[2008 ROSTER] 2008 40-Man Roster And Payroll Projections

The 2008 40-man roster and payroll projection is based only players currently within the organization and will be updated when trades are consummated and free agents are signed.

We are now less than a month away from Spring Training and after the recent flurry of contracts signings with the Rays arbitration-eligible players, we now have a much better idea of what the 2008 Tampa Bay Rays roster will look like and what the opening day payroll will be. Today we take a look at the projected 40-man roster and payroll. Tomorrow we will update our 25-man roster projection.

Notes on the projections can be found after the roster…

A few notes on the 40-man roster and payroll projections…

• The only salary that has the potential to be significantly different than that which we have listed is Mike DiFelice. We are assuming that the non-roster invitee will make the squad as the Rays backup catcher. DiFelice signed a minor league deal, but if he makes the roster it is unclear how much he would earn, but we can assume it would be in the $0.5-0.8 million range with plenty of incentives.
• All of the first, second and third year players salaries are estimates but should be in the neighborhood. Therefore, barring any further free agent signings/trades, the opening day payroll will be within $500,000 of our prediction of $42 million.
• That being said we can expect the Rays to sign a free agent left-handed relief pitcher. The salary for that player will be approximately $2 million, which would push the opening day payroll to approximately $44 million or about 57% greater than the 2007 opening day payroll .
• We have not followed the off-season moves of the Marlins, Pirates and Nationals, but $44 million would rank ahead of all three of those team’s 2007 opening day payroll.
• The next two teams on the payroll list, Arizona ($52 million) and Colorado ($54 million), both made the playoffs in 2007.

[WILL LEITCH] "God Save The Fan" By Will Leitch

This site has been heavily influenced by Will Leitch and his Deadspin website. That is not to say that we model everything here after Deadspin, nor do we pretend to write as well as Will. Rather Will, taught me that I can write in a conversational manner and still be informative. That it is OK to write as if you and I are just two people sitting in a bar talking about the Rays and I am the guy in the corner that drinks too much and rambles on incoherently at times (It does not take too much to realize that Will Leitch has been heavily influenced by Andy Rooney).

When I would openly complain among fans about the Tampa Bay Devil Rays coverage, and I would rant in emails to friends, more than one suggested I turn those emails into my own blog. And when I did, boy is it painfully obvious that I had no idea what I was doing. But later on that first day I wrote a post about a writer that predicted the Devil Rays would win the 2006 World Series. It was only fitting that on that first day Deadspin linked to that post. That would be the first of 22 times in our first two years in which we would experience the “Deadspin Bump”, and gave us the confidence we needed to keep going.

Today is the day we get to say “Thank You” to Will. His book “God Save The Fan”, published by Harper-Collins, is now available for purchase. We have not read the book yet, but we have one on the way, and we promise you it will be worth the price. If you would like to hear from somebody that has read the book, Dan Shanoff has a review on his website. If you are not familiar with Deadspin or the writings of Will Leitch, venture over there and you will be instantly addicted.

We are not so naive to think that the “Rays Index Bump” will come close to having the same impact as Deadspin, but if this post generates just ten sales, I get a free “Will Leitch is my Homeboy” t-shirt*.

*not true

Thanks Will!

[THE HANGOVER] The Word "Commitment" Confuses Marc Topkin

Tampa Bay Rays (23 days until pitchers and catchers report)
We have other things to write about later today, so we won’t waste an entire post on Marc Topkin’s latest piece. Rather we will just bitch about it here. In the piece,”Rays paying it forward“, Topkin suggests that the recent contracts signed by Carlos Pena and Scott Kazmir are an indication that the Rays front office is committed to spending money and retaining the team’s talent. The contracts therefore are indications of the team’s commitment to winning.

By giving more than $24-million over three years to Carlos Pena and going up to nearly $4-million for a one-year, arbitration-avoiding deal with Scott Kazmir, the Rays on Friday put two of their best players under contract for the upcoming season.

And they may have put to rest questions about their commitment to assemble, and retain, a competitive team.

There is only one problem with this thinking. In the two contracts combined, the Tampa Bay Rays gained ONE extra season out of the two stars. The Rays have now “retained” the services of Pena and Kazmir for ONE additional season.

