Green Bay Packer Fans, what are you going to do when Brett Favre returns?

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PERCY to Play?

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Sonny and The Knight of Ni have been inconsistent this year so far and i think that soon it could be the time to move Sonny to the pen, i Love Sonny the starter of last year but i dont like what i have seen from him so far this year, but he has been ok his past few starts so maybe he will take those starts and build on something.

Also David Price's time is coming very soon, Sonny will probably be safe through it when he gets called up, but i have a feeling that niemann is going to get traded for a catching prospect with some high upside.

Wade Davis most likely won't beat out Sonny for a rotation spot until next spring, but i feel that he will be ready after the ASB or shortly after. If Sonny is ever put into the bullpen, i think that he will be very successful.

I really liked the marcus fitzgerald story, he was hurt for some of his senior season at marshall and was actually parking cars, until the vikings gave him a tryout at their rookie mini-camp. i think that he could make the team if given the chance, i have always kept my eye on him while he was at marshall, since he is larry's brother and i have always thought that he could be a very effective slot reciever in the NFL, so im hopeing that they signed him since i think that he has some good upside.

please fil me in on this and and other information on him

so lately i have been think that the lions should take Wake Forest LB Aaron Curry with the 1st pick, i would not be mad if Geogria QB Matthew Stafford was the pick, since i think that he is going to be a good QB, just that i think that we cant pass up the opportunity to draft the best player in the draft, who also fills a need. I really think that if we pass up on stafford that he is going to fall, possibly all the way down to # 10 pick SF, and then i think that it is very possible that sanchez could take a brady quinn type fall and the lions sitting there at 20 run to the podium and take Mark Sanchez, who i actually think is going to be better than stafford, the only thing people keep saying bad about sanchez is his limited starts at USC, but i watched many of his games this year and was very impressed with his poise and leadership abilities, so i say if Sanchez is there at 20, there is no way the lions can pass him up.

#1A- DT B.J. Raji- much needed position and im starting to like him more and more every day

#1B-OT Andre Smith- Character issues and all, he is a beast and i think that he has the talent to be the best OT in this draft

#2-MLB James Lairantius- i think that he is going to fall into the second round and reminds me of another MLB who falled to the second round in paul polzunsy of the buffalo bills.

#3A-SS Patrick Chung-will step in as starting safety by the end of the season.

#3B-TE-Cornelius Ingram-steal of a pick in round 3, and will be starter

#6A-WR Quan Cosby-older(26), but has alot of talent and a great value pick

#6B-DE-Maurice Evans-could be a great rotation type of player and maybe a starter after DeWayne White is gone.

#7A-OLB-Solomon Elimimian-could be a great special teams player and i think a steal in the 7th round

#7B-CB-Donald Washington-big mistake coming out early, but will be a great special teams player and may  someday make a difference on defense

#7C-RB-Brandon Ore-remember him from VT? could make a difference on special teams and may see some time on offense.

QB-Culpepper                 OT-cherilus and Smith

RB-smith                          OG- peterman and Backus

WR-Johnson and Johnson   C-Raolia

TE-Ingram                         FB- Bradley

DE-Avril and White          DT-jackson and Raji

MLB-Lairanaitus              OLB-Peterson and Sims

CB-Buchanon and Henry   S-Bullocks and Chung

#1a-LB Aaron Curry- makes the LB crops a big strength on this team

#1b-DT Peria Jerry - starter next to grady jackson

#2-OT william beatty- starter at LT, moves backus to guard

#3A- CB asher allen- adds depth and possible starter by end of season

#3B-TE cornelius ingram- a steal, who probably wouldve been a late 1st rd pick if not missed 2008 season.

probably most of you have noticed that i didnt include a QB in this mock draft, for the most part im against drafting a QB, i feel that the lions have much bigger needs than at QB, but i would love for them to get a steal in pat white or graham harrell. For QBs next year i want the lions to either trade for cutler, go with culpepper, one thing i really want to happen is see drew stanton given a chance and then if he doesnt work out then go for a QB in the 2010 offseason/draft.

