What were they thinking

Good Points.

When I heard the news I first got a good chuckle wondering why a team that has enjoyed their success bringing along young talent suddenly decided to go old.

The next thought that struck me was that at some point during the season Manny is going to have to do something stupid in or around the Ray tank.

Great selling job by Scott Boras.

Wonder if there isn't other aspects of this that are unseen by everyone except the real insiders? there has to be 'more' to these signings....or, simply the Rays felt they had to do 'something' after losing all the younger players and this is a one year fix until they can do something better.

My bet is on Boras being a good salesman.

I suspect it has everything to do with selling tickets. Perhaps hoping Manny can bring "mannyville" from LA to Tampa.

As a South Florida "Cracker" who grew up serving as a Bat boy during Spring games, when nobody had AC, I wonder why they can't pull off MLB there? The sizzling summer heat, humidity and daily rains have much to do with it. Yes, milb does compete and is a great value, and tons of fun, but not that many people attend them either. And yes, Florida is a football state but being able to attend a good game, in a nice venue, in relative comfort should make a difference. After all, you Yankees didn't travel to Florida in numbers until the prevalence of AC hit the housing market and I-75 was extended below Tampa (early 70's)!


That being said, wonder why Miami, who is finally building a great, covered, stadium downtown, won't be able to draw fans, especially from the Cuban population where baseball is revered.


I'm interested in seeing how that goes. If it succeeds then perhaps Tampa will build a stadium.

This was really a small risk, medium reward pair of signings. They gave Manny two million which is an amount Tampa Bay can write off so fast it will make Manny's head spin if he reverts to his usual shananagins. They have to have somebody to at least show some protection for Longoria or he will never see a pitch to hit. Don't know if an elderly Manny is the guy to do this but there's not much out there and for the price it was worth a chance. I feel this is more of a reloading year for Tampa Bay as they wait on some of their young talent to mature. Damon will show some leadership but obviously he's not near the player he once was but at 5.5 million he's fairly cheap also. These contracts just show how far the mighty have fallen especially in Manny's case who Boros said had multiple suitors. I wander what the other's offers were if all he could get at this stage was two million?

Manny was not given the bonus for boosting attendance, Damon was. I just get a kick out of the fact that they think that these two might improve attendance. I might be wrong.

With continued poor attendance they don't have money to sign for FA. They also, I believe don't have TV endorsements like the Marlins and the population of the west coast of Florida is pale in comparison to the big cities of others which limits the attendance.

The new stadium "downtown" for the fish will not draw the attendance from those who they need to draw, those with expendable income who can afford season tickets. It's in a bad spot. But we'll give it a try, but for us, too much traffic, too far, which is a darn shame.

milb attendance is poor due to summer weather, there is nothing more miserable than sitting in a stadium on a hot night with 100% humidity, even when your own guy is pitching (trust me on that). FWIW, the Rays high A affiliate, Charlotte Stone Crabs, ranked highest in attendance, last year with their new stadium.

Maybe this deserves it's own thread:
At least Tampa Bay was thinking...not so sure I can say the same thing about the Angels management who took on possibly the worst contract in baseball and gave up two players who have SOME value to take it on.

This is the third time in the last several years that the Angels have acquired a supposed centerfielder while giving him an enormous contract (Gary Mathews, Torrie Hunter) or taken on an existing one. (Vernon Wells--84 million).

Wells was massively overpaid when he signed the original contract and now that he is a 23 million a year player who's numbers equal a 10 million dollar player. All the fielding numbers say he is a below average centerfielder, more likely a corner outfielder now. Yet his rather poor onbase percentages with inconsistant middling power certainly don't translate to a powerhitting corner guy.

Last years numbers were not bad, but Wells hit most of his Hrs and was much better average wise at home than on the road and better in the first half of the season than the second half.

The Angels general manager said he was more comfortable with the fours years left on this contract rather than giving someone such as Crawford seven or eight years. This doesn't make any sense as at least you would be getting Crawford's prime four or five years in the first years of the contract (28-32) while you are starting the decline phase more than likely with Wells (32-35) when he already wasn't great at 29 and 30. They offered Crawford, the younger, superior, more charismatic player less per year.

None of this even takes into effect that Toronto acquired two tradeable players, a catcher(not good defensively) with power and an outfielder who before last year was serviceable at least as a fourth outfielder. Less than ten million and one year is tied up in these two guys also.

I feel this was kind of a desperation move to make some kind of splash and Toronto came out ahead if they just dumped Wells massive salary, much less acquired two players who might be usable in the short term.

I thought stone crabs were out of season during the summer!



Good points, TPM. Interesting thread.

Bring 'em here to OK! Huge rays fan!

Last season was do or die for the Rays. They lost Carl Crawford to the Red Sox and a bunch of pitching. They jumped the shark when Rocco Baldelli started in the playoffs. They play in a very strange ball park, which I'll never warm up to. I'm also afraid that MLB is spitting in the wind in Florida. However, both teams play in the worst ball parks in MLB. With the Marlins getting a new park, they may be around for awhile, but not forever.

Not sure what to think about these two new additions, hate to think of an outfield of BJ,MANNY,and DAMON ? Should at least get more air time on sports networks , hopefully because Manny is doing well not because he is BEING MANNY . LOL !

Looking at this purely from a financial standpoint, the Rays got two experienced players that may help them stay out of last place. $2M for Manny presumably to DH is a Filenes bargain basement deal. Damon at $5.25M is till a good player and positive club house presence that will give you some top of the order speed and OBP. He'll play the majority of innings and he will play hurt. So, I think the Rays did a pretty good job with what was available and didn't break the bank.