Marc Topkin is reporting that the Rays have signed relief pitcher Lance Cormier to a one-year, $675K contract. To make room on the 40-man roster, the Rays designated Dewon Day for assignment, whom was just claimed off of waivers last week.

We have updated the 40-man roster projection to reflect this signing.

This move means one of two things:

1. The Rays expect Troy Percival to start the season on the DL. As of right now, all spots in the bullpen are spoken for and there are no candidates for demotion. The low-man on the proverbial Totem Pole is Jason Hammel and he is out of minor league options. Or...
   
2. The Rays are expecting one of their bullpen arms to be traded prior to opening day. The likely candidates are Chad Bradford, whom the Rays have tried to trade, Jason Hammel, who is out of minor league options or Jeff Niemann, if the Rays start the season with David Price in the rotation. If the Rays can move Bradford (or Dan Wheeler), signing Cormier would save the Rays over $2 million on the 2009 payroll.
   

Cormier appeared in 45 games (1 start) for the Orioles last season, posting a 4.02 ERA while striking out 46 and walking 34 in 71.2 innings.

He also posted a career-high 56.8% ground balls in 2008 which could go a long ways towards a solid season with the Rays solid infield defense. And for the last three seasons, Cormier, a right-hander, has actually been harder on lefties. In 2008, his OPS against lefties was .667, 95 points better than his mark against righties (.772).

Back in September we heard rumblings that the Rangers might be interested in Gerry Hunsicker to be their new general manager. The feeling was that if the Rangers decided to make a change, team president Nolan Ryan, would look to Hunsicker, with whom he has worked in the past with the Astros. It appears that Ryan has opted to stick with the incumbent GM, Jon Daniels, as any move would have been made by now.

Hunsicker was also rumored to be on the short list for the GM position of the Mariners and the Phillies. The M's hired Jack Zduriencik, while the Phillies went with Ruben Amaro Jr. as their new GM.

Hunsicker, who is "Teller" to Andrew Friedman's "Penn" (or "Silent Bob" to Friedman's "Jay" for the younger crowd), is the quiet partner, but by all accounts just as responsible for the product seen on the FieldTurf. It is with great relief knowing that the front office nucleus will remain intact for at least one more season.

DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA...

• Marc Topkin of the St. Pete Times has a Q&A with Andrew Friedman that goes into a little more detail than the tidbits we discussed yesterday afternoon. [St. Pete Times]
  
• Can we all calm down a little about the recent report from Peter Gammons that suggests teams have only recently discovered more telling defensive statistics. Will Carroll says teams have been looking at defensive stats and studies for years and that a lot of the work the teams do "simply blows away things you’d call the state of the art in sabermetrics."...We are not sure why some think that most front offices are filled with old men that do nothing but read scouting reports from people in the field. If a blogger sitting in his mom's basement can measure how many runs and wins a poor defensive player costs a team, we are pretty sure the people running a $500 million organization can figure it out also. So no, it is not such a "novel idea." [Baseball Prospectus]
  
• Joel Sherman of the New York Post says the Mets are not interested in trading for Chad Bradford, saying his $3.5 million salary is too much for them. Sherman also notes that "at least a half-dozen teams" have shown interest in Rocco Baldelli. We know of four, including the Rays, Phillies, Red Sox and Yankees. [New York Post]
  
• The Rays have set in motion plans to open the first MLB operated baseball academy in Brazil. The goal appears to be to increase the popularity of baseball in Brazil and attract athletes that might normally opt for other sports such as soccer or volleyball. [MLB]
• Rays Prospects has an update on winter league stats for current and former Rays farmhands (and Willy Aybar). [Rays Prospects]
  

Some sobering news today. Via RaysProspects we learn that Wade Townsend has been shut down in the Arizona Fall League due to a shoulder injury that is expected to "sideline him for an indefinite period of time into 2009."