I know we are all doing the Rays roster in our heads, on this amazing blog and well me on paper. But everytime we talk about the bullpen Juan Salas isnt mentioned, i still think that he could be a power reliever out of the pen for the Rays, but it seems like the RFO has kinda put him on the back burner and maybe he isnt going to get another shot at the big league club unless they trade Dan Wheeler or Chad Bradford, or unless someone needs to go on the DL. It seems that he has also fallen out of favor with the RFO since he tested positive for a Banned substance in 2007 and was suspended 50 games. Also how many option years does Salas have left?

also i wish the pen was like this next year

Balfour,Howell,Bradford,Nelson,Niemann,Salas and Rodriguez

Im hopeing for the day that they trade Wheeler, and i didnt include percy in there because i dont like him until he can prove to be healthy and effective. Also no closer, i didnt buy into the no closer thing at 1st because barely anyone has ever done it with success, but i think that the Rays could be successful with those arms in the pen.

According to John Fay of the Cincinnati Enquirer, reliever David Weathers accepted the Reds' offer of arbitration.  He's Reds property for '09 now, and he'll get a raise beyond this year's $2.75MM salary. only him and darren oliver accepted their teams arbitration offers.

also gerald laird has been traded to the detriot tigers according to mlbtraderumors http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2008/12/rangers-tigers.html 

i for one am glad that this rumor about him coming to the reds is now done, i think that the reds have bigger needs than catcher and i want to see what ryan hanigan can do as a starting catcher.

Rockies Talking Trade With Reds By Tim Dierkes [November 11 at 1:17pm CST]

Ken Rosenthal says the Rockies aren't done dealing - they're talking trade with the Reds and other clubs.  The Reds like Willy Taveras, Yorvit Torrealba, and Garrett Atkins, with a "definite interest" in Taveras.

Meanwhile the Indians like newly acquired Huston Street and the Nationals are one club eyeing Carlos Gonzalez.  Rosenthal says the Rockies figure to hang on to Greg Smith.

It seems we can't yet judge the Holliday trade for the Rockies.  It did seem odd that they would acquire a closer and a young center fielder, two positions at which they already had solid options.

so what do you guys think about this possible trade? i am pretty sure it would be a deal involving homer bailey, i am hopeing that this deal gets done some time soon because it will definetly help out the reds to be more competitive next year

the rays are most likely going to be in the market for a closer (again) since it seems likely that troy percival has thrown his last pitch in the big leagues. So what about the rays go after chad cordero as the closer for 09? he is probably going to be the lest expensive closer option in the free agent market and when he is healthy he is really effective in the closer role. give him a incentive laden contract just for insurance if he gets hurt.

http://www.redreporter.com/2008/10/22/640254/evan-almighty-vs-bruce-alm

hey guys i am also a fan of the reds, and redreporter is the red's sb nation blog site and they did a post about who would you rather have evan longoria or jay bruce. both are going to be MVP caliber players for many years to come, but who is going to be better? im am going with longo since i think that he has more power potential that jay bruce.

we all know how good evan longoria could be if he continues to get better and stays healthy, and jay bruce also has an extremely high ceiling.

hey everyone i would just like to thank you guys for making this blogging thing alot of fun. as most of you know i have been a fan of the rays since 2002, and remember days when i thought that dewon brazelton was going to our future ace lol wow how alot of us were probably wrong about that lol

i get sportingnews weekly and about a year and a half ago they made an article about how hope for the rays shouldnt be lost and then towards the end of it, they mentioned draysbay as a blog to check out and i never really had time for anything like that since it was the end of my senior year and i had to bust my ass to just graduate, so i figured that i would just go check it out sometime after i graduated and finally got around to checking it out about a couple of weeks before we traded for willy aybar and finally decided to sign up and join in on your guys discussions. i already knew alot about the rays before i joined this site but i have learned so much more from you guys and your inside information.

i like so many of you have been waiting for the year that this team finally broke out and started winning, and it wouldnt have been as good without being able to share it with you guys.

now lets go beat the red sox one more time and then go beat the phillies (who clinched the NL pennant as i am typing this) in the WS!

since the twins have a crowded OF with span stepping up this year, gomez to me looks like he is going to be better than delmon young with his speed and the excitement that he brings to me when he runs the bases, and then they have michael cuddyer who IF healthy is a good RF, and it looks like delmon doesnt fit the way that the twins play. so i think he is going to be the 1st one talked about to be traded to another team this offseason for some 3B an SS help. so here is my trade options that i think are real possibilities and please add some other ideas that you think could happen.

