Tampa Bay Rays (64 days until pitchers and catchers report)

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• Yesterday we mentioned that Ben Broussard and Miguel Olivo could be on the Rays radar if they are non-tendered by their respective teams. Eduardo Encina says that Broussard would fit, but that “at age 29 (Olivo) would not fit into Tampa Bay’s plans”. To agree with one of our commenters, we are not sure if 29 is too young or too old. [TampaBay.com]
• The Rays announced the coaching staffs for all six affiliates. Here is the complete list. [DevilRays]
• Rays president Matt Silverman and senior VP Michael Kalt answered a number of questions that were submitted to the St. Pete Times from their readers, covering a wide-range of topics. Most of the answers are PR-flavored and not much of the information is new to those that follow the team closely. [TampaBay.com]
• New Rays closer Troy Percival has 324 career saves. Good for 12th all-time. The Tampa Bay Devil Rays have 335 saves…Total…In 10 seasons.
• Marc Topkin takes a look at what the opening day roster and lineup could look like. [TampaBay.com]
• Rays Digest takes a closer look at various VORP values produced by Tampa Bay Devil Rays in 2007. [Rays Digest]
• The Washington Nationals have moved Elijah Dukes out of the Tampa area, in an effort to separate him from his past, to Orlando, where he will spend the next two months working out with Barry Larkin. [ESPN]

Tampa Bay Rays (66-96)

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• The Rule 5 draft was held yesterday and the Rays selected Tim Lahey from the Minnesota Twins and then traded him to the Cubs. The Rays lost one player, as Evan Meek was taken with the second pick by the Pirates. [Baseball America]
• In the AAA phase of the Rule 5 Draft, the Rays selected Rashad Eldridge from the Twins. Eldridge was a 5th round pick in 2000 and has had a very unimpressive career to date. The Rays selected two other players in the Rule 5 draft that will never wear a Rays uniform so there names are unimportant. [Baseball America]
• Rays Anatomy takes a look at the players selected by the Rays in the Rule 5 Draft, including the two unnamed players from above. [Rays Anatomy]
• Most of us are familiar with the Rule 5 draft (not Rule V), but did you know that baseball’s amateur draft held in June is actually the Rule 4 draft? Baseball Prospectus takes a look at the Rule 4 draft and projects the first 10 selections, predicting that the Tampa Bay Rays will take Pedro Alvarez, a 1B/3B from Vanderbilt. The most eye-opening line is the last one, in which BP projects that Alvarez would eventually be the best bat in the Rays lineup. It isn’t like the Rays don’t have any good bats and Evan Longoria is knocking on the door. [Baseball Prospectus]

Pedro is still the class of this draft, but the top high schoolers closed the gap over the summer. You can bet Alvarez is going to have some huge bonus demands — if he regresses at all as a junior (like Matt Wieters did), Tampa will explore other options. In the end, though, this should be their guy. He could be great at first and probably even work in right, and he’ll be the best bat in their lineup at some point.

• Yahoo! Sports has named the Tampa Bay Rays as one of the winners of the Winter Meetings. Keep in mind that the Matt Garza trade was made prior to the Winter Meetings. [Yahoo! Sports]

The Elijah Dukes Experiment, which went about as well as metal in a microwave, is finally over, and GM Andrew Friedman even managed to procure a decent prospect from Washington in the trade. For too long, the Rays tolerated Dukes’ sociopathic behavior because his talent. His Crazy Factor – the formula for which is DTTW+JPD/BA (death threats toward wife plus joints per day divided by batting average) – finally spiked too high even for their liking, though, and somehow they found a willing buyer in the Nationals. This is six months late, yes, but better than never.

Tampa Bay Rays (66-96)
As we mentioned yesterday, Elijah Dukes was traded to the Nationals and Josh Wilson was placed on waivers and claimed by the Pittsburgh Pirates. Glenn Gibson, who was acquired for Dukes is not a member of the 40-man roster. The moves leave the Rays with only 38 players on their 40-man roster, a fact that won’t go unnoticed if a player such as Dale Thayer or Nick DeBarr is lost to the Rule 5 draft on Thursday.