This is a huge setback for Townsend, who will be 25 in February, and only has two starts above single-A. We can't imagine he will be full strength again until 2010, when he will be 26 and likely back at single-A. The bitter irony is of course that Townsend suffered his first major injury in the Arizona Fall League back in 2005 when he blew out his elbow and needed Tommy John Surgery. We have to wonder if this latest injury will mark the end to Townsend's career in the Rays organization.

On a personal level, this is especially difficult because Mrs. Professor and her sisters grew up with Wade and we have to deliver almost weekly reports on his progress to the in-laws. We are not looking forward to that part of dinner this weekend.

Rays Notes [RaysProspects]
Rays boast deepest system in Majors [MLB]

DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA...

• That story we posted yesterday about Evan Longoria and his offseason in Long Beach? Well, during the interview a waitress interrupted to tell Longoria that she would be attending an upcoming party hosted by Longoria. Thanks to some stalking nifty interweb research by 'Duk over at Big League Stew, we now know that the young lady in question, Paloma Soto-Castillo, was a contestant on the latest season of "Survivor". And there is a picture...Is there anything Dirtbag can't do well? Nice pull kid. [Big League Stew]
• Evan Longoria as Brad Pitt? Fine. But "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" as a "chick flick"? Not even close. Listen. We have no problem with "chick flicks". They serve a purpose. Some are even good. We have over 300 DVDs and there are more than a few "chick flicks" in there that we would never admit to owning in public. The problem with "chick flicks" is the plot has to be very, very good. If the plot sucks, the movie has nothing to fall back on. On the other hand, take a typical guy movie. If the plot sucks, it is not the end of the world. There will still be explosions and car chases and aliens and girls in lingerie. In other words, there are plenty of distractions from a disastrous plot. And that is what "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" offers. Plenty of distractions. Love story? Sure. But there are enough explosions and gun fire to distract you from the sappy parts. Not to mention, the use of the song "Mondo Bongo" in the climatic fight scene is one of the great movie song/scene combinations ev-ER. Besides, can it be a "chick flick" if the filming led to one actor cheating on his wife? But we like where Her Rays is going with this. [Her Rays]
  
• MVN Outsider plays the role of Andrew Friedman and looks at a few moves the Rays should make this offseason. The big suggestion is trading Andy Sonnanstine and Chad Bradford for Andre Ethier...Not terrible, but the Rays would prefer to add a right-handed bat and would probably like to avoid an arbitration-eligible player that comes without cost-certainty. [MVN Outsider]
  
• David Chalk writes a guest piece over at Big League Stew breaking down the World Series odds for various teams in 2009 and let's you know how stupid it would be to wager on the Yankees. Really, really, really stupid. [Big League Stew]
  

Doug Krikorian of the Long Beach Press-Telegram sat down with Evan Longoria in Long Beach the day after winning the AL Rookie of the Year award. Of the topics covered:

• His preference for Monarch Clothes: "They have great stuff."
• Facial hair: "don't have any blades at the residence..."
• Dating: "he doesn't have a girlfriend at the present time."
• The World Series: "Picked a nice time to go into a slump..."
• Phillies fans: "the Philly fans get more personal with you than those from other cities...It's unbelievable the things they say to you. They must go to Facebook and find out about who you've dated..."
• Buying a home in SoCal: "he likes to entertain large groups of friends..."
• Rock Band and Guitar Hero: "I can do that at home for hours..."

DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA...

• BJ Upton had successful surgery on the labrum in his shoulder and expected to be 100% by the time Spring Training rolls around. Joe Smith also reports that it is still not known if Troy Percival will require surgery on his back and/or knee. [The Heater]
• Joe Maddon had to interrupt his honeymoon in Italy to hold a conference call with the media about winning the AL Manager of the Year award...Poor Jaye. [MLB]
  
• Jon Heyman of SI.com has nominated Joe Maddon for Sports Illustrated's "Sportsman of the Year". [SI.com]
  
• Baseball America has released their Rays' "Top 10 Prospects" list. No surprises in the top 5. A little surprised to see two 19 year olds without any experience above short-season (Matt Moore, Nick Barnese), ranked ahead of Jeremy Hellickson. [Baseball America]
• Rise of the Rays has their list of Top 10 prospects (scroll past the Baseball America list). [Rise of the Rays]
  
