[THE HANGOVER] Babe Ruth Would Be A $400 Million Player Today

Tampa Bay Rays (8 days until pitchers and catchers report)

Happy Birthday Babe Ruth! He would be 113 today if only he had not taken so many performance enhancing beers, hot dogs and whores…Which gets us to thinking. If The Bambino were playing today and had just completed his 6th season and was set to become a free agent how much would he be worth on the open market.

Under today’s CBA, Ruth would have become a free agent after the 1920 season. In 1920 Ruth hit .376-54-137, posted an OBP of .533(!) and an OPS+ of 256. And while he only made one start as a pitcher in 1920, his resume already included seasons of 18-8, 2.44…23-12, 1.75…24-13, 2.01…and 13-7, 2.22. And those are just the stats. Keep in mind that he was a left-handed pitcher, the most famous person in the country and was only entering his age 26 season.

Consider a bidding war between the Yankees and Red Sox…In today’s day and age you can bet your ass that both teams would envision Ruth as RF/DH/RP, with his pitching role most likely mimicking a left-handed Joba Chamberlain.

How much would a player like Ruth be worth? $30 million per year for 10 years ($300 million)? Actually we would guess that it would be closer to $35 million per year for 12 years ($420 million), with the final years of the deal north of $40 million.

Would the Yankees or the Red Sox go to $400 million for one player, if that one player was a 26 year old Babe Ruth? Consider how the Yankees just gave $275 million to Alex Rodriguez, who will be 32 on opening day, is not a pitcher and only posted 2007 OBP of .422 and an OPS+ of 177. Seem to us that $400 million for a player that could potentially win the Triple Crown and the Cy Young in the same season, would be a bargain.

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• Matt Bishoff interviews BJ Upton. [DRays Bay]
• One blogger believes that more than half of the teams in baseball have zero chance of winning the World Series, even before spring training begins. For the most part agree, but most would have included the Rockies on the list of teams with “Zero chance” in 2007, and most would include the Rays on the same list in 2008. Yet, a look at our own recent poll of normally disgruntled and apocalyptic fans shows that more than half of Rays fans think the Rays have a shot at the playoffs this year if things break right. [MVN Outsider]
• Rays of Light profiles the Rays 11th round pick from this past year, DJ Jones. We have said it repeatedly, a prospect has to be pretty darn special (ie. David Price) to get our attention before they have done anything at the AA-level. RoL is pretty high on Jones. They may be right. But we will reserve judgment on the high schooler until at least 2010. [Rays of Light]
• The Zips projections for the 2008 Tampa Bay Rays have been released. Zips is one of three or four highly respected statistical projections. [Baseball Think Factory]
• The Stat Pack talks to a pitching mechanics expert about recent concerns that have been brought up about James Shields mechanics. The verdict is that his changing mechanics is just a reflection of coaches trying to get Shields to learn a dominant breaking ball. [The Stat Pack]
• The Sporting Newslooks at six players that could be potential comeback candidates and considers Rocco Baldelli one that won’t. [The Sporting News]
• Stacy Long got a hold of The Baseball America Prospect Handbook and their projections for where each of the Rays’ top 30 prospects will start the season. [Riverwalk Talk]
• Yankees Chick has here 2008 Tampa Bay Rays projections up. [Yankees Chick]
• For those that care about fantasy values, MLB.com has the values for all the Rays. [MLB]
• Raymond is brining the sexy back and he is excited about the upcoming season. [The Big Blue Blog]
• The Tampa Tribune profiles Chris Lahey, the person responsible for promoting the sales of Rays tickets. [TBO]

[POWER RANKINGS] The Debut Of The Tampa Bay Rays Power Rankings

We are now less than two weeks away from Spring Training, so it is time to start taking a closer look at the 2008 Tampa Bay Rays. What better way to do that than a good ole fashion Power Ranking. Everybody loves Power Rankings. These rankings are a combination of overall importance to the team and a general “who’s hot and who’s not”. The Tampa Bay Rays Power Rankings will appear every Tuesday.

[NEW UNIFORMS] One Blogger Is Fined For Using Moniker "Devil Rays"

Seriously…We can’t make this shit up.

Baseball Musings has still been referring to the Tampa Bay Rays as the “Tampa Bay Devil Rays”. Well, after receiving a letter from Matt Silverman, president of the Devil Rays, they can no longer use the excuse that they “didn’t get the memo”. Baseball Musings was fined $1 by the Devil Rays for using the term (the money does go to a Devil Rays charity).

The Tampa Bay Rays found out I was still sometimes using the name “Devil.”
They’ve asked me to stop. I’ll be sending in a $10 fine.

