that the Rangers might be interested in Gerry Hunsicker to be their new general manager,Alex Smith Jersey. The feeling was that if the Rangers decided to make a change,Cheap Indianapolis Colts Jerseys, team president Nolan Ryan,cutler jersey 365djerseys.com E2, would look to Hunsicker, with whom he has worked in the past with the Astros. It appears that Ryan has opted to stick with the incumbent GM, Jon Daniels, as any move would have been made by now. to be on the short list for the GM position of the Mariners and the Phillies. The M’s ,dolphins jerseys 365djerseys.com T5, while the Phillies . as their new GM. Hunsicker, who is “Teller” to Andrew Friedman’s “Penn” (or “Silent Bob”,washington wizards jerseys; to Friedman’s “Jay” for the younger crowd), is the quiet partner, but by all accounts just as responsible for the product seen on the FieldTurf. It is with great relief knowing that the front office nucleus will remain intact for at least one more season. DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…

, I showed that the Giants built their championship roster by drafting pitchers and signing free agent hitters. Very little of their roster was built through trades. This got us wondering, how were the 2010 Rays built? Here is the full roster breakdown… What we see is that the payroll was almost evenly divided among players acquired via the draft, free agency and trades. However, 68% of the value was delivered by players the Rays drafted. Of course, this group includes players like Evan Longoria,cheap falcons nike jerseys, Carl Crawford and David Price,cheap patriots jerseys 365djerseys.com I6. At the other end of the spectrum, free agents were worth only 1.8 wins in 2010,Cheap Green Bay Packers Jerseys 365djerseys.com I2, with no thanks to guys like Pat Burrell, Gabe Kapler and Lance Cormier. Meanwhile, 13 of the 37 players that contributed in 2010 were acquired via trade and were worth more than 12 wins. Here is what the breakdown looks like if separate hitters and pitchers… Other than the large amount of money spent on free agent?hitters, we don’,cheap texans nike jerseys;t see much difference between the hitters and pitchers. So if you are looking for the Rays to make a splash this offseason,Patrick Willis Jersey, don’;t expect it to come from free agency. Rather, keep a close eye on those trade rumors. That is where the 2011 Rays are more likely to find their impact players.

THE GOOD: Andrew Friedman. Every single move this guy has made in the last year has been pure gold. Even the moves he did not make. There were lots of rumors this offseason of trading Edwin Jackson. In particular,cheap rams nike jerseys, the hope was to get a catcher back in return. Instead, Friedman stuck with Jackson and Dioner Navarro. The nonmove may have been the best move of all…Edwin Jackson. His shutout streak now sits at 15 innings. In his last 2 starts: 15 ip, 11 hits, 2 walks,Minnesota Vikings Jerseys, 8 strike outs, 0 runs. Only 2 walks?!? Seriously. If we hadn’,cheap panthers nike jerseys 365djerseys.com L5;t seen it, we wouldn’,cheap chiefs jerseys 365djerseys.com A6;t believe it. He also seemed to get better late in the game,Indianapolis Colts Jerseys. The 6th inning may have been the best pitched inning of Jackson’;s career. With the Yankees top of the lineup up, he got Jonny Damon to ground out. That was followed by a misplay by Eric Hinske in right that turned a single into a triple for Derek Jeter *clapclap, clapclapclap*. With a runner on third and 1 out in a 1run game, Nuke got Bobby Abreu to ground out to the drawnin Jason Bartlett and then got Hideki Matsui to popup to end the inning. Then in the 7th, the last batter he faced was Shirley Duncan. After 5 straight nonfastballs, he came back with his hardest fastball of the night at 97 to get Duncan looking…Anytime a team gets to Mariano Rivera it is a ‘Good’;, but the double play enduced by JP Howell to end the top of the 11th may have saved the game. THE BAD: Eric Hinske turning a single into a triple in the 6th inning of a 1run game. That is not the sort of thing Joe Maddon wasnt to see with Gabe Gross sitting on the bench. In fact, Gross replaced Hinske an inning later…Troy Percival owes Edwin Jackson a steak or two. That is the second straight outing in which Jackson did not allow a run and Percival blew the save. THE TELLING: Edwin Jackson was not throwing as hard as usual. Normally, Jackson’;s fastball sits 9195 with the ability to crank it up to 9798. Last night, his fastball was regularly 8890. This happens to pitchers occasionally, but with Jackson, it appeared to be deliberate. This could be yet another golden move by pitching coach Jim Hickey, to get Jackson to ease up on the fastball a bit for the sake of location…Eric Hinske got the start in right field instead of Gabe Gross, against the righthanded pitcher. Of course, that might not happen again after the 6th inning blunder. DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA… [I]n the last year, Rays general manager Andrew Friedman and the Tampa Bay baseball operations staff has pitched the front office version of a perfect game, in keeping with a longrange plan that was begun long before that. Virtually every transaction that the Rays have made, going back to last year’;s June draft, has worked out, and contributed to Tampa Bay’;s strong start and ascension, for the first time, into the ranks of contenders.

