Rays links are plentiful this afternoon…
- Rays owner Stuart Sternberg talked to Marc Topkin of the St. Petersburg Times about impending free agent Carl Crawford: "We're going to do everything we can to make sure he stays here longer."
- Sternberg told MLB.com's Bill Chastain that the Rays wouldn't normally spend $7.25MM on a reliever, so they plan on having "a little fun" with Rafael Soriano this season.
- Topkin says the Rays also hope to retain Carlos Pena, though Dave Cameron of FanGraphs feels that a Russell Branyan signing could set the stage for a midseason Pena trade. Cameron wonders if it might be too risky for the Rays to offer Pena arbitration even if he has a solid 2010, given the 2011 salary he could receive. For what it's worth, Pena just made Type A status for the 2008-09 seasons at 73.750 points.
- ESPN's Jayson Stark writes about the Rays' two biggest additions: closer Rafael Soriano, and potentially a full season of Wade Davis.
- Check out our Rays Offseason In Review from Wednesday.
i hope the angels sign Crawford next year, he fits the system perfectly
An outfielder who consistently hits for contact and power, has good speed, and is a good defender. What system wouldn’t he fit in?
i know im just saying after losing figgins (even though he got thrown out a ton) i think we need that one guy to rip off a bunch of bags. Kendrick, aybar, abreu and even some other guys like hunter cant steal, but i think that one big time threat would help everybody
Power? That 8 homerun power?
agree completely. I think it’s going to be a battle between the Yankees, Angels, Tigers (they have so much money coming off the books), and maybe the Rays will try to retain him as the owner suggested.
With the Burrell and Soriano money coming off the books they could retain Pena.
Yea Carl Crawford is going to have alot of teams going after him next season. Hope he ends up with the Yankees.
Honestly, the Rays might be the team that can most afford to lose out to Crawford and just take the picks – Desmond Jennings is a perfect replacement, dude is a stud (not that Crawford isn’t, but Jennings of course has the 6 years of control)
wtf does “Having a little fun” with Soriano supposed to mean?
The Yanks better get him next year!! Its time to change our philosophy to speed and defense. We have power almost every where in the lineup, i want to see some more steals to get in scoring position and allow our power guys to get them in easier.