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No Pitching abuse here

Since Lou has been the manager of the Devil Rays, he has yet to have a pitcher go 200 innings. Now, that brings up the question of wheather the Rays have not had good enough pitching to go deep into games, or if they have been cautious of pitch counts with their starters.  

If you have not seen my predicted 25 man roster for opening day, its in the diaries. I have Kazmir starting at AAA. The competition for the starting rotation is where most the battle will be.

Pack your bags for Durham. Those are not the words Upton wants to hear this Spring.  He has worked with Ozzie "the wizard" Smith over this off season to improve his defense. The surprising thing out of the article is hearing how Kamzir and Upton played togther and Kazmir noted that BJ has some soft hands. So, it could just be nerves that has factored into the abundant number of errors he has collected in the minor leagues.  Best thing for this organization would be Upton as their SS. So, going back to AAA will be hard to take, but in the long run it might benefit him. Just remember when A-Rod first came up in Seattle, he looked as if he was not really ready. But when he returned, he was a different player.

Speaking of prized prospect BJ Upton, over at Baseball Analyst, they have a feature on the Top 20 Sophmores:

B.J. also suffers from his defensive shortcomings, which should probably land him at another position. No matter where Upton ends up playing, I expect him to be part of what's becoming an extremely solid Devil Ray core, one that I pray will be kept together long enough to make some noise.
My take is tht if A-Rod and Jeter can play shortstop, why not Upton?

Prospect lists are still making rounds. Over at BA, they are having a countdown of their top 100. In the list today of 76-100, there are No DRays represented. I'll keep tabs on this list as the countdown continues. Another list to debut is by new DRays blogger (who lives in NYC, is that possible?) Brickhaus. He posted his list on Sickels site for review in a diary entry.

Carl Crawford has yet to have his contract renewed as his agent and the DRays are working on a long term contract. This what what was done in Cleveland in 1990s, signing their young players to long term deals prior to being eligible for free agency. The word is that they are talking between a four and a seven year deal. Huff's three year deal signed last year was the first homegrown player signed to a long term deal. Who's got next?

Over at Rays Baseball, the discussion is the manager. For a team that building for the future, and a manager who wants to win all he can now, the question remains: Will this a marriage between the Rays and Lou last?