Journalists are afraid to ask a “yes or no”,cheap anquan boldin jersey 365djerseys.com W4; question,cheap nfl jerseys. This is not meant as a knock on the media. They are trained to only ever ask openended questions (questions that require more than a oneword answer), as it is difficult to generate quotes for a story if all the questions are answered with one word. Unfortunately openended questions are flawed. Today’s sports personalities are conditioned to respond with evasive,cheap haloti ngata jersey, clichefilled, nonanswers,texans jerseys 365djerseys.com J1. The only way to pin these athletes/coaches/personnel down to a solid answer is to ask the closeended question and demand an answer. Here are 10 ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ questions that the local media are afraid to ask but we as Rays fans want answered… What questions do you want answered? Let us know in the comments,Indianapolis Colts Jerseys.

We’,vikings jerseys;ve had a few people bring to our attention this weekend . Most want to know: a) is it real,dallas mavericks jerseys?; b) whose ring is it? First of all, it is not a player’;s ring. Coincidentally, that were produced back in February after Matt Garza had his ring stolen. In total, the Rays had 480 rings produced. The one in question on eBay appears to be one of the $5,What Happened To Gabe Kapler Rays Index,000 rings that were given to front office employees that had been with the team since the beginning. If you zoom in one of the pictures, you can see the name of the employee on the side of the ring. I’,2013 superbowl 49ers jerseys,Miami Dolphins Jerseys 365djerseys.com Y5;m not expert on ring forgeries. But if you want to own a real AL Championship ring, this might be your chance. But just know it is not a player’;s ring. THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA…

THE GOOD: Andy Sonnanstine worked into the 7th inning for the first time since May 16 in St. Louis, a span of 8 starts…,wholesale ed reed jersey;Shawn Riggans was 34 and broke a 00 tie with a lonnnnggggg home run in the 4th inning…;Troy Percival did walk a batter and needed 22 pitches, but otherwise looked good in his first appearance since walking 4 batters, 5 days ago. THE BAD: Another day having to listen to the Pirates TV crew. They make us want to shove chopsticks in our ears. On Willy Aybar’,cheap eagles jerseys;s home run in the 6th the call did not even start until the ball had landed and went like this: “It is 21 Tampa Bay, Aybar’;s 3rd home run of the year.” That was the entire home run call…;The Rays have a lot of trouble scoring men from third with less than 2 outs, a sign of youth and inexperience. Top of 2nd inning,cheap chargers jerseys 365djerseys.com E4, the Rays had bases loaded with 1 out and the top of the order up. That should be a guaranteed run or two and the Rays scored none. A veteran team finds a way to drive a run home. This seems to happen to the Rays on an almost nightly basis…;Another misplay by BJ Upton, playing a single/double into a runner on 3rd base, by kicking a ball to left field. Literally. He kicked the ball into left field. That runner would later score on a sac fly…;How about more youth and inexperience? Shawn Riggans forgetting a runner was on third base and going after a dribbler to the mound that Andy Sonnanstine was clearly going to field. The runner on third broke for home and scored without a throw,cheap golden state warriors jerseys. The Rays can get away with stupid mistakes against the Pirates, but a team like the Sox or the Yankees will eat them alive,cushing jersey 365djerseys.com Q1. THE TELLING: The Rays now have their rotation set up perfectly for the Red Sox series with James Shields, Scott Kazmir and Matt Garza scheduled to start games…;The Rays finished the first half of the season with 49 wins and are on pace to finish 9864. Since 2004, the wild card team has finished with 94 or 95 wins each season. DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…;