The Rays and Scott Kazmir agreed to a one-year contract, avoiding arbitration. And where would Kazmir be playing in 2008 if he had not signed the contract? THE TAMPA BAY FRIGGIN’ RAYS. Kazmir is arbitration-eligible. NOT a free agent. Unless the Rays decide to trade Kazmir, he will be playing for the Rays for the next three years. He does not have a choice. And avoiding arbitration probably saved the Rays a little money. Topkin does not seem to comprehend this. The Rays avoided arbitration with Kazmir. They have done nothing yet to retain his services beyond what he is already committed.

In the case of Carlos Pena, the Rays reached an agreement on a three-year contract. That deal does keep Pena in a Rays uniform for the first of what would have been his free agency years. Not three free agency years. Not five. Not seven. Pena is now locked into playing for the Rays for one more season than he would have been otherwise.

This is not a knock on the Tampa Bay Rays. They have shown this off-season that they are willing to spend money and that they will retain their young talent, IF THEY CAN DO SO FOR LESS THAN MARKET-VALUE. That is a commitment to the bottom-line. Not to the talent. Not to the team and not to the fans.

If Topkin wants to make this point, he can tell us about the Pena deal. It is not a huge commitment as it is just for one additional year. However, it is something. Topkin can also tell us about the Troy Percival deal and the Cliff Floyd deal. But please…please…don’t use the Kazmir-deal as an example of the team’s commitment to retaining talent and their commitment to winning. The deal has ZERO bearing on the Tampa Bay Rays in 2008, 2009 or 2010. It does however have a bearing on the 2011 Tampa Bay Rays in that as of now, the chances of Kazmir playing for the Rays beyond 2010 are now a little less.

Here is a suggestion. If and when the Rays reach an agreement with James Shields on a long-term contract, that goes into his free agency years…we want Marc Topkin to erase Kazmir’s name everywhere it appears in the article and replace it with the name “Shields”. Then he should resubmit the article to his editors, because only then will the article make any sense.

Rays paying it forward [St. Pete Times]

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• Gerry Hunsicker appeared on XM radio’s The Show. Among the topics covered were the recent signing of Carlos Pena to a three year contract and whether 2007 was a surprising performance. “I got to think in Carlos Pena’s case it wasn’t that he never showed the talent because that’s not true, we were the beneficiary’s of Carlos Pena coming to Tampa Bay where there is a little less pressure, the expectations for him might not have been as high and he felt very comfortable. He was given the opportunity to play through the ups and the downs and had a manager that had the confidence in him to put him in the lineup everyday“. Hmmm? A manager that had the confidence to put him in the lineup every day? Let’s see…He only made the roster out of Spring Training because Greg Norton was injured in the last week before the regular season. The Greg Norton. And Pena did not become the everyday first baseman until the second week of May because Joe Maddon was giving starts at first base to Ty Wigginton and Jorge Cantu. Yes folks. Papa Joe had so much confidence in Pena that he benched him in favor of Jorge freakin’ Cantu. [MLB on XM]
• Rays Anatomy offers two points-of-view on what to expect from Carlos Pena in 2008. [Rays Anatomy]

[RI CONFIDENCE GRAPH] Rays Continue To Show That They Will Spend Money, Just Not Too Much

The RI Confidence Graph will appear every Monday and is a look at how much confidence we have in the Tampa Bay Rays at this moment. The graph is designed to give us a look at how our emotional bias as Rays fans fluctuates through time. The “confidence” in the team is an inexact measure of how we feel about the team’s current strength as well as how much confidence we have in the Tampa Bay Rays moving forward. You can think of a “confidence” rating of 10 as an indication that we believe the team is “playoff-caliber”. A rating of 0 is a strong indication that we need to start reevaluating the process that led to us becoming Rays fans. Notes on this weeks agida-level can be found after the graph..

Notes on the RI Confidence Graph…

This past week saw the Rays acquire Willy Aybar from the Braves to be the Rays super-utility guy (even though he has only played two positions in his career) and possibly be the opening day third baseman if Evan Longoria starts the season at AAA. This move is horizontal at best. No matter what your stance is on Longoria, the Dirtbag can out-hit Aybar right now without any further seasoning in the minors and all reports indicate that he could probably out-field him also.

