Rays Exercise CC's Option

Not a huge surprise, but the Rays have exercised their option on CC and his $10M salary for the 2010 season.

CC has been the heart of the young organization; owning the franchise marks in hits, AB's, SB's, runs, RBI, and triples, and of course games played.

Much speculation has been made as to whether or not the Rays will still try ot move him during the offseason or at some point during the first half of next season (depending greatly on whether or not the Rays are in contention in 2010).

Rays Index sums it up fairly well here.

Other roster moves included declining the options of catcher Gregg Zaun and reliever Brian Shouse, neither of which came as a surprise, although many (myself included) would like to see the Rays bring Zaun back with a lower salary. The organization also pick-up Ramon Ramirez off waivers from the Cincinnati Reds

Crawford Honored as Best Left Fielder

Carl Crawford has been voted as 2009's best left fielder according to The Fielding Bible Awards.

I wholeheartedly agree, and am pleased to see Crawford getting the love he deserves after a stellar season. In my humble opinion a Gold Glove is soon to follow.

Official Press Release (courtesy of The Heater):

Tampa Bay Rays veteran Carl Crawford won the 2009 Fielding Bible Award for left field in an announcement made November 1, 2009, in The Bill James Handbook 2010. This is Crawford's third Fielding Bible Award.

Crawford, who received an almost-perfect score, was chosen by a panel of ten experts, including Peter Gammons, Bill James, Joe Posnanski, and John Dewan, author of the new Fielding Bible—Volume II. In granting the award to Crawford, Dewan wrote: “This was no contest. No player has ever won with a perfect record (10 first-place votes from 10 panelists), but Carl came as close as possible with nine first place votes and one second. That's 99 points. (The best previously was 98 points by Adam Everett at shortstop in 2006.) If Crawford doesn't win his first Gold Glove this year, I'm going to throw up.”

Officially announced annually on November 1 (before any other fielding awards), the Fielding Bible Awards try to name the single best fielder at each of the nine positions (including pitcher) in the major leagues. This distinction came into play this year as Jack Wilson, who split his time between Pittsburgh and Seattle, won the Fielding Bible Award at shortstop. "It is almost impossible for a player who is traded between leagues during the season to win a Gold Glove," Dewan pointed out. "I predict that Wilson will not win a Gold Glove this year, even though our 10 judges voted him the best-fielding shortstop in Major League Baseball."

This year, National League players were chosen at three positions, American League players at five, and Wilson at shortstop. 2009 marks the fourth year of the award. First-baseman Albert Pujols of the Cardinals is the only player to have won a Fielding Bible Award four years in a row. Aaron Hill won over Dustin Pedroia and Chase Utley at second base only after a tie-breaker was invoked. The complete voting results and further information are available in The Bill James Handbook 2010, published by ACTA Sports (www.ACTAsports.com).

The 2009 Fielding Bible Award winners are:

First Base—Albert Pujols, St. Louis Cardinals (fourth-time winner)
Second Base—Aaron Hill, Toronto Blue Jays (second-time winner)
Third Base—Ryan Zimmerman, Washington Nationals (first-time winner)
Shortstop—Jack Wilson, Pittsburgh Pirates/Seattle Mariners (first-time winner)
Left Field—Carl Crawford, Tampa Bay Rays (third-time winner)
Center Field—Franklin Gutierrez, Seattle Mariners (second-time winner)
Right Field—Ichiro Suzuki, Seattle Mariners (second-time winner)
Catcher—Yadier Molina, St. Louis Cardinals (third-time winner)
Pitcher—Mark Buehrle, Chicago White Sox (first-time winner)

Crawford or Pena

In a strictly hypothetical situation who would you choose?




The Rays have stated on various occasions that they're operating over budget and can not afford to maintain their current payroll. The Kazmir trade was a step in the right direction (sorry Angels, I warned ya), but the Rays still need to find ways to save cheddar.

While mulling over exactly how I thought I would save money if I were Andrew Friedman and the Rays' braintrust I stopped over at my second favorite Rays blog, Rays Index, to see what Prof's been up to, when ironically enough, he had his projected roster and payroll projections for next season posted. That really got me thinking.

