Ok bitches, im calling my shot

[Cam]

My fucking Rays will win 80 games this year..... Now I know that may sound low, but that will be the best ever season for the Ray. We will beat both The O's and The Jays record wise and will have the AL Rookie of the year in Evan Longoria.....

It is hard to argue with the off season changes we have made this year. We trade for a great young arm, Garza, who will be our #3 pitcher, signed percival as our closer and also signed Cliff Floyd and Eric hinske for depth. I still think we will sign 1-2 FA pitchers... Not to mention the massive amount of pitching prospect talent that we have.....

We also finally traded for a real SS and we have one of the better 2b in the Al.... we also resigned Carlos Pena, who finished 2nd only to Arod in the AL with 46 homeruns.

Not to mention that fact that the Spankees and the Crapsox are our bitches....

Some one please tell me other wise?????

[Neely8]

My fucking Rays will win 80 games this year..... Now I know that may sound low, but that will be the best ever season for the Ray. We will beat both The O's and The Jays record wise and will have the AL Rookie of the year in Evan Longoria.....

It is hard to argue with the off season changes we have made this year. We trade for a great young arm, Garza, who will be our #3 pitcher, signed percival as our closer and also signed Cliff Floyd and Eric hinske for depth. I still think we will sign 1-2 FA pitchers... Not to mention the massive amount of pitching prospect talent that we have.....

We also finally traded for a real SS and we have one of the better 2b in the Al.... we also resigned Carlos Pena, who finished 2nd only to Arod in the AL with 46 homeruns.

Not to mention that fact that the Spankees and the Crapsox are our bitches....

Some one please tell me other wise?????

Link?

[Cam]

Link to what, i think 4-5 years the rays have won the season series vs both teams.... maybe not the sox as bad as the spankees

[WolverineSteve]

You may have overpaid for Percival. It could go either way with him, hopefully for Raysfan it's an incentive laden deal.

No question that the Rays are loaded with young talent. The OF will be very good, There are 3 good starting pitchers, Pena's career year hopefully wasn't a fluke (roid testing and all). Qustion mark will still be the bullpen. It was horrendous last year and stopped the team from approaching 75+ wins. Get near .500 and maybe draw between 1.5 and 2 million fans get some revenue and pay for some top free agent vets to come in and close the rest of the gap.

If this team stays healthy I can see them staying near .500 all year. It's up to Merlot Joe to manage the young talent. If he increases the pitch counts for the young arms he can limit his middle relief guys impact on the outcomes of games. Reyes moving from closer to set up guy with Percival closing (if he can) shortens the game as well.

[Cam]

You may have overpaid for Percival. It could go either way with him, hopefully for Raysfan it's an incentive laden deal.

No question that the Rays are loaded with young talent. The OF will be very good, There are 3 good starting pitchers, Pena's career year hopefully wasn't a fluke (roid testing and all). Qustion mark will still be the bullpen. It was horrendous last year and stopped the team from approaching 75+ wins. Get near .500 and maybe draw between 1.5 and 2 million fans get some revenue and pay for some top free agent vets to come in and close the rest of the gap.

If this team stays healthy I can see them staying near .500 all year. It's up to Merlot Joe to manage the young talent. If he increases the pitch counts for the young arms he can limit his middle relief guys impact on the outcomes of games. Reyes moving from closer to set up guy with Percival closing (if he can) shortens the game as well.

True they may have overpaid for percival, but how else are the rays going to convicne FA's to come to tampa. But you are forgeting the numer trade the rays made before the dead line last year to help their bullpen. They got Dan Wheeler from the astros, they also got 2-3 other arms that were hands down better than what they started the season with.... Not to mention the rays also signed another bullpen guy from the astros..Trevor miller, I think.... so they have made leaps and bounds in the bullpen... you are right about Madden and his stupid pitch count.....

[RumpleForeskin]

Yep, the underbelly of that Rays bullpen is still a HUGE ?.

[Cam]

Yep, the underbelly of that Rays bullpen is still a HUGE ?.

but HUGE ????? is better than knowing they are horrible like in years past.....