If we are resigned to Longoria being in Durham on opening day, that indicates that Aybar is now in place to compete with Joel Guzman to be the most-days third baseman. While there is no doubt that Aybar is a better hitter than Guzman now, the acquisition of Aybar will further hinder any development we would could have expected from the Guzman. Guzman is still only 23 and has a huge upside. If given an everyday job and a spot at the bottom of the order, Guzman could finally find the plate discipline that has evaded him and blossom as a major league hitter. At worst, he could become a trade piece when Longoria makes his awaited debut. Keeping Guzman hidden in the bottom of the order would not be a complete waste of a spot in the lineup as his glove is clearly a step-above Aybar’s. At this point, our best hope is that Guzman and Aybar form a platoon at third base.

Also puzzling in this trade is the movement of Jeff Ridgway, a left-handed reliever. While we had no expectations from Ridgway, it is interesting that the Rays would cut-bait on a left-handed relief pitcher that is a borderline major leaguer, when the Rays have openly stated they are seeking to acquire a left-handed reliever for the bullpen. At worst, Ridgway would have given the Rays some depth of left-handed relievers in an organization that has an obvious dearth of them.

On the upside this past week was the Rays are proving what they have said all along…That they will spend money when the opportunity to improve the team presents itself. First was the 3-year contract agreement reached by the Rays and Carlos Pena which allows the team to maintain a stable power source for the next three years. In addition word came down that the Rays are looking to lock-up James Shields for the next seven years. While we admit there are some serious risks signing a pitcher to a deal of that length, we feel it is a risk worth taking. While neither of these moves have any bearing on the 2008 Tampa Bay Rays, both of these moves make us feel all warm-and-fuzzy inside and give the Rays an air of legitimacy in the baseball community.

Unfortunately, the warm and fuzzy feeling is tempered a bit by the inability of the team to sign their most important piece to a long-term deal. While the Rays avoided arbitration with Scott Kazmir, they were only able to agree to a one-year contract with the young ace. Having Shields and Pena locked-up would be nice, but we will reserve excitement until Kid K signs a multi-year extension or the top pitching prospects prove themselves at the big league level and prove replacement-worthy of Kazmir should the Rays lose him to free agency following the 2010 season.

In the end, the Confidence Graph maintains a status-quo from the previous week. We still feel this team is heading for about a 75-win season. The back of the rotation continues to scare us, until somebody steps up. The back of the bullpen is solid on paper, but in reality it is too much to expect the AARP members, Troy Percival and Al Reyes to remain healthy all season and there is a very good chance one or both will be traded during the season along with Dan Wheeler, who is a pending free agent. Rocco is running, but only three days a week. There is a lot to like about this team, but there are still too many holes in the pitching staff and the lineup will suffer from cold-spells during the season. And while the team is spending more money, there is still a big question mark with Kazmir and the Longoria decision may be in large part based on the idea of holding off on the start of his arbitration clock.

That being said, we feel an up-tick is on the way. It is only natural to be pessimistic at this time of year. Everybody hoped that their team had done more in the off-season and right now teams are starting to look like what is to be expected in Spring Training. As we get closer to Spring Training, the juices will start flowing and we will get a closer look at all the changes the Rays have made and whether or not those changes will manifest itself into more wins.

[THE HANGOVER] Akinori Iwamura Need Not Worry About Second-Year Struggles Of Other Japanese Position Players

Tampa Bay Rays (24 days until pitchers and catchers report)
DRays Bay looks at the history of Japanese position players that have made the switch to Major League Baseball and their improvement (or lack thereof) from year one to year two. History does not bode well for Akinori Iwamura as only Hideki Matsui improved significantly and the other five players on the list showed a decline in OPS in their second year. This does not worry us at all. Of the players on the list, only Matsui had to significantly alter his approach at the plate when he came to the US.

When he came to the Yankees, Matsui hit only 16 home runs in his first season, despite hitting 40 home runs in three of his 11 seasons in Japan. In year two, Matsui made adjustments to the pitchers, the bigger parks and improved his home run total to 31. More impressive was that even though he was starting to hit more home runs, he recognized that he was never going to be the same home run hitter in the US as he was in Japan and transformed himself into a doubles machine. In 11 seasons in Japan, Matsui only exceeded 30 doubles on three occasions with a career-high of 34. Matsui exceeded those totals in his first three seasons with the Yankees with season totals of 42, 34 and 45 doubles.