1. Cincinnati- they need some OF help with the trades of griffrey Jr and adam dunn, and a trade with them for edwin encarnion and homer bailey would be a fair trade for both teams.

2. Colorado- trade him to colorado for either ian stewart or garret atkins, i would perfer atkins for delmon young and glen perkins or nick blackburn.

3. brewers- trade him for jj hardy, it looks like hardy is going to be available this offseason since the brewers have escobar in the minors ready to take over and they will want to get younger since they are going to lose their 2 best pitchers in ben sheets and cc sabathia.

4. yankees?- if they lose out on manny,dunn or burrell this offseason then they might go after delmon, possibility for robinson cano and move casilla to ss.

5. marlins- dan uggla might be on the block this offseason, since he is now going to eligible for abritration and they have a cheaper replacement ready in the minors in chris coghlan.

so go ahead and debate which deals you think are fair and which one you think is most likely to be made and add in other teams that you think might be interested in trading for delmon.

hey there vikings fans, QB has always been a problem for this team and even when we do have a good one they get hurt (culpepper)

im not sold on gus frerotte as a starting QB for this team for next year, in house replacements taravis jackson has had his chance and didnt come through, i think that john david booty would thrive in this offense since it is almost the same offense he played with in college at USC and he was successful there and he didnt have AP.

there are some options in the draft,FA and trades that i would be interested in for next year

through the draft: tim tebow,chase daniels,matthew stafford

i think that all 3 would be good QB for the vikings tebow is a good scramler, daniels is a good pocket passer and stafford is also a good one as well

through FA: matt cassel,kurt warner, michael vick?

ok before everyone jumps all over me for mentioning michael vick, let me explain myself about that one, what he did was absolutely stupid and digusting, but he was messed up with drugs and his past gang life and he has served his time and seems to be a changed man and if he still has his wheels and he still has a decent arm i would take the chance on him. matt cassel could just "manage" the offense good enough for this team to be successful and kurt warner still is a good QB at age 37.

through trade: brady quinn, billy volek,chris redman,troy smith, colt brennan (i wish!)

if the brown are sold on derek anderson as their future QB then i think that they will trade brady quinn, volek has a solid arm, redman was good for the falcons last year, troy smith is small but is quick on his feet and has a good arm, he has always been a favorite player of mine even though he played for OSU and my favorite college football player ever COLT BRENNAN! man i wish that we drafted him instead of JD booty, colt doesnt have the strongest arm but he is smart with it, he isnt just a system QB like some people might label him, i really think that he is the real deal and some team will take a chance on him and the rewards will be great and i hope that team is the vikings, for those bashers of colt, the sugar bowl wasnt his fault, it was worse than the patriots in the super bowl, he had no time to throw and he was sick during the combine and the senior bowl, also remember this preseason against the colts? that is the qb colt is and is going to be in the NFL

John Romano reports that Upton has a torn labrum in his shoulder and will need surgery this off-season.
 i found this story on raysindex.com

BJ Upton has a torn laburm in his left shoulder. It prevents him from swinging the bat with authority. It also caused the should to pop out of its socket in May, and it will require him to have surgery in the offseason.

When Upton is swinging well, he has one of the quickest bats in baseball. That is why a player as frail as Upton was able to hit 24 home runs last season despite missing a month of the season. This season he has 8.

also here is a quote from an earlier post that was on here,

"If I could swing the way I wanted to, there would be less doubles and more homers," Upton said. "A lot of my doubles have been off the wall or they one-hop the wall. If I could have really put a full swing into it, I think the story would be a little different."

Unfortunately for the Rays, other teams certainly are already aware of this. We are sure they know the pitch-locations that Upton avoids. That he is still able to maintain a solid OBP (.381) is testimony to just how great Upton can be.

so wow the bossman is playing with a torn labrum and is still having an amazing season even without power, i think that changing his game this season because of this injury may be a blessing in disguse, since he now walks a ton and is a speed demon on the bases, so combine this season with last season and BJ Upton is an MVP candidate who is capable of a 30-60 season with over 100 walks.

i wonder what the heater has to say about this that the player that they bash the most is takeing one for the team.

Just to hammer the point home, Barry Bonds' agent Jeff Borris told Ken Rosenthal today that Rays GM Andrew Friedman failed to respond to his text message.  The Rays would like to add a hitter, but they've never had serious interest in Bonds.  Borris believes his client has been "blackballed" by MLB.

