trade deadlines, top prospects and a rocco update
skiYour Weekly Rays Update
Overall: 61-43
Last Week: Oak (2-1), @ KC (2-2)
This Week: @ TOR, DET
While it was nice winning the A’s series, the Royals series left a sour taste in the Rays mouth. The Royals are one of the worst teams in the AL and the Rays should have, at the very least, been able to take 3 games from Kansas City. Instead we have Joe Maddon ripping into his team for a lack of hustle and a split series with a sub-.500 team.
Tampa Bay…61—43 __ .587
Boston………….61—45 __ .575
New York……..58—46 __ .558
Toronto……….53—52 __ .505
Baltimore…….49—55 __ .471
Since I don’t want to be a complete Deputy Downer on the local baseball collective, I should mention the Rays still lead the division and it appears Carl Crawford may have broken out of his slump. Still, the eternal pessimist in me wonders if the Rays can keep up their winning pace from the first half of the season? Or will the 162 game schedule get the best of a young team that is experiencing a winning record for the first time? Personally, I still think the Rays finish second in the division but win the Wild Card.
TRADE DEADLINE
The trade deadline is this Thursday and for the first time ever the Rays are buyers. Outs Per Swing has the best recap of trade rumors but it appears the Rays are unwilling to part with top prospects; David Price, Wade Davis and Jeremy Hellickson. Which is the smart move as the Rays were originally designed to start winning next year, and it would be foolish to trade away their best pitching prospect (i.e. Price) for a one year rental.
ROCCO’S RETURN
A month ago I was convinced we would never see Rocco Baldelli playing in the majors again but most signs point to me being wrong. Rocco has been playing well in AA Montgomery and could be the right handed bat everyone says the Rays need. Assuming Price and Baldelli were called up late in the season the Rays may not need to trade for anyone.
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July 29th, 2008 at 10:36 pm
There are all kinds of reasons to root for the return of Rocco. Being able to avoid the rent-a-slugger sweepstakes is probably the best one.