Of the other five players on that list, only Kazuo Matsui ever hit as much as 30 home runs in one season in Japan. None of those players had to make the adjustment from power-hitter, to good all-around hitter.

In his two seasons prior to coming to the Devil Rays, Iwamura had home run totals of 44 and 32 (in 2003 Iwamura hit 12 home runs in 60 games, which projects to 30 over the course of a full season). Nobody expected Iwamura to come in and hit 35 home runs for the Rays. In fact, Iwamura predicted 20 home runs. When the season was over, his home run total was 7, a fry cry from his Japan League totals and his own prediction. However, the drop-off in power mimicked that of Matsui in 2003.

We are not expecting Iwamura to rebound and hit 30 home runs in 2008, but it would not surprise us if his power numbers see a significant boost in season two. By the end of the season we expect to see that Iwamura’s home run total is on par with his prediction entering last season (20) and we also expect to see a significant bump in doubles (21 in 2007). If that occurs, Iwamura will not only improve his OPS in year two, he will establish himself as one of the top-hitting second basemen in baseball.

Aki to battle recent history [DRays Bay]

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• Considerable debate was raised over our criticism of Joe Maddon’s “goal” of 81 wins. While we ackowledge he wants more than 81 wins, we felt it was poorly worded and it is the wording that the fans and the players will gravitate towards. In Marc Topkin’s most recent piece, Stuart Sternberg did a much better job of conveying the team’s perception of what is accepted of the 2008 Tampa Bay Rays. “The goal is to get the organization to a place where we feel coming in we should win 80-something games, and if things break right you win 8-10 more and if things break badly you win 10 less,” he said. “We’re pretty much there. Being in a position to win 65 with the chance to win 75 is not acceptable.” In Sterberg’s words, this is an 80-win team with a chance to be a 90-win team if things break right for the Rays. This was our point from the beginning. Papa Joe made it sound like the Rays are a 75-win team and we should all be happy if they won 81 games. Sternberg’s and our position is that this incarnation of the Rays should win 80 games, and anything less would be a disappointment. [TampaBay.com]
• Further down in the same piece, Topkin reports that the Rays are in talks with left-handed reliever Trever Miller, but that length of contract remains a sticking point. [TampaBay.com]
• MLB Trade Rumors takes on the Tampa Bay Rays in their latest installment of “Needs and Luxuries”. With the piece, MLBTR addresses this season’s lineup and looks ahead to 2009 and some of the changes the Rays could have in store when they make a serious push for the playoffs. [MLB Trade Rumors]
• Baseball America takes a look at the 2008 draft and upon further review…yep…The Devil Rays did suck last year more than any other team (again) and will have the top pick on the draft. Jim Callis speculates that the Rays could take high school shortstop Tim Beckham, over college third baseman Pedro Alvarez. [Baseball America]

The Rays have a lot of quality pitching coming through their pipeline, but teams always want more and they could opt for one of the top college arms, Missouri righthander Aaron Crow or San Diego lefty Brian Matusz. Tampa Bay has gone with pitchers with three of its last four top picks, so my gut feel is they’ll be more inclined to go for a bat. It says here they’ll opt for Georgia high school shortstop Tim Beckham over Vanderbilt third baseman Pedro Alvarez because Beckham plays a more premium position. I still think Alvarez is going to become a first baseman or left fielder by the time he reaches the majors

[BRAVES BLOGTOPIA] What They Are Saying In The Blogosphere About The Will Aybar Trade

On Thursday, the Tampa Bay Rays acquired Willy Aybar and Chase Fontaine for Jeff Ridgway. We decided to take a look around and see what Braves fans had to say about the move. The feelings on the move are mixed, but most look at Ridgway as a way to add left-handed relief pitching depth to the Braves organization and believe that Ridgway can be Atlanta’s left-handed specialist in 2008. This last sentiment is a head-scratcher as the Rays have made it known that they have been in the market to acquire a left-handed relief specialist of their own, long before this trade was made. That is a clear indication that they do not believe Ridgway is capable of filling that role at the major league level.

