"Hindsight is like super clear."

-William "Bill" Shakepeare

When the Tampa Bay Rays traded for Ben Zobrist in the Aubrey Huff deal, the young shortstop was in the middle of an impressive season at Double-A, but many of us Rays fans figured Mitch Talbot was the biggest prize -- the 6'2" righty whose career has since spiraled back to the minors.

Zobrist, to us -- or at least myself -- was an infielder with good patience, not the doubles mashing, homer tatering, multiple position fielding, God-thanking Zorilla he is today. And when he did transform into that, it was only after two of the most miserable season in his career, a precipitating event that not only caused him to move away from shortstop, but also put our (read: my) Ben Zobrist expectations six feet deep.

After he shattered our early, gray and disappointed impressions, we began to look for reasons as to how and why. When my colleague and friend Tommy Rancel uncovered news that Ben Zobrist had used a newfangled hitting coach in the offseason between 2007 and 2008, I and many others began to think Zobrist embodied the model of the turnaround player -- the guy who truly incarnated the hope of being able to go from puke to hulk overnight (y'know, without the cream and such).

Somehow, through all of this, we were just not being terribly honest with Zobrist's numbers. The truth is: He was good all along.

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From ESPN.com: MLB tweaks rule to prevent stalling.

On June 20, 2011 the Rays were playing the Milwaukee Brewers and had a 5-1 lead. Sam Fuld pinch hit for JP Howell and the Rays went on to score 3 runs to take an 8-1 lead. Maddon had planned to use Joel Peralta in the bottom of the 8th but with a comfortable lead he wanted to save Peralta and use Cesar Ramos. Ramos needed extra time to get ready so Maddon sent Sam Fuld out to the mound to take his warm-up pitches. After he had completed his warm-ups he went to the mound to make the pitching change.

The change is to Rule 3.05 and now includes:

The change will "prohibit a manager from sending his current pitcher out to warm up with no intention of having him pitch because a relief pitcher is not ready to enter the game."

Sam Fuld shows good form (have to navigate to MLB.com to view).

Joe Maddon had not heard about the change until asked about it last week and said:

I know this, that all the odd kind of moments that occur during the season regarding umpiring, that they do write them down, and they'll talk about it at the end of the season. So, it doesn't surprise me. And it also indicates that they're on top of things, so I kind of like it," he said at the Rays' spring training camp.

"That was an anomaly. That'll probably never come up again," he added. "The other thing with Sammy. That was just something that we pulled out of our hat, just to try to make sure that we got everybody warmed up and ready to go."

Joe Maddon and my favorite managers Earl Weaver, Sparky Anderson, and Billy Martin all have rule changes which have occurred because of their keen knowledge of the rule book. A tip of the hat to Joe Maddon for joining the elites on this front.

We're all happy baseball officially started yesterday, but unless you like to watch pitchers take fielding practice there isn't much happening these first few days. All 38 pitchers and catchers reported for workouts today, with 13 of the 21 position players also showing their faces according to Mark Topkin. He provides some pictures from the workouts which you can find here. You'll notice Jose Molina is featured a lot in the photos, once first bumping Matt Bush and another giving some tips to Jeff "The Big Nyquil" Niemann. He was brought in for what he can do behind the plate and if today is any indication he's already showing off those skills.

Now, if only there were actual games to report on, then it'd really be exciting.

• On MLB.com Bill Chastain gives a rundown of the Matt Moore story, recapping how the kid from nowhere New Mexico rises to the top of baseball's prospect leader boards. He buries the lede in not talking about Moore's place in the rotation until the 18th paragraph since the piece is titled "Moore in mix, but may not land spot in rotation." With the extension he signed I don't see any way the team can justify keeping him in the minors. There are no arbitration games to play and he's currently better than either Wade Davis or Jeff Niemann. Speaking of Moore and the rotation, Steve had a nice write up of the situation on FanGraphs.
• Joe Maddon always gives some sort of motivational speech on the first day of workouts. His message this year? Keep the momentum going from 2011. From mlb.com:

"We've created a lot of offseason momentum," Maddon said. "... With that, I really would like to see a high-energy Spring Training. I think if we just go through the motions, it's going to diminish our chances of getting off to a good start. I think if we get after it, we have a good chance for a good start, which I think is really important."

A better start than 0-6 would be nice.

• Yesterday marked the 20th anniversary of the classic Simpsons' episode "Homer At The Bat" and over at Erik Malinowski has a beautiful write up at Deadspin of what went in to making the episode. If, like me, you're a huge Simpsons nerd then you'll absolutely love it. Of course, that episode also spawned the greatest song ever created from a television show, the immortal "We're Talkin Softball." I dare you to not hum that the rest of the day. Go ahead, try.
• Boston finally received compensation from Chicago for in exchange for Theo Epstein in the form of reliever Chris Carpenter. The 26-year-old averages 95mph on his fastballs but comes with control issues. The deal also includes a player to be named later. All told, not a terrible haul for the Red Sox.