We are not certain why Wilson was placed on waivers at this time unless another trade or free agent signing is pending. However, it is not surprising that Wilson was the player chosen to be placed on waivers. We suspected that Ben Zobrist had the edge over Wilson for the utility infielder position off the bench. While Zobrist has a slight edge offensively and defensively, his ability to switch-hit was may have been the biggest factor as the Rays are currently without a left handed bat off the bench.

With the latest round of moves, we have updated the “Cork Board“, our “Trade Value Index“, and the 2008 25-man roster projection and 40-man roster/payroll projection in the side panel.

Remember the projections are based only on players currently within the organization. In other words, it is what the roster would like if opening day were today. Obviously there are still changes to be made. For example, we do not see Justin Ruggiano as the starting right fielder, and the Rays would prefer somebody other than Kurt Birkins fill the role of lefty in the ‘pen. The only significant change since the last update is Juan Salas is not on the roster. He still has options (can be sent to the minors) and recent comments by Joe Maddon suggest that Gary Glover is a front-runner to make the team. On the 40-man roster we are assuming that one of the final two roster spots will go to Evan Longoria and the other opening will be filled from outside the organization, so we just left one spot blank.

As for the TVI, the biggest change is obviously the additions of Matt Garza and Jason Bartlett. Also, the TVI suggests that if the Rays have a need to remove anybody from the 40-man roster, the most likely candidates are Kurt Birkins and Grant Balfour.

Elijah Dukes Has Been Traded To The Nationals [Rays Index]
Notes: Wilson Lost on Waivers To Bucs [Devil Rays]

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• One of the biggest misconceptions in baseball is that “Moneyball” and Oakland A’s General Manager Billy Beane is all about loving players with strong OBPs. Not true. “Moneyball” was all about finding players that are undervalued by other teams. At the time “Moneyball” was written, not many teams placed a premium on OBP, and so those were the players targeted by Beane. Since the book was written, most other teams now realize the value of players with high OBPs and hence those players are no longer undervalued. Rays of Light examines this shift and wonders if 5-tool players are the new object of everybody’s affection. [Rays of Light]
• RJ Anderson takes a look at “Economics and Baseball” and how they pertain to trades. [DRays Bay]
• One blog looks at the correlation between market size and revenue sharing in baseball. The Tampa Bay Rays have the 5th smallest market, but have taken in the largest amount of revenue sharing. There are several interesting anomalies. For example, the Blue Jays are middle-of-the-pack for market size (12th), but received the second most revenue sharing funds. [Thoughts, Essays, Etc. Sent Into The Ether]

[Update 6:22pm] The Rays traded Elijah Dukes for one of the pitchers that they coveted from the Nationals. The player acquired by the Rays is Glenn Gibson. According to earlier reports, Gibson was one of the pitchers that the Nationals were refusing to part with. Gibson, a tall lanky (6’4″ 195) left hander, was a 4th round selection by the Nationals out of high school in the 2006 draft. After only 6 innings of work in 2006, Gibson appeared in 12 games this past season (all starts) for Vermont of the New York-Penn League. He posted a 3.10 ERA and struck out 58 in 58 innings, while walking 15.

FoxSports is reporting that Elijah Dukes has been traded to the Washington Nationals for a minor leaguer. The minor league player has not been identified, but is not believed to be a member of the Nationals’ 40-man roster.

A press conference has been scheduled for 6 pm

In other news, Josh Wilson was placed on waivers and claimed by the Pirates.

We will update this post as more details become available.

Rays trade outfielder Elijah Dukes to Nationals [Yahoo! Sports]
Nats acquire Dukes from Tampa Bay [Fox Sports]
Dukes traded to Nationals [TampaBay.com]

Tampa Bay Rays (66-96)
What is the best cure for The Hangover? Happy Hour!

