I know we are all doing the Rays roster in our heads, on this amazing blog and well me on paper. But everytime we talk about the bullpen Juan Salas isnt mentioned, i still think that he could be a power reliever out of the pen for the Rays, but it seems like the RFO has kinda put him on the back burner and maybe he isnt going to get another shot at the big league club unless they trade Dan Wheeler or Chad Bradford, or unless someone needs to go on the DL. It seems that he has also fallen out of favor with the RFO since he tested positive for a Banned substance in 2007 and was suspended 50 games. Also how many option years does Salas have left?

also i wish the pen was like this next year

Balfour,Howell,Bradford,Nelson,Niemann,Salas and Rodriguez

Im hopeing for the day that they trade Wheeler, and i didnt include percy in there because i dont like him until he can prove to be healthy and effective. Also no closer, i didnt buy into the no closer thing at 1st because barely anyone has ever done it with success, but i think that the Rays could be successful with those arms in the pen.

According to John Fay of the Cincinnati Enquirer, reliever David Weathers accepted the Reds' offer of arbitration.  He's Reds property for '09 now, and he'll get a raise beyond this year's $2.75MM salary. only him and darren oliver accepted their teams arbitration offers.

also gerald laird has been traded to the detriot tigers according to mlbtraderumors http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2008/12/rangers-tigers.html 

i for one am glad that this rumor about him coming to the reds is now done, i think that the reds have bigger needs than catcher and i want to see what ryan hanigan can do as a starting catcher.

Rockies Talking Trade With Reds By Tim Dierkes [November 11 at 1:17pm CST]

Ken Rosenthal says the Rockies aren't done dealing - they're talking trade with the Reds and other clubs.  The Reds like Willy Taveras, Yorvit Torrealba, and Garrett Atkins, with a "definite interest" in Taveras.

Meanwhile the Indians like newly acquired Huston Street and the Nationals are one club eyeing Carlos Gonzalez.  Rosenthal says the Rockies figure to hang on to Greg Smith.

It seems we can't yet judge the Holliday trade for the Rockies.  It did seem odd that they would acquire a closer and a young center fielder, two positions at which they already had solid options.

so what do you guys think about this possible trade? i am pretty sure it would be a deal involving homer bailey, i am hopeing that this deal gets done some time soon because it will definetly help out the reds to be more competitive next year

the rays are most likely going to be in the market for a closer (again) since it seems likely that troy percival has thrown his last pitch in the big leagues. So what about the rays go after chad cordero as the closer for 09? he is probably going to be the lest expensive closer option in the free agent market and when he is healthy he is really effective in the closer role. give him a incentive laden contract just for insurance if he gets hurt.

http://www.redreporter.com/2008/10/22/640254/evan-almighty-vs-bruce-alm

hey guys i am also a fan of the reds, and redreporter is the red's sb nation blog site and they did a post about who would you rather have evan longoria or jay bruce. both are going to be MVP caliber players for many years to come, but who is going to be better? im am going with longo since i think that he has more power potential that jay bruce.

we all know how good evan longoria could be if he continues to get better and stays healthy, and jay bruce also has an extremely high ceiling.

hey everyone i would just like to thank you guys for making this blogging thing alot of fun. as most of you know i have been a fan of the rays since 2002, and remember days when i thought that dewon brazelton was going to our future ace lol wow how alot of us were probably wrong about that lol

i get sportingnews weekly and about a year and a half ago they made an article about how hope for the rays shouldnt be lost and then towards the end of it, they mentioned draysbay as a blog to check out and i never really had time for anything like that since it was the end of my senior year and i had to bust my ass to just graduate, so i figured that i would just go check it out sometime after i graduated and finally got around to checking it out about a couple of weeks before we traded for willy aybar and finally decided to sign up and join in on your guys discussions. i already knew alot about the rays before i joined this site but i have learned so much more from you guys and your inside information.

i like so many of you have been waiting for the year that this team finally broke out and started winning, and it wouldnt have been as good without being able to share it with you guys.

now lets go beat the red sox one more time and then go beat the phillies (who clinched the NL pennant as i am typing this) in the WS!

since the twins have a crowded OF with span stepping up this year, gomez to me looks like he is going to be better than delmon young with his speed and the excitement that he brings to me when he runs the bases, and then they have michael cuddyer who IF healthy is a good RF, and it looks like delmon doesnt fit the way that the twins play. so i think he is going to be the 1st one talked about to be traded to another team this offseason for some 3B an SS help. so here is my trade options that i think are real possibilities and please add some other ideas that you think could happen.

1. Cincinnati- they need some OF help with the trades of griffrey Jr and adam dunn, and a trade with them for edwin encarnion and homer bailey would be a fair trade for both teams.

