the temptation to tinker, the Rays will have an excellent shot at returning to the playoffs in 2010.

If you have been hanging around these parts for a while, you know that the model for this site is to tell you what the Rays have done, what they are doing and try to project what they will do based on what we have learned. Unlike most team blogs, we do not very often tell you what the Tampa Bay Rays should do. We prefer to live under the premise that the people that run the Rays are smarter than we are, and know many, many more things that even the most learned fan will never know.

However, for the next 12 days we will step away from the standard, and we present to you 12 “presents” the Tampa Bay Rays should give to their fans. Looking back at last year’s 12 Days of Raysmas, we see that the Rays didn’t come through on very many of our wishes, and the result was a somewhat disappointing season. Let’s hope that changes in 2010.

On the sixth day of Raysmas, the Tampa Bay Rays gave to us, SIX months with at least 15 wins…

This is a simple, but very important wish because there are two factors at play here.

1. SIMPLE MATH – If the Rays win at least 15 games each month, they will win at least 90 games. Sprinkle in a couple of months in which the Rays get hot and win 16-17 games and all of the sudden the Rays have 94+ wins. In the last five seasons, the American League Wild Card team won either 94 or 95 games.

2. CONSISTENCY – Here is the breakdown of the Rays 2009 record by month:

April 9-14
May 16-14
June 19-7
July 12-12
August 15-12
Sept/Oct 13-19

The Rays were inconsistent in 2009 and it cost them dearly. In the first and last months of the season they were a combined 22-33 (.400 win percentage). Over a full season that would be 97 losses. From May through August, the Rays were 62-45 (.579). Over 162 games, that projects to 94 wins. In other words, the Rays played like a playoff team for four straight months.

In most months, 15 wins is an easily attainable mark and doesn’t require a team to play above their means. But the schedule won’t make it easy for the Rays to get off to a better start in 2010.

Here is the breakdown of the Rays 2010 schedule (first number is the number of games each month and second number is the number of games each month versus the Yankees or Red Sox):

April 23/7
May 29/5
June 25/2
July 26/8
August 29/4
Sept-Oct 30/10

April and Sept/Oct once again look like they could spell trouble for the Rays with almost half (17 of 36) of their head-to-head match-ups with the Yankees and Red Sox coming in those months. If they can get off to a good start and post a 15-8 record out of the gate, the next four months will offer a good opportunity to get the Rays to September still in contention.

If you have been hanging around these parts for a while, you know that the model for this site is to tell you what the Rays have done, what they are doing and try to project what they will do based on what we have learned. Unlike most team blogs, we do not very often tell you what the Tampa Bay Rays should do. We prefer to live under the premise that the people that run the Rays are smarter than we are, and know many, many more things that even the most learned fan will never know.

However, for the next 12 days we will step away from the standard, and we present to you 12 “presents” the Tampa Bay Rays should give to their fans. Looking back at last year’s 12 Days of Raysmas, we see that the Rays didn’t come through on very many of our wishes, and the result was a somewhat disappointing season. Let’s hope that changes in 2010.

On the fifth day of Raysmas, the Tampa Bay Rays gave to us, FIVE positions with at least 20 home runs…

Quick, off the top of your head, name the 4 positions that produced the most home runs for the Rays in 2009.

Ready?

1B 41
3B 36
DH 21
LF 20
SS 17
CF 15
RF 15
2B 14
C 13

We would have never guessed that DHs produced the third most home runs for the Rays last year. Of course, that is what we hoped for when the Rays signed Pat Burrell. But considering how awful he was, this is a surprise now. Meanwhile, Ben Zobrist’s primary positions (RF, 2B) produced 29 home runs total (he hit 16 of his 27 HR at 2B or RF).

Looking at that list, we see four positions (DH, CF, RF, 2B) that can, and should, produce more power in 2010. And what is amazing about the above list, is that the Rays still finished 5th in the AL in home runs. Of course, they were only 4th in the AL East. But they were not a weak hitting team.

