It is going to cost the Yankees another 2 mil upcharge on their clubhouse catering contract just to feed his fat ass! Great pickup!

ESPN is reporting that Johnny Damon is in very preliminary discussions with Tampa Bay to fill a DH and spot OF role.

I'm not particularly fond of the "retooling" concept, but if they're going to go that route, then bring up some young guys and platoon the DH/RF/IF jobs to find out who's going to be there in 2012 and beyond. Damon's got a wealth of experience, but he's got old legs and an old arm.

damon will consistently give them good ABs out of the DH role and playing LF in that stadium shouldn't be too daunting when they need to put him out there.

if they can get him fairly cheap i think it's a good deal for the rays

holy ****, the rays signed both manny ramirez AND johnny damon in one day... wow

Yes, I'm disappointed.

If there was a player in baseball that I could despise on multiple levels, well... Actually, Alex Rodriguez is tops on that list.

But Manny Ramirez is surely a top contender for second place. Disliked him because he was in Boston, disliked him because of his often lackadaisical attitude towards his profession, and the drug thing only deepened my distaste for him. And now he's in Tampa where a bunch of young kids are going to be shown that there's a decent chance a guy can do all the wrong things and still get paid a metric sheet ton of money.

Hell, at this point the Damon signing is about as welcome as a hospital ice cream sundae after having a golf ball sized suppository shoved up one's rear.

both of those are good signings AK

they will help the rays win ballgames, and that's all that matters in the end

wow

I respectfully choose to disagree that they are good signings.

The Rays fans have been told that the name of the game this offseason is to look to the future. But as to the present: the team can't pay Crawford, Soriano and Pena to stick around; when they leave, the team will get good draft picks; Bartlett and Garza will get too expensive, so we'll trade them now for prospects.

But since then, the Rays have signed guys like:
Joel Peralta, 34yo RHP, 1 year deal, $900K
Kyle Farnsworth, 34yo RHP, 1 year deal, $3.25 mil
Johnny Damon, 37yo OF/DH, 1 year deal, $5.25 mil
Manny Ramirez, 38yo DH/OF, 1 year deal, $2 mil

These actions do not match up with those words, in my opinion. That is approximately $11,500,000 for four role players whose impact this upcoming season is to be determined, and whose impact for future seasons will likely be nil.

Carlos Pena went to the Cubs for $10 million, and he is a known quantity as a player and person. Rafael Soriano signed for 3* years at about $35 million, an offer of $11-12 for one year might have kept a premium closer in Tampa.

Or don't spend the money. Keep it in the bank for when the young Rays mature in 2012-13 and they can use a premium player to put the squad over the top.

do you want them to be competitive next year? Those signings you just mentioned allow the chance for that to happen

The Rays front office has, by their actions, implied that this year is a rebuilding year. Half the Opening Day starters are gone, pretty much the entire bullpen is gone, much emphasis has been placed on the youth in the farm system and the youth soon to be in the system.

As it stands, I must accept that premise, and must prepare myself for another season of naysayers and snide remarks about how Tampa (Florida) doesn't deserve a baseball team, and transplants (present company does not fall in this category) singing the praises of pinstripes and bloody socks.

If I'm to suffer the slings and arrows of 2011's outrageous fortune, against this sea of troubles the arms I must take are my hopes for a brighter future.

I fail to see how one year deals to old (in baseball terms) players like Ramirez, Damon, Peralta and Farnsworth fit into the 2012+ plans.

the rays are still going to be a scary team in 2011. They've still got a top 5 (at worst) staff of SPs.

and adding manny and damon to the mix of longoria, upton, and zobrist makes for a tough middle of the order.

not too mention young guys like brignac, rodriguez, jaso, and jennings

there's still a ton of talent on that team. If I had no soul and was a fan of the MFY, i'd be envious of a great deal of the rays roster.

you talk as if the red sox's roster is all-time great or something

it's not all time great, but i like it a heck of a lot more going into the season than the MFY's

Perhaps it's the lousy weather we've had lately, but I'm having a difficult time being optimistic about this upcoming season.

Yes, the starting rotation is top 5 caliber. But after that, there's just too many question marks from every other place on the field.

Can Longoria become "the Man" and carry the Rays? It remains to be seen.

Will Upton ever put all five tools together for a consistent stretch? He's running out of chances to show it.

Who are the relievers? Journeymen, outcasts, and unknowns. The one returning Ray is JP Howell, who spent the entire 2010 season on the DL.

Can the young guys who will be penciled in as starters fulfill their new responsibilities? Jaso, Brignac, Rodriguez and Jennings are long on talent and potential, but have comparatively little experience.

When we consider how much the rest of the AL East has done to improve their respective lots, I'm left to conclude that a winning season is probably about as much as I can hope for.

Manny and Damon are rainmakers. They will help sell tickets. Both guys are fun to watch and will contribute.

I can't stand Farnsworth. He belongs in a psych ward at the state pen.

I'll always hold a special place for Manny. Damon cut the hearts out of Sox fans with a butter knife.

All in all, I think it was pretty good dealing on the Rays part. They are having a rebuilding year but they will still be competitive with these signings.

It tells me is that they have some prospects who aren't quite ready yet but they feel will be ready in 2012. The Rays weren't willing to go back to being on the bottom after tasting success. This gives the roster guys hope that they will remain competitive in the short term.

I guess we shall see.

I'm sure a wise man once waxed poetic about how spring (training) was a time for joy and refreshing the soul. Already starting to look at plans for hitting opening day in Tampa.

But I'm not going to cheer for Manny.

Andy Petitte is going to announce his retirement.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ap-yankees-pettitte

If it is already leaked, why wait?

TTT for the hell of it!

this is the old thread! I almost died when i saw that pettitte retirement story. I was like "Wait, didn't he say he was coming back??"