[WolverineSteve]

I agree with overpaying fa's to come to up and coming mid-market teams. It was how my Tigers got the ball rolling with Pudge. They paid him a ton of money for a 30+ year old catcher with the type of mileage he had on him. But then they overpaid (at the time) for Magglio. His contract was very much based on reaching incentives in games played as he was coming off a knee injury, consider that deal as panned out. It all starts somewhere. Signing key youngsters, mixing in quality FA vets is the fastest way IMHO. But the asses need to get in the seats (not just NY and Soxfans either) and support the team. Revenue will bring more talent. If they're sniffing the wild card, few teams have the minor league talent the Rays boast to put together a deal to get them over the hump come the trade deadline. It all means nothing with 35,000 ppl dressed up as vacant seats though.

[Cam]

I agree with overpaying fa's to come to up and coming mid-market teams. It was how my Tigers got the ball rolling with Pudge. They paid him a ton of money for a 30+ year old catcher with the type of mileage he had on him. But then they overpaid (at the time) for Magglio. His contract was very much based on reaching incentives in games played as he was coming off a knee injury, consider that deal as panned out. It all starts somewhere. Signing key youngsters, mixing in quality FA vets is the fastest way IMHO. But the asses need to get in the seats (not just NY and Soxfans either) and support the team. Revenue will bring more talent. If they're sniffing the wild card, few teams have the minor league talent the Rays boast to put together a deal to get them over the hump come the trade deadline. It all means nothing with 35,000 ppl dressed up as vacant seats though.

The history of Tampa fans is simple, Win and the asses will come, That was proved with the Lightning, who couldnt sell shit out, and now they have been sold out for years.... and the Bucs were laughable for many of years, now there are waiting lists thousands long for tix... The Rays New owners have already dont more that the previous owner have one and off the field... With a new stadium in the works, and they amount of young talent we have, the rays will sonn be selling out, The fans here just need to see some effort from the once pathetic ownership...

[rozy]

I don't have the time nor the desire to research it, but it would shock me were I to find an organization that has had higher quality minor league talent over the last 5-7 years than the Rays. Maybe the Marlins, but like I said I would be shocked. Eventually, you guys will have little choice but to compete for something. At least a wild card. WAY too much talent. Gotta keep those farm arms healthy, though.

Oh, and get outta the AL East.

As to calling a shot... Sox repeat.

[Cam]

I don't have the time nor the desire to research it, but it would shock me were I to find an organization that has had higher quality minor league talent over the last 5-7 years than the Rays. Maybe the Marlins, but like I said I would be shocked. Eventually, you guys will have little choice but to compete for something. At least a wild card. WAY too much talent. Gotta keep those farm arms healthy, though.

Oh, and get outta the AL East.

As to calling a shot... Sox repeat.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/b ... index.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Well I did alittle research and according to SI.com the Rays have 5 of the Top 25 Minor league prospects....That aint half bad.., i think 4 of them were pitchers... maybe 3 though

[rozy]

I don't have the time nor the desire to research it, but it would shock me were I to find an organization that has had higher quality minor league talent over the last 5-7 years than the Rays. Maybe the Marlins, but like I said I would be shocked. Eventually, you guys will have little choice but to compete for something. At least a wild card. WAY too much talent. Gotta keep those farm arms healthy, though.

Oh, and get outta the AL East.

As to calling a shot... Sox repeat.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/b ... index.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Well I did alittle research and according to SI.com the Rays have 5 of the Top 25 Minor league prospects....That aint half bad.., i think 4 of them were pitchers... maybe 3 though

Crawford, Upton, Longoria, Delmon, Jennings, Brignac.... not pitchers.

Kazmir, Neimann, Price, Davis, Townsend Pitchers. Your SI list deals solely with current prospects. I am covering more of the last 5 years. In short, you guys have no excuse but to improve dramatically. And soon...