Rosenthal says the Rays would only consider Gary Sheffield if the Tigers picked up the majority of his contract, understandably.  They're not interested in Kenny Lofton or Jose Vidro.

lets hope that friedman is just talking to everyone in the organization to see what they would say about the possibility about bringing in bonds, but i bet that is doubtful, it really looks like bonds playing career is over since in the last few weeks teams have had openings on their teams and decided to go in other directions because they are scared of the PR hit, but isnt the PR hit worst it if you win the WS doing it?

also here is the link http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2008/08/rays-not-intere.html#comments

The Rays designated 38-year-old RHP Al Reyes for assignment after the game, to make roster room for RHP Chad Bradford's arrival Saturday. "It wasn't a surprise," Reyes said. Bradford was acquired off waivers from Baltimore Friday

i found this here http://www.sportsline.com/mlb/gamecenter/recap/MLB_20080808_TB@SEA

at the bottom of the page under notes. i would really think that he would take the minor league assignment and hope to be back up in september.

now the only weak spot in the pen is trevor miller and that spot should be filled up with the promotion of david price some time in the next couple of weeks, either price will step right in for miller or he will step into the rotation and would most likely bump andy sonnanstine to the pen, either way the pen will be better when david price enters into the majors.

also chad bradford will be in seattle tomorrow, ready to scrape those knuckles on the mound

http://insider.espn.go.com/mlb/features/rumors

The Cubs are currently debating whether or not to eat the one million dollars owed Scott Eyre in order to make a waiver trade for a prospect.

The Boston Red Sox, Tampa Bay Rays, Philadelphia Phillies, and New York Yankees are all reportedly interested in the veteran reliever.

Eyre is expendable as Kerry Wood's return to the disabled list is imminent, however the Cubs may still elect to keep Eyre and designate another player for assignment, the Chicago Sun-Times reports.

he is an upgrade over trevor miller so i would be interested in him to help out the pen, he isnt as good as he was last year but he is still better than al reyes and trevor miller.

eyre would first have to be clear the NL first and then we would be the second to last team to have an opportunity to claim him so i could see someone in the NL claiming him, and if some how he makes it through the NL, in the AL i bet that the yankees or red sox who both are also interested in him would claim him to just so we couldnt get him, but they both might try and claim him for themselves.

also the red sox have put in a waiver for brian giles and are interested in signing joe borowski to a minor league deal, he is worse than glover so i hope that they sign him and promote him to the red sox soon lol eric gagne of last year to me.

ok the trade deadline has passed and jason bay or adam dunn isnt here, but there are 3 other ways that this team will improve in the next couple of days

1. promote justin ruggiano and have him be the starting RF and dump gomes. promoting ruggiano will give him his chance to prove that he is capable of being a starter which i think he can since the brief time we have seen him this year he did well and gomes just isnt doing his job and needs to go.

2.promote david price and have him be another lefty out of the pen and dump trevor miller. trevor miller just walks too many hitters and price would be the rays verision of joba chamberlain of the nyy of last year or promote him to be a starter and move sonny to the pen, sonny is more movable to the pen than edwin jackson since edwin has been doing better than sonny as of late and edwin is needed more in the rotation than sonny is and sonny's future is in the pen anyways.

3. activate rocco baldelli and have him be the RH DH and have him just face mostly lefties since he cant be any worse than gomes even though he has missed more than a year and bringing him back into the clubhouse might be a spark to the team since rocco has battled through so many injuries and is now back.

4. sign barry, oh i wish this would happen so bad!!!!!! it would be better than trading for jason bay since barry gets on base more often and would be an RBI machine but i dont see it happening anytime soon, i wished that would change though

ST. PETERSBURG -- Grant Balfour retired the last four Blue Jays on Friday night to preserve a 2-1 Rays win and earn his fourth save of the season.

Balfour's value to the Rays has never been higher, and his experience illustrates that if players can forget when things don't go their way, their fortunes are bound to change.

The 30-year-old was one of the last Rays cut during Spring Training, despite pitching well, when he was designated for assignment on March 30.

"You're not going to do any good worrying about it," Balfour said. "I was angry. I was upset. I told myself, 'I'm going to prove them wrong.' I got fired up. The only way I could do it was to go out on the field and show that I belonged."

