Guest baseball Posted October 20, 2008 Share Posted October 20, 2008 The Rays aren't in the same situation the Marlins were in after their successful postseason runs. Their minor league system is stacked with replacements for guys, so as long as they re-sign Upton (which I think they will) they'll be okay. Most of the FA's in 2008 and 2009 will be cheap to retain (the exceptions being Upton and Garza).The Rays don't really have to make many "tough" decisions for a few years. They hold a shitload of club options and don't have to deal with any player options. POST SEASON ROSTER ONLY 2008 Carl Crawford (club options in '09 and '10) Cliff Floyd (club option in '09) Rocco Baldelli (club options in '09, '10, '11) Trever Miller (club option in '09) Jason Bartlett Gabe Gross Edwin Jackson Dioner Navarro B.J. Upton Matt Garza Willy Aybar J.P. Howell Andy Sonnanstine Ben Zobrist Fernando Perez Grant Balfour 2009 Troy Percival Chad Bradford Aki Iwamura (club option in '10) 2010 Carlos Pena Dan Wheeler (club option in '11) 2011 Scott Kazmir (club option in '12) James Shields (club options in '12, '13, '14) 2012 David Price 2013 Evan Longoria (club options in '14, '15, '16) wow. i had no clue that they had so many guys going up for free agency at the end of the season. i can see other teams wanting to pay big bucks for Navarro, Upton and Garza. boston's going to be in the market for a new catcher and they need starting pitching (as does new york ... who also needs some outfielders). so i wouldn't be surprised if the core of the rays end up playing for different teams next year. The Rays don't have any major pieces up for free agency. Their team will be virtually the same next year. The Rays are going to be good for several years. They have an amazing and young core in tact for the forseeable future. Not only that, but even with the promotion of so many good players they are still regarded as having one of the best, if not the best, farm systems in baseball. Tampa Bay has done a remarkable job developing players. They've also done a great job at extending players like Crawford, Longoria, and Pena to affordable contracts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mediocore Posted October 20, 2008 Share Posted October 20, 2008 Tampa Bay has done a remarkable job developing players. They've also done a great job at extending players like Crawford, Longoria, and Pena to affordable contracts. Word. They only have $40.5MM tied up in 2009, $40.6MM in 2010 and $23.75 in 2011. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Posted October 20, 2008 Share Posted October 20, 2008 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dynamitekid Posted October 20, 2008 Share Posted October 20, 2008 In the case of Tampa, bandwagon fans aren't really that big a deal to me. They had no fans to begin with so they needs as many as they can get. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crime Posted October 21, 2008 Share Posted October 21, 2008 In the case of Tampa, bandwagon fans aren't really that big a deal to me. They had no fans to begin with so they needs as many as they can get. which the team will lose a week after the seasons over and won't regain unless they make the playoffs again next season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dynamitekid Posted October 21, 2008 Share Posted October 21, 2008 well, they have 9 years of losing to put behind them, can you blame the fans? They have to build a base. Look at the Marlins. They have won two world series but they never had a couple winning seasons in a row. There was no reason for the fanbase to come out because the product was never good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
salparadise Posted October 21, 2008 Share Posted October 21, 2008 well, they have 9 years of losing to put behind them, can you blame the fans? They have to build a base. Look at the Marlins. They have won two world series but they never had a couple winning seasons in a row. There was no reason for the fanbase to come out because the product was never good. yeah, that and uh...have you BEEN to miami in the spring/summer? say what you want about tropicana field being the worst park in the majors, ugly, etc. that is the most comfortable thing in the world when it's hot as fuck outside. dolphin stadium is not. i dont blame people for not going to marlins games. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Posted October 21, 2008 Share Posted October 21, 2008 well, they have 9 years of losing to put behind them, can you blame the fans? They have to build a base. Look at the Marlins. They have won two world series but they never had a couple winning seasons in a row. There was no reason for the fanbase to come out because the product was never good. yeah, that and uh...have you BEEN to miami in the spring/summer? say what you want about tropicana field being the worst park in the majors, ugly, etc. that is the most comfortable thing in the world when it's hot as fuck outside. dolphin stadium is not. i dont blame people for not going to marlins games. for real. fuck that. Florida in mid august is fucking gross. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kirbypuckett Posted October 21, 2008 Share Posted October 21, 2008 Bandwagon fans don't really bother me. Some of you don't realize how hard it is to be a fan of a losing team. And in case of the Rays a losing team w/ NO history. I've been a Pirates fan all my life, including those few winning seasons before I hit the age of 10. It's been 16 losing seasons and I'm still a fan, but I do have a ton of history to be proud of for the Bucs. The Rays literally had NOTHING until this season. You have to gain fans somehow. If the Pirates started winning you'll see a massive fan base pop up out of nowhere. It happened w/ the Penguins. We have so many young fans who grew up w/ Mario, Jagr, Stevens, Francis, etc... and now that they're older they're the main fan base behind this successful organization. The Steelers weren't widely popular until the 70s when they started racking up championships and now look at them, they have one of the largest fan bases in the NFL (and all of sports). