Rays Blog

The Rays made a nice signing today by signing Troy Percival to a two year, incentive laden deal.  The base salary is $8 million but Percival could make as much as $12 million if he hits all of the incentive marks.  Percival will most likely take over as the teams closer but with Al Reyes as the setup man, the Rays have a nice one/two punch for their eighth and ninth inning.  And at $4 million, that’s a bargain these days.  Percival is a long ways away from the time when he was one of the most dominant closers in the game but he showed last year that he can still get the job done.  I like the move and it’s one of those low cost/medium risk moves that could pay dividends down the line.

The Rays made a big splash in the off season by trading their fiery outfielder, Delmon Young, along with Brendan Harris and Jason Pridie to the Twins for Matt Garza, Jason Bartlett and Eduardo Morlan.  While you hate to see a player the caliber of Young get traded, it’s hard not to like this deal just a little bit.  We get a ready made, big league starter, a short stop and a decent pitching prospect all for Young, a utility infielder and a mid-level outfield prospect.

Garza should be thrown right into the roation while Morlan should find a spot in the Rays pen next year.  Throw in Bartlett and now you have your starting shortstop as well.  Of course if Young turns out to be a premiere player, then it could be viewed as a bad deal but the Rays also have help coming through the system.

The Devil Rays are no longer.  The team officially announced that their name has changed to just the “Rays” in a pretty poorly kept secret.  The team unveiled their new logo and uniform today and while I’m not holding my breath, it’d be nice if this ushered the era of the “Winning Rays” versus the losing Devil Rays we’ve had for so long.

It also means I have to both change the name of my site and change the color scheme.  Navy blue and light blue replace the green black.