The GBT – The Good, The Bad and The Telling sandwich, where The Bad is nice and lean and the The Telling is ripe,ray lewis jersey. RAYS (boxscore) THE GOOD: Matt Moore. It was weird night for DoubleNickel. At no point did I think that Moore had his best stuff, but next think I know,rams jerseys 365djerseys.com Y0, I look up and Moore has struck out 8 and and allowed just 1 hit in 7 shutout innings,Ben Tate Jersey. His fastball is still too high in the strikezone but he is getting better about keeping his secondary pitches down. One concern is maintaining velocity. In the early innings, he was 9697 (fastball), 87 (changeup), 8384 (slider),cheap cardinals jerseys. By the sixth and seventh innings, his fastball was down to 9495 (not terrible), but his slider was only 7981 (that’,Ticket Sales And Promotions Calendar Rays Index;s a big drop). And meanwhile his changeup was unchanged at 8687…Lobotron! If Joe Loboton can show anythign with the bat it is a bonus considering he is the Rays best defensive catcher. His double in the 2nd inning drove in the first run. He also had a walk and scored twice. Since he has come off the DL, Lobaton has made 8 starts and has been on base 11 times. THE BAD: Hideki Matsui. It is still very early, but so far, half of every ball Matsui hits is a flyball. Matsui has always been more of a linedrive hitter that happens to hit a lot of home runs. In fact. in 5 of his last 8 seasons, he hit more groundballs than flyballs. And this is especially concerning considering we have seen a number of his balls die at or near the warning track. Again, it is early. And he has hit a few balls very hard. But something is not quite right yet. And at his age, there is the concern that it won’;t get right. THE TELLING: The Rays are still 2.5 games behind the Yankees and 1.5 games behind the Orioles…Hideki Matsui is taking grounders at first base, . THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA… DOWN ON THE FARM… . . CHARLOTTE. no game scheduled .

According to a report by Fernando Rodney will pitch for the Dominican Republic in the upcoming World Baseball Classic (). And Rodney spoke about the thrill of representing his country and whether the Rays granted him permission (translation via Google translate)…,anquan boldin jersey 365djerseys.com C5; The star closer Fernando Rodney made ??the decision to represent the country in the World Baseball Classic and has two months preparing it.?”,fitzgerald jersey;I want to represent the country, will be a pleasure to be there with the Dominican uniform,cheap jaguars nike jerseys 365djerseys.com S6,”; said Rodney,Cheap Patrick Willis Jersey, who was in Chosen the roster for the game Sunday against the Stars. Response to the question about the permission of the [Tampa Bay Rays],broncos jerseys, Rodney was clear. “To represent the country does not need permission,”; said the native of Samana to emphasize its decision. Obviously if Major League Baseball is going to allow players to participate in the WBC, teams cannot keep players from choosing to play (outside of existing injury concerns). But you can imagine that most teams are probably strongly discouraging the participation of their pitchers. And one of the Rays’ most important pitchers is going to be pushing himself hard when most other pitchers are just easing into shape.

The GBT – The Good, The Bad and The Telling sandwich, where The Bad is nice and lean and the The Telling is ripe. THE GOOD: Twin Killings. With the bases loaded and only 1 out, Evan Longoria took a sharp grounder and instead of going home for the easy out, he went to second to barely get the lead runner and Reid Brignac turned under enormous pressure to get the second out at first. Might have been the most dramatic doubleplay we have ever see…Joaquin Benoit. We have said this before, but we can’t help but think that Benoit is to Mariano Rivera what Rafael Soriano is to John Wetteland what the 2010 Rays are to the 1996 Yankees. Go ahead,cheap falcons nike jerseys, let Soriano get all the glory. Benoit will get all the big outs. And Benoit has the better chance of being back next year…Joe Maddon. With 2 outs in the 7th and the tying run on 2nd, Joe Maddon had Randy Choate intentionally walk Miguel Cabrera to put he tying run at 3rd base. JoeMa then went to Grant Balfour who got Brennan Boesch to strike out to end the inning,Cheap Chicago Bears Jerseys. Sweet,cheap patriots nike jerseys. Fancy. Moses! THE BAD: The Offense: Two wins and it is easy to overlook the struggles of the offense. In 16 innings so far in this series,cheap lions nike jerseys 365djerseys.com K4, the Rays have 8 hits. Luckily one was a Matt Joyce grand slam and another was a Carlos Pena 2run home run,cheap new york knicks jerseys 365djerseys.com B3. THE TELLING: Carl Crawford stole 3 bases and now has 399 for his career. Will ESPN break to Rays games each time CC gets on base until he steals #400?…Joe Maddon is now 388388 as a manager, although we are not sure why that includes 29 games as the Angels interim manager and the 2 wins against the Marlins in ’06 when he was away at his wife’s graduation. WHERE THEY STAND: The Rays are 6336, 2 games behind the Yankees in the East and 5 games ahead of the Red Sox in the Wild Card. After 99 games in 2008, the Rays were 5841. THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA… DOWN ON THE FARM…