I thought this was a fun trip down memory lane. Thanks Amanda! Enjoy. ~Slow

There isn't much to talk about this week besides the terrific news that Maddon will be sticking with us for another three years. So in order to keep your attention, we decided to showcase a rarely ranked statistic: top Rays base stealer from 2000 until now. These guys made just about every opposing baseman think twice about not wearing a knee brace. Some names are no surprise, while others may make you wistful for the days when speed and stealth were necessary components of the Rays offensive strategy.

# 5 - ROCCO BALDELLI

Despite torn ligaments and other injuries that plagued him off and on throughout his time with the Rays, Baldelli managed to live up to the hype that went so far as to call him the next Joe DiMaggio. In his six seasons in Tampa between 2003 and 2010, he was able to nab an extra 59 bases under the noses of opposing teams.

# 4 – JASON BARTLETT

Bartlett's aggressive risk taking when he wore a Rays cap will be something fans of the last decade will remember for sometime. In three short seasons between 2008 and 2010, he was able to steal a total of 61 bases, and could have stolen more than 20 more for us if he hadn't gone to San Diego. It went well with that .286 batting average he carried while playing for us.

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Spring Traning means finally getting to see James Shields, David Price, and Matt Moore pitch again after a long winter. It's our first look at acquisitions like Fernando Rodney, Burke Badenhop, and Josh Lueke. Prospects like Chris Archer, Wilking Rodriguez, and Albert Suarez will also pitch in. But with everyone on tight pich counts in March, the 40-man roster isn't enough to cover the needed innings. Enter the non-roster invitees. In years past, the Rays have made good use of the NRIs, bringing in Carlos Pena, Joaquin Benoit, Al Reyes, and Juan Cruz into camp under that classification.

This year, the odds don't look so good. The Rays have seven pitchers as NRIs. Marquis Fleming, Ryan Reid, Ricky Orta, and Matt Torra were with the organization last year (though Torra was released and then brought back) while Jhonny Nunez, Bryan Augenstein, and Romulo Sanchez are new faces. While none have a real path to a big-league spot, here's some info on the ones you might be unfamiliar with.

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Melvin "Bossman Junior" Upton was selected second in the 2002 MLB draft by the then Tampa Bay Devil Rays. It was a bit of a coup that he was available there as he was considered the top talent in the draft. In the wisdom that led to zero playoff appearances in his tenure, David Littlefield liked Bryan Bullington's ceiling as a "good number three pitcher" over the toolsy high school shortstop out of Norfolk, VA. After signing for the biggest bonus in the draft in September of that year, B.J. didn't see the field in a D-Rays uniform until the following season. Despite his lack of professional statistics, Baseball America ranked him as the 21^st best prospect in their 2003 list speaking to his great tools and quiet confidence-he believed he could make it to the majors within 2 years.

Upton not only justified their ranking and faith by raking in A-ball and AA as an 18 year old shortstop (.297/.390/.431/.821 slash-line with 40 steals), but he also would end up justifying that quiet confidence Bill Ballew spoke to by appearing in his first big league game in 2004, his second season in the Devil Rays' organization. This quiet confidence-we'd surely call it "swag" now-along with his undeniable athleticism and lightening quick bat speed solidified him as my favorite young Devil Ray.

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So as it turns out, yesterday was something of a tease. The Rays' pitchers and catchers reported, but very little baseballs actually got thrown around; the biggest news of the day was that Joe Maddon and Andrew Friedman held a midday press conference. Physicals were done and such, and the Rays set themselves up to have their first workout with all their pitchers and catchers today.

John Gregg will be at spring training camp over the next handful of days, and he'll be passing along some of his observations and notes both here and at Rays Digest. If you don't already, check out RD and follow along throughout the day. They already have an interesting piece up on Tim Beckham and his 2012 hopes.

And if you missed it yesterday, the other "news" right now is that Wade Davis is seemingly reluctant to move to the bullpen. Obviously we'll see how things play out over Spring Training, and at the end of the day, he's a professional and will have to adjust if the Rays decide to use him there. It's something to keep in the back of the mind, though.

• The Yankees signed Raul Ibanez yesterday to a one year, $1.1 million deal (could reach $4 million with incentives). Ibanez's strength is in his power, so he should improve the Yankees' lineup against right-handed pitchers, especially in Yankee Stadium.
• Manny-bay is back! Except this time, Manny's taking his talents to the Bay Area, signing a minor-league deal with the Oakland A's. Hey, why not? The A's could use some extra oomph in their lineup, and Manny comes cheap right now.
• BetOnline has released their over/under lines for team win totals, and the Rays come in tied with the Red Sox at 87.5 wins. Both teams are considerably behind the Yankees (93 wins). Maybe I'm mis-remembering, but I believe this is a considerably higher rating than the Rays were given last season (mid to low 80s?).
• Maddon: "[The Rays are] very capable of going back to the World Series."
• I can't believe I forgot to highlight this aggregated prospect list over at Rays Prospects. I'm interested to see what it looks like now with Kevin Goldstein's rankings, especially considering Goldstein was a bit more pessimistic on some players.
• Yossi Feins takes a retrospective look at all the moves the Rays made this off-season. Warning: it's a slideshow, but I think it works well for this format. And he hits upon each move in some depth, so it's a good refresher -- especially about some of the things that happened multiple months ago at this point.