Evan Longoria has been promoted from AAA Durham and will make his major league debut tonight for the Tampa Bay Rays against the Baltimore Orioles.

The timing of the promotion raises several questions:

1. What has Longoria done in two weeks at Durham to show that he is now ready?

Not much. We were told that Willy Aybar was given the job out of spring training because Longoria was not ready. In 7 games, The Dirtbag was 5-25 (.200) with 1 RBI and ZERO extra-base hits. If the decision was indeed based completely on whether or not Longoria was ready, the Rays would not be calling him up now just to fill the hole created by the injury to Aybar. Longoria is no more ready after only 7 AAA games than he was at the end of March. Rather, the Rays would let Eric Hinske or Joel Guzman start at third base for the next two weeks.

2. Will Longoria still be the starting third baseman when Aybar comes off the DL?

If he struggles, the Rays have a built-in excuse to send Longoria back to Durham in two weeks. But that would just go back to the first question. Why bring him up now if he wasn’t considered “ready” at the end of spring training? Longoria was not on the 40-man roster. If the Rays were just looking for a two-week stop-gap, they would go with a player already on the 40-man roster. So maybe the job was his all along and the Rays were just waiting the requisite number of days to delay his free agency clock…which brings us to question #3…

3. Did the Rays keep Longoria in Durham long enough to delay the free agency clock?

A service year is considered 172 days. If a player spends 172 (or more) days on the major league roster they receive credit for a full season. The 2008 regular season ends on Sept. 28. If we are adding right, and we like to think we are…if The Dirtbag spends the rest of the season on the major league roster, he will accumulate only 167 service days. In other words, the Rays have successfully pushed back Longoria’s pending free agency. If Longoria would have been on the opening day roster, he would have been elegible for free agency following the 2013 season. Having waited only two weeks, Longoria will not be eligible for free agency until after the 2014 season. And while the Rays will certainly try to sign Longoria to a long-term deal, that one year delay will make a huge difference in the structure of any agreement reached between the two sides.

4. Who is out if Longoria sticks?

The Rays will have an interesting problem in a few weeks when Cliff Floyd and Aybar return from the DL (Aybar should only be gone 2 weeks, Floyd 4-6 weeks). Of the four players on the bench, Mike DiFelice and Elliot Johnson appear to be safe due to team needs (backup catcher/shorstop). Certainly Justin Ruggiano will be gone. But that leaves Hinske, Floyd, Gomes, Aybar and Nathan Haynes for four spots. Floyd, Gomes and Aybar are safe. That leaves Hinske and Haynes for one spot. Keep in mind that Haynes is the Rays best defensive right fielder and really the only backup center fielder, although Johnson and Gomes could do it in an emergency. Also keep in mind that all of those players are out of options. Might the Rays seek to trade Gomes or Hinske? There is a very good possibility. If not, they will be forced to DFA Haynes and let Gomes, Aybar and Hinske share the right field duties…and nobody wants that.

While the Rays did not keep Longoria down long enough to delay his arbitration eligibility, they did save the team a year on the back-end and the only cost to the fans and his teammates was 10 games. It is difficult to argue with the reasoning, but forgive us if we question the excuses.

We call him The Dirtbag because of how he plays and because he played college ball at Long Beach State whose baseball team has the coolest mascot in sports…The Dirtbags.

[Queue the dramatic musical score]

No surprise here…Evan Longoria was cut today and will begin the 2008 season at AAA Durham.

Following today’s game, the Rays reassigned top prospect 3B Evan Longoria to minor-league camp. He will begin the season at Triple-A Durham….Longoria said he wasn’t necessarily surprised by the decision and ‘’had a feeling’’ it might be coming.

Nobody should be surprised by the move at this point. We admit, we thought this would bother us more, but it really doesn’t. The loss of Scott Kazmir at this point hurts a lot more. Longoria could have eased that pain a bit, but let’s face it. As long as the Rays rotation includes Edwin Jackson and Jason Hammel, the Rays are in trouble.

So we can officially retire the Dirtbag-O-Meter. We will continue to watch The Dirtbag’s progress closely at Durham, but we still feel fairly confident that we will not see Longoria in the majors until May 26 (Memorial Day).

Longoria sent down [Rays Report]

We call him The Dirtbag because of how he plays and because he played college ball at Long Beach State whose baseball team has the coolest mascot in sports…The Dirtbags.