(HERE is a link to a scan of the actual letter from the Devil Rays. Below is the full text of the letter from Devil Rays president Matt Silverman.)

February 1, 2008

Dear Mr. Pinto:

November 8, 2007 was a landmark day for our organization. On that day, we shed the “devil” from our name and became the Tampa Bay Rays. Our organization introduced a new logo, colors and uniforms to accompany the name change. A bright yellow sunburst now adorns our jerseys. Replacing the devil ray fish, this sunburst icon invokes the magnificence of life in the Sunshine State.

Thousands of Rays’ fans flocked to downtown St. Petersburg to celebrate the launch of our new team name. Players flaunted their new threads and described them as “fresh.” Community leaders and even Hollywood’s Kevin Costner joined in the fanfare.

Although these changes have been widely embraced, old habits often die hard. Here at our offices in Tropicana Field, we created “Drop the Devil” donation boxes. For each and every Devil Rays mention, employees must contribute one dollar to the donation box. All proceeds benefit the Rays Baseball Foundation, the official charity of the Rays which supports youth and education programs in the Tampa Bay community. Though costly for a forgetful few, it has been both fun and instructive, while also benefiting a worthy cause.

It has been brought to my attention that you, too, recently used our former team name. Accordingly, the Rays request a donation to the Rays Baseball Foundation in the amount of one dollar (though larger contributions are welcomed). Please note that repeat violations may carry a steeper penalty.

Thank you very much for your attention to this matter. We hope to see you this season at a Rays’ game.

Yours truly,
Matt Silverman
President, Tampa Bay Rays

Wow. We guess that this means we will not be seeing any Devil Rays “Turn Back The Clock” nights anytime soon. Our favorite part is how the “sunburst icon invokes the magnificence of life in the Sunshine State”. Huh-wha? Of course, it does not invoke the magnificence of play in the Tropicana DOME, the home of the Devil Rays, which you know…has a roof. And where is our letter from the Devil Rays? We are apparently not invoking the use of the term “Devil Rays” nearly enough.

Other fines that Devil Rays’ employees can soon be expecting:

• For wearing anything green. St. Patty’s Day is going to suck this year at Devil Rays headquarters. Of course last year on St. Patrick’s day, the Devil Rays actually wore less green than normal. It was prophetic.
• For ever mentioning the name Chuck LaMar. OK, this is one that we will gladly enforce.
• For any references to the movies Water World, the Postman, or any other crappy Kevin Costner flick.

I’m In Trouble! [Baseball Musings]

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[WILLY AYBAR] Willy Aybar Jailed In D.R.; Longoria’s Fate Should Not Be Affected

It seems as if the Rays rid themselves of one Mischievous Little Badger and acquired another one…

As you have no doubt heard by now, Willy Aybar has been arrested in the Dominican Republic on Domestic Abuse charges. He has been held without bail since last week and faces three months in jail if convicted. The latest reports indicate that the charges are expected to be dropped.

Aybar’s lawyers told appeals court prosecutor Jesus Fernandez Velez on Friday that Aybar’s wife had agreed to drop the charges, but had not done so yet.

Aybar is expected to either be the Rays opening day third baseman or be part of a platoon with Joel Guzman if Evan Longoria does not start the season on major league roster. However, if he remains in jail for any significant amount of time, this will certainly force the Rays to alter their plans. Even if the charges are dropped, Aybar will almost certainly miss the beginning of Spring Training. Aybar has not played a regular season game since 2006 after missing all of 2007 due to a wrist injury and a stint in rehab, and Spring Training is expected to be a very important tune-up.

While Aybar’s situation will certainly be discussed when the team decides whether or not to start Longoria on the big league roster, Aybar’s availability should have little bearing on the ultimate outcome. The Rays are not likely to decide the fate of their top prospect based on needs of the 25-man roster. If Aybar is unavailable or not ready for opening day, the team will either proceed with Guzman as the everyday third baseman or they will sign a cheap veteran free agent to fill the void until June when Longoria is expected to be called-up.

Report: Infielder Aybar jailed [DevilRays.com]

[THE HANGOVER]

Tampa Bay Rays (9 days until pitchers and catchers report)
Today is Hank Aaron’s birthday. Major League Baseball tried to honor Aaron by naming an award after him, when in fact the award does nothing to honor his legacy. We have made our feelings known about the Hank Aaron Award in the past, but in short it is a glorified advertising opportunity for MLB to make money off of Hank Aaron’s name, and the award needs to be overhauled or it will never have any legitimacy.