You do suck at catcher and long relief... Except for DiFelice!!

http://www.sportsline.com/mlb/teams/depth-chart/TB" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[WolverineSteve]

I agree with overpaying fa's to come to up and coming mid-market teams. It was how my Tigers got the ball rolling with Pudge. They paid him a ton of money for a 30+ year old catcher with the type of mileage he had on him. But then they overpaid (at the time) for Magglio. His contract was very much based on reaching incentives in games played as he was coming off a knee injury, consider that deal as panned out. It all starts somewhere. Signing key youngsters, mixing in quality FA vets is the fastest way IMHO. But the asses need to get in the seats (not just NY and Soxfans either) and support the team. Revenue will bring more talent. If they're sniffing the wild card, few teams have the minor league talent the Rays boast to put together a deal to get them over the hump come the trade deadline. It all means nothing with 35,000 ppl dressed up as vacant seats though.

The history of Tampa fans is simple, Win and the asses will come, That was proved with the Lightning, who couldnt sell shit out, and now they have been sold out for years.... and the Bucs were laughable for many of years, now there are waiting lists thousands long for tix... The Rays New owners have already dont more that the previous owner have one and off the field... With a new stadium in the works, and they amount of young talent we have, the rays will sonn be selling out, The fans here just need to see some effort from the once pathetic ownership...

The fans are fair weather at best. The lightning aren't drawing now, and only drew well the last part of the Cup year and second round of the playoffs until the finals. It's now an easy ticket to get. The Bucs alleged 100k waiting list has been debunked. Also an easy ducket to get. I've never paid more than 30 bucks to see a game there. Problem with the area is that most of us come from somewhere else and go to the Trop, the Forum, or the RayJay to see the teams we grew up with. There's very little passion for any home team here, save for the bucs, but a couple down years and they'll hit the beach instead of the gridiron on Sundays.

[Shoalzie]

At the very least, the Rays won't finish last in the AL East...the Orioles could very well be the worst team in baseball.

[Shoalzie]

Speaking of the Rays...check this thing out.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/mlb_ex ... lb%2C67665" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[BSmack]

Speaking of the Rays...check this thing out.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/mlb_ex ... lb%2C67665" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I was just looking at it myself. I figure one solid storm surge ought to wipe it out. I'm also thinking that the convex open air roof ought to make it so that, with the proper weather conditions, the ball will really fly out of the park.

[SunCoastSooner]

At the very least, the Rays won't finish last in the AL East...the Orioles could very well be the worst team in baseball.

I guess you forget that my Royals still have a team, technically...

Would it be going out too much on a limb to predict winning 50 games for KC?

[Shoalzie]

At the very least, the Rays won't finish last in the AL East...the Orioles could very well be the worst team in baseball.

I guess you forget that my Royals still have a team, technically...

Would it be going out too much on a limb to predict winning 50 games for KC?

You're better than the Orioles...

[ucantdoitdoggieSTyle2]

Not to mention that fact that the Spankees and the Crapsox are our bitches....

Some one please tell me other wise?????

Red Sux vs Tampa season splits:

2002: 16-3
2003: 12-7
2004: 14-5
2005: 13-6
2006: 10-9
2007: 13-5

Last 6 years:
Red Sux -- 78
Tampa -- 35

WP: .690

If by "bitches" you mean, "The Red Sux take us to the woodshed every year and assrape our cocksuckers", then yes... The Sux are your "bitches."

[Dog]

Link to what, i think 4-5 years the rays have won the season series vs both teams.... maybe not the sox as bad as the spankees

Cam, you spew more shit out of that trap of yours than colitis guy eating mexican food.

Rays record versus Yankees.

2002 - 5-13
2003 - 5-14
2004 - 4-15
2005 - 11-8
2006 - 5-13
2007 - 8-10

OVERALL - 38-73
WP = .342

Not only are the Yankees NOT the Rays bitches, they also won the season series against the Rays LAST year. I can understand you forgetting a few of the details from 2002 and 2003, but just last season the Yankees treated the Rays like a pole dancing slut.

I'm not really trying to call you out or anything, but YOU ARE FULL OF SHIT.

[battery chucka' one]

And now your Rays are talking about getting Barry. Enjoy!! Should go nicely beside the Kenny Lofton and Mike Piazza signings you're chasing after. Again, he'd look a ton better in pinstripes, but eh. Have fun.

[jiminphilly]

Nicely done, Cam.

Who would have thought 97 wins and a trip to the World Series.

Good luck next year- The Rays aren't about to disappear next year with the level of talent they have.