The biggest question mark for the Tampa Bay Rays in Spring Training is whether or not Evan Longoria will be named the opening day third baseman. Manager Joe Maddon has repeatedly stated that the decision will be based less on his stats, and more on how the 22-year old handles himself on a day-to-day basis and how well The Dirtbag adjusts to everyday life as a major leaguer. From now until the Rays announce a decision on Longoria’s fate, we will track The Dirtbag’s progress through his numbers, our own observations and quotes from Maddon and Andrew Friedman…

Notes on the Dirtbag-O-Meter…

Yesterday: Evan Longoria pinch hit in the 8th, striking out to end the inning in his only plate appearance.

Quotes: None reported.

Summary: Bad News RAYSHEADS…The decision appears to have been made. We are just waiting for the official announcement…We were told that a decision would be made on The Dirtbag by the end of last week. If the Rays were going to keep Longoria on the roster, we would have heard that news already. So what does “no announcement” mean? We assume that the Rays need to keep Longoria around until Willy Aybar is ready to go everyday. Aybar did not play Yesterday as he continues to work through a sore hamstring. In other words, Longoria is in all likelihood headed to the minors as early as today…unless of course they change their mind.

We call him The Dirtbag because of how he plays and because he played college ball at Long Beach State whose baseball team has the coolest mascot in sports…The Dirtbags.

The biggest question mark for the Tampa Bay Rays in Spring Training is whether or not Evan Longoria will be named the opening day third baseman. Manager Joe Maddon has repeatedly stated that the decision will be based less on his stats, and more on how the 22-year old handles himself on a day-to-day basis and how well The Dirtbag adjusts to everyday life as a major leaguer. From now until the Rays announce a decision on Longoria’s fate, we will track The Dirtbag’s progress through his numbers, our own observations and quotes from Maddon and Andrew Friedman…

Notes on the Dirtbag-O-Meter…

Yesterday at the plate: Rained Out

Quotes:
The boys at Rays of Light caught a Buster Olney interview from a radio broadcast in which he touches on the Rays decision concerning Evan Longoria. They are paraphrasing:

Over the past few days, I’ve begun to hear some things that the Rays are feeling some pressure to keep Longoria on the big league roster rather than sending him down. As it relates to his contract and arbitration status, he’s signed with an agent who is considered to be a “do what the player wants” kind of agent, so the Rays are beginning to think that they can sign him long-term without ever having to go to arbitration.

Joe Maddon on the Longoria decision:

“We’re still really looking at that whole thing,” Maddon said, noting that the decision is also likely to be made next week.

Summary: If I would have heard just the second half of the Buster Olney I would probably push the Dirtbag-O-Meter up even higher, but the Rays do not seem like a team that is going to succumb to public pressure. On the other hand, fir the first time, the Rays are going to make a decision that the national media is waiting to scrutinize. So I will give the Dirtbag-O-Meter a bump one spot today and hope there are more telling quotes today or tomorrow.

We call him The Dirtbag because of how he plays and because he played college ball at Long Beach State whose baseball team has the coolest mascot in sports…The Dirtbags.

The biggest question mark for the Tampa Bay Rays in Spring Training is whether or not Evan Longoria will be named the opening day third baseman. Manager Joe Maddon has repeatedly stated that the decision will be based less on his stats, and more on how the 22-year old handles himself on a day-to-day basis and how well The Dirtbag adjusts to everyday life as a major leaguer. From now until the Rays announce a decision on Longoria’s fate, we will track The Dirtbag’s progress through his numbers, our own observations and quotes from Maddon and Andrew Friedman…

Notes on the Dirtbag-O-Meter…

Yesterday: Evan Longoria started at third and played all 9 innings, going 1-4 with an RBI. He had a ground out in the 3rd, lined out to center in the 4th, popped out to short in the 7th and doubled home a run in the 9th. In the field, he handled one ground ball and threw away another which led to a run.

Quotes:
DRays Bay paraphrases Joe Maddon from last night’s pre-game show.

To paraphrase Joe Maddon on the radio pre-game show: “[Evan] hasn’t been hitting the breaking balls well.” Combine that with, at times, shoddy defense and my intuition tells me Longoria is still going to be a Durham Bull, even if my gut tells me otherwise.