. This is what drives us absolutely nuts about the local coverage of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. We stayed up late last night and caught every pitch of the Rays 89th loss of the season. We went to bed frustrated with the offense, but content that Jason Hammel had pitch well and has shown improvement in his last four starts. Then we wake up this morning to headline in the St. Pete Times… “,phoenix suns jerseys 365djerseys.com Z3;Bangedup Rays waste Hammel’s latest gem” Now..instead of feeling good about Hammel’s performance we now feel compelled to explain to Marc Topkin and the editors of the Times why Hammel’s performance was far from being a “;gem”. Instead of feeling good about his start, we now have to point out the faults. Is this what we have been reduced to as fans of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays? Has the pitching been so bad that when somebody other than Scott Kazmir or James Shields allows 2 runs over 6 innings,49ers jerseys 365djerseys.com X7, we are supposed to be giddy? We hope that Jason Hammel does not read the St. Pete Times,cheap whitney mercilus jersey. If he does, he might actually be content with his performance last night, and not see that there is still plenty of room for improvement. We understand that a lot of times, wins and losses are out of the control of the starting pitcher, but when it comes down to it, there is one stat that counts from last night’s start…,Ravens Jerseys On Sale;L. As in Hammel lost. The Devil Rays lost. If a team is going to only score 1 run, then the pitcher needs to find a way to keep the other team off the board. If he can’t? Let’s just say we are not about to start calling him Tom Seaver. Now there is a guy that threw some gems. Bangedup Rays waste Hammel’s latest gem [] DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA… Boras says the DRays basically got a $15MM season for the cost of $1.2MM and also takes some digs at the franchise. But it’s disingenuous to imply that a fourthyear player should be earning free agent prices. That ain’t the way it works. Albert Pujols earned $7MM in his fourth year, which seems like some kind of record. Jason Bay is earning $3.25MM in his fourth year. Matt Holliday is at $4.4MM. I could make a laundry list of young players who are huge bargains because of baseball’,Ravens Jerseys;s pay scale. Hanley Ramirez is making $402,000 this year…Pena reaches free agency after the 2009 season, and Marc Topkin says the Rays have already begun discussions on a three or fouryear deal. If the Rays are to buy out a year or two of free agency, those might cost $1215MM each. More likely, the team just goes to arbitration with him twice and trades him in a summer of ’09 blockbuster (assuming he remains a 40 HR threat).

. Mitch Talbot only allowed 1 hit in 4 scoreless innings, but was pulled after a raindelay…Steve Andrade make his first appearance for the Bulls since being promoted from Montgomery, gave up 5 runs in 1 inning after the delay…Reid Brignac has been moved up to the 5th spot in the lineup and went 03 with a walk…Joel Guzman was 14. Elliot Johnson had a double and an RBI…Ben Zobrist has yet to play for the Bulls since being demoted. Of course the Bulls have a pretty decent shortstop already. . This was the Biscuits’ 5th straight loss. Jake McGee went 7 innings and gave up 4 runs to drop to 53. He allowed to solo home runs to Cameron Maybin. McGee struck out 7 and walked 1…,Alex Smith Jersey;Rhyne Hughes finished 35 with 2 doubles and 2 RBI,Comparing PECOTA Projections To Vegas Over Unders Rays Index. ,ryan jersey. Desmond Jennings made his first start of the year and homered in his first at bat. He finished 14…Ryan Morse started for the DRays and gave up 5 runs in 4 innings…Wade Townsend pitched 2 innings in relief,Wholesale Kevin Kolb Jersey, giving up 2 hits and no runs,cheap indiana pacers jerseys 365djerseys.com K5. He struck out 1. . This was the Catfish’ 10th straight loss…Brian Flores started and gave up 11 hits and a walk in 4 innings which led to 5 runs (4 earned)…Mike McCormick was 24 and hit his 3rd home run, a solo shot. NOTES FROM DOWN ON THE FARM…