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Posted October 21, 2008 Share Posted October 21, 2008 Bandwagon fans don't really bother me. Some of you don't realize how hard it is to be a fan of a losing team. And in case of the Rays a losing team w/ NO history. I've been a Pirates fan all my life, including those few winning seasons before I hit the age of 10. It's been 16 losing seasons and I'm still a fan, but I do have a ton of history to be proud of for the Bucs.The Rays literally had NOTHING until this season. You have to gain fans somehow. If the Pirates started winning you'll see a massive fan base pop up out of nowhere. It happened w/ the Penguins. We have so many young fans who grew up w/ Mario, Jagr, Stevens, Francis, etc... and now that they're older they're the main fan base behind this successful organization. The Steelers weren't widely popular until the 70s when they started racking up championships and now look at them, they have one of the largest fan bases in the NFL (and all of sports). backed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forgeagain Posted October 21, 2008 Share Posted October 21, 2008 Gotta love the parity in major league baseball these days. In the last 11 years, there have been 10 different NL teams in the World Series. The Cubs, Dodgers, Reds, Pirates, Nationals(Expos) and Brewers are the only ones not to make it since 1998. I think the Rays will still be able to maintain this level of success in the coming years. They've built the team from the ground-up. They have control of a lot of those players for a long time. A lot of them WILL sign discounted long-term deals with them (like Longoria). Some of them can be traded for more can't-miss prospects when they're close to free agency (look how much the Brewers gave up for 2 months of Sabathia). Hell, even if guys DO leave for free agency they'll get compensation draft picks. The Yankees, Mets, and countless other teams have proven that you can't just throw money at a team's problems. Sure, it helps, but the Rays will theoretically be able to do that in the future. Shit, if they win a world series it'll certainly help cultivate a fanbase. The Marlins blew their team up on purpose after the 1997 series. I have no idea why. They traded every decent piece away to rebuild and it paid off in 2003 when they again won the World Series with a largely homegrown team. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kirbypuckett Posted October 21, 2008 Share Posted October 21, 2008 Gotta love the parity in major league baseball these days. In the last 11 years, there have been 10 different NL teams in the World Series. The Cubs, Dodgers, Reds, Pirates, Nationals(Expos) and Brewers are the only ones not to make it since 1998. The Pirates haven't had a winning season since 1992 (when the Braves edged them [sIDE BREAM WAS OUT!] to get to the World Series. So I'm not sure where you're getting the idea that the Buccos have made it to the World Series recently. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sgoodcore Posted October 21, 2008 Share Posted October 21, 2008 The Marlins blew their team up on purpose after the 1997 series. I have no idea why. They traded every decent piece away to rebuild and it paid off in 2003 when they again won the World Series with a largely homegrown team. $$$$ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest baseball Posted October 21, 2008 Share Posted October 21, 2008 I think the problem with the '97 Marlins was that they bought almost all the pieces that got them that championship. They can't sustain that kind of model. So yeah they got the championship, but they completely blew up the team disenfranchising all their fans for years. Can't blame the fans on that one really. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Posted October 21, 2008 Share Posted October 21, 2008 I am awaiting the end of the series so I can find out what is going to happen with my brewers! GO TAMPA! Sweep the Phillies! HERE COMES THE OFFSEASON! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Posted October 21, 2008 Share Posted October 21, 2008 also, this thread should remain stickied through the winter as I am sure the discussion about players/teams/trades/signings/deaths will run rampant. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kirbypuckett Posted October 21, 2008 Share Posted October 21, 2008 I think it should remain stickied, but maybe create a new one as we'll be talking about the '09 season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Posted October 21, 2008 Share Posted October 21, 2008 nope! Lets make this hit 1,000 pages! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kirbypuckett Posted October 21, 2008 Share Posted October 21, 2008 Deal, 1000 here we come! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forgeagain Posted October 21, 2008 Share Posted October 21, 2008 Gotta love the parity in major league baseball these days. In the last 11 years, there have been 10 different NL teams in the World Series. The Cubs, Dodgers, Reds, Pirates, Nationals(Expos) and Brewers are the only ones not to make it since 1998. The Pirates haven't had a winning season since 1992 (when the Braves edged them [sIDE BREAM WAS OUT!] to get to the World Series. So I'm not sure where you're getting the idea that the Buccos have made it to the World Series recently. I think you need to read what I wrote again. The six teams I listed are the only ones who have NOT been in the World Series in the last 10 years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Posted October 21, 2008 Share Posted October 21, 2008 Gotta love the parity in major league baseball these days. In the last 11 years, there have been 10 different NL teams in the World Series. The Cubs, Dodgers, Reds, Pirates, Nationals(Expos) and Brewers are the only ones not to make it since 1998. and out of all of those teams, the Red, Pirates and Nationals are the only teams in the NL to have not made the playoffs in over 10 years. thats pretty awesome to see that every other team in the NL has had a chance in the post season! one of these days, just maybe these 3 teams will get a shot... just maybe! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kirbypuckett Posted October 21, 2008 Share Posted October 21, 2008 The Pirates haven't had a winning season since 1992 (when the Braves edged them [sIDE BREAM WAS OUT!] to get to the World Series. So I'm not sure where you're getting the idea that the Buccos have made it to the World Series recently. I think you need to read what I wrote again. The six teams I listed are the only ones who have NOT been in the World Series in the last 10 years. I read too fast. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest baseball Posted October 22, 2008 Share Posted October 22, 2008 So Hamels vs. Kazmir tonight I think right? Should be a good matchup. Lefty vs. lefty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crime Posted October 22, 2008 Share Posted October 22, 2008 i don't know enough about the phillies to make an informed call on who's going to win. but i'd like to see the rays lose just to shut up the annoying guy at work who jumped on tampa's bandwagon last week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shanehennessey Posted October 23, 2008 Share Posted October 23, 2008 The backstreet boys? Really? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.