2010 Rays Roster Opinion and Survey

believe aybar will be here next year? I am curious on why zaun will have less time than navi.

Mark Topkin told me this. We should play for this season and then panic and buy a bunch of free agents next year.

Other(48%), Zaun (48%), Riggans (4%)

1B-Pena (95%), Aybar (5%)

2B-Zobrist (80%), SRod (10%), Aybar (10%)

SS-Brignac (80%), Zobrist (12%), SRod (8%)

3B-Longoria (90%), SRod (7%), Aybar (3%)

LF-Crawford (85%), Joyce (10%) Other (5%)

CF-Upton (90%), Perez(10%),

RF-Joyce (80%), Perez (10%), Other (10%)

DH-Burrell (70%), SRod (10%), Aybar (10%), Other (10%)

…You want to trade CC?

What I want (Does not include sept. call-up types)

C – Zaun (70%) / Navi (30%)
1B – Pena (90%) / Aybar (10%)
2B – Zobrist (70%) / S. Rodriguez (20%) / Aybar (10%)
SS – Brignac (80%) / Zobrsit (15%) / S. Rodriguez (5%)
3B – Longoria (95%) / Aybar (5%)
LF – Joyce (70%) / Aybar (20%) / Zobrist (10%)
CF – Upton (90%) / Kapler (10%)
RF – Gross (70%) / Kapler (25%) / Aybar (5%)
DH – Burrel (75%) / Aybar (15%) / S. Rodriguez (10%)
SPs – Shields (20%) / Niemann (19%) / Price (19%) / Davis (19%) / Talbot (17%) / Hellickson (6%)
Closer – Howell (85%) / Other (15%)

Obviously this would mean trading Crawford/Garza/Bartlett and I would probably do a dump of relievers with Aki (not a reliever: still…), Wheeler, Springer, Bradford, Nelson, Shouse, Percy, Isringhausen, and Bennett which seperated, seems ok, but all at once probably seems ludicrous (it is…); that being said, I bet we’d be making great value on each of those trades given the perception > results of those guys and given that we have suitable replacements. It doesn’t help that we probably can’t/shouldn’t do that because of the perception that would come with it. Also, I’m resigning the gabes to 1 year contracts to bridge the gap to Jennings.

We save ourselves a lot of money, and with a majority of bullpen spots assured. (if Talbot starts: Howell, Sonny, Thayer, Choate, Balfour) we could play around with the rest of our money to try and fill out the bullpen.

Lineup:
1) Upton
2) Zobrist
3) Longoria
4) Pena
5) Burrell
6) Joyce
7) Gabe of the Day
8) Catcher of the Day
9) Brignac

Rotation:
1) Shields
2) Niemann (ugh…)
3) Price
4) Davis
5) Talbot/Sonny
-———-

How I bet it will be:

C – Zaun (70%) / Navi (30%)
1B – Pena (90%) / Aybar (10%)
2B – Zobrist (70%) / S. Rodriguez (20%) / Aybar (10%)
SS – Brignac (85%) / Zobrsit (10%) / S. Rodriguez (5%)
3B – Longoria (95%) / Aybar (5%)
LF – Crawford (95%) / Zobrist (5%)
CF – Upton (95%) / Zobrist (5%)
RF – Joyce (80%) / Aybar (15%) / Zobrist (5%)
DH – Burrel (70%) / Aybar (20%) / S. Rodriguez (10%)
SPs – Shields (20%) / Garza (20%) / Niemann (18%) / Price (17%) / Davis (16%) / Sonny (6%) / Hellickson (3%)
Closer – Howell (65%) / Wheeler (20%) / Sonny (5%) / Other (10%)

Lineup:
1) Upton
2) Zobrist
3) Longoria
4) Pena
5) Crawford
6) Burrell
7) Joyce
8) Catcher
9) Brignac
-———-

I would make next year the make-or-break year on Upton. If he has a passable year with the bat and shows signs that he is finally overcoming his injuries then sign him, if not, either look to see if you have any value in trades (I doubt it with so much of his value tied up in defense), or just wait it out with him until a passable deal comes along. If he wins a gold glove, like he should, it should make his percieved defensive value very high which we can exploit when he starts to slow down (if he does in the time that we have him, which may or may not have him). If he doesn’t hit at all next year then I can’t justify locking him up because defense goes away so quickly. A .325+ wOBA would be great… (and I expect it).