i know they have some solid young talent, but I really don't ever see them doing well in the AL East


thoughts?

4/23/2007 10:34:59 PM

Pitching will always be their downfall

With a sub 50 million dollar payroll in that division, they're playing with 1/3 the chips Boston and NY are

Even Baltimore and Toronto have fairly high payrolls

Maybe an occasional second or third place finish, but sustained success will be nearly impossible

4/23/2007 10:36:57 PM

I would say they will be like a big league farm team for the big boys. They will develop talent that will leave for more money. Pitching will never be up to snuff. Delmon Young prime example will get big money in a couple of years and will probably be wearing pin stripes or growing the 'fro in Beantown. They need lots of pitching Kazmir isn't cutting it anymore.

4/23/2007 10:42:19 PM

They'll never compete with NY and Boston due to the financials involved. If they could manage to keep the young hitters they have like Young, Upton, Baldelli, Crawford and then develop some arms like the Tigers last year, then maybe. Unfortunately none of that will ever happen. The lineup they have is fun to watch though.

4/23/2007 10:51:10 PM

george is on the other line.

im in ur division raiding your bench!

4/24/2007 12:11:55 AM

Quote :

"They need lots of pitching Kazmir isn't cutting it anymore."

Kazmir is what 23? I mean come on. He is not a washed up veteran like Carl Pavano.

Ask NyM if he would like to have Kazmir on the Mets still.

Hell look at the team he is on, do you know how hard it is to win with the Devil Rays?

4/24/2007 12:14:27 AM

All they need to do is continue to rape and pillage Jim Duqette GM'ed teams for all their young pitching. I'm sure he thinks Erik Bedard is going to be a problem. Maybe he'll give away him for Orvella or something..

Duquette has given away Kazmir and John Maine the last 3 years for injured shit...

[Edited on April 24, 2007 at 1:31 PM. Reason : x]

4/24/2007 1:30:47 PM

when tampa was coming into the league, they should've made it a condition that they would be placed somewhere besides the AL East, even though geographically it makes no sense

i mean the NL Central has six teams and the AL West has four

4/24/2007 1:34:25 PM

I don't think they'll ever be a contender, but for some reason year in and year out they hand it to the Yankees.

4/24/2007 1:37:06 PM

i always like to place a bet on TB over the yanks, they always get ridiculous odds, and they manage to win a lot of games against them

4/24/2007 2:05:39 PM

I fear that they will simply be a feeder franchise for big money teams like the Yankees and Red Sox

4/24/2007 2:17:25 PM

The all criminal team.

Good thing Elijah Dukes went pro instead of playing linebacker for NC State. He's been arrested like 17 times.

Now they just need to get Josh Hamilton back and wait for him to relapse

[Edited on April 24, 2007 at 2:18 PM. Reason : 2]

4/24/2007 2:17:32 PM

god i hope they're never a contender

somebody's gotta be worse than my o's

4/24/2007 4:12:58 PM

Like Saddamizer said earlier, they need pitching. Kazmir alone can't get them to the wild card. If they can develop pitching, then they could be like the AL's version of the Florida Marlins, except without the hardware.

4/24/2007 4:41:43 PM

what time is the game tonight

4/24/2007 4:42:24 PM

they're better than the Yankees

and climbing their way up to the top

4/25/2007 2:27:30 PM

I've been having decent luck with Reyes as a closer in my fantasy league this year, fwiw

4/25/2007 2:33:10 PM

sometime last year or the year before, buster olney wrote a piece suggesting a rotating divisional system to give teams like the devil rays a chance

seemed like a neat idea, it'll never happen though

and the devil rays will never have a chance until a salary cap is implemented--which isn't going to happen

4/25/2007 2:34:02 PM

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2880144

to quote myself:

Quote :

"Good thing Elijah Dukes went pro instead of playing linebacker for NC State. "

5/23/2007 7:42:58 PM

did you read what he said to his wife

Quote :

"Dukes' wife, NiShea Gilbert, 26, a teacher at Beth Shields Middle School in Ruskin, told the court in another filing Thursday that her husband threatened to kill her and sent a photo of a handgun to her cell phone. She played the St. Petersburg Times a voice mail message she said was from Dukes: "You dead, dawg," says an angry voice. "I ain't even bullshitting. Your kids, too.""

I AIN'T EVEN BULLSHITTING!

5/23/2007 7:58:43 PM

scott van pelt has just been bumped from the top of the list of greatest answering machine messages of all time

5/23/2007 11:07:40 PM

ouch

7/22/2007 4:39:12 PM

saw this is ESPN the Magazine today:

Team Franchise Cost(mil) Year Current Value (mil) Return
Texans 700 99 1,000 42.86%
DRays 130 95 267 105.38%
Dbacks 130 95 339 160.77%
Bobcats 300 03 277 -7.67%

Pretty good considering the Dbacks won a World Series and the Devil Rays have always sucked. Also fun to lol at Jordan and the Bobcats

7/23/2007 6:06:33 PM

Damn the Texans are worth $1 Billion.

Also back to the D-Rays, they really do have a decent lineup and Reyes is not a bad closer. IF they just had any other pitching - the Yanks dropped 38 runs on them in the last two games of their series this weekend

James Shields has started sucking huge, Kazmir is inconsistent, and the rest of their guys, I cannot name off the top of my head because they suck so bad.



[Edited on July 23, 2007 at 6:21 PM. Reason : s]

7/23/2007 6:19:59 PM

who cares

7/23/2007 6:52:36 PM

Yes is they Kept their talent. they don't keep there talent they are alot like the Marlins they draft and develop good players then trade them off once they want alot of money. Florida would trade Willis if they thought they could get something decent out of him.

7/24/2007 2:29:37 PM

Nope

7/24/2007 3:06:59 PM