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• If you have not had a chance to vote in our “Tampa Bay Rays Confidence” polls, please do so. This will become a weekly feature and the resulting graph will makes it debut tomorrow. [Rays Index]
• Willy Aybar has been jailed in the Dominican Republic on charges of domestic violence. He has been held without bail since last week. We will have more on this topic later on this morning. [ESPN]
• Rays of Light reports that Rocco Baldelli stated in a radio interview that he has been working out at first base in the off-season. Do the Rays think this will actually help? We are talking about a guy who once needed Tommy John surgery after injuring his knee. Rocco could pull a hamstring just thinking about running. [Rays of Light]
• Tom Singer believes the Rays are one team that could surprise in 2008, comparing them to the 1969 Mets. [MLB]

The rest of the AL East is concerned. In fact, Toronto general manager J.P. Ricciardi has frankly branded the Rays a team “no one will want to face.”…But why stop at .500 — the Rays haven’t been closer than 11 games to that — as a major surprise? We keep looking at Tampa Bay’s new uniforms and seeing “Mets” scrawled across the chest…The Amazin’s averaged 56 wins in their first seven seasons, then broke loose for a World Series title in the eighth. And they did so without any major roster additions; a young team simply grew into it.

• The Rays have planned a series of appearances in neighboring counties with players and staff, in their effort to expand the team’s fan base. [TampaBay.com]
  
• Edwin Jackson is one of several major leaguers working to bring baseball back to young African-Americans. We wish we had not read that. Last thing in the world we need is a soft-spot for Nuke. [MLB]

“In the black schools, football and basketball are getting more attention than baseball,” Jackson said. “We need to expose it within the community, talk about it more. It starts in the household, where most parents are talking about basketball and football to their young black children.”

• One website names the best and worst moves of the off-season for each team. Signing Troy Percival to a two-year contract is rated as the Rays worst move. [SWB Yankees Blog]
• One fantasy baseball site compares BJ Upton to Alex Rios. [The Fantasy Man]
• The Rays will be offering free skin cancer screenings throughout March at various spring training facilities. We will avoid the obvious joke of a team that plays in a dome offering skin cancer screening. [DevilRays.com]
• The Gaston Gazette profiles Chris Mason. [Gaston Gazette]
• One protester is creating a Manatee named “Pete” made of duct tape to help bring awareness to the plight of the Manatees and to dredge up support for the opposition of the Rays new stadium…seriously [Tampa Bays 10]

[RI CONFIDENCE GRAPH] The Rays Confidence Graph Survey

Normally on Monday we would present our weekly installment of our Rays Index Confidence Graph. But we decided it might be a little more interesting if the graph showed how confident Rays fans are in general, in both the 2008 season and the franchise as a whole. Below you will see two polls. Please take a moment to answer each question and later this week we will present the new “Tampa Bay Rays Confidence Graph”. If all goes well, we will present these same polls every Monday and will update the results in graphical form mid-week. The goal of the Confidence Graph is to get a feeling of how Rays fans feel about the team and the franchise and track how that level of confidence changes through time. Thanks!

Opinion Polls & Market Research

Opinion Polls & Market Research

[THE HANGOVER] First It Was Peter King, Now It Is Stephen King On The Tampa Bay Rays Bandwagon

Tampa Bay Rays (10 days until pitchers and catchers report)
We would like to thank DRG for taking over this weekend and allowing us to enjoy our real hangovers in peace. That image of Scott Kazmir/JP Howell/Jamie Moyer is absolutely mesmerizing. We have probably watched it 200 times.

In the meantime, on Mardi Gras eve we will be celebrating the birthday of one of the greats of all time…Gumby!

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• Does Stephen King reference the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in his new novel? I guess the 2006 Devil Rays were pretty scary. [Zooped]
• The Rays have retained the services of the states top lobbyist, Brian Ballard in their attempt to build a new stadium along the St. Pete waterfront. Ballard has also worked with the Florida Marlins for the past two years in their quest for a new stadium. It is not clear what Ballard’s role will be going forward as the team has dropped their bid for a state subsidy to help fund the stadium. [St. Pete Times]
• The Rays enter Spring Training with a few question marks, but for the most part most of the roster is spoke for and Joe Maddon finds that to be a nice change from years past. [DevilRays.com]

“It’s going to be so nice when you come to Spring Training and it’s like, ‘This is my shortstop, he’s playing first, these are my starters,'” Maddon said. “Right now you know Bartlett’s going to be at short, Aki at second, Pena at first, C.C., B.J., you know Navvy — you know all this stuff on the field. You know Kaz, you know Shields, you know Garza — that’s quite a cry from where we’ve come over the last couple of years. That part of it is very nice.”