Other Major League teams could have claimed Balfour at that point, but none did, and he accepted his assignment to Triple-A Durham. Balfour said it took him seven to 10 days to get the anger out of his system.

"I told myself, 'I've just got to grind it out,'" Balfour said.

And grind he did. Opposing batters hit just .029 against him as he posted a 1-0 record for the Bulls with eight saves in eight opportunities. On May 29, the Rays recalled the right-hander, and he has since appeared in 18 of the team's 40 games.

Balfour carried a 2-1 record with a 1.54 ERA into Saturday night's game, and he's pitched well enough to become the Rays' de facto closer.

"I think I'm just pitching with aggression," Balfour said. "I'm not really thinking too much, to be honest."

His role will likely change when Troy Percival (left hamstring strain) returns from the 15-day disabled list.

"You get 300-something saves, there's no question, he's the guy," Balfour said of Percival, who has closed out 343 games over a 13-year career. "If it means he's three days in a row and can't go out there the next day and I get an opportunity, that's great. If I pitch the seventh or eighth inning, that's great, too.

"I must admit, I enjoy [closing]. If I get some opportunities, that's great. I'm sure he's going to get the majority of them. And like I say, when the time comes and I get the chance to get in there, I'll take it."

When Percival returns, Balfour will likely serve as a setup man with occasional opportunities to close. Manager Joe Maddon said Balfour is the kind of pitcher who could be groomed to be the team's future closer.

"He's got that kind of stuff," Maddon said. "And the biggest thing to me is the makeup. The closer makeup -- it's different. Those last three outs of the game are different. People can argue as much as they want, but they are. And the last out of the game is always the most difficult. ... I think, from my perspective, [Balfour is] growing into that makeup where he could do that one day. Definitely his stuff is good enough."

those of you who watch espn they were making their bold predictions for the second half and buster onley who is a genius when it comes to baseball says that david price is going to be the biggest impact to the playoff race in the AL east because we still have a pretty good chance at making the playoffs, if david price gets called up probably sometime in mid august with the way that he has been dominanting the minors this year with an ERA of only 1.63!!! man just think if he didnt miss that first month and a half he might be in AAA and probably ready for the call to the bigs after this allstar break. the yankees are going to be our top competition down the next couple of months as it seems that oakland is going to have another fire sale with maybe HUSTON STREET getting traded here!!! but with a rotation of kaz,shields,garza,sonny and price and possibly moving ejax to the pen or maybe to another team since we already have tired ejax in the pen a couple of years ago and that didnt work and now that ejax has done pretty good in his last couple of starts and the rays should include him in a deal as he is still a project who has a ton of potential and maybe the rays could sell that to a team who masters with projects (stl) maybe? since they have turned kyle lohse to a sub .500 pitcher into allstar caliber ( i thought he should of made it).  also i really hope that the rays dont trade wade davis in any of the deals that they may make because i think that he will be a pretty good starter for us next year as sonny's future is most likely in the pen and with a rotation of kaz,shields,garza,davis and price would be the best rotation in the league and the best rotation that the rays will have ever had! also this offense has too many good hitters to slump! cc has to turn it around or his option for 2010 might be in question of whether or not to pick it up. and this lineup needs to improve alot against LHP!!!!

when do you think price is going to get called up? does he even need AAA? you answer the questions!!!

For a long time Scott Kazmir looked back on that July day in 2004 and considered it the worst of his professional career. No more. The day the Mets dealt him to Tampa Bay now ranks as one of his best.

"It turned out to be a blessing," said Kazmir, the first-round pick from 2002. "If that doesn't happen, I don't pitch in the majors as soon as I did. If that doesn't happen I'm not on this team, sitting in first place and hoping for October."

Kazmir's rapid ascent through the Mets' farm system ended on July 30, 2004, as he was stretching to make one of his first starts for Double-A Binghamton. Summoned to the office of then-manager Ken Oberkfell, he learned about the ill-fated trading deadline deal for righthander Victor Zambrano.

"I started laughing at the beginning because in our relationship we joked around a lot," Kazmir said of Oberkfell. "He looked at me with a straight face and said 'this is serious.' I didn't know what to think.

