Well today they announced the rosters for this years Futures Game. Our minor league system only has one representive this year. Is it Delmon? Nope. BJ? Nope. Dukes? No yet again. It would be Juan Salas from Durham. He will be on the world team which is managed by Ferguson Jenkins, the US side is managed by Gary Carter..

Well the Indians DFA'd him yesterday, any thoughts on picking him up? I know he's not having a great season but maybe getting out of Cleveland will help him. I doubt it, but he couldn't be worse than McClung has been. Plus he seems to be an inning eater also so someone like that could be a nice pickup

I was surfing around and peeked at the truth & rumors from cnnsi.com and saw this:
The Dodgers are "one of several teams expressing interest" in Carl Crawford and the Rays "probably wouldn't move him before the July 31 nonwaiver deadline unless they received an overwhelming offer -- and even then they might balk" given Crawford's long-term "club-friendly" contract. -- St. Petersburg Times

Unless it is extremely overwhelming, like 2 ML starters and a couple of minor leaguers, there should be no way on this earth CC should be traded...

Well I thought I'd let everyone know that All Star Voting has started, and we should start voting for Johnny Gomes into the All Star game. Thats my opinion, but lets go with it.
Maybe vote Cantu in at second, other than that the only other one is CC. its doubtful, but we can try.

Hell we should start a Write in vote for Wiggy

Well this isn't really Rays news but Kirby Puckett has suffered a stroke in his home in Arizona. Found it over at CNNSI.com here's the link:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/baseball/mlb/03/05/puckett.stroke.ap/index.html
I only bring this up because I think Kirby was one of the better players of the early steriods era...

Well the USA's preliminary roster was announced today, and 1 Devil Ray was on it. That would be Carl Crawford.
Starting pitchers
Bonderman, Jeremy, RHP -- Detroit Tigers
Clemens, Roger, RHP -- Free agent (formerly Houston Astros)
Halladay, Roy, RHP -- Toronto Blue Jays
Hudson, Tim, RHP -- Atlanta Braves
Leiter, Al, LHP -- New York Yankees
Peavy, Jake, RHP -- San Diego Padres
Pettitte, Andy, LHP -- Houston Astros
Sabathia, C.C., LHP -- Cleveland Indians
Willis, Dontrelle, LHP -- Florida Marlins

Relief pitchers
Cordero, Chad, RHP -- Washington Nationals
Fuentes, Brian, LHP -- Colorado Rockies
Jones, Todd, RHP -- Detroit Tigers
Lidge, Brad, RHP -- Houston Astros
Nathan, Joe, RHP -- Minnesota Twins
Shields, Scot, RHP -- Los Angeles Angels
Street, Huston, RHP -- Oakland Athletics
Timlin, Mike, RHP -- Boston Red Sox
Wagner, Billy, LHP -- New York Mets
Wheeler, Dan, RHP -- Houston Astros

Catchers
Barrett, Michael -- Chicago Cubs
Lo Duca, Paul -- New York Mets
Mauer, Joe -- Minnesota Twins
Moeller, Chad -- Milwaukee Brewers
Schneider, Brian -- Washington Nationals
Varitek, Jason -- Boston Red Sox

Infielders
Counsell, Craig -- Arizona Diamondbacks
Ensberg, Morgan -- Houston Astros
Hall, Bill -- Milwaukee Brewers
Jeter, Derek -- New York Yankees
Jones, Chipper -- Atlanta Braves
Lee, Derrek -- Chicago Cubs
Rollins, Jimmy -- Philadelphia Phillies
Teixeira, Mark -- Texas Rangers
Utley, Chase -- Philadelphia Phillies
Wright, David -- New York Mets
Young, Michael -- Texas Rangers

Outfielders
Berkman, Lance -- Houston Astros
Bonds, Barry -- San Francisco Giants
Crawford, Carl -- Tampa Bay Devil Rays
Damon, Johnny -- New York Yankees
Griffey Jr., Ken -- Cincinnati Reds
Wells, Vernon -- Toronto Blue Jays

is the list of the roster. So it looks like the Rays will be have one rep on the USA team

Ok I know we need pitching help and all, but signing a journeyman pitcher, who is 35 years old, to a 2 year deal with an option for a third? This makes no sense to me.

Just to make room for this guy, the Rays DFA's Franklin Nunez. Well I guess I'll wait and see. What do you all think of this signing?

Well Bill Chastain has an online article on the Rays winning a bid to sign Shinji Mori, a 31 year old relief pitcher from the Seibu Lions of the Japanese Pacific League.

The Rays have until midnight EST on Jan. 11, to sign Mori to a contract.

Here are his stats:
Year     Team     W     L     SV     ERA     G     IP     SO
1997    Seibu Lions    6    2    9    3.28    38    52.2    61
1998    Seibu Lions    8    8    5    3.81    52    111.0    110
1999    Seibu Lions    5    8    0    4.61    41    113.1    128
2000    Seibu Lions    5    6    23    1.83    58    78.2    101
2001    Seibu Lions    5    4    1    3.91    28    46.0    52
2002    Seibu Lions    6    7    1    2.07    71    78.1    102
2003    Seibu Lions    7    3    2    2.31    61    70.0    92
2004    Seibu Lions    0    4    4    4.59    34    49.0    49
2005    Seibu Lions    2    2    5    4.22    48    49.0    60

 Shinji Mori (Pitcher)
DOB     Sep. 12, 1974     AGE     31     BIRTH PLACE     Yamaguchi
HEIGHT     6-2     WEIGHT     194 lbs     BATS- THROWS     Left-Right

BTW I orginally heard about this from a local news station's Sports Reporter Rock Reily

AL Winner: Huston Street, Athletics
2005 American League voting         Points                              
Huston Street, Oakland Athletics    97
Robinson Cano, New York Yankees        57
Jonny Gomes, Tampa Bay Devil Rays   39
Tadahito Iguchi, Chicago White Sox  30
Gustavo Chacin, Toronto Blue Jays   14
Nick Swisher, Oakland Athletics      6
Joe Blanton, Oakland Athletics         6
Jesse Crain, Minnesota Twins         2
Scott Kazmir, Tampa Bay Devil Rays   1

Tonight on the local news station call Bay News 9 here in Tampa, Rock Riley had gotten to talk with Don Zimmer, who said from what he has heard that the search for a new manager is down to 2, with Joe Maddon and John McLaren being the 2 choices. Zimmer also said that he has not been asked to give his opinion on the managerial search.

In another bit of info, Rock Riley stated that he asked Stu Sternberg how much is the payroll going to be raised, and Rock said Stu said 10 to 20 percent over the next few years. Which means next season the payroll will most likely be between 41,772,573.70 and 45,570,080.40. I am using payroll numbers from ESPN's numbers at http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/teams/salaries?team=tam ,which states the Rays had a payroll of 37,975,067, in 2005.
Which means the 2007 payroll could be between 45,949,831.07 and 54,684,096.48.

Take it for what it is worth.