The team formerly known as the Devil Rays, who made waves by moving outfielder Delmon Young to the Twins in exchange for starting pitcher Matt Garza and new starting shortstop Jason Bartlett, dip into the free agency pool by signing reliever Troy Percival. Percival, who has long ties with Joe Maddon dating to their years with the Angels together, has subsequently declared the Rays closer by Maddon. The team has apparently informed Al Reyes of this and he will be the main setup man. The MLB winter meetings haven’t even gotten under way yet and the team has addressed it’s two most glaring weaknesses. They added a third starter that makes a starting rotation suddenly legitimate, now that both Edwin Jackson and Andy Sonnanstine each slide back a spot where they belong. Now they’ve been able to shore up a bullpen that now seems like it may be able to actually close out more games than it blows. The thought of Dan Wheeler, Grant Balfour, Al Reyes, and Troy Percival doesn’t seem to invoke the fear of late inning meltdowns, as much as Camp, Stokes, and Fossum.
-JUSTIN LEWIS
ARE THEY READY FOR THE LONG HAUL? The positive energy oozing from Tropicana Field these days can only be described as unprecedented. The Rays’ are a franchise record five games over the .500 mark. They are alone in second place in the AL East (1.5 games behind Boston) , not to mention they have the third best record in all of the AL...
Rays Add New Pieces Tuesday might have felt a little surreal to Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Gabe Gross. Shortly after scoring the winning run in the bottom of the 12th inning in Tuesdays Brewers victory over the St. Louis Cardinals he learned he had been traded...
Rays Add Another Name To The List Scott Kazmir, Matt Garza, Dioner Navarro, Cliff Floyd and now Al Reyes. All were supposed to be key cogs for the Ray’s ascent from perennial cellar-dwellers to playoff contender. Now the team would just like them to get healthy...
Rays Making More Moves The team formerly known as the Devil Rays, who made waves by moving outfielder Delmon Young to the Twins in exchange for starting pitcher Matt Garza and new starting shortstop Jason Bartlett, dip into the free agency pool by signing reliever Troy...
Mission 2012 In less than one month the team formerly known as the Devil Rays has literally remade it’s self. They have changed their name they are known, for at least a few years anyways, as the Tampa Bay Rays. They’ve overhauled their color scheme, now blue and yellow...