• Fangraphs review a few of the Rays top minor leaguers from this past season and take a look at who is on the rise, who has fallen and who could breakout in 2009. [Fangraphs]
• Joe Smith has a response from the Cleveland writer that gave the lone first place vote to somebody other than Joe Maddon. [The Heater]
  
• David Chalk at Bugs and Cranks is none-too-happy that Joe Maddon was not a unanimous choice for AL Manager of the Year. [Bugs and Cranks]
• Even a Red Sox site was amazed that Joe Maddon was not a unanimous choice. [Sully Baseball]
  
• The Orioles will have "Baltimore" on their road unis in 2009. That leaves the Rays as one of only five ballclubs that will not have their locality (Tampa Bay) represented on their home or road jerseys. [Big League Stew]
• The Hardball Times takes a look at why pitchers like Chad Bradford are effective as sidearm pitchers. [The Hardball Times]
  

THE GOOD: The loss of Carl Crawford and Evan Longoria to the DL was relieved a little on Sunday when Rocco Baldelli was activated from the DL and made the start in right field. He played the first 5 innings, before being replaced by Gabe Gross. It was Rocco's first game since May of '07 and he drove in a run, going 1-4...The Rays now have a 95.9% chance of making the playoffs. That is a big number folks. At the other end of the spectrum, the Yankees now have a 6.0% chance at a playoff slot. They have dropped 13.7% in the past week. We love a world in which the Rays are in the playoffs and the Yankees are not.

THE BAD: A Monday without "The Hangover". You can file your complaints at JetBlue.com.

THE TELLING: Willy Aybar will be the starting third baseman tonight and Justin Ruggiano will get the start in left...Sunday's win, the Rays' 71st of the season, set the franchise record for wins in a season...The Rays magic number to clinch a playoff berth is 40.

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA...

• Carl Crawford, placed on the DL this weekend with an injured finger, had his finger examined by a hand-specialist. The Rays are expected to know more today. There are some concerns that he could be lost for the rest of the season. [MLB]
• Evan Longoria was placed on the DL with a broken wrist after being hit bay a pitch last week. Initial x-rays were negative. A second-opinion revealed the break. He is expected to be out 2-3 weeks. [MLB]
  
• Scott Kazmir made an adjustment to his mechanics that he hopes will help with his delivery tonight. [St. Pete Times]
• The injuries to Carl Crawford and Evan Longoria certainly pose a challenge for the Rays, but trips to the DL are nothing knew for this squad and Andrew Friedman notes that the Rays did not get where they are this season because of any one player. [Bradenton Herald]
• Martin Fennelly has a column about how tough the loss of Carl Crawford and Evan Longoria is going to be on the Rays...Does anybody else have a tough time reading Fennelly when he writes a column with 25 1-sentence paragraphs? We always get flashbacks to 9th grade English and bad poetry. [Tampa Tribune]
• Last month David Ortiz predicted that the Rays lack of experience would catch up to them. This month he is singing a different tune. [Boston Herald]
  
• Marc Topkin feels that a decision has already been made for David Price to be promoted to the Rays at some point this season. The question now is only whether he will be a starter or a reliever. Topkin notes that if Price is used as a starter (Price's preference) it could anger players in the clubhouse if Edwin Jackson or Andy Sonnanstine need to be bumped from the rotation. [St. Pete Times]
• Larry Stone of the Seattle Times compares the '08 Rays to several other teams that enjoyed sudden success after years of losing. [Seattle Times]
  
• Chad Bradford finally arrived to the Rays clubhouse in Seattle on Saturday afternoon after a whirlwind few days of cross-country flights. [Tampa Tribune]
• Joe Maddon speaks about altering his approach this season to how he handles his players both behind the scenes and in the public eye. He notes that this year the team is in a position where he can make a difference with a more critical, disciplined approach. [Tampa Tribune]
• A blogger interviews Cliff Floyd. [Eli's MLB Rumors]
  