TALKING CHOP

(The trades just keep coming) And they continue to be head-scratchers. The Braves acquired left-handed reliever Jeff Ridgway from the Tampa Bay Devil Rays for utility infielder Willy Aybar and minor league shortstop Chase Fontaine. Really!

I’m I missing the point of the Braves off-season strategy again? Is this the same thing as the Kotsay trade; will I eventually come around to it? For now, I’m a bit lost as to why we made this trade and why we included so much.

Ridgway is a 27-year old lefty who has thrown exactly one-third of an inning of major league baseball. In return we gave up a valuable (albeit formerly drugged-out) Aybar and a young infield hitter in Fontaine who it’s been said has a high upside, for a 27-year old lefty! Don’t we already have two and a half lefties in our bullpen? [Talking Chop]

BRAVES BLAST

Now I know you’re thinking “I’ve never heard of Ridgway before, this won’t help us.” – but he shows some promise. Since moving to the bullpen a couple years ago, he’s had some success and just last year posted a 3.06 ERA in 54 appearances at the AAA level. His fastball is clocked near 94 mph. We’ll probably see him in Spring Training working to make the big league team. Whether or not he ends up there is another question, but either way we will have more left-handed depth in the relief position throughout the organization. [Braves Blast]

CHOP-N-CHANGE

I see a lot of similarities to Royce Ring and I think given a full year, Ridgway could be a useful LOOGY.

Aybar is out of options and was considered a dark horse to make the opening day roster so getting some value from him makes sense. He may start at third for Tampa Bay if the Rays feel that top prospect Evan Longoria could use some more seasoning in the minors or he could add depth at the position if Longoria opens the year as the Rays’ third baseman.

Fontaine would have to improve both aspects of his game, especially on the defensive side, to have a good shot at starting in the future. This trade seems pretty good for the Braves. Ridgway has decent upside and Frank Wren didn’t give up all that much. You can never have too much pitching. [Chop-n-Change]

[THE HANGOVER] Six Or Seven Years For James Shields Is A Risk Worth Taking

Tampa Bay Rays (26 days until pitchers and catchers report)
The most important news to come out amongst all the moves the Rays have made in the past week is a move they haven’t made…yet. It is being reported that the Tampa Bay Rays are trying to sign James Shields to a long-term contract. While it should come as no surprise that the Rays would want to lock in their young pitcher, what is surprising is the timing (to a lesser extent) and the potential length of the deal (to a greater extent).

James the Greater is still a year away from arbitration, and while it is not unheard of that a team would sign a player to an extension after only two seasons (ie. Jeff Francis), it is rare. In this case the move is even more surprising because of all the money that has all ready been tossed around by the Rays this off-season. With new multi-million dollar deals in place already for Scott Kazmir, Carlos Pena, Cliff Floyd, Dan Wheeler and Troy Percival we would have assumed the team would have liked to keep Shields on the cheap for one more season.

The bigger surprise is that the Rays are reportedly seeking a 6 or 7 year deal. A 7-year deal would effectively lock up Shields for the first three free agency years. When young players in the midst of the arbitration years sign an extension is usually only extends into the first year of free agency, and rarely into the second. It is even more surprising because Shields is a pitcher. Most teams prefer not to sign pitchers for more than four seasons, due to the fragile nature of their arm. A 6 or 7 year deal for Shields shows that the Rays have an immense amount of confidence in the young hurler’s mechanics.

The threat of an arm injury is a huge risk in seeking a deal of this length, but the upside for the Rays is too great to ignore. By locking Shields up this early, they will be able to retain his services well-below market-value for the life of the contract. Shields was a 16th round selection by the Rays, which means he probably blew his entire signing bonus on a used Ford Explorer. Unlike first round picks that enjoy multi-million dollar signing bonuses, Shields may be ready to cash-in. Add to that the financial security that comes with a 6 or 7-year deal, knowing that as a pitcher, he is at a risk every time he takes the mound.

If the Rays are willing to add $2-3 million more to the 2008 payroll…and all indications say that they are…this is a smart move by the ball club. There is a great deal of risk involved but the chance to lock up James the Greater at below market-value for 6 or 7 years is a risk worth taking.

