Kazmir Signs 4/28.5 Million Deal

Hope you don’t get booed when you jump off back in Philly. ;P kidding

Kazmir at the end of last year specifically vented about the inability to compete that the team posessed in the form it was at then hinted that he would not sign for a team that did not have a chance to compete. This was a complaint he voiced constantly throughout the last two years. The Rays spent money in the off-season, got parts, and are showing now that they are in fact, very competitive. What have we heard BJ complain about over the last 18 months? Nothing. It’s too quiet. If he has no grievences, he should be looking to sign long term, and the only reason why he wouldn’t is because of the money.

Also, and I don’t know if I can place enough emphasis on this because I have to recall it from memory, but did you actually hear Friedman’s response to the question about getting ‘other players, like Upton’ signed long term? If I recall correctly, Friedman did not respond with the standard we’ve heard him say, which is ‘we’re working to secure all of our important pieces to long-term deals.’ Instead, he essentially said, ‘we try to secure our players, sometimes we can get them, and sometimes we can’t.’ This came as a shock to me because in reality, who else could he possibly be talking about? The only young, major piece on this team not signed to a long-term deal is Upton. I know it’s really too early to say whether he’ll sign or not; to me though, it just doesn’t look good.

What the hell where you banned for?