Rays Offseason Thread .....

[Dash Riprock]

Gregg Zaun signing with the Brewers.

Gregg Zaun has agreed to terms with the Brewers, according to MLB.com.

Zaun told a Toronto-area radio station early Friday morning that he will officially sign with a team by the end of the day. According to MLB.com's sources, he has a physical scheduled shortly with the Brewers.

bummer, but I believe we will get some form of compensation since we offered arbitration to him

Sandwich pick, between the 1st and 2nd rounds I believe

For Greg Zaun? I'll take that

Plus we get a couple more from the guys they didn't sign last year

[TOP SECRET]

I see the Pirates are still chasing Brignac. Dunno what they could give though.

I hope we end up getting the Burrell deal done, I would like to give Milton a shot here, can't be much worse than Burrell was at times last year.

[Morgan]

lol Shoppach is terrible thank god he is gone. We have Carlos Santana waiting in the wings.

Brings more strikeouts to the offense - something the Rays already have plenty of -

[BucsMagic64]

There is a rumor that Burrell has been traded to the Mets and Bradley to the Rays in a 3-way swap. But no big news people have reported it, so I don't know...

[olafberserker]

Burrell traded?
Posted Dec 07, 2009 at 11:17 AM
Updated Dec 07, 2009 at 11:59 AM


The first rumor of the Winter Meetings involves the Rays.

Phillyburbs.com is reporting Rays DH Pat Burrell has been traded to the Cubs, who then traded him to the Mets. There was no mention of who the Rays received in return.

Can’t get any confirmation on this since Rays executive Andrew Friedman and his staff are still flying here from Tampa. They are due to arrive here in Indy this afternoon.

A member of the Rays PR staff already in Indy said he hadn’t heard anything concerning the trade.

This might have gone down early this morning before Friedman took to the air, or it could be nothing more than a rumor.

We will update as soon as we know something.

- Roger Mooney

[olafberserker]

Burrell not traded
Posted Dec 07, 2009 at 12:23 PM
Updated Dec 07, 2009 at 12:25 PM


The Rays party just landed here in Indianapolis, and Rays vice president of baseball Andrew Friedman said a report this morning on phillyburbs.com that Pat Burrell had been traded to the Cubs and then traded again to the Mets is not true.

- Roger Mooney

[Morgan]

Rays | Inquire about Halladay
 Comment (0)   
Mon, 07 Dec 2009 14:22:01 -0800 KFFL

Ken Rosenthal and Jon Paul Morosi, of FOXSports.com, report the Tampa Bay Rays have inquired about Toronto Blue Jays SP Roy Halladay, according to one major league source. The Rays may be willing to offer up SP Wade Davis and OF B.J. Upton. The Blue Jays would then trade Upton to a third team. It is unclear if Halladay would be willing to waive his no-trade clause to be dealt to Tampa Bay.

[Morgan]

Rays | Interested in Lindstrom
Mon, 07 Dec 2009 10:17:04 -0800

Alden Gonzalez, of MLB.com, reports the Tampa Bay Rays are one of the teams interested in dealing for Florida Marlins RP Matt Lindstrom, according to MLB.com's Joe Frisaro.

[Morgan]

Rays | Asked about Cruz
Mon, 07 Dec 2009 05:37:20 -0800

FOXSports.com's Jon Paul Morosi reports the Tampa Bay Rays asked the Texas Rangers about OF Nelson Cruz, but Texas remains reluctant to part with him, according to a major league source.

[Morgan]

Rays | Interested in I-Rod
Sat, 05 Dec 2009 10:35:36 -0800

SI.com's Jon Heyman reports that the Tampa Bay Rays are interested in free-agent C Ivan Rodriguez (Rangers).

[olafberserker]

UPDATE: ESPN's Peter Gammons quips via the Hot Stove that "The Rays have flatly denied their interest in discussing Wade Davis and B.J. Upton for Roy Halladay."

[olafberserker]

ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick tweets this evening that he "just heard that the Marlins have 'nothing close' on the trade front. But about 10 teams have inquired on Matt Lindstrom in Indy."

[olafberserker]

The foxsports.com report that the Rays would be willing trade Upton and Davis for Halladay isn't just wrong, but - in a word - preposterous. The Rays have checked in with the Jays on Halladay, as they do for just about every available player, though they didn't even talk on Monday. To think they would give up two premium young players for one year of Halladay, as well as take on his $15.75-million salary, makes zero sense. And their chance of signing him long-term would be equally improbable.

[Bayfisher]

Upton is due to be paid.  He will be somewhere else for someone cheaper.

http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/extras/extra_bases/2009/12/red_sox_owner_j.html
"Change is needed and that is reflected by the fact that over a billion dollars have been paid to seven chronically uncompetitive teams, five of whom have had baseball�s highest operating profits," Henry responded in an e-mail. "Who, except these teams, can think this is a good idea?"

About $400 million � 34 percent of each team's net local revenue � will be distributed to small market teams this year. Most of that percentage comes from the Yankees, Red Sox, Mets, and other high-revenue teams.

"We've seen a number of teams that are just sitting back," Boras told the Globe at the General Manager's meetings in Chicago last month. "We have clubs who aren't successful getting $80 million before they ever sell a ticket. The question is always going to be in the end, what are they doing with that money? For most of them, they're paying off their debt to purchase the franchise. So they become owners, debt-free but they have not done a lot to contribute to the success of the game. Those are the things as an industry, certainly the fans have to look at it and realize that kind of revenue is available. The other part of it is I think we've proven time and time again that investment in players produces revenue streams and success points for franchises. Even in an economy where many businesses are struggling in our industry, as I said last year, we've been able to keep revenues at a record level."

[Morgan]

Rays | Interested in I-Rod
Sat, 05 Dec 2009 10:35:36 -0800

SI.com's Jon Heyman reports that the Tampa Bay Rays are interested in free-agent C Ivan Rodriguez (Rangers).

Looks like Rodriquez is close to signing with the Nats.