FanPost

The July Trades are a Good Thing

Hi all - its hard to find people to talk Devil Rays baseball with, so hopefully this will be a good forum.

The trades we've seen so far in July have been good for the Devil Rays.  The trades we expect to see over the next two weeks should also be good for the franchise.

Hi all - its hard to find people to talk Devil Rays baseball with, so hopefully this will be a good forum.

The trades we've seen so far in July have been good for the Devil Rays.  The trades we expect to see over the next two weeks should also be good for the franchise.

I like to win games now as much as the next person, probably even more as I have more friends that are Yankees & RedSox fans than Devil Rays fans.  But that's not what this is about.  Every player on our roster should be evaluated with the question - will he help our team win in 2008?  And the answer with Mark Hendrickson, Toby Hall, Aubrey Huff, and Julio Lugo is most likely as resounding NO.  Dioner Navarro is a yes.  Seo, Talbot, and Zobrist are all at least maybes.  And by 2008, I do expect all of them to be Rays - they most likely won't be stars - but they should all help.  They'll make our bench stronger (no more Tomas Perez.)  They'll make our bullpen better (could it be worse?) and those are things we need.

Now to Lugo...he's a very good SS for us, and currently one of our better players.  He could still contribute in 2008 - but would he be worth $8+ million to us?  No.  His current trade value should be higher right now than either Hendrickson or Huff, and hopefully he can fetch us a solid prospect/player that can pitch (still our top need) or play 1B.  I'll be sad to see him go, and it will cost us some games this year....but 2008...keep thinking...2008

This post was written by a member of the DRaysBay community and does not necessarily express the views or opinions of DRaysBay staff.