Joe Resnick Knows Little About Rays, Still Pens Column
Joe Resnick talked to Joe Maddon at the GM meetings about his upcoming honeymoon and about the Rays offseason plans. Joe Resnick didn't do his homework.
A couple of the idiotic things written by Resnick:
- "The Rays’ top priorities are to settle their bullpen, find a regular right fielder and add a starting pitcher."...A starting pitcher? The Rays have at least 8 guys in the organization that could be a major league starting pitcher in 2009. We are not saying the Rays won't add one from outside the organization, but it is not one of their top priorities.
- "Maddon is hopeful of keeping his young core of talent together, but he knows it will be difficult holding onto Evan Longoria and B.J. Upton in a few years when they become eligible for free agency." Evan Longoria? Will somebody please inform Mr. Resnick that Longoria is signed through 2016.
Just when we were starting to hope that a trip to the World Series would end this type of nonsense, Joe Resnick goes and totally redeems our lack of faith in baseball writers.
DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA...
- In case you missed it yesterday, we updated our 25-man and 40-man roster projections for 2009. Those can be found in the sidebar.
- Outs Per Swing takes a look at the Rays "wants and needs" for the offseason. Part 2 focuses on the pitching staff...We are warming to the idea of seeing if Jeff Niemann can be a future closer. [Outs Per Swing]
- Peter Abraham ran into Joe Maddon at the GM meetings in California. Maddon stated that the team will address right field and the bullpen but "aren't planning much beyond that." Maddon reiterated that David Price will be a starting pitcher and that nobody knows how much Rocco Baldelli can be expected to contribute "down the road". Abraham also noted that Maddon still has his Rayhawk but is planning on trimming it prior to his wedding on Saturday. [The LoHud Yankees Blog]
- Did MLB make a rule that says the Mets are only allowed to go after one pitcher this winter? Just because Derek Lowe and Oliver Perez are the Mets priorities doesn't mean they can't also have their eyes on other pitchers. [Drays Bay]
- Metsmerized likes the idea of trading Aaron Heilman "and another player" to the Rays for Edwin Jackson. They even wonder if the "other player" could be somebody to help the Rays land Matt Holliday. [Metsmerized]
- Dan O'Dowd (Rockies GM) now says that the Rockies don't necessarily have to receive pitching in return for Matt Holliday. Troy Renck of the Denver Post brings up the Rays and suggests Edwin Jackson and Carl Crawford. This is intriguing in that Crawford will make $8.25 million in '09 and $18.25 million over the next 2 seasons, and Jackson is arbitration-eligible and will command $1.5-2 million. Adding Holliday's $13.5 million does not seem like such a stretch if those two players are taken off the payroll, and the Rays can hold on to all of their top pitching prospects. [Denver Post]
- Purple Row wonders if the Rockies should be interested in Carl Crawford as part of a package to send Matt Holliday to the Rays. [Purple Row]
- Several teams have apparently approached Andrew Friedman at the GM meetings about BJ Upton...This is wishful thinking on their part. Upton isn't even arbitration-eligible until after the '09 season. Maybe the Rays start to consider a move then, but not now while the Rays have one of the top talents in the game playing for about $500K. [MLB Trade Rumors]
- David Price will perform the coin-toss prior to this weekend's Vanderbilt-Florida game. [Nashville City Paper]
- As a result of the election, free agents may be in a hurry to sign prior to January 1, or else have their signing bonuses taxed at a higher rate. [Big League Stew]
- We laugh because it is funny, we laugh because it is true (at least for a few of the Red Sox fans that were trolling this site during the ALCS). [Kissing Suzy Kolber]
- Examiner.com takes a look at the Rays roster and potential off-season changes...They lost us when discussing arbitration-eligible players. For some reason they list Grant Balfour as a "maybe" while predicting which arbitration-eligible players will return to the Rays next season. [Examiner]
Labels: Aaron Heilman, Andrew Friedman, BJ Upton, Carl Crawford, David Price, Edwin Jackson, Grant Balfour, Joe Maddon, Matt Holliday, Rocco Baldelli
posted by The Professor at 8:46 AM
16 Comments:
I thought about Niemann as the closer as well......6'9" throwing 95-97 is an intimidating look in the 9th. I guess the issue is the amount of time it takes for him to warm up?
i actually think the long warmup issue is not a problem IF his role is the 8th or 9th inning only. it only becomes a problem if he is needed unexpectedly in the 5th, 6th or 7th.