Summary: Seriously? That is going to be the excuse? He doesn’t hit breaking balls well?!?! And tell me, exactly how is he going to learn how to hit a major league breaking ball in the minors? Well, that pretty much makes it official, The Dirtbag is going to the minors and we won’t see him back until Memorial Day (May 26). Willy Aybar is expected to start today at third base. If all goes well, we can probably expect an announcement on Longoria’s fate tomorrow, and it won’t be good.

We call him The Dirtbag because of how he plays and because he played college ball at Long Beach State whose baseball team has the coolest mascot in sports…The Dirtbags.

The biggest question mark for the Tampa Bay Rays in Spring Training is whether or not Evan Longoria will be named the opening day third baseman. Manager Joe Maddon has repeatedly stated that the decision will be based less on his stats, and more on how the 22-year old handles himself on a day-to-day basis and how well The Dirtbag adjusts to everyday life as a major leaguer. From now until the Rays announce a decision on Longoria’s fate, we will track The Dirtbag’s progress through his numbers, our own observations and quotes from Maddon and Andrew Friedman…

Notes on the Dirtbag-O-Meter…

Yesterday: Evan Longoria did not start, but did enter the game in the 6th and played third base going 0-1. In the 7th, he grounded out to third to end the inning and leave a runner stranded on third in his only plate appearance. In the field he handled a pop up and a ground ball cleanly.

Quotes: None reported.

Summary: Yesterday fell all the way from 80% to 30% based on quotes from Joe Maddon and some teammates that seemed resigned to the idea of starting the season without the team’s hottest hitter. Afterwards, grumblings could be heard everywhere that the Rays may feel too much pressure to send The Dirtbag down to the minors. We find it highly unlikely that the team would succumb to this kind of pressure, but we do concede that the team must at least consider that the fans and some of the players are not going to be happy about the idea of an opening day roster without Longoria. And while the team has stated that the needs of the prospect outweigh all other factors, The Dirtbag is the best third baseman and one of the best hitters on the team. If they are serious about competing in 2008, Longoria needs to be on the roster sooner, rather than later. Based on that we kick the Dirtbag-O-Meter back up one notch.

Tampa Bay Rays (10 days until Opening Day)

Yesterday: Tampa Bay Rays 4, Indians 4.

The Good: Dioner Navarro continues his hot spring, going 2-2 with a double, home run and a walk. He is now 11-28 (.393) on the spring with 2 doubles, 2 home runs and a OPS. Elliot Johnson and Reid Brignac Durham’s likely double-play tandem successfully turned a pair of twin-killings.

The Bad: Jason Hammel wasn’t terrible, but he really needed a strong showing to get his name back in consideration for the rotation. In 4.1 innings, he gave up 3 runs on 4 hits, 2 walks and a hit batter…Same can be said for Jeff Niemann. He was a little better, but his 4 innings of 1-run ball came against the B-teamers and he did walk 2 and give up 5 hits while striking out only 1.

The Telling: Jonny Gomes played 5 innings in center field as Joe Maddon continues to look fir a suitable backup…Joel Guzman got the start at third base. With Willy Aybar nursing a sore hamstring, Guzman stands to be the backup third baseman if Evan Longoria is demoted. A start at third suggests that Maddon wants to get Guzman some work at the hot corner in preparation for the regular season. It was not a case of giving Longoria a day off as he came in and played the second half of the game.

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• Yesterday, the brilliant, highly esteemed, good-lookin’, greatest writer in the universe, Rob Neyer of ESPN.com wrote a piece focusing on our “Dirtbag-O-Meter”. Neyer argues that the Rays should use the money they could potentially save by having Evan Longoria begin the season in the minors and buy some goodwill with the fans by keeping The Dirtbag in the majors. [ESPN]

Two opinions: 1. Management wants Longoria to open the season in the minors, if only because it might save the franchise a few million bucks down the line. and 2. Management really, really wishes Longoria wasn’t doing quite so well this month.