"It was the last thing I thought would really happen. It was a huge shock. I felt heartbroken. I really didn't get to prove I was worth the investment. I wanted to show them it was worth it to take that chance on me. I never got the chance."

Even though Tampa Bay averaged 97losses the past three years, Kazmir had a winning record in each and made the All-Star team in 2006. He is 7-3 with a 2.28 ERA as he faces the Red Sox tonight at Tropicana Field in a big AL East showdown.

The other thing everyone now knows is that Zambrano was anything but a savior. His failures contrast starkly with Kazmir's successes. Injuries limited Zambrano to just three more games in 2004 and he went 7-12 in 2005. His injury-plagued 2006 was his last with the Mets.

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/mets/2008/07/01/2008-07-01_with_rays_on_top_scott_kazmir_now_consid.html

why in the hell do the rays still have this piece of shit, dont they know that shit is supposed to be flushed down the toilet!!! i hate to say it but even glover has done pretty good as of late and this should be an easy decision once reyes comes back from the DL soon, because now with the emergence of grant balfour and all of the other relievers are doing pretty damn good as of late, but i bet that they will find a way to keep this guy since he has "upside", but to me he is a AAAA player and that may be an insult to some of those guys!!

hey everyone now that the mariners have fallen so far out of contention and their GM bill bavasi has been fired and today john McLaren has been fired, eric bedard is most likely on the trading block and i think that the rays should consider trying to trade for him and it wont be a rent a player type of deal since bedard cant become a free agent until after the 2009 season and i would do this deal for jeff niemann,jeremy hellickson and edwin jackson since they were interested in him early this offseason. i think that this could be enough for a deal to get done to get bedard and our rotation the rest of the year would be pretty good with sonny as the 5th starter where i think he would be better suited and have the rotation be kaz,shields,bedard,garza, and sonny. that rotation could bring some consistency to the rotation and the only weakspot in the rotation is whether or not sonny will pitch good or not.  also jason stark says that the mariners are just about willing to give up anyone on their roster not named jj putz, ichiro, king felix and he forgot to mention brandon morrow who i dont think they would trade either

hey everyone i found this on faketeams a sbnation website and it says that the rays have the prospects to trade for cc sabathia? ya we know we do but there is no way that we could sign his fat ass and that trade just looks like a bartolo colon for sizemore,cliff lee and brandon phillips move in 2002 that backfired on the then expos who tired to add some extra pitching for the playoff push and came up empty and has since produced 3 allstars this year even though phillips is a red. i mean the rays just dont seem like a team that would trade for a rent a player to me and probably to all of us anyways here is the story...

Momentum is building in trade speculating circles for the Tampa Bay Rays to be buyers at the July 31st non-waivers trading deadline.  A wild-card leading 39-28 record plus a stocked minor league system are the two factors fueling this excitement.

With the chance for the team's 1st play-off appearance....no, its first ever play-off contending season, the team can revitialize its fan base by acquiring talent via trade as a signal the organization has arrived.  Despite the team's torrid start, average attendence  is up just to 18,444 from 2007's 17,148 per game.  This would argue against making short-term decisions like depleting the farm system in hopes a splashy trade would drive attendence where the team's great start could not.

However, there may be a different reason to trade prospects for a big name player like C.C. Sabathia, and it is directly related to the wealth of prospects the Rays' organization possesses.  With so many prospects, there is not enough major league roster spots for them to fill.

If the team can aquire a big name player in exchange for a few of its middle-tier prospects, then the organization will have opened up spots for players behind those traded prospects or will have freed the players blocked at the majors from stagnating the same way the Houston Astros wrecked their young hitting prospects by forcing them to sit behind major league veterans.

Trading from depth would have the effect of pre-emptively culling the herd before those prospects got to that point.  As DB11 mentioned here , the Rays would still get draft pick compensation at next year's MLB draft if they acquired a player like C.C. Sabathia and let him walk.  These picks could then be used to add quality prospects at the lower levels where they will no longer be bumping up against playing time issues about to be experienced by many of the Rays top level prospects.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Rocco Baldelli could be ready for the next step in his attempt to play in the majors again. <!-- INLINE HEADSHOT (BEGIN) -->

Baldelli

The Tampa Bay Rays center fielder, sidelined since May 2007 because of lingering hamstring problems and what doctors have told him and the Rays is a mitochondrial disorder that causes extreme fatigue, is expected to meet with team officials in the next couple days about possibly joining one of Tampa Bay's minor league teams.

