Odds and Sods

Major League Baseball had its best season ever in 2007, bringing in more than $6 billion in revenue.  This fact, combined with the paucity of quality free agents available, should, prove, according to conventional wisdom, to be a bonanza for potential free agents.

Even a painfully mediocre pitcher like Carlos Silva could command a five-year $50 million contract.

However, the poor free agent market could also drastically increase the trade market.  With no quality free agents available, the price for a marquee asset should theoretically skyrocket.

This was certainly the thought of Team Boras who pulled their marquee slugger out of his Yankee contract.  Coming off arguably the best season for a right-handed hitter ever and having the commercial clout that will come with his challenge of the home run record combined with being the only impact player available should theoretically create the perfect storm to make A-Rod a very, very wealthy man.

The Twins will have the same thought with uber-starter Johan Santana.  He can be a free agent at the end of the season and they are almost certainly not going to be able to afford him.  Putting the best pitcher in the game not named Josh Beckett on the market, should theoretically bring their choice of packages of 3-4 of the finest prospects.

Theoretically, both Team Boras and the Twins should come out rich.  Unfortunately for them, they aren’t the only teams that had this idea.

Alex Rodriguez assumed that he would be alone, but that may not be the case.  The Marlins will investigate the market for Miguel Cabrera.  He is not a health nut, but he’s eight years younger and puts up eerily similar offensive stats.

If a team doesn’t want to part with their entire cupboard of elite prospects or spending money for the next ten years for a third baseman, there are cheaper options as well.  The White Sox will be looking to deal Joe Crede.  Baltimore’s B-12 shot bomber Miguel Tejada would undoubtedly enjoy a move to a different team and to a less physically demanding position.  The Cardinals have also discussed trading Scott Rolen.  And, oh yeah, the World Series MVP Mike Lowell is also a free agent.  With a host of cheaper options, A-Rod will probably have to respond to the market rather than dictate it.

The same thing could happen with the pitching market.  The Devil Rays may attempt to unload their own “Cabrera” with left-hander Scott Kazmir.  The A’s may be shopping Dan Haren for a collection of prospects.  The Padres have at least discussed making a Jake Peavy deal with the Yankees.  There is also the possibility that the Tigers or the Giants could cast a young arm out into the pond to see what they can reel back.

None of these guys are Santana, but they aren’t bad options at a lesser price.

The market appears to be the perfect storm for players and teams ready to unload them.  However, with the potentially abundant trade market, the market could become saturated with talent, driving down the demand and, ultimately, the price for the elite player.

This party advertises hot girls and free beer, but there is a high probability it will end up being a sausage fest.

With an earth-shattering announcement today a glorious era came to an end, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays are no more. The Tampa Bay franchise will now be known simply as “The Rays.”

The club will also change it’s color scheme, replacing the dominant green and black with navy blue and light blue.

The announcement came in front of a celebrating crowd of 7,000, no word on the ratio of “Rays” employees and coerced homeless men.

“I think this gives us an organization an identity,” principal owner Stuart Sternberg said.

Two points.

First, this most certainly does give them an identity, as complete fools. How does this give the team an identity? The name doesn’t even make sense. The logo has both sun “rays” and the tail of a sting “ray.” They took a bad team name and made it simultaneously nebulous and meaningless.

Second, they stole the dark blue from the Padres. The freaking Padres! Why, of all the teams to blatantly rip off would you choose them? This is a team that wore shit brown as their primary color for much of their existence. This is a team that feels that it is completely acceptable to wear camo uniforms! Why of all teams would you choose the Padres as the paragon of fashion and taste?

If you want to change the identity of the franchise, build a team. The “models” that the Devil Rays brought out were their bench coach and two retired stars (who made their name elsewhere and chose Tampa as a destination for early retirement.) That should say something about how disgustingly putrid they have been.

There are many reasons the “Rays” franchise has struggled. Their potential market is mostly retirees with loyalties to their own teams, their stadium may be the worst in baseball, and their awful team has been consistently irrelevant in the toughest division in baseball to win.

The change of nickname and logo only glosses over these inherent and crucial problems that will plague that franchise for years to come. Like a sweaty man who douses himself in aftershave, the acrid stench of the Devil Rays will still linger.