• Both BJ Upton and Akinori Iwamura had to be removed from yesterday’s game due to injury. Neither injury appears serious. [Tampa Tribune]
• Rays of Light thinks the Rays have no choice now but to keep Evan Longoria on the roster for opening day. Considering the recent comments by Carl Crawford they correct conclude that it is a tricky situation the team has created telling the players they want to win, but then send the team’s best spring performer down to the minors. [Rays of Light]
• If Evan Longoria is reassigned to minor league camp, he won’t be the only top prospect in baseball that will have to wait a little longer. The Reds’ outfielder Jay Bruce, Baseball America’s top-rated prospect (Longoria was #2) will start the season at AAA. [Baseball America]
• The Ledger says “Jason Hammel appears likely to start the season in the Rays’ pitching rotation unless the decision is his to make.” We are going to have to agree with Hammel on this one when he says ” “Honestly, there’s other guys who have thrown better than me.” We know Hammel is out of options, but Niemann deserves the shot before Hammel. At least in the case of Jackson, he has shown that he can be dominant. Hammel has never shown that. [The Ledger]
  
• David Chalk argues that the Yankees level of failure in the 21st Century exceeds that of every other team, including the Devil Rays. He actually makes a pretty convincing argument. In essence Tampa Bay has met expectations. The same cannot be said of the Evil Empire. [Bugs & Cranks]
• Not only has Wade Townsend healthy for the first time in years, but he enters 2008 with more velocity than ever on his fastball. [Tampa Bay Rays]

“My velocity and the curveball are the best they have been,” he said. “It’s just a matter of going out there and transforming that into performances this year, and hopefully I’ll start as high as I can go.”

• Baseball Crank published their 2008 AL East projection and have the Rays finishing 4th with only 71 wins. While the 88 wins projected by PECOTA seems a little high, this number seems a little low. We are also skeptical of a projection that gives the Yankees 101 wins and the Red Sox only 88. [Baseball Crank]
• Brittany Ghiroli points out that Gary Glover, Dan Wheeler and Trever Miller have all been able to work on consecutive days recently in an effort to get them ready for the regular season. Joe Maddon also notes that he is trying to get Miller more work against lefties in the spring, a scenario that is difficult with so many pitchers needing work. [Tampa Bay Rays]

“We want to get those guys some innings. Plus, when you are able to stretch these guys out over here [at Al Lang Field], that’s less time on this side of things,” Maddon said. “Sending guys over there just to get some work and match them up is ideal for us…You just don’t want the first time they’re going back-to-back to be at the beginning of the regular season,” Hickey said.

• So far Joe Maddon likes what he has seen from Akinori Iwamura at second base and notes that there is already a strong chemistry between he and Jason Bartlett. [Tampa Bay Rays]

“Any time you go from this side to that side, the runner is coming in at your back,” Maddon said. “[But] I see him staying in there really well on the double play. I see him throwing really hard and accurately to first.”…Maddon added that Iwamura has been equally as sharp on the mental side of playing second, noting he has been in the right place every time on bunts, cutoffs and relays. Maddon also likes the chemistry that has developed between Iwamura and shortstop Jason Bartlett….”[Bartlett] has really helped the transition for Aki by just the way he is, his personality and his character. He’s embraced having Aki there. You see it all the time. They’re together constantly, and I watch the conversation. They’re really cut from the same cloth emotionally. They are both confident young men — and because of that, they have both hit it off.”

• Outs Per Swing takes a look at some of the players that may end up on waivers for the Rays to pick up as a fourth outfielder. [Outs Per Swing]
• Beyond the Boxscore takes a look at how much of Carl Crawford’s game is owed to his speed and tries to predict what type of player Crawford would be if he had average speed. [Beyond the Boxscore]
• Bleacher Report names the best players to play each position for the Rays in their first ten seasons. [Bleacher Report]
• Stacy Long projects where some of the Rays top prospects will begin the season. [Riverwalk Talk]
  

We call him The Dirtbag because of how he plays and because he played college ball at Long Beach State whose baseball team has the coolest mascot in sports…The Dirtbags.

The biggest question mark for the Tampa Bay Rays in Spring Training is whether or not Evan Longoria will be named the opening day third baseman. Manager Joe Maddon has repeatedly stated that the decision will be based less on his stats, and more on how the 22-year old handles himself on a day-to-day basis and how well The Dirtbag adjusts to everyday life as a major leaguer. From now until the Rays announce a decision on Longoria’s fate, we will track The Dirtbag’s progress through his numbers, our own observations and quotes from Maddon and Andrew Friedman…

Notes on the Dirtbag-O-Meter…

Yesterday at the plate: Evan Longoria started at third going 0-2 with an intentional walk…In the second inning, he struck out looking with one out and a man on first. In the 4th he flew out to center to end the frame. In the 6th inning with runners on second and third with only one out, Longoria was intentionally walked by Jamie Moyer. He would later score the Rays third run. He was removed after 6 innings. In the field, he handled his only fielding chance, a pop up.

