I'm going to honor all of the guys who have stuck it in Tampa for the long run.

John Higgins- Senior VP/General Counsel, he started just when the idea of having a team in Tampa in 1995. He represented Vince Naimoli in why Tampa should have a franchise.

Rick Vaughn- VP of Communications, in 2003 he received the Robert O. Fishel Award for Public Relations Excellence. In 2002 he was public relations director for the MLB's All-Star tour of Japan. Went to George Mason and threw the first no-hitter in school history

Dewayne Staats- This guy is one of my favorite guys with Tampa ever. He started in 98 and has been there since with Joe Magrane. Dan Wheeler, a current Rays pitcher, is his son-in-law.

Rick Nafe- VP of Operations and Facilities, if you hate the bathrooms at the Trop, you go to this guy and complain about it. He has had the job since October of 96, he was also Executive Director if Tampa Sports Authority. He was also venue host during Super Bowl XVIII and XXV when they were in Tampa.

Jorge Cantu, he was one of the best prospects in our system, had a phenomenal 06 year, and it all went down-hill from there. He was being brought up and down from Durham to the big leagues. He got fed up, didn't wanna play here, so he and Brian Cumberland and cash was traded to Cincy for Medlock and Shackelford. Now with our big hole in 2nd, should we have traded him?

Travis Harper, this guy must've been the worst pitcher I have ever seen. He was atrocious, we had him for 7 years, and he sucked in every one of those years. Should we have kept signing him?

Is it possible to be a victim of our own success? We all heard this back when the Rockies swept both there series and had a, I don't remember, 2 weeks I think. But with the great farm system we have, that has 7(!!) prospects in Baseball America's top 100 list, and 4 of them in the top 20, can it be that we'll have too many good players? This does sound drastic, but people say that our starting rotation for 2010 will be Kazmir, Shields, Price, McGee, and Davis. Our outfield is gonna consist of Crawford, Upton, and Jennings, our infield is gonna be, Longoria at 3rd, Brignac at short, Aki at 2nd, and Pena at 1st. Catcher might be either, Navvy, Jaso, Spring, or others. But with all of our great prospects, and so little money to go around, how are we gonna pay these guys? Then they'll go off into FA, signing with the Yanks, and we will have a farm system that isnt good.

Spring Training, people call it the MLB version of the NFL's Pre-season. The only reason we have it is to see if a bunch of guys who were bagging groceries can still play baseball. Looking at th guys who got non-roster invitees, I see a couple of guys that can make there way onto the 25-man.

Brian Anderson is a lefty throwing righty batting pitcher from Portsmouth, VA. Looking at his stats, its nothing special, on his good days, he seems to do better as a reliever than a starter, on his bad days when he starts, hes like Dewon Brazelton. It doesn't look like he'll make it to consideration of being in the rotation, but another lefty in the pen would help, and Joe Maddon doesn't want to put J.P. Howell in there anytime soon.

Chris Richard, this guy has been traded for some semi-big names in the past. In 2000 he was traded to Baltimore from St.Louis for Mike Timlin. Back in March of 2003, he was traded to the Rockies for Jack Cust. This guy is a converted 1B turned outfielder when they couldn't use him with Helton at 1st. He hasnt played a major league game since 03. But he played pretty well in Durham, batted .284 with 14 HR's and 57 RBI's in 102 games, he may be needed if Ruggy or Gomes gets hurt in the near future.

We all know who the starters are gonna be, don't we? We may or may not, there is 3 key positions(not including pitcher) that have a ? right now.

Lets start with 3rd base, as of now, the Rays depth chart says that Evan Longoria is gonna be the starter on Opening day, well...he may not get it, it all depends on if management thinks he is. Personally, I don't think hes ready, sure he blew away Montgomery, but when he reached Durham, his numbers dipped. He batted .269 with 5 HR and 19RBI in 104AB's. He does need a lottle more time in Durham, we don;t need to rush him, we have Aybar and Guzman to play 3rd until he is ready. If he doesnt get the job and start at AAA, Aybar should get the 3rd base job.

Right Field is unquestionably a huge hole right now. Now the depth chart says Rocco is no.1, Jonny Gomes is no.2, Cliff Floyd is no.3, and Ruggy is the no.4 guy. But Gomes can't fill the hole that we left when we traded away Young, if rocco doesnt get hurt and has a good 1st half, he will be traded to another team. Which leaves us with more questions. Can Gomes be effective anymore? How long is Cliff Floyd gonna stay? Can Justin Ruggiano play RF succesfully?