“That’,cheap manning jersey 365djerseys.com L6,los angeles lakers jerseys;s an interesting suggestion.” That was St. Petersburg Mayor Bill Foster’;s response when told that a Hillsborough County Commissioner proposed trading a big chunk of Tampa’;s cruise industry for the Tampa Bay Rays. It was also the most positive thing we have ever heard Mayor Foster say about the Rays stadium situation. We have long suggested that St. Pete would need something tangible to loosen their grip on the Rays, rather than just a big fat check. We had proposed moving the Rays’; tripleA operations to St,miami heat jerseys 365djerseys.com H6,griffin iii jersey. Pete. But the cruise industry makes more sense. … Within the next five years or so, most of the midsize cruise ships that currently service the Tampa port will be switched to the new megaships. They are too tall to fit through the 182.5 feet available under the Skyway bridge to get to the current terminal near Channelside in Tampa…Officials have to come up with some way to accommodate the larger ships or risk losing the cruise business altogether. One suggestion has a new terminal being built west of the Skyway on land that is still technically within Hillsborough County. However, because of the location, most tourists would choose to stay in St. Pete before and/or after their trip. Elizabeth Behrman and Bill Varian,New Orleans Saints Jerseys, a decision must be made on the cruise industry in the next five years. Meanwhile, a decision on the Rays probably needs to be made in the next 1218 months.

The Rays have an attendance problem. Most people outside of the Bay Area blame that problem on a lack of fan support. However, there has been some speculation recently that the Rays attendance numbers would look much better if they received the same amount of corporate support that other teams receive. We first heard this argument last week on . And then we saw it a few days later in . The case goes like this: In their final report, The ABC Coalition noted that for every two seasontickets the Rays sell to regular fans, they sell one seasonticket to a business. However, the average in Major League Baseball is actually four corporate seasontickets for every two seasontickets sold to fans. Toby David of 1010 Sports speculated that the Rays have a seasonticket base of 9,000. That would mean 6,000 seasontickets are purchased by fans and 3,000 purchased by businesses. If the Rays were selling the typical amount of tickets to corporations (twice as many as fans), the Rays should actually be selling 12,000 seasontickets to businesses, or 9,000 more tickets per game than what they are selling now. In other words, if the Rays continued to receive the same support from fans, but the corporate support was the same as what other teams receive, Rays attendance would be about 29,000 per game. That would be 15th in Major League Baseball, and all of a sudden the talking heads no longer have anything to bitch about. Romano used a lower number, speculating that the seasonticket base is actually 6,000 (4,000 fans, 2,000 corporate). Using his numbers, businesses should actually be buying 8,000 seasontickets, or 6,000 more than they are now. That would make the Rays attendance about 26,000 per game, 18th in baseball. Still pretty good. The arguments are sound. But there might be a problem. First of all, we don’t know what the seasonticket sales look like now. The Rays have never released the numbers. But more importantly, we may be placing too much trust in the numbers from The ABC Coalition. The ABC group was tantalizingly vague when they presented their research… Typically, twothirds of MLB season tickets are purchased by corporations and onethird by individuals…However, only onethird of the Rays’ current season ticket holders are corporate, in reverse proportion to the typical MLB team. If the rays total seasonticket base were at MLB average levels, ticket revenue would not be a significant problem. First of all, where did this information come from? Considering the Rays have never released their seasonticket sales figures, the ABC group either went seattoseat at the Trop, or they got the numbers from the Rays or Major League Baseball. That raises a red flag. But more importantly, what are the actual numbers, and how were they compiled? In the above statement, the ABC group uses the word “typically” and later says “average.”,Kansas City Chiefs Jerseys; Those two things are not necessarily the same. In fact, we would be surprised if they were the same. Hypothetically, let’s say the ABC group weren’t just told this by somebody in Major League Baseball (the lack of actual data suggest they were). Let’s say they had the actual hard data. The data are going to be heavily influenced by the bigmarket teams whose seasontickets, and corporate support, dwarf other teams. Teams like the Yankees and Mets. Their numbers may be so high,cheap new orleans hornets jerseys, that the average is actually much higher than what is “typical.”,Wholesale J.J. Watt Jersey 365djerseys.com H2; And if the numbers are indeed skewed towards the bigmarket clubs, then “typical” corporate support for small and midmarket teams might actually be much less than the 2to1 ratio of support presented by the ABC Coalition,[THE HANGOVER] Edwin Jackson Quits When It Matters Most Rays Index. So let’s split the two figures proposed earlier and say the Rays have a seasonticket base of 7,500. That would be 5,000 tickets purchased by fans and 2,500 by businesses. Now let’s guess that the typical ratio in a nonbigmarket city is 1to1. That means the Rays should be selling 2,500 more tickets,Cheap tom brady jersey, which would raise their average attendance to 22,500, 25th in baseball. And all of a sudden it doesn’t seem like that big of a difference. This doesn’t mean David or Romano are wrong, or that our numbers are any better. And we can all agree that the Rays lack of corporate support does hurt attendance. Our point is only that we don’t know how much better attendance would be, because the ABC group was very vague with their presentation. And we have a feeling that the ABC group was vague because the people who gave them the information were also vague. It is our experience that when people are vague it is either because they think their audience is dumb, or they are hiding something. Take your pick.