Rays opening the bank [TBO]

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• Rays Anatomy takes up a debate with a Mariners blogger over who is the better young pitcher, Scott Kazmir or Felix Hernandez. Our only beef is the title “King Felix vs. Scott Kazmir“. One nickname and one real name? How about “King Felix vs. Kid K”. Nice ring to it, don’t you think? As for the debate, we will agree with Bryan Osborn when he says “Comparing Scott Kazmir and King Felix and then choosing one over the other is like comparing who was the better left-handed bat, Ted Williams or Babe Ruth”. In the end does it matter? I would take either on my team. [Rays Anatomy]
  
• MLB Trade Rumors thinks the Rays got a steal with the Carlos Pena signing. [MLB Trade Rumors]
• Both Carlos Pena and Scott Kazmir expressed excitement at not only their new contracts but also with all of the off-season moves made by the Rays that are a strong indication to the players that the team is committed to keeping their young talent and building a winner. [TBO]

“We’ve made some huge steps,” Kazmir said. “I’m so excited to go to spring training and get the season going with the group of guys we have.”

“We have an incredible amount of talent in our team right now as we speak,” Pena said. “It is in our best interests to try to maintain these outstanding young players here in Tampa – it’s extremely important. I think when we do reach our goal of getting into the playoffs, it’s going to be a very special feeling because we know it’s homegrown – we are truly Rays.”

• Nobody should be surprised by the Rays flurry of recent moves and all of the money being thrown around. This off-season has been just the next step in the plan that the Rays front office has been working with and is exactly what they have always said they would do. That is, the plan was to build the depth of the organization and develop the young talent and when the talent was in place, they would spend money to fill the holes and keep the talent in place when the team was ready to move forward. While Stuart Sternberg didn’t anticipate that spending to happen this soon, he did know it would happen. [TBO]

“We didn’t expect to be where we’re going to be this year [payroll-wise], but as we’ve said in the past, we’re going to be opportunistic,” said Sternberg. “If an opportunity presents itself, we can go outside of where we are.”

Sternberg acknowledged that laying out more money this year than expected will have an impact on financial decisions going forward, but he emphasized the Rays wouldn’t dismiss an opportunity to add more payroll—say, at midseason—out of hand.

[EL GATO] Tampa Bay Rays Lock-Up Carlos Pena For 3 Years

[Update: The Heater is reporting that the Rays and Scott Kazmir have reportedly agreed to a 1-year deal and avoided arbitration. The deal is for about $3.5 million]

Today the Tampa Bay Rays have reached an agreement with Carlos Pena on a 3-year deal worth just over $24 million. The deal calls for Pena to make $6 million this season, $8 million in 2009 and $10.125 million in 2010.

The deal keeps Pena from going to arbitration and eliminates his first year of free agency (2010). His $6 million salary this season will make Pena the Rays highest paid player and the highest salary for a Devil Ray since Aubrey Huff made $6.9 million in 2006. Assuming the Rays pick up Carl Crawford’s 2009 option ($8.25 million), Pena will be the second-highest paid player in 2009.

With the noon deadline having come and gone, there is still no word on whether or not the Rays were able to reach a deal with Scott Kazmir, the team’s lone remaining arbitration-eligible player. If a deal is not reached today, Kazmir and the Rays will go to arbitration to settle his 2008 salary.

The contract pushes the Rays’ estimated opening day payroll of approximately $42 million (based on $4 million salary for Kazmir).

Pena, Rays reach preliminary agreement on a 3-year deal worth $24,125,000 [Yahoo! Sports]

[THE HANGOVER] Rays Acquire Third Baseman, Hope To Magically Make Him A ‘Super-Duper-Utility’ Guy

Tampa Bay Rays (27 days until pitchers and catchers report)

On Thursday, the Tampa Bay Rays acquired Willy Aybar and Chase Fontaine for Jeff Ridgway. Aybar, who will be 25 on opening day, missed all of 2007 due to a wrist injury suffered in Spring Training and a stint in a substance abuse program. Previously, he spent parts of 2005 and 2006 at the big league level, accumulating a .292-5-40 line (.803 OPS) in 105 games with the Braves and Dodgers.