Back-up catcher, sure its not a starting role, but it is important none-the-less. The Rays depth chart has Shawn Riggans as the no.2, im not gonna kill thr guy just yet, hes had injurie problems during the past 2 years, and has only had 39 career AB's. In effort we have signed Josh Paul, Mike DeFelice, Hecotr Gimenez, to minor-league deals, we also invited Matt Sprung to trainig camp as well. There is also rumors that we may also sign Mike Piazza as a C/DH. DeFelice I think has the best chance of getting the no.2 role if Riggans doesnt seem good enough. Paul has never been anything special, Gimenez is bascially a rookie, and Spring, I dont even know why he is up instead of John Jaso.

Lets start in good ol' 2000, the year of Y2K, we drafted Rocco Baldelli, sure hes worked out in the short term, when he isnt injured he shows grest talent, but hes been injured over the past 3 years, and is easily out of Tampa.

In 2001, we drafted Dewon Brazelton in the 1st rd. and Jon Switzer in the 2nd rd. I can say without any doubt that both have been screw-ups, Brazelton's career line doesnt look like he was drafted in the 1st rd. 8-25 6.38 ERA 271 innings, 151BB 145K, now hes a non-roster invitee in St.Louis, as for Switzer, his "best" year was back in 06 he was 2-2 4.54 ERA in 40 G, in 2007 he was 0-2, 8.05 ERA and 27H in 19 innings.

In 2002, we drafted Dukes in the 3rd round, if he kept his act together, he would've been great, but eventually he was traded for Glenn Gibson who put up good stats a Class A, oooooo Class A. None the less, hes in Washington, maybe he'll win a starting job, maybe he won't. At least hes not here anymore.

Note: We drafted Luke Scott in the 45th round of the 2000 draft, was a starter in Houston and was good. Now hes a the starting Left Fielder for Baltimore.

Just because you were a high draft pick, doesnt always mean results.

Im gonna grade what I think were the top 5 best and worst aquistions so far this off-season.

Lets start off in a good mood.

1. Greg Norton, finnaly Rays Management did something right for a change, thid guy is old, has had knee surgeries, and his time is well spent somewhere else, if a team will take him that is.
Grade- A++

2. Troy Percival, sure this guy is old, he can still pitch the ball, also gives us the opportunity of not using Dan Wheeler as a set-up man.
Grade- A

3. Obviously signing Carlos Pena to a nice extension is gonna be well worth it. Hes easily the fan favorite in Tampa and always will be if he does well. Only problem with this, is his agent is Mike Fischlin, whos owned by the money-hog known as Scott Boras.
Grade- A-

4. Matt Garza, this was a heavy price to pay for thid guy, we had to give up Delmon Young, Brendan Harris, and minor-league Justin Pridie, I hope this is a good trade, he struggled in Minnesota, but he was the no.2 in Minnesota in a tough Al Central. I just hope that the Yanks and Sox don't kill him.
Grade- B

5. Cliff Floyd, sure this guy might not be a starter if Bonds rolls into town, but brings a nice veteran addition to the team, and can play RF when we trade away Rocco, and play 1st when Pena needs a day off.
Grade B-

Now lets get to the bad.

1. Trading away our core in trading away Young, Harris, and Pridie for Garza, Bartlett, and Eduardo Morlan. Garza should do well, but Bartlett is just a quick fix until Reid Brignac is ready in 09. Morlan won't be up this year unless he blows away Montgomery and Durham.
How bad was this trade for Tampa, bad
Grade- A

2. Not releasing Ben Zobrist, the supposed jewel of the Astros organization was a flop. Is it too late to knock on the door and ask Huff to come back? This guy lost the starting job this year to Harris, didnt do well when he started last year as the SS, and is know looking for a job as the utility man.
Grade B+

3. Trading Ty Wigginton for Dan Wheeler, I might be a little pre-mature with arguing this trade but, Wiggy was the greatest thing to happen to Tampa since the Lightning won the Stanley Cup. We got this guy from off the streets just looking for a job, and what do you know, hes a fan favorite, plays every position, even can be an emergency catcher if needed.
Grade- B

4. Not re-signing Raul Casanova, right off the bat, this guy wasn't great, wasn't terrible either but provided stability to the catcher role, he had good power from the plate and decent defence. Without thid guy, we were forced to sign Josh Paul back, sign Mike DeFelice, and Hecotr Gimenez.
Grade- D

5. The biggy now, our failure to sign Kaz to a long deal, why the hell didn't we sign him to a 3-yr deal like Pena? This guy is the reason the mets had to trade for Johan Santana, this guy is the jewel of tampa, and its a shame he isnt signed longer.

Grade- G