• Baseball Digest Daily calls the Rays one of "10 Things To Watch for the Remainder of the 2008 MLB Season." They are the only team on the list. [Baseball Digest Daily]
• Marc Topkin has some notes about the '09 schedule (opening day, interleague, etc.). [St. Pete Times]
• Mike Francesa of "Mike and the Mad Dog" in New York City, has been dismissive of the Rays all season, saying that he wouldn't acknowledge the Rays until August. One blogger wonders why Mike is still not talking about the Rays. [Mike and the Mad Blog]
• Brittany Ghiroli tells how Grant Balfour only stumbled upon baseball as a child in Australia and says his fire and emotion come from his homeland and his father. [MLB]
  

THE GOOD: Andy Sonnanstine was the hard-luck loser, shutting out the M's for 7 innings before allowing a run in the 8th. At one point he retired 17-straight batters, a team record...Rays batters that led-off an inning were on base 4 times in a row at one point.

THE BAD: Dan Wheeler. After throwing 3 straight fastballs, Wheeler tried to sneak a 1-2 slider past a red-hot Raul Ibanez. Ibanez had 7 home runs in the 21 games prior to last night. Throwing a slider there is lose-lose for Wheeler. Ibanez is a lefty, pull-hitter with an open stance. Even if the slider bites and is down-and-in, it will be right in Ibanez' power-zone. For those familiar with Ted Williams' "The Science of Hitting", that is where the red balls would be for Ibanez and he would likely fire that down the right-field line for a double. And if the slider hangs as it did last night? Well, we like to call those 400-foot strikes. Game over...Despite the success of the batters leading off innings, only 1 of those runners scored and the team was 0-8 with runners in scoring position and grounded into 2 double-plays. The biggest blow was the 9th inning with the score tied 1-1 and Evan Longoria on 3rd with only 1 out. Cliff Floyd and Dioner Navarro struck out to end the threat.

THE TELLING: The Rays magic number to make the playoffs is 44.

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA...

• If you missed our announcement yesterday afternoon, the Rays traded a PTBNL for Chad Bradford, a submarine pitcher from the O's...And soon, we will all learn the answer to the age-old question: Does Chad Bradford get rug burns on his knuckles when he pitches on artificial turf? Also, some of you may remember Bradford from the book "Moneyball", by Michael Lewis. Bradford was one of the players featured in that book. [Rays Index]
  
• Ken Rosenthal is reporting that the Padres tried to move Brian Giles through waivers in order to trade him to the Rays. The Red Sox blocked the move by putting in a claim on Giles and now the Sox and Padres are working on a trade to send Giles to Boston. [Fox Sports]
• Evan Longoria, who was hit on the wrist with a pitch, had X-Rays return negative. He says he is "OK". [The Heater]
• Michael Silverman of the Boston Herald breaks down the race in the AL East with a detailed look at each team. [Boston Herald]
  
• A Red Sox blog breaks down the remaining schedule for the Sox and the Rays and predicts the Rays to win the division by one game. [Fire Brand of the American League]
  

The Rays added a relief pitcher this afternoon, sending a player-to-be-named-later to the Orioles for Chad Bradford.

Bradford, 34 next month, has a 2.45 ERA in 40.1 innings this year. His strikeout rate is dangerously low, but he's not walking anyone or allowing home runs. He also has a very strong groundball rate.

Bradford has $1.05MM left on his contract this year plus $3.5MM in '09. Aside from the Angels, all the other American League teams passed on the chance to claim Bradford.

In order to trade players in August, a player must clear waivers or he must not be claimed by any team with a worse record. The Rays have the second-best record in the AL, meaning no other team tried to claim the reliever.

No word yet on who will be bumped from the Rays bullpen. Might the Rays DFA Jason Hammel?

The PTBNL is likely a list of 3-4 minor leaguers the O's will scout over the next few weeks from whom they will get their choice.

Rays Acquire Chad Bradford [MLBTradeRumors]
Trade Made [MASN]