There was just too much going on in the Raysiverse that we couldn’t wait until tomorrow morning when nobody turns on their computers. Without further ado…

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• The Nationals traded Ryan Church to the Mets for Lastings Milledge. This move does not necessarily mean that the Nationals are no longer interested in Elijah Dukes. The Nationals would want Dukes to play center field. Church logged considerable time in center last season and Milledge is primarily a left fielder although he can play center. Washington may still be in the market for a center fielder. [Newsday]
• Marc Lancaster also thinks the the Nationals may still try to acquire Elijah Dukes because Washington’s GM Jim Bowden is quite fond of “toolsy outfielders”. [TBO]
• The Troy Percival deal has now been officially announced. The only difference from previous reports is that incentives could reach $4 million over the two years based on games played and games finished. [tampabay.com]
• Larry Brown Sports is surprised that a player would turn down more money from the Yankees to sign with the Rays. If everything else was equal, we would be surprised also, but the Rays undoubtedly promised Troy Percival that he would be the closer, as opposed to a set-up man in New York. [Larry Brown Sports]
• This morning we wondered aloud whether Evan Longoria would be MiLB’s top prospect. He is not. He comes in at #2. [MiLB]

With fewer than 200 professional games under his belt, Longoria appears ready for the big leagues. He made it to Triple-A in his first full season and has shown the ability to hit for average and power in his brief pro career. Defensively, he’s got good hands and a strong arm at third base.

Players who come out of Long Beach State seem to have pretty good heads on their shoulders and know how to play the game the right way (see Tulowitzki, Troy). Longoria definitely fits that mold and his makeup and work ethic are off the charts. That should enable him to get to the big leagues, and stay there, in short order. It’s not guaranteed, but it’s hard to imagine he won’t make the 2008 big-league roster as the Opening Day third baseman, pushing Akinori Iwamura to second base.

• Saturday is the deadline for teams to offer arbitration to eligible players. While Scott Kazmir, Carlos Pena, Jonny Gomes and Dan Wheeler are no-brainers…Gary Glover and Grant Balfour are not, especially with the signing of Troy Percival and the acquisition of Matt Garza which presumably bumps Jason Hammel to the bullpen. [Devil Rays]
• WOOHOO! The acquisition of Matt Garza and Jason Bartlett leaves at least one blogger believing that the Rays are now better than the Royals. [Royals Review]
• Based on “Mariginal Revenue Products” estimates, whatever those are…Carlos Pena was the 5th most valuable American Leaguer. [Sabernomics]

According to the Dominican news site 7dias the Tampa Bay Rays may be close to trading Elijah Dukes to the Washington Nationals. And after comments attributed to Dukes, while playing for his Domincan Winter League team, it is looking more and more like the troubled yet talented outfielder has played his final game with the Rays. According to the report, Dukes has told several of his Dominican League teammates that he wants to be traded soon to get his career back on track.

The original report is in Spanish. We had the page translated using Google Translator which is both amazing and funny…HERE is the translated report in its entirety…

The National Washington are very interested in acquiring Elijah Dukes to the Rays from Tampa Bay to become their center fielder, but they refuse to give up their best prospects for pitchers bear the troubled gardener.

A source close to the talks between National and Rays said both team are in agreement on the blueprint moved into St. Dukes. Petersburg to the nation’s capital, but when it is not complete overlap of the price paid in Washington.

“Let’s be clear, the Rays want to leave Dukes and there are people in Washington who think that the guy is not as problematic as paint,” said the source.

It is hard to judge the accuracy of the report based on this translation. If there are two things in this world that Elijah Dukes is not…it is a gardener or a Saint.

Dukes Dominican League team, Licey, is managed by the Nationals’ third base coach Tim Tolman. In addition, the Nationals’ manager, Manny Acta, visited the Dominican Republic to watch Dukes play.

The only thing holding up a deal being completed is an agreement on exactly which prospects the Rays would receive in return. According to the report, the Rays are asking for Washington’s top pitching prospects, but the Nationals are refusing to part with pitchers such as Collin Balester, Colton Willems, Zech Zinicola or Glenn Gibson.

“The issue is that National did not want to release any of their main prospects launchers. Everybody wants pitcheo to move a player from the category of Dukes,” he added.

