Do the Tampa Bay Rays need a realignment to win?
We all know that the AL East is without a doubt the toughest division to face in all of Major League Baseball. You have the New York Yankees spending $207 million a year, the Boston Red Sox doing everything they can to keep up, while the most exciting team in the division–the Tampa Bay Rays–OVERSPENDING up to $70 million this season to just keep up.
Some people feel the way to fix the competitive disadvantage in this league is to do some realignment, much to the chagrin of baseball purists out there.
Daniel Rathman of NESN.com talks about his realignment plan, and what it would do for baseball.
What exactly does “street” mean?
According to Steve Lombardi of Was Watching says that phenomenal left fielder Carl Crawford is “too street” to play for the New York Yankees.
This makes, literally, no sense to me. We aren’t talking about domestic violence expert Elijah Dukes, or bat wielding mad man Delmon Young here, we are talking about Carl Crawford, the best outfielder to EVER suite up for the Tampa Bay Rays, and probably the most even keeled, polite, humble guy in the American League.
I don’t really know what Lombardi was trying to do with this column, but whatever it is, Cork Gaines of RaysIndex.com totally tore it apart, as only he can do.
Cork, thank you for bringing some sense to this topic. It is funny, even Yankee’s bloggers thinks Lombardi is an idiot too.
Hopefully Lombardi read your piece, but I doubt it did much good.
Wheeler, by the numbers
The team over at DRaysBay.com takes a look at the fly ball distances of Tampa Bay Rays super relief pitcher Dan Wheeler. Personally, I don’t get into the numbers side of baseball like this, but it is a pretty interesting read. Check it out here.
Is the Price right for the Tampa Bay Rays in 2010?
David Price took Major League Baseball by storm during the Tampa Bay Rays World Series run in 2008, leaving many to wonder what this guy would do as a rookie in 2009.
Well, the year was not as overpowering as most expected, myself included. But, Price did come on strong at the end of the year.
So, does the 2010 season mean The Price is Right for the Rays? Read about it here…
Longo says…
All Star Third Baseman, an future AL MVP candidate Evan Longoria says that the 2010 Tampa Bay Rays are the best team in franchise history. I agree, at least on paper. Read more about what Longoria has to say.
Thomas Gemkow is the editor-in-chief of TampaBayRaysFan.com. Founded in January of 2009, TampaBayRaysFan.com is a compilation of all the best of the Rays, from across the web. The website can be followed on Twitter
Thomas – you should read what I wrote before attacking. I never wrote “Carl Crawford is ‘too street’ to play for the New York Yankees.” And, anyone who claims that I did write that needs to learn how to read and not cherry pick words to fit some claim that they want to make against someone.
Steve, I appreciate the reply to what I wrote about you and your comments about Carl Crawford. The easiest way for you to have avoided this entire situation, is to not refer to Crawford’s appearance at all.
You said in your rebuttal post clarifying your comments:
“My concerns about the Yankees signing Crawford have nothing to do with his image/style – none, whatsoever. My concerns are about giving a long-term deal to a player who I suspect might not have many productive seasons past his mid-30’s.”
If they had nothing to do with it, then why mention his appearance?
Sure, people are going to read what they want, that is something as bloggers and journalists we have to deal with–so my question to you is this–why even make mention of his “appearance”? Baseball is not a beauty pageant. Appearance has nothing to do with on the field ability. Many people could consider former Yankee’s pitcher David Wells to look like a fat slob, but that did not take away from his ability as a baseball player.
I hope that you can understand why people assumed what they did about your post, Crawford’s “street appearance” will have nothing to do with his play on the field, so why bring it up?