According to Matt Eddy of Baseball America (),cheap andre johnson jersey, the Rays have signed Jesus Feliciano,Ponder finding his comfort zone - JSOnline, Will Rhymes, and Romulo Sanchez to minor league deals. It is not mentioned in the report, but we assume all three will be invited to spring training. [UPDATE: Marc Topkin confirms that all three will be invited to spring training] Rhymes, a second baseman, has played parts of the last two seasons with the Detroit Tigers,cheap arian foster jersey, hitting .283 with a .341 OBP and a .333 wOBA in 83 games,cheap vikings nike jerseys,cheap minnesota timberwolves jerseys 365djerseys.c. He will be 29 this season. Feliciano played 54 games with the New York Mets in 2010, hitting .231 with a .276 OBP. He split the 2011 season between doubleA and tripleA, hitting .268 with 4 home runs and 7 steals. He can play all three outfield positions. Sanchez, a righthanded reliever, appeared in two games with the Yankees. He previously played with the Pirates in 2007 and 2008. He spent the 2011 season in Japan.

With the recent signings of Rafael Soriano, Chad Qualls and Grant Balfour, the Rays are now up to 10 picks before the second round and 12 of the top 100 in this year’s amateur (Rule 4) draft. Here is are those picks currently. All of the picks could still slide down as other free agents sign with new teams… FIRST ROUND 24 (from Red Sox, Crawford) 31 (from Yankees, Soriano) 32 (Own) SUPPLEMENTAL ROUND 38 (Supplemental, Crawford) 41,Cheap Cincinnati Bengals Jerseys?(Supplemental, Soriano) 42?(Supplemental, Balfour) 52?(Supplemental, Benoit) 56?(Supplemental, Choate) 59?(Supplemental, Hawpe) 60 (Supplemental,cheap cleveland cavaliers jerseys, Qualls) SECOND ROUND 78 (from A’s, Balfour) 93 (Own) Many have wondered aloud if the Rays can afford to sign that many high draft picks. But without a pick in the top 10,cheap falcons jerseys 365djerseys.com Z6, the cost of these players should still be within the Rays’ tight budget. Either way, the 2011 draft is going to be a lot of fun,cheap bears jerseys 365djerseys.com C5. Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus calculated the cost and based on comparable picks from last year’s draft, the Rays will only be responsible for . And as we have stated in the past, the Rays can also use the plethora of picks as a negotiating advantage,cheap phoenix suns jerseys. Even if the Rays don’t sign 23 of the players, it will still be a huge draft haul in a deep draft. So the Rays will have some freedom to play the takeitorleaveit card as needed.