"This is probably the first time since the beginning of spring training where I actually felt that I was going to be coming back and playing," Baldelli said after going 0-for-5 as the designated hitter in his final extended spring training game on Wednesday. "We're going to sit down and decide what the next step is. Hopefully go out and get some [at-bats] on some kind of rehab assignment."

The 26-year-old Baldelli, placed on the 60-day disabled list during spring training, resumed playing as a DH for the Rays' extended spring team May 29.

When asked if he feels physically ready to DH in minor league games, Baldelli said "Yes."

"My body is responding pretty well, so I'm happy," he said.

Selected sixth overall in the 2000 amateur draft, Baldelli has a .282 batting average with 48 homers and 221 RBIs in 419 career games. His 26 assists during the 2003-04 seasons were the third most in the majors. However, he has been limited to just 127 games since the start of the 2005 season.

hey so is he going to go through every minor league level? from A to AAA and probably spend about a week in each spot since he has only 20 games to complete this rehab assignment?

here is the source http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3437979

hey guys know need to worry about the team chemistry taking a hit after these 2 players got into it yesterday and know they can get back to playing baseball.

oh yeah patrick here is the source http://tampabay.rays.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080608&content_id=2875917&vkey=news_tb&fext=.jsp&c_id=tb

Garza did not return to the mound in the fifth even though he had thrown just 77 pitches, and Maddon confirmed the disagreement had been the reason for Garza's removal. And rather than find both parties equally culpable, Maddon said Navarro was "not the irritant." He summarized by saying: "They had an exchange of ideas."

After speaking to reporters, Maddon spoke to Garza in his office. Garza characterized the content of the meeting as "nothing about today."

"Just some stuff I have to fix, that's about it," Garza said.

Garza said "we definitely can fix [the problem]."

"Just heat of passion," Garza said. "We're both competitors. Whatever happened, we'll just keep it here and we'll fix it. ... This is a great bunch of guys and everybody is on each other's side. We can fix it."

Navarro said the problem was "just something that happened in the game."

"It happens in the family," he said. "I think everybody is going to be fine from this point on. It was really nothing."

When asked if he was "square" with Garza, Navarro replied: "Yeah, we're fine. We're a whole family here. [Little] brother fights against older brother, stuff like that. Everything's straight now."

sign him right now rays!!!!

Now that a trial date has been set for next year in the perjury case brought against Barry Bonds by the federal government, his agent said on Friday that he wonders whether the market will open for the former San Francisco Giants slugger.

Bonds, Major League Baseball's all-time home run king with 762 homers, is still a free agent. Bonds said recently that he won't retire and is eager to continue his career.

"Barry still hopes he will receive a phone call from me saying that I got him a job and he can resume playing the game he loves," said Bonds' agent, Jeff Borris, in a telephone conversation from his Los Angeles office.

"If any team was fearful that Barry would not be available during the 2008 season, they can now put those fears aside after the events of today," Borris said.

Bonds hit his 756th home run to pass Hank Aaron into first place on the all-time list into the bleachers just to the right of dead center against the Nationals on Aug. 7 of last year at AT&T Park. He played his final game for the Giants there on Sept. 26.

Bonds finished last season with a .276 batting average, 28 homers, 132 walks and a .480 on base percentage in 126 games. He will be 44 on July 24.

if the rays want to go all out and prove that they want to win this year they should go after the HR king who still can rake with the best of them and his on base percentage was almost 50% last year and it would bring more fans to the trop and i know that everyone in this blog would just go nuts!!!! i know i would!!!

sorry to do another rocco baldelli post but him playing in est i couldnt resist lol

ST. PETERSBURG -- Rocco Baldelli played in an extended spring training game on Thursday, which is the first he has played in any sort of game since early in Spring Training.

Baldelli, who has been showing up at Tropicana Field for home games, went 1-for-5 as the team's designated hitter.

this is huge rocco baldelli news and this really kick starts the hope that rocco will return this year, him starting his rehab in est right now is a start and probably will advance to A ball rehab assignment and then so forth and maybe he could be back by the end of june? maybe the allstar break? i really hope it is one of those 2.

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080529&content_id=2795233&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

here is the source where i found this on mlb.com