Much has been made over CC's being due 10 million, and whether the Rays can afford to keep him at roughly 1/6th of their overall payroll, but the much less ballyhooed point is the fact that Pena is due 10.1 million, so some quick math; add the integers, carry the 1, check the remainder... and you'll find that CC and El Gato combine to eat-up about 1/3 of the team's overall payroll projections (you could add in Burrell, but I don't foresee any way to get rid of his payroll. Just for the record, he's eating up another 30% or so of the payroll at 9 million- which means roughly 63% of the team's payroll is headed to those 3... hmmmm, one of those 3 just isn't earning his paycheck, who could that be?).

All of that to ask this hypothetical question; so you're sitting in your high-back, leather chair at your executive desk at the Trop when the powers-that-be march in and tell you that you've got to part ways with either Crawford and his 10 million or Pena and his 10.1 million?
Crawford and his legacy or Pena and his resiliency?
CC's speed or Pena's power?

Who do you send packing?

Crawford Could be Playing His Final Games as a Ray

Carl Crawford has been the face of the Tampa Bay Rays for 8 seasons.

Carl Crawford was the cheese that stood alone for a long, long time.

Now, Carl Crawford may be in his last series as a Tampa Bay Ray.

Although the sudden and unexpected Kazmir trade was a definite indication that the Rays are trying to find ways to keep their key guys (namely, Crawford and possibly Aki, and I'm sure they'd like to extend Pena while he's still affordable too), it by no means assures us that Crawford won't be moved.

After last season everyone and their cousin wanted the Rays to move Crawford while he still had value, but a stellar 2009 campaign has snapped everybody back to the other side of the line, and the screams that "the Rays better keep Crawford... or else" can be heard from Tallahassee to Sarasota.

Crawford had what most would call a career year this season; .306 BA, .365 OBP, .453 SLG, .818 OPS, and 60 steals which, in my humble my opinion, has done all but force the organization's hand, but I still don't think that keeping CC is a given at all. In fact, I would say there is still a 40% chance that Crawford is wearing a different uni next season (heaven help us if that uni has colored hosiery or pinstripes!)

The Rays are operating over-budget and need to find creative ways to maintain an entire roster of major-league caliber players. They can't dump large percentages of their payroll into 1 or 2 players, regardless of how great they are, were, or may be. It's simple math.

Moving Kazmir was a start (and a smart move), but there's still a good portion of money-moving that has to be worked-out.

I rarely cross-over from one sport to the next, but as a lifelong Steeler fan I've seen exactly how a "small-market" team makes the most out of a little on a nearly annual basis. They (the Steelers) never, ever, under any circumstances take a flyer on ridiculously over-priced free agents (which the Rays have emulated well), they promote from within and hoard talented depth (much like the Rays have done) and perhaps the most important; they are always willing to let a player go if his potential payroll takes too much of a chunk out of the overall salary (i.e. Alan Faneca). The Steelers live and die by the belief that it's always better to let them go 1 year too early than 1 year too late.
Sadly, I think that if the Rays approach the CC situation with that same mindset they may have to cut ties with the best player in franchise history (for now at least (Longoria's just getting started)).

Crawford is due $10 million next season and Rays ownership has already said they can only operate at around $65-70 million next season. Simple math tells us that CC's salary would take a significant piece of the pie, which would mean that keeping Crawford would potentially mean saying goodbye to some other integral parts of the puzzle.

Another playoff run would've helped generate more revenue and perhaps convinced ownership to loosen the purse-strings a bit next season, but alas, we've already woken from that fever dream.

I would love to see Crawford stay a Ray, and CC himself has stated that he'd like to stay with Tampa if at all possible, but I wouldn't be surprised or angry, or bitter to see him go. Baseball, after all, is a business, so the bottom line counts; and beyond that, the future success of the franchise may be at stake. No one wants to see a Rays team that was ripped to shreds just to accommodate CC's salary. I'd bet real American money that CC wouldn't want that either.

The powers-that-be (Sternberg, Friedman, etc.) have to weigh the value of Crawford and the possible ire of the Tampa faithful against the long-term potential of a host of young players or less expensive alternatives.

For the past four years current ownership has hit home runs on just about every move they've made, so whatever decision they make in regard to Crawford will be fine by me.
I'll consider it the right move. They've earned that respect.

Strictly as a fan, I'll be watching these last few games with one eye constantly focused on Carl Crawford, because there's a fair chance that they're the last he'll play as a Ray.


-JS