Talk about hedging one’s bets… spends most of his latest column, “Don’t expect Rays to rise again in 2009,” comparing the Rays to the ‘08 Rockies.. [The Rays] won with a smattering of veterans among an overwhelmingly young and inexperienced roster…At least on those levels, the 20082009 Rays most closely parallel the 200708 Rockies,cheap seahawks nike jerseys, which of course, isn’t a good thing. the ‘06 Tigers… …quality young pitching that appears set for a long run of success rarely pans out. Injuries, lack of consistency and underachieving too often get in the way…Just ask the Tigers, the last example. reminding us what division the Rays play in… But you also know where the Rays reside — and we’re not talking about The Trop. That would be in the AL East, where they still are dwarfed payrollwise by the Yankees and Red Sox, and where repeating doesn’t get any more difficult. and finally warns of an emotional letdown, again comparing the Rays to the Rockies… And, the Rays will have to figure out how to cope with the inevitable emotional letdown that follows pulling off the miraculous. Just ask the Rockies about that one,Cheap Atlanta Falcons Jerseys,Seahawks 20, Rams 13 by the numbers HeraldNet.com - Seattle Sidelines. At this point we are about to throw up on our pancakes waiting for DeMarco to project the Rays to win 6070 games,joe flacco jersey. So how does DeMarco feel the Rays will do in 2009? No, the Rays aren’t the Rockies. But they aren’t likely to get back to the World Series, either. Something in between seems most logical — something around 90 wins, and only a ‘maybe’ on another postseason appearance. Fudge the heck?!? After riping the Rays apart for 21 paragraphs, calling them a paper tiger, comparing them to two teams that averaged 81 wins, reminding us how the Yankees and Red Sox are so much awesomer than the Rays and telling us that the Rays won’t be able to handle the emotional letdown, DeMarco now says the Rays will win 90 games in the toughest division in baseball and “maybe” make the playoffs. Of course, we expect nothing less from somebody that was . Don’t expect Rays to rise again in 2009 [] Good News! Found a New Moron,Bengals weigh in on BCS title game Bengals Blog. []

This post, which will appear before every game, will include starting lineups (when we learn them) and during the game will include a Game Graph that will constantly update the percent chance the Rays have of winning this particular game. Game Graph…,Steelers postseason history Dec. 31; [Will be up at game time] Source: Playing A Little Pepper…; If the Rays are playing a onegame Wild Card playoff and both David Price and James Shields is available, who gets the start? I would be happy with either, but for one game,orakpo jersey, I want David Price. And one of the biggest reasons is that I will know right away if Price is on his game. Shields’,wholesale andre johnson jersey; meltdowns tend to come at unexpected moments when 2 runners are on and all of a sudden he hangs a changeup that is morphed into a 400foot home run. With Price,Cheap Seattle Seahawks jerseys, if he looks strong in the first inning, I know he’;ll bring 6 strong innings. At that point, pull him and let the bullpen do their thing…;KING DAVID Lineup…,cheap cardinals nike jerseys 365djerseys.com P6; Song to get you pumped up…;

If you have been hanging around these parts for a while, you know that the model for this site is to tell you what the Rays have done,Babineaux wants to stay with Titans Titans Insider, what they are doing and try to project what they will do based on what we have learned. Think of RI as “Tampa Bay Rays 101.” However, for the next 12 days we will step away from the standard, and we present to you 12 “presents” the Tampa Bay Rays should give to their fans. Looking back at , we see that many of our wishes came true (including that sweet nohitter), and the result was another division title. Without further ado… On the third day of Raysmas, the Tampa Bay Rays gave to us,los angeles lakers jerseys 365djerseys.com N1, THREE AllStars… Last year, the Rays had four AllStars. One of those players (Carl Crawford) is gone. And another (Rafael Soriano) is not likely to come back. The other two (Evan Longoria, David Price) are good bets to be in the AllStar game for years to come. But if the Rays are going to contend in 2011, they will need at least one other player to perform above their expectations and have a careeryear,Jacksonville Jaguars Jersey. Whether it is another starting pitcher (James Shields or Matt Garza) or Ben Zobrist showing some of his 2008 power or BJ Upton becoming a more consistent hitter,cheap cowboys nike jerseys, the Rays need somebody to step up. If the Rays have any hope of contending in 2011,cheap cardinals nike jerseys, they need one player to rise up and play AllStar caliber baseball.

