The Professor does it again…great look at the value of each Rays player…
We recently updated our 40-man and 25-man roster projections for the 2010 season. With free agency now in full swing, the Hot Stove is upon us. Therefore it is time to update the Tampa Bay Rays “Trade Value Index” in which we rank the value of top 43 players in the Rays organization.
The TVI ranks every player on the 40-man roster and the top prospects in the organization. Our goal is to determine which players in the organization are the most valuable to the team. The rankings consider a number factors in addition to talent and good looks, such as potential, age, contract and depth of position in organization.
Notes on how the rankings are compiled and a few specific players can be found after the table…
Notes on the Rays TVI top 50…
- The TVI uses very rough mathematical formula that gives differential weights to the various factors. This gives the list a starting point which is then tweaked based on the discussions of several committee members that may or may not have been under the influence of alcohol. Keep in mind that in many instances there is only a very slight difference in value from one position to the next in which we could easily make a strong argument for swapping two players in the rankings. That being said, we are fairly confident that most players are within a couple of spots of where they should be…Or not.
- The top 10 players are all under team control for at least the next 3 years.
- Evan Longoria and David Price were the clear 1-2. After that James Shields and Matt Garza were clearly above the next group.
- The two players that were the subject of the most debate were Jeremy Hellickson and Tim Beckham. The debate centered around how much either could command if traded.
- At the other end of the rankings, Ramon Ramirez was recently claimed off waivers, so likely has little or no value. Gabe Kapler might just be a 5th outfielder on the Rays suggesting he is not very valuable. Meanwhile, many teams might want Pat Burrell, but his contract would scare most teams away.
- Feel free to tell us where we screwed up in the comments.