It is not unreasonable to think the Rays can get a little more power out of center field (BJ Upton), right field (Matt Joyce, Gabe Kapler) and second base (Ben Zobrist). That gives the Rays seven positions that are capable of producing 20+ home runs.

If that happens, the Rays will have a very good shot at being one of the top two or three offensive teams in the American League in 2010.

If you have been hanging around these parts for a while, you know that the model for this site is to tell you what the Rays have done, what they are doing and try to project what they will do based on what we have learned. Unlike most team blogs, we do not very often tell you what the Tampa Bay Rays should do. We prefer to live under the premise that the people that run the Rays are smarter than we are, and know many, many more things that even the most learned fan will never know.

However, for the next 12 days we will step away from the standard, and we present to you 12 “presents” the Tampa Bay Rays should give to their fans. Looking back at last year’s 12 Days of Raysmas, we see that the Rays didn’t come through on very many of our wishes, and the result was a somewhat disappointing season. Let’s hope that changes in 2010.

On the fourth day of Raysmas, the Tampa Bay Rays gave to us, FOUR Gold Glove awards for the Rays infield…

OK, the Rays infield is not going to win four Gold Gloves this season. But the Rays do have four infielders that have the ability to play Gold Glove-caliber defense. And if the Rays are going to contend in 2010, all four will need to be on top of their game defensively.

Two Rays, Carlos Pena and Evan Longoria, already have Gold Gloves on the their resumes. At second base, Ben Zobrist posted the highest UZR/150 in the AL this past season (30.8). Placido Palanco was second at 11.0. The longest shot at the Gold Glove may be the one player that came to the Rays with the best defensive reputation, Jason Bartlett.

Even if the Rays win just three Gold Gloves, they would have to be ranked with the best defensive infields ever. The Orioles from 1973-1975 featured Gold Glovers at third base (Brooks Robinson), short stop (Mark Belanger) and second base (Bobby Grich), but had a weak defender at first base (Boog Powell). The 1999 Mets had one of the best all-around infields (John Olerud, Rey Ordonez, Robin Ventura, Edgardo Alfonso) but only won two Gold Gloves (Ordonez, Ventura). Olerud did win a Gold Glove with Seattle the following year.

Maybe more so than any team, the Rays have built their team around preventing runs. The Rays are a very good offensive team, but they do not have the firepower to compete with the Yankees and are not likely to outscore the Red Sox. So if the Rays are going to compete in the AL East, they need to be more like the ’08 Rays (2nd in the AL) and less like the ’09 Rays (7th) at preventing runs.

In a piece on the best and worst baseball decisions of the decade, Keith Law called the Red Sox, 1-year, $1.25 million contract to David Ortiz in 2003 as the best free agent signing.

Ortiz didn’t file for free agency after a 2002 season in which he slugged .500 for the Twins in 125 games, because he wasn’t eligible for free agency yet. The Twins didn’t like the idea of going through arbitration with him and instead released him a few days before the non-tender deadline. The Red Sox happened to have an opening at DH and an affinity for guys like Ortiz who hit for power and controlled the zone, so they gave him an almost riskless contract for just one year; if his knee acted up again as it did in 2002, or he didn’t perform up to expectations, he was barely making a dent in their budget and was playing a position that’s relatively easy to fill, but if he performed, the Red Sox controlled his rights into 2004. Ortiz hit .288/.369/.592 with his new club, as the Red Sox gave him playing time and encouraged him to swing away instead of focusing on contact, and he topped those slash stats in each of the following four years as the Red Sox won two World Series with his help.

It is hard to disagree if you look at Big Papi’s entire tenure with the Red Sox. But for that one season, Ortiz was only worth 3.4 wins. Compare that to Carlos Pena who was worth 6.1 wins in 2007. That year the Rays paid Pena $800K.

But as Law pointed out, it was essentially a two-year deal as Ortiz would not hit six years of service time until after the 2004 season. The Red Sox paid Ortiz $4.59 million in 2004 and he was worth 4.7 wins. For about $5.8 million the Red Sox got 8.1 wins and a key contributor to the 2004 World Series. For $800K, the Rays got 6.1 wins.

