Buster Olney had this in his blog today.  Two Rays representin'.

The full top 5, from Hit Tracker's Greg Rybarczyk:

1. Teixeira, 2.88 seconds, Oct. 9, 11th inning
2. B.J. Upton, 3.01 seconds, April 16, fourth inning
3. Justin Morneau, 3.03 seconds, May 26, fifth inning
4. Robinson Cano, 3.05 seconds, May 21, second inning
5 (tie). Travis Hafner, 3.06 seconds, June 16, ninth inning
5 (tie). Willy Aybar, 3.06 seconds, June 25, second inning

 

We all know the draft is far from perfect.  It seems that really only the NBA has it figured out when it comes to bringing new talent into the league, but then again when you have teams with only 15 on the roster and minimal "D-Leaguers" to follow how could you not get it right?  These are just some ideas that I believe would help improve the draft process.  There is no perfect system and some of my thoughts may be improbable or impossible, but this is more of a forum to discuss what can make it better, not make it perfect.

 

1. Teams retain rights for all players for three years.  The only exception would be for college players completing their junior and senior years, the control for them would not change.  A team would control a drafted High School Senior until the August 15th cutoff date after his Junior season.  Negotions with said player can restart after the draft of his junior season.
2. Soft Slotting - A drafted player has the option of signing for their recommended slot value.
3. Ineligible college underclassmen can sign between Dec 15 - Jan 15 and again between Draft Day and Aug 15 every year.  If a player becomes ineligible the player and the team can mutually agree to sign for his drafted slot value.  If the team declines they renounce his rights and the player is eligible for the next draft.  If the player declines the team controlls his rights until the beginning of his senior season.  This prevents high school draftees from abusing the system by intentionally flunking out to become free agents.
4. Worldwide draft - This includes Japan, defected Cubans, Korea, Brazil, Australia, etc.  This would prevent NY and Boston from bidding $51,111,111.11 for players like Dice-K and throwing $8 Million at Jose Contreras.  Japanese players would become draft eligible after eight years service time in NPJ.
5. Drafted college Seniors with a Bachelors degree receive a minimum bonus.  This amount is arbitrary at the moment, but $10,000 to $20,000 seems about right.

Feel free to agree/disagree/improve/shoot-down anything on here or add your own way to improve the draft.

http://www.ufl-football.com/press/2009/08/12/united_football_league_introduces_florida_tuskers_as_team_name_unveils_uniforms

Commissioner Huyghue also announced that the Tuskers' game against the Las Vegas Locomotives on October 30th will be played at Tropicana Field, home of the Rays, and that the Rays have reached an agreement in principle to acquire an interest in the UFL's Florida franchise. 

Now football journalists across America can hate on Upton as well, not just douche bag local writers!  Share the love.

The 2008 edition was great and I give credit solely to that guide for The Rays' run to the World Series.  If only RJ had put in a little more time on that 71 page bohemoth we could have won the whole damn thing!

Seriously though, I know it's extremely time consuming let alone difficult to put another season preview together.  I'm just curious to see if the review for Chad Orvella changes:

Let’s sum Orvella’s season up in a few words: it sucked.

First off, Let's use this for the buying and selling of tickets to the first two games at the Trop to keep multiple posts from going up.  A few Recs would be nice to keep it up as I know a lot of people want tickets.

 

I was fortuneate enough to win the lottery and get some tickets.  I have OBSTRUCTED VIEW tickets to both games one and two up for sale.  I only want to go to one of the games and the first person to e-mail me with the game they want gets them.

Game 1: Section 315 Row LL Seats 21-24 For $1200

Game 2: Section 317 Row BB Seats 5-8 For $1200

I have these up on craigslist as well and I've already gotten a few calls offering $250 per ticket but I have to break even on my game trip (including souvieniers, beer, food, gas, ticketmaster fees, etc).  I'm willing to sell them in pairs as apposed to all four if I have two sets of people willing to buy for the same game, but as of right now I'd prefer to sell all four at once.  E-mail me at tadowsean@gmail.com or leave a post.  Who ever is first gets their choice.

The Gym in Downtown Lakeland is having another watch party for Game 5 Rays @ Red Sox. There was a huge turnout for the first four games which included the place staying packed for the Saturday Night Marathon.  The place has literally been rocking all week.  The address is:

118 S Kentucky Ave
Lakeland, FL 33801 (863) 687-6138
I've watched all four games there so far (the reason I haven't been in the GDT) and had a blast.  They have specials on Buckets of Beer, the food is awesome, and they have indoor and outdoor seating.  Plus this week the Detroit Tigers execs are in town and are spending most of their time there as the owner is keeping a running tab going for them this week (that Dombrowski guy can really hold his liquor).
Hope to see you there and bring your Rays gear!
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Hi Nats fans.  On opening day when ESPN was showing off the different aspects of the stadium they showed a quote on a wall that I had never heard before.  The quote was basically about wanting to hustle on every play because a kid may be watching and not wanting to set a bad example.  I can't remember who said it and I can't remember the exact verbage of the quote.  Can anyone help?  Being a Rays fan and with Upton getting benched a couple times the past few weeks for not hustling made me think of it and now it's killing me.  Thanks in advance.

Todd Jones was just demoted from his role as closer in favor of Fernando Rodney by Jim Leyland.  Jones is an old closer that is past his prime but is still effective at times.  Rodney has been around a few seasons and missed much of the first half.  Rodney relies primarily on his fastball to get hitters out.

Troy Percival is an old closer that is past his prime but is still effective at times.  Grant Balfour has been around a few seasons and missed much of the first half.  Balfour relies primarily on his fastball to get hitters out.

Something very similar here, the only difference is Joe should make the call and follow in Leyland's philosophy of taking talent over experience.  Joe admitted that Percy is still trying to get his mechanics back after his two trips to the DL.  Drop him down to a few low importance situations for a few weeks to see if he can get back to where he was.

I've been on the interweb all day and it's hard to find a site that isn't talking about the Rays.  Here are some of the things that I've found today.

• Jayson Stark had a 1pm chat today defending the legitimacy of the Rays being the best team in baseball.  LINK
• ESPN the Mag writes a letter to Bud Selig.  LINK
• ESPN interviews Eric Hinske to help preview the upcoming Red Sox series.  LINK
• Outside the Lines will take a closer look at the Rays on ESPN at 3:30 today.
• The Sporting News has as at the top of their Power Poll.  LINK
• Red Sox players received threats from a man from Baltimore living in Memphis.  He apparently is targeting the minority players on the team and security will be increased for this series.  LINK
• Evan Longoria has hit .309 with 8 HR this month (Subscription needed).  LINK

 

As much as I hate to say this, and as big a fan as I am, it's time for Jonny Gomes to go.  We only have him around to hit lefties which he has failed to do by barely hitting over .200 against them.  He is a liability in the field and has not played a full game in the outfield in quite a long time.  His biggest hits this season have been off of two guys that don't even pitch:  Shelley Duncan and Coco Crisp.

With Pena coming back tomorrow and Aki set to serve what will probably be a two game suspension over the weekend keeping Zobrist on board wouldn't be a bad idea.  He can play seven positions adequately to help rest our guys and can't possibly do any worse than Gomes has done at the plate.  Aybar can take over the DH duties (who else jumped out of thier chair and thought he had a GrandSlam today?) against lefties from here on out.

I'm sure there is a team that will give Jonny a spot (KC, SF?) on their roster and we can look for a low level bat in return.  Justin Ruggiano is now a better option for the Rays long term so an immediate benefit from the trade would not be necessary.