Despite recent assertions that Dukes was in the process of “Redemption” with the Rays, it now seems that it is only a matter of time before the Mischievous Little Badger is somebody else’s headache.

[Ed. note: Bugs & Cranks is also all over this along with video footage of Dukes' second home run in the DR]

Los Nacionales se interesan en adquirir a Elijah Dukes [7dias]
The National is interested in acquiring at Elijah Dukes [7dias] (Translated to English)
The Redemption Of Elijah Dukes – Week 1 [Bugs & Cranks]

Team USA 4, South Africa 2.
Evan Longoria went 1-4 with a triple and Justin Ruggiano went 0-4 as Team USA moved to 5-1 and clinched a spot in the World Cup quarterfinals. They have one final game in the preliminary round versus Taipei with the quarterfinals set to played on Friday with the opponent yet to be determined. Longoria was the team’s DH while Andy LaRoche played third base.

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• Baseball Musings took a look at the “Probabilistic Model of Range” for centerfielders in 2007 and the Devil Rays centerfielders finished next to last, ahead of only the Brewers. The number must be taken with a grain of salt. When we look at Range Factor, BJ Upton was above the league average of 2.71 with a 2.91. On the other hand, Elijah Dukes and Delmon Young, who had the next two most innings played in center field were both well below the league average with a 2.30, which likely brought the Rays overall Range value down. Rocco Baldelli only played 20 games in center, but came in with a 3.61 range factor. [Baseball Musings]
• Four of the 12 players named to the Topps Double-A All-Star team are Devil Rays farmhands. The list includes Evan Longoria, John Jaso, Chris Mason and Dale Thayer. [The Raw Feed]
• More hardware for Carlos Pena. This time it is the fictional 2007 Andre Dawson Award, presented to the best player on a last place team. No word on what exactly the trophy looks like, but we are guessing it is a hawk with bad knees. Pena is the second Devil Ray to win the award. Fred McGriff won the award in 1999. [Home Run Derby]
• The Cubs are trying to put together a package to land Carl Crawford. No word on whether or not discussions have already occurred. [Herald-News]
• According to team officials, there are no deals being worked on that involve Carl Crawford. The denial is interesting and possibly unnecessary as we haven’t actually heard any rumors involving CC. All we have seen and read is that other teams are targeting CC. But who wouldn’t want CC on their team? [Bradenton Herald]
• Al Reyes and Greg Norton both filed for free agency. The Rays still have until tomorrow to pick up options on both players. Reyes’ option will be picked up. Norton is likely to be granted free agency. [TBO]
• The Rays are one of 10 teams interested in signing Troy Percival. While Marc Lancaster sites Percival’s close relationship with Joe Maddon as a reason the Rays may have an edge, it didn’t seem to help last year when he ultimately signed with the Cardinals, so we are not sure why it would help this time around, except to add another team to the bidding process and ultimately raise the price. [TBO]
• In the end, we were a little high with the target dollar amount, but as we predicted, the Yankees went to four years on their contract offer to Jorge Posada and the catcher decided to not even test the free agent waters. The Yankees re-signed Posada for 4 years and $52.4 million. The Yankees will have to pay the devil on the back end of the deal, but that is the advantage they have. They will be able to swallow that cost when Posada is a 40-year old part-time DH. The Rays are in no financial position to assume such a cost. [TBO]
• Redeveloping Tropicana Field and the land on which it rests is key to the Rays moving to the St. Pete Waterfront in 2012. According to Aaron Sharockman this will not be a problem as land developers are already drooling over the prospect of building a residential and office space development on the 70 acre lot that is close to the interstate. [St. Pete Times]

Transforming the Tropicana site is “the kind of thing you dream about,” said Craig Sher, the chief executive of the Sembler Co., which developed BayWalk in St. Petersburg and Centro Ybor in Tampa.

“There’s a real potential to build a really neat mixed-use project, residential and office,” Sher said. “There’s just not a lot of land left in St. Pete. Any time you get a critical mass of land, you can get something spectacular. Hopefully, we’d be on somebody’s list of people to call.”