Tampa Bay Rays (34 days until Opening Day) For those that do not follow the comments sections, let us clarify . There are reasons to sign Bonds and there are reasons not to sign Bonds. We understand both sides of the argument. In fact, we believe the Rays would be a better baseball team with Bonds. And in all probability the Rays would sell more tickets and make more money with Bonds. However, our argument has never been about “should they” or “shouldn’t they”. We are just saying the Rays won’t. Signing Bonds would go against everything the Rays front office has done in the past twoplus years. They traded last year’s headaches, Elijah Dukes and Delmon Young. They dropped the term ‘Devil’ because some people reacted negatively. Free agent signings have filled needs, not wants. But most importantly, the Rays like to speak of their new ‘brand’ (new nickname, logos and colors). The team has gone to great lengths to promote the new brand in a positive light. It doesn’t seem very likely that they are going to want America’s first experience with that brand to be in the form of Barry Bonds. The Rays have a plan,Washington Redskins Jerseys. The plan is working. Now can we please get back to talking about the 2008 Tampa Bay Rays? Yes? Good. DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA… Beginning in spring training last year, the Rays set about to revamp Brignac’s throwing motion. A tall, rangy shortstop whose build recalls Cal Ripken Jr., Brignac was in the habit of delivering his throws straight over the top,cheap brian cushing jersey. That’s what you want from an outfielder, which Brignac was in high school until his senior season, but not ideal for an infielder. “You can’t teach hands or anything like that, but they did a great job of getting me where I needed to be to be successful,” Brignac said. “You can either take that and run with it or you can try and do your own thing, and nine times out of 10, if you listen to the advice that has been given to you and the coaching that has gone on and run with it, you learn a lot. You get better.”,Minnesota Vikings Jerseys 365djerseys.com U2; Brignac certainly did. He had committed 19 errors, most of them with his arm rather than his glove, in his first 90 games for the Biscuits. He committed only three more miscues in his final 43 games. “He’s going to be fine,” said Jason Bartlett, the Rays’,fitzgerald jersey; new shortstop. “Everybody makes a big deal about it, but he’s an athlete. … I don’t think it’,saints jerseys 365djerseys.com S3;s going to be a problem at all.” “He’s doing great,” Foley said. “There are some little things he has to do to help him out, but as far as fundamentals, he’s doing great. “Aki’s a great athlete and seems to have a real good grip on second base already,” Foley said. “It’s just a matter of playing games. When you go from one side of the diamond to the other side, and all of a sudden, you get a ball in the gap: What are your responsibilities? Those things have to be reactionary once the season starts.”

If you have been hanging around these parts for a while, you know that the model for this site is to tell you what the Rays have done,Cheap Buffalo Bills Jerseys, what they are doing and try to project what they will do based on what we have learned. Think of RI as “Tampa Bay Rays 101.”,cheap jets nike jerseys; However, for the next 12 days we will step away from the standard, and we present to you 12 “presents” the Tampa Bay Rays should give to their fans. Looking back at , we see that many of our wishes came true (including that sweet nohitter), and the result was another division title. Without further ado… On the first day of Raysmas, the Tampa Bay Rays gave to us, ONE $5 million hitter… When we put together the , we saw a team with very good starting pitching and a bullpen that may not be as good as last year, but won’t lose a lot of games either. But more importantly, we saw a team that is going to lose a lot of 42 ballgames. The offense is a big concern right now. Evan Longoria will be great. Supporting him will be BJ Upton and Ben Zobrist, both of whom should be good. But neither is the offensive threat that Carl Crawford was all the time or Carlos Pena was when he was hot. What this team needs is a professional hitter. A veteran that will come prepared everyday to do his job,cheap philadelphia 76ers jerseys. And he needs to play first base,jets jerseys 365djerseys.com G4, outfield, DH or some combination of those positions. There are a number of veteran free agents available that can probably be had for around $5 million. And as we saw in the , the Rays can afford a $5 million bat,cheap new orleans hornets jerseys 365djerseys.com G8. The two at the top of our wishlist are Jim Thome and Johnny Damon (however there are certainly other names we would be happy with). The rest of the lineup is flexible enough that either player can be worked in at DH and occasionally in the field. And both would be worth 23 wins over the course of a full season. Add one of those players and the offense still isn’t great. But it would be significantly better. And we would sleep a little better at night.