Quotes:

“I don’t know, man, that’s just a sensitive topic right now,” Carl Crawford said. “So I don’t really know the reaction that guys are going to have [if Longoria doesn't make the team] just yet….I know every day, every game he plays, we want him as a team, for sure. As the days go by, and every day we get to see him more, we want him on this team more and more.” [Tampa Bay Rays]

Carlos Pena conceded that “it’s obvious how talented Longoria is” and “we all want him here, every single one of us…But we also understand that there is a process to his development, what is planned for him… There also might be some business advantages that would go perfectly for him and his process. We understand that there are other things that are out of our control and Longoria’s control….It doesn’t necessarily mean we should take it as a negative…We know he’s going to be in the Major Leagues very soon. And he’s going to help out. We think he could be here right now. Every single one of us wants him here. But yes, we are mature and professional enough to understand.” [Tampa Bay Rays]

“I’m not necessarily worried about it,” Maddon said. “It just comes down to doing what you think is the right thing. Because many times you have to make a decision that people in the clubhouse do not particularly get at this particular time. And that’s OK.” [Tampa Bay Rays]

“Because we’ve been doing so well,” Crawford said, “you wouldn’t want to think that one player could deflate the whole thing. I hope that we can still have this little swagger we’ve got. But we’ll just have to wait and see...We’d rather have Longoria, but we feel like we can still win. We can hold it down until he comes. We know we’ll get him at some point. If he doesn’t start out with us, we can do what we need to do.” [Tampa Bay Rays]

Summary: With Willy Aybar nursing a sore hamstring, The Dirtbag started his fourth straight game. Longoria continues to play like a seasoned pro in the spring. The intentional walk yesterday was his tenth free pass of the spring. Only four players have more. He has a .477 OBP and a .719 SLG…But none of this is going to be good enough. After reading the quotes above we are now resigned to the idea that The Dirtbag is probably starting the year in Durham. With a decision pending today or tomorrow, Crawford sounds like he is bracing himself and the rest of the team. Maddon sounds like the decision has already been made even if he is just conjecturing. Pena sounds like a realist and understands what is about to happen…It sucks. We just hope the Rays don’t finish a couple of games short of the playoffs, because Longoria is worth a couple of wins over two months compared to Aybar or Guzman or Hinske.

We call him The Dirtbag because of how he plays and because he played college ball at Long Beach State whose baseball team has the coolest mascot in sports…The Dirtbags.

The biggest question mark for the Tampa Bay Rays in Spring Training is whether or not Evan Longoria will be named the opening day third baseman. Manager Joe Maddon has repeatedly stated that the decision will be based less on his stats, and more on how the 22-year old handles himself on a day-to-day basis and how well The Dirtbag adjusts to everyday life as a major leaguer. From now until the Rays announce a decision on Longoria’s fate, we will track The Dirtbag’s progress through his numbers, our own observations and quotes from Maddon and Andrew Friedman…

Notes on the Dirtbag-O-Meter…

Yesterday: Evan Longoria started at third base going 1-2 with his third home run and a walk. He grounded out to end the third. In the 5th, he homered with 2 outs and the bases empty. In the 7th, Longoria drew a walk with men on second and third and nobody out. In the field he handled one ground ball to end the fifth and started a double play that ended the 6th.

Quotes: “Right now” is Upton’s assessment of when Longoria will be ready. [USA Today]

Summary: Yesterday’s home run was particularly impressive because it was the first base runner allowed by Cole Hamels after being perfect for 4.2 innings in what by most accounts was a Cole Hamels in mid-season form, tossing a gem…. On the spring, The Dirtbag has 3 home runs. .488 OBP. 1.255 OPS. 9 walks, 5 strikeouts…More telling? Longoria has started three straight games. We have heard the rumors that Longoria is on his way down to the minors at the end of the week, but the team has said he will be on the opening day roster if he is ready…The Dirtbag is ready.