• Now that the Devil Rays have changed their name to “Rays”, has the team automatically eliminated itself as a potential destination for a small segment of players? Would Ray Durham have ever signed with the Tampa Bay Rays? Not likely. [Home Run Derby]

Team USA 3, Mexico 0.
Well, Team USA won their World Cup opener against Mexico. We know that Justin Ruggiano was hit by a pitch to start a rally (bastards) but we are having trouble tracking down a box score, so we have no idea how Evan Longoria did. But since we cannot find a boxscore, we will assume he went 4-4 and hit a 3-run home run and that Jorge Campos was catching for the Mexican team. How awesome would that be (Campos, not Longoria)?

[Update: We found a boxscore HERE. No Campos]

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• The Rays are in the market for a shortstop that can field and relievers that can pitch. It appears the Rays may be talking to the Twins about acquiring one or both in exchange for Rocco Baldelli. [Twins Territory]
• It looks as if Rocco Baldelli is the player the Rays are interested in moving as they are also in talks with the Nationals about the oft-injured centerfielder. [MLB]
• Andrew Friedman wouldn’t rule out the possibility when asked if Elijah Dukes would have a shot at a roster spot in the Spring. [TBO]

“It’s too early to answer that,” he said. “There’s a lot more that we want to go through, but I will say there have been a lot of positive strides in the last couple of months. But we’ve still got a ways to go.”

• There are several Japanese pitchers that will be available as free agents (no posting fee required) and the Rays are expected to actively pursue one or more of the relief pitchers including Kazuo Fukumori and Masahide Kobayashi. Here is hoping the Rays sign Kobayashi so we can have an entire season with Keyser Soze references. [TBO]

“We were active scouting the Japanese leagues this year, and there certainly are some guys that are on our radar,” Rays executive vice president Andrew Friedman said. “I expect the market to be more active than it has been in the past…We’ll see how that market unfolds,” Friedman said. “It’ll be very interesting to see in light of some of the recent success, what that means for the market.”

• Jordi at The Serious Tip tried to crash the GM meetings in Orlando only to be rejected by one of the Golden Girls. Next time offer her a membership to the “Silver Rays” fan club. Certainly Matt Silverman would have that comped. [The Serious Tip]

Devil Rays (66-96)
Don’t look now but Elijah Dukes is playing baseball and hitting home runs.

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• Evan Longoria and Justin Ruggiano have begun play with Team USA. Before heading to the World Cup in Chinese Taipei, Team USA is playing warm-up games against the rest of the Arizona Fall League. Longoria batted 3rd and played 3rd and went 1-3 with a walk and 2 strikeouts in the first game. Ruggiano was 1-4 with an RBI. In the 2nd game, Longoria DH’d and hit clean-up going 1-4 with an RBI and 2 strike outs. Ruggiano was 0-3 with a walk.
• Evan Longoria and Reid Brignac in the Arizona Fall League are not the only big name Devil Rays playing baseball right now. In the Dominican Winter League, Elijah Dukes is trying to put his troubled past behind him and trying once again to show why he is considered one of the most talented prospects in baseball. He is off to a hot start. Before Sunday’s game, he was 8-21 with 5 extra-base hits and 4 walks. [Rotoworld]
• Bugs & Cranks is rooting for Elijah Dukes and reviews his first week in the Dominican Winter League. [Bugs & Cranks]
• In their second installment of “The Redemption of Elijah Dukes”, Bugs & Cranks provides us with the above video as well as a second video of an RBI single by Elijah Dukes. [Bugs & Cranks]
• John Romano compares the Colorado Rockies path to success to the path that the Devil Rays are currently on. Yes, there are a lot of similarities, but the notion that the Rockies invented the idea of building a successful low payroll team through drafting and developing young talent is a stretch. Yes, they are team du jour but plenty of teams have used this method long before the Rockies employed it and several of those teams have enjoyed the same level of success. That is, playoffs. No titles. [tampabay.com]
• We are not sure why Marc Topkin feels the need to compare that Rays to the success of other “low-payroll” teams. Those teams (Cleveland, Colorado and Arizona) all had a 2007 payroll of approximately twice the Rays payroll. They may be in the lower third of the league in terms of payroll, but that does not mean the Rays are in the same league. [tampabay.com]
• Baseball Prospectus includes the Devil Rays bullpen as one of the 10 most disgraceful performances of 2007. Considering the bullpen ranked as the worst bullpen of all time in several categories, one could argue that they should be #1. [Baseball Prospectus]