Several outlets have reported that Aybar is the “super-utility” player that the Rays sought, including the St. Pete Times and the Bradenton Herald. This is curious as there is absolutely zero indication that he can play any position other than third base and short stop. Aybar is a third baseman by trade and occasionally played second base in the minors, with only one game played elsewhere (shortstop). And while he has shown a decent glove at second base, he is below-average at best at third base with a range factor (2.34) below the league average and 10 errors in 80 career games.

While the Rays may envision Aybar as their “super-utility” player down the road, the more likely scenario is that the Rays have acquired their opening day third baseman, and this is definitely nothing to get excited about. Aybar is a weak-hitting (45.2 ABs/HR as a pro), poor-defensive, shitty base stealing (50-103 SBs as a pro) third baseman…who hasn’t played organized baseball in over a year…is coming off a stint in rehab and an injured wrist. In other words Aybar has two months to get back into baseball shape and learn 4-5 new positions. This will be fun.

P.S. Aybar is out of options. He will be on the opening day roster.

Rays acquire Aybar from Braves [MLB]
Rays land utilityman; arbitration time looms [TampaBay.com]
Rays get super-utility player, solid bat in Aybar [Bradenton Herald]

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• Future Considerations profiles the “other” player in the trade, Chase Fontaine. Even though Minor League Ball thinks his name sounds like that of a 1950s musical star, we prefer “1970s Porn Star” [Future Considerations]
  
• Scott Kazmir does not expect a deal to be reached with the Rays prior to the noon deadline. [TampaBay.com]

Kazmir said he would prefer to have his contract situation resolved, but understood going through arbitration was part of the business side of the game. Though hearings don’t take place until February, the Rays have a team policy to cease negotiations once salary figures are filed, which takes place at noon Friday.

• The Jonny Gomes deal has been finalized. Gomes will make $1.275 million in 2008 with a chance to up that total to $1.3 million with 500 plate appearances. With Gomes’ new contract, the Rays will now have 11 players in 2008 that will make at least $1 million. [TampaBay.com]
• Stacy Long takes a look at team payrolls from the past seven seasons. To no surprise the Rays have had the lowest average payroll over that span, including an average player salary of $1.1 million in 2007. [Talk Alabama]
• The St. Pete City Council has set three dates in which the public will be able to voice their opinions concerning the proposed $450 million stadium to be built along the St. Pete waterfront. Here is hoping for the sake of the City Council, that the Heckler does not show up. HEY COUNCILMANNNN! THIS IDEA IS TERRIBLEEEE DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT TRYING TO BUILD THIS NEW STADIUMMMMMM. MY VOICE WILL NEVER TRAVEL AS WELL IN AN OUTDOOR STADIUMMMMMM. HOT DOGGGGGG! [TBO]
• The St. Pete City Council voted 7-1 to request proposals for the New Stadium proposed by the Tampa Bay Rays. This does not mean the stadium has been approved. Only that the city is willing to see what ideas different developers can come up with and how much money each of those developers thinks the project will generate for the area…In other news, water is wet. [TampaBay.com]
• One blogger ranks the pitchers in the Rays organization (Matt Garza is #1?) and profiles Andy Sonnanstine. [Variables Don’t; Constants Aren’t]

[GETTIN’ A DELMON] Delmon Young And Elijah Dukes Appear At The Dugout

Delmon Young and Elijah Dukes may be gone but that does not mean we can’t still make fun of them. In fact, they are more fair-game than ever as we no longer get that guilty feeling of “picking on one of our own”.

We must admit, nothing gets us more excited than seeing a new post pop-up in our feedreader from The Dugout (via AOL Fanhouse). The humor is sooo 9th grade, but it is usually short, sweet and to the point and is almost always good for at least one out loud laugh. Just the sort of thing to get us through the day.

Which is why we are kicking ourselves today for not having seen these earlier.

The Dugout visited with both Delmon Young and Elijah Dukes after their respective trades from the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. And by the way…If you ever wondered why we referred to Young throwing out baserunners as “Gettin’ A Delmon”, The Dugout is the answer.

Below are snippets from each “Chatroom”. Click on either image to be taken to the entire Chatroom session.

DELMON YOUNG GOES TO MINNESOTA…
ELIJAH DUKES GOES TO HEAVEN…

The Dugout: Delmon Young Goes to Minnesota [AOL Fanhouse]
The Dugout: Elijah Dukes Goes to Heaven [AOL Fanhouse]