Mariano Rivera spends the first 4-5 innings of every game in the locker room and if the game is close he heads to the bullpen and starts getting loose with stretches, etc.
did RJ just congratulate himself for saying the Mets would never want Sonny? And his evidence is that the Mets want Lowe? What GM in their right mind would not explore all the possibilities. What is Omar supposed to do if he gets outbid for Lowe and Perez? Is he then just supposed to say "aw shucks, guess no pitchers for us this year"?
wow. just wow. DRB is just becoming unreadable. the smugness makes me throw up a little in my mouth. if RJ is going to be smug, at least be smug about something that he can prove is right.
maybe he thinks Steve Phillips is still in charge.
Could we REALLY get Holliday?
Wow.
Jackson (a player that has to be traded anyway) and 2 years of Crawford for 1-year of Matt Holliday and 2 first round draft picks in 2010? And the Rays actually save money in the long run?
Yes please.
i love all these articles just trashing the rays. i actually read an article by howard bryant on espn.com before the alcs about how the rays winning would be bad for them, and how players such as longoria, shields, price, pena, crawford, upton and kazmir would require a big pricetag to keep them. all of those players the rays have under control for multiple seasons....these people just want to find a way to put the rays down and dont care how they do it and what they say, so irresponsible
I'm still thinking... Holliday!
I would do the Crawford and Jackson for Holliday deal in a heartbeat! I've been following Holliday and a few of the other young Colorado guys since they came up. He is a beast.
I've never been a fan of one-year rentals, but I don't see why we couldn't resign him long-term at a reasonable contract. There's always a possibility he would like to stay in Tampa and not command a huge deal.
Also, wasn't there talk last year of making Neimann a closer? I don't think the Rays were talking about it, but I'm pretty sure it was mentioned on this site. Could be wrong though.
What do you mean by "higher taxes"?
I thought that on Jan 21st i was going to recieve a brick of gold and the keys to a new car.... part of some new "change" policy or something.
Why is everyone so eager to sell out on CC? You think that the greatest player in franchise history, and maybe the best defensive left fielder in the game would get a little more respect.
everybody loves Crawford but there are certain facts that can't be ignored.
His legs can't handle playing on the Field Turf at the Trop. This was not the first season that his legs broke down. His steals are down from 1 in 3 games to 1 in 4 games. And his triples are way down also. Crawford has made it very clear that the turf is to blame.
He is due $18MM over the next two years and the Rays have made it clear that they are already maxed out on their payroll. other players need extensions (Upton, Garza, Navarro) or they will be lost.
Crawford is a free agent after 2010. he is worth much more now than later.
@goo:
did you say he's one of the best defensive left-fielders in the game?
Are you nuts? He throws like Giambi.
let's put it this way..
from the time the ball leaves the bat and reaches his glove, CC is probably the best LF in baseball. Of course there aren't a lot of fast left fielders, but still.
From the glove back to the infield, CC is maybe the worst left fielder in baseball. His arm is awful.
"Of course there aren't a lot of fast left fielders, but still. "
Manny Ramirez is a legit 40/40 threat, now can I have $125mil please?
Sorry, but I don't think its fair to completely abandon Crawford because of one, and his first "down" year. He only played in 109 games this year and most of that was because of his finger not his legs. That being said, he still managed to actually increase his triples from last year in 34 less games.
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