Devil Rays (66-96)

We decided a while ago that we would no longer mention Elijah Dukes on this site unless it was baseball related. The last time we reported on Dukes we got a sneaking suspicion that his tenure with the Devil Rays was unofficially over, as the team gave away his #35 to Dan Wheeler, after he was acquired from the Astros via trade. Wheeler specifically requested the number, and the Rays granted his request. The move flew a bit under the radar, but was one way for the front office to send a very strong message to Dukes. Teams do not just give away the number of top-level prospect to a journeyman middle reliever.

Yesterday the Devil Rays announced that Dukes would be participating in the Domincan Republic winter league.

“Elijah continues to make great strides,” said Andrew Friedman, Devil Rays executive vice president of baseball operation. “We’re still at the point in the process where it would be premature to elaborate much more, but we feel like he is at the stage where it’s appropriate for him to go out and play some in the Winter League and take it from there.”

Does Dukes once again have a future with the Devil Rays? Not necessarily. The Rays outfield for 2008 is set with Carl Crawford, BJ Upton and Delmon Young from left-to-right. Undoubtedly there will be endless speculation of the Rays trading CC or Delmon for pitching help, but Rocco Baldelli and Jonny Gomes will be ready to step in if needed. In other words, there is not a position on the major league club for Dukes in ’08.

Certainly Dukes would like to be traded to another organization where he can find a fresh start and compete for a spot on the 25-man roster. Unfortunately for Dukes and the Rays, his trade value could not be any lower. So at this point, the logical move for the Rays is to hold on to Dukes. Get him back on the diamond and wait. Wait for Dukes to once again establish himself as a top prospect. Wait for public disdain for Dukes to die down and be forgotten. Wait for an opening to occur naturally or wait for another organization to up the ante and look past Dukes’ troubled history.

The only problem with this scenario is what to do with Dukes in 2008. Obviously he will not be on the 25-man roster. And most likely he will not be welcome in Durham, where memories of the 2006 debacle of a season are still fresh on their minds. The Bulls and the Rays are also entering the final year of their affiliation contract and forcing Dukes on the local community may be seen as a slap to the face. Montgomery is possible, although Dukes had a checkered tenure his first time with that ballclub.

Vero Beach seems like the most likely destination. The organization would be able to keep a close eye on Dukes. His big name and prospect status could be seen as a way to draw fans to the ballpark. Also, 2008 will be the final year in which the Rays will have a minor league affiliate in Vero Beach as the team will move their high-A affiliate following the upcoming season. Therefore the front office does not need to worry about a permanent negative backlash from the community and the team.

Will Dukes ever play another game for the Rays? Our gut says ‘no’. More likely the team will try to find a trade partner following the 2008 season. Then again, if Dukes stays out of trouble and posts huge numbers in the minors during the 2008 season, we might see just how forgiving a team and their fans can be.

Dukes to play in Winter League [Devil Rays]

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• Why don’t we ever see this headline associated with the Devil Rays: “Phillies Have $20MM To Burn”…Oh yeah…because “Rays Have $200,000 To Burn” doesn’t have quite the same ring. [MLB Trade Rumors]
• Three of the top six prospects from the Southern League are Devil Rays prospects. Evan Longoria (#2), Wade Davis (#3) and Reid Brignac (#6) were all named to the “Southern League Top 20 Prospect List” produced by Baseball America. Longoria was second only to BJ Upton’s lil’ brother Justin Upton, who made his major league debut this summer for the D-Backs and is a key contributor in their playoff push. [Baseball America]
• And yet another proposal for relegation to be used in baseball. These people just don’t give up. We love non-American football, but this belief that soccer is “perfect” reeks of arrogance and is yet another reason why American’s will never take to the sport. [Jake and Susie In Spain]