Based just on those initial contracts, we still give the edge to the Red Sox and Ortiz. But it’s close.

DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…

• BJ (née Melvin) Upton is now on Twitter. [TheRealBJUpton]
• This is just speculation on his part, but Phil Rogers thinks Fernando Perez could be an option for the Cubs…Even though there is not a need for Perez at the big league level, it would still require a legit prospect to pry him from the Rays. The reason is, Perez still has at least two minor league options and gives the Rays depth and insurance at almost no cost. If needed, they know he can contribute. So unless the Cubs are going to give a very good low-minors prospect or a young, cheap arm that can contribute in the bullpen this season, there is little reason for the Rays to trade Perez. [Chicago Tribune]
• Buster Olney looks at what money some teams have left to spend in free agency and speculates that the Red Sox and Yankees may have already reached their payroll limits or are very close. That could mean that neither team will make any additional significant additions prior to the season such as Jason Bay. [ESPN]
• One name you can scratch off the Rays free agent shopping list is Kelvim Escobar, who signed with the Mets. [Newark Star-Ledger]
• Reid Brignac is playing winter ball in Mexico working on his defense at second base and his pitch selection at the plate. [St. Pete Times]
• Jayson Stark ranked Pat Burrell as the 8th Least Valuable Player of the decade. [ESPN]
• Bill Chastain did a Q&A with Dan Wheeler about Christmas. [MLB]
• David Price spoke to 150 kids at a recent baseball camp and said he was more nervous than he has ever been on a baseball mound. [Cullman Times]
• Joe Maddon recently spoke with the baseball team at Lafayette College where he played baseball and Football in the mid-70s. [Lafayette]

If you have been hanging around these parts for a while, you know that the model for this site is to tell you what the Rays have done, what they are doing and try to project what they will do based on what we have learned. Unlike most team blogs, we do not very often tell you what the Tampa Bay Rays should do. We prefer to live under the premise that the people that run the Rays are smarter than we are, and know many, many more things that even the most learned fan will never know.

However, for the next 12 days we will step away from the standard, and we present to you 12 “presents” the Tampa Bay Rays should give to their fans. Looking back at last year’s 12 Days of Raysmas, we see that the Rays didn’t come through on very many of our wishes, and the result was a somewhat disappointing season. Let’s hope that changes in 2010.

On the third day of Raysmas, the Tampa Bay Rays gave to us, THREE-year contract extension for Carlos Pena…

In 2010, the Rays will have approximately 40% of their payroll committed to three players (Carl Crawford, Carlos Pena and Pat Burrell). All three of those contracts expire after the season.

Let’s assume for the moment that with $30 million coming off the books for just those three players, the Rays can afford to give an extension to one of those three. Not even Omar Minaya would give Burrell an extension, so under this scenario, the Rays would have to choose between Crawford and Pena.

Crawford will be 28 next season and is arguably coming off the best season of his career (5.5 wins). Pena will be 32 and is coming off two consecutive seasons in which his value declined (3.7 wins in ’08, 2.6 in ’09) from his great 2007 season (6.1 wins).

Crawford is younger and more valuable, but there are several reasons why re-signing Pena makes more sense.

• Pena will be cheaper: If Crawford heads to free agency next season, he will likely command a 5-6 year deal worth $15-17 million per season. This is especially true if teams like the Yankees and Mets already have their eyes on Crawford as many have speculated. Meanwhile, Pena is more likely to give the Rays a thanks-for-saving-my-career-discount. Re-signing Crawford, even with a hometown discount, would still require a $65-75 million commitment. Pena might only cost the Rays $25-30 million. That leaves a lot of money that can be used in other areas, like long-term deals for David Price, Matt Garza and BJ Upton.
• The Rays need Pena’s bat: Crawford is a great offensive force, worth 22.1 runs above a replacement in 2009. But in Pena’s worst showing with the Rays (2009) he was still worth 22.4 runs at the plate. In 2007 he was worth 52.0 runs. Pena is the one batter in the lineup that has the ability to strike fear in opposing pitchers. Take Pena out of the lineup and you take out the Rays one true power threat and the Rays lose one dimension of their all-around offensive abilities.
• Crawford is more easily replaced: We don’t mean to imply that anybody can replace CC’s all-around production, but the Rays do have other outfield options ready to step in and take Crawford’s spot. Using some combination of BJ Upton, Desmond Jennings, Matt Joyce and Ben Zobrist would give the Rays an excellent outfield lineup in 2011. Take out Pena and the Rays would have to turn to Willy Aybar, Ben Zobrist or Sean Rodriguez to play first base. Zobrist would come the closest to replacing Pena’s production, but the cost would be losing his defensive production at a more premium position.