• Babes Love Baseball preview “everyone’s favorite worst team in baseball” the 2008 Tampa Bay Rays with a series of American Haikus. Our favorite line? “Dukes and his sperm are gone now”. We have been fans of the Babes for a while but the final line, “The Rays still suck though” is a little harsh. We will now turn and face away from the computer and pout. *pouting*[Babes Love Baseball]

[RAYS INDEX] Weekend Blogger

What does a blogger do when they are full of themselves and think they are greater than they really are? Work less and bring aboard weekend bloggers. As a professor this is something that I understand all too well…only in academia we call them “TAs”.

Beginning tomorrow we will be handing over the weekend keys to somebody many of you may already be familiar with, Devil Ray Guevara. DRG has been a regular commenter on this site and other sites and has been one of key contributers to Rays Index behind the scenes. After much begging and bribing and imbibing we were finally able to convince the stubborn ass to give us a hand.

For the most part DRG will just be handling “The Hangover” on Saturday and Sunday and any breaking news that needs to be brought to the masses. However, if he behaves and doesn’t find a way to bring the internets to it’s knees, we may give him one or two regular features during the week.

Now…if you will excuse us, we need to get ready for Mardi Gras weekend.

[THE HANGOVER] Delmon Young Walks The Company-Line In Minnesota

Tampa Bay Rays (13 days until pitchers and catchers report)
A college newspaper in Minnesota got a hold of Delmon Young for a quick little Q&A following the Minnesota Twins FanFest. And boy, what a difference 1,600 miles makes.

When asked about his experience with Tampa Bay…

Tampa was fun. They were the first organization I played with and I appreciate everything they did for me to get to the big leagues and let me play for just over a year … I had great teammates down there …, a talented team and everything, they are going to do well but they are in a tough division.

When asked about having to move from right field to left field with the Twins…

I will do whatever the team wants asks me. That’s what spring training is for, I have all the time in the world to get comfortable in left field. There is only a slight difference with the ball going the opposite way. It’s just a position, you know, just get a glove and let your instincts take over.

Twins fans have no idea what they have gotten themselves into. We cannot wait until the first time Ron Gardenhire asks DY to hit a ball to the right side with a runner on second and no outs, to get the runner to third. Or the first time he insists that Young take a pitch until the pitcher throws a strike after he has walked two straight batters (This is essentially why David Ortiz never posted big numbers with the Twins). We think it is just a matter of time before Gardenhire is Gettin’ a Delmon.

Q&A with Delmon Young [The Record]

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• Rob Neyer ranks the 10 best left fielders for the next 5 years. He has Carl Crawford on top of the list. Still, it is not the most flattering evaluation ever. [ESPN]

You have to like Crawford, but it’s worth mentioning that he has not showed a normal growth curve. At 22, he was roughly six wins better than a replacement player … and was roughly six wins better than a replacement player at 23, 24, and 25. I’m not sure what to make of that, except there’s no obvious reason to think he’s suddenly going to become a great player (though I do believe he’ll have a few great seasons).

• The Stat Pack takes a close look at Rob Neyer’s list of the top left fielders. [The Stat Pack]
• Drays Bay takes a look at Keith Law and Kevin Goldstein’s list of the top 100 prospects and where the Rays prospects fall on those lists. The most surprising is that both have Desmond Jennings in the top 20 (11 and 18 respectively). [DRays Bay]
• Rays Anatomy breaks down Baseball America’s Prospect Handbook list of the Top 30 Tampa Bay Rays prospects. [Rays Anatomy]
  
• The Tampa Tribune has more details about that 35-person task force being formed by the St. Pete Chamber of Commerce to review the Rays proposal for a new stadium. [TBO]
• The Rays Hot Stove Radio Show will make its 2008 debut on Monday at 7:00 pm on 620AM. Andrew Friedman and BJ Upton will appear on the show and will be available for autographs. [DevilRays.com]
  
• Anthony DiComo takes a look at 10 rookies that could be dominant in 2008, including Evan Longoria. [MLB.com]

Down in Tampa Bay, Longoria is set to start at third base a year after slugging 26 homers between two levels of the Minor Leagues. And oh, yes, he’s only 22 years old.

The last part of that biography seems most impressive. On a team loaded with young talent, Longoria has a chance to be the star. He’s not two years removed from flying off the Draft board third overall, yet the Rays believe he’s ready for the big leagues — both on and off the field.

• UmpBump thinks everybody will be pulling for the Rays this year and that they will be a trendy playoff pick. [Ump Bump]
• Mitch Talbot was honored at his high school by having his jersey retired. When interviewed, hr stated that he expects to start the year in Durham, but he expects to be ready for the majors by mid-season. [Cedar City Review]