2. Colorado- trade him to colorado for either ian stewart or garret atkins, i would perfer atkins for delmon young and glen perkins or nick blackburn.

3. brewers- trade him for jj hardy, it looks like hardy is going to be available this offseason since the brewers have escobar in the minors ready to take over and they will want to get younger since they are going to lose their 2 best pitchers in ben sheets and cc sabathia.

4. yankees?- if they lose out on manny,dunn or burrell this offseason then they might go after delmon, possibility for robinson cano and move casilla to ss.

5. marlins- dan uggla might be on the block this offseason, since he is now going to eligible for abritration and they have a cheaper replacement ready in the minors in chris coghlan.

so go ahead and debate which deals you think are fair and which one you think is most likely to be made and add in other teams that you think might be interested in trading for delmon.

hey there vikings fans, QB has always been a problem for this team and even when we do have a good one they get hurt (culpepper)

im not sold on gus frerotte as a starting QB for this team for next year, in house replacements taravis jackson has had his chance and didnt come through, i think that john david booty would thrive in this offense since it is almost the same offense he played with in college at USC and he was successful there and he didnt have AP.

there are some options in the draft,FA and trades that i would be interested in for next year

through the draft: tim tebow,chase daniels,matthew stafford

i think that all 3 would be good QB for the vikings tebow is a good scramler, daniels is a good pocket passer and stafford is also a good one as well

through FA: matt cassel,kurt warner, michael vick?

ok before everyone jumps all over me for mentioning michael vick, let me explain myself about that one, what he did was absolutely stupid and digusting, but he was messed up with drugs and his past gang life and he has served his time and seems to be a changed man and if he still has his wheels and he still has a decent arm i would take the chance on him. matt cassel could just "manage" the offense good enough for this team to be successful and kurt warner still is a good QB at age 37.

through trade: brady quinn, billy volek,chris redman,troy smith, colt brennan (i wish!)

if the brown are sold on derek anderson as their future QB then i think that they will trade brady quinn, volek has a solid arm, redman was good for the falcons last year, troy smith is small but is quick on his feet and has a good arm, he has always been a favorite player of mine even though he played for OSU and my favorite college football player ever COLT BRENNAN! man i wish that we drafted him instead of JD booty, colt doesnt have the strongest arm but he is smart with it, he isnt just a system QB like some people might label him, i really think that he is the real deal and some team will take a chance on him and the rewards will be great and i hope that team is the vikings, for those bashers of colt, the sugar bowl wasnt his fault, it was worse than the patriots in the super bowl, he had no time to throw and he was sick during the combine and the senior bowl, also remember this preseason against the colts? that is the qb colt is and is going to be in the NFL

John Romano reports that Upton has a torn labrum in his shoulder and will need surgery this off-season.
 i found this story on raysindex.com

BJ Upton has a torn laburm in his left shoulder. It prevents him from swinging the bat with authority. It also caused the should to pop out of its socket in May, and it will require him to have surgery in the offseason.

When Upton is swinging well, he has one of the quickest bats in baseball. That is why a player as frail as Upton was able to hit 24 home runs last season despite missing a month of the season. This season he has 8.

also here is a quote from an earlier post that was on here,

"If I could swing the way I wanted to, there would be less doubles and more homers," Upton said. "A lot of my doubles have been off the wall or they one-hop the wall. If I could have really put a full swing into it, I think the story would be a little different."

Unfortunately for the Rays, other teams certainly are already aware of this. We are sure they know the pitch-locations that Upton avoids. That he is still able to maintain a solid OBP (.381) is testimony to just how great Upton can be.

so wow the bossman is playing with a torn labrum and is still having an amazing season even without power, i think that changing his game this season because of this injury may be a blessing in disguse, since he now walks a ton and is a speed demon on the bases, so combine this season with last season and BJ Upton is an MVP candidate who is capable of a 30-60 season with over 100 walks.

i wonder what the heater has to say about this that the player that they bash the most is takeing one for the team.

Just to hammer the point home, Barry Bonds' agent Jeff Borris told Ken Rosenthal today that Rays GM Andrew Friedman failed to respond to his text message.  The Rays would like to add a hitter, but they've never had serious interest in Bonds.  Borris believes his client has been "blackballed" by MLB.

Rosenthal says the Rays would only consider Gary Sheffield if the Tigers picked up the majority of his contract, understandably.  They're not interested in Kenny Lofton or Jose Vidro.

lets hope that friedman is just talking to everyone in the organization to see what they would say about the possibility about bringing in bonds, but i bet that is doubtful, it really looks like bonds playing career is over since in the last few weeks teams have had openings on their teams and decided to go in other directions because they are scared of the PR hit, but isnt the PR hit worst it if you win the WS doing it?

also here is the link http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2008/08/rays-not-intere.html#comments