In an ideal world the Rays would re-sign both Pena and Crawford. And if the Rays can only keep one, and all other factors were equal, we would prefer the Rays kept Crawford over Pena. But weighing the cost and the rest of the roster, re-signing Pena may be the more logical move for the Rays. And at age 32, a three-year extension seems to make the most sense.

If you have been hanging around these parts for a while, you know that the model for this site is to tell you what the Rays have done, what they are doing and try to project what they will do based on what we have learned. Unlike most team blogs, we do not very often tell you what the Tampa Bay Rays should do. We prefer to live under the premise that the people that run the Rays are smarter than we are, and know many, many more things that even the most learned fan will never know.

However, for the next 12 days we will step away from the standard, and we present to you 12 “presents” the Tampa Bay Rays should give to their fans. Looking back at last year’s 12 Days of Raysmas, we see that the Rays didn’t come through on very many of our wishes, and the result was a somewhat disappointing season. Let’s hope that changes in 2010.

On the second day of Raysmas, the Tampa Bay Rays gave to us, TWO Major League debuts for their top prospects…

The Rays have two of the top prospects in all of baseball in Desmond Jennings and Jeremy Hellickson. Both made their triple-A debuts in the second-half of the 2009 season. Thanks to a deep big league roster, there is no immediate need for either player. But it is our hope that we get to see both players make their big league debuts at some point this season.

But the Rays have good reasons to delay both players’ debuts.

• Desmond Jennings: Due to various injuries, 2009 marked the first season in which Jennings played 100 games. And as a result, he only has 311 games as a pro in four seasons since being drafted. The Rays would like to get Jennings a little more experience before he makes the jump and becomes the next uber-talented Rays outfielder. But how much more experience does he need? It was only 32 games, but he did hit .325/.419/.491 (.406 wOBA) at Durham with 15 of 17 stolen bases. Assuming he stays healthy and continues to produce at similar levels in 2010, we don’t see why he couldn’t make his debut in the second-half.
• Jeremy Hellickson: Like Jennings, Hellboy also had a limited, but very successful run in triple-A this past season. He made 9 starts, going 6-1 with a 2.51 ERA (2.66 FIP) and a ridiculous 70-to-15 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 57.1 innings. Those that have seen him pitch say his fastball and changeup are already big league-ready. And if a guy can throw strikes, display command in the strikezone and change speeds, he will be successful at any level. Certainly the Rays want to get Hellickson at least another 12-15 starts in triple-A, but does he have a shot at being the Rays sixth starter at any point this season? That is, if somebody gets hurt, will Hellickson be the first starter off the “bench” to fill the spot. He only threw 114 innings in 2009, so the Rays will want to limit his 2010 innings to about 140. So even if he does get the call to replace an injured starter, his stint will likely be a short one.

It is a nice situation to have when a team has two of the best prospects in baseball ready for the big leagues and there isn’t an immediate need for either player. Both figure to be important components on the 2011 roster, but it sure would be nice to get a glimpse at both players this season. And in the case of Jennings, he could be the spark that most teams look for in August and September as they make playoff runs. Only the Rays won’t have to give up any prospects to add him to the roster.

If you have been hanging around these parts for a while, you know that the model for this site is to tell you what the Rays have done, what they are doing and try to project what they will do based on what we have learned. Unlike most team blogs, we do not very often tell you what the Tampa Bay Rays should do. We prefer to live under the premise that the people that run the Rays are smarter than we are, and know many, many more things that even the most learned fan will never know.

However, for the next 12 days we will step away from the standard, and we present to you 12 “presents” the Tampa Bay Rays should give to their fans. Looking back at last year’s 12 Days of Raysmas, we see that the Rays didn’t come through on very many of our wishes, and the result was a somewhat disappointing season. Let’s hope that changes in 2010.

On the first day of Raysmas, the Tampa Bay Rays gave to us, ONE American League Most Valuable Player…

In 2009, Ben Zobrist finished 8th in the AL MVP voting. It was the highest finish ever for a Tampa Bay Ray. Unfortunately for Zorilla, that is likely to be the highest he will ever finish in the voting. Part of his allure this past year was that he came out of nowhere and did not have a regular position. Neither of those will be true in the future.

No, the player that will win the first-ever MVP award for the Rays will be Evan Longoria. After one month in the majors, we made the bold prediction during a radio interview that Dirtbag would win multiple MVP awards before his career is over. 2010 would be a good time to get that first trophy. But if that is to happen, several factors will need to fall into place.

• Longoria will need to step up his already impressive offensive display. In his first two seasons, Longo hit .272-27-85 and .281-33-113. While batting average and RBI are way down on the list of important offensive stats, they are still highly regarded by fans and the media that vote for MVP. Longoria will probably need to hit .300 and his RBI total probably needs to be 120+.
• He cannot show a regression with his glove. Carlos Pena won the gold glove in 2008 and then took a step backwards defensively in 2009. Longoria needs to avoid that sort of let down and continue to demonstrate that he is one of the best all-around players in baseball.
• He needs to stay healthy. After missing nearly a month in his rookie season, Longoria played in 157 games last year. Unlike players such as Alex Rodriguez and Albert Pujols, Longo does not have the numbers that can withstand an extended stay on the DL and still look great. If he wants to contend for the MVP, he needs to play 145+ games.
• And most importantly, the Rays need to be a contender. The days of players like Andre Dawson winning the MVP on a non-contender are over. And Longoria does not have the bat that can lap the other candidates even if the Rays are 10 games out of the playoffs. Quite simply, the Rays need to be playing meaningful games in final 2 weeks of the regular season if Dirtbag is to have any shot.

Evan Longoria has the bat, the glove, the name recognition and the supporting cast to win the 2010 AL MVP. And on the first day of Raysmas, that is what we want.

John Manuel of Baseball America has released his list of the Top 20 prospects in baseball and the Rays are well represented…

4. Desmond Jennings, OF, Rays

Why he’s here: Once he stayed healthy for a full season, Jennings showed true five-tool talent. He has size, speed, strength, explosiveness and skills.

What he’ll be: Jennings has many similarities to current Rays center fielder B.J. Upton, but his hitting track record is more consistent.

When he arrives: The Rays have an outfield spot open presently for 2010, and Jennings should be a big league-ready, inexpensive solution.

15. Jeremy Hellickson, RHP, Rays

Why he’s here: A 6-foot righty from Iowa, Hellickson has surprising stuff and feel for pitching. His changeup has been his best pitch, but his fastball command took a huge step forward in 2009, allowing him to be the ace for Durham’s Triple-A championship team.

What he’ll be: Yet another homegrown Rays pitcher for a franchise that couldn’t develop any pitching in its first six or seven years. Hellickson’s curve gives him a third quality pitch, and he gives the rotation another different look to play off Jeff Niemann’s size, David Price’s electric arm, James Shields’ premium changeup and Matt Garza’s power.

When he arrives: Wade Davis beat him to the majors, so Hellickson may have to bide his time back at Durham in 2010. His time may have to come after a trade.

This list shows just how deep the organization still is. Despite trading away three big league pitchers and an outfielder that was a former #1 overall pick, the Rays still have two players ranked in Manuel’s top 15 prospects of all baseball. Both players have triple-A experience. And still, there is a chance that neither player will see the big leagues before September.