The Rays Tank: The New Deal

Evan Longoria is now a Ray for life after signing an extension through 2022. We've put up our coverage of it, but here are some reactions to the deal from around the web:

Dave Cameron of FanGraphs: "It’s good for the organizations, good for the players, and great for the game as a whole."

David Schoenfield of ESPN: "Even in 2016, Longoria will make just $11.5 million (or $14 million depending on MVP voting results). At either salary, it projects as a bargain for a potential MVP candidate."

Jeff Passan of Yahoo!: "If revenue grows, he stays. If it doesn't, he's a chip, just like everyone else, just like it's always been for the winning Rays. Amid all the lowest-revenue teams, and maybe among all teams period, they get how to do business these days, how to draft, develop and deal."

RJ Anderson of Baseball Prospectus: "The Rays couldn’t bring themselves to pass up the chance to lock down Longoria, potentially through his age-37 season, at a reduced rate compared to other extensions-on-top-of-extensions: Ryan Braun signed for five years and $105 million in 2011; Longoria’s former collegiate teammate Troy Tulowitzki signed a 10-year, $160 million pact months earlier. Longoria’s deal is cheaper than both—in fact, he will not make more than $12 million in a season until 2017 at the earliest."

Everyone that I've seen has written about it in a positive light. They understand the risks but agree that it's one worth taking.

If you haven't seen them yet, the yearly break down of his contract is below, via Mark Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times:

2013: $6-million
2014: $7.5-million
2015: $11-million
2016: $12.1-million (increased from $11.5-million)

New deal (guaranteed)

$1-million signing bonus

2017: $13-million
2018: $13.5-million
2019: $14.5-million
2020: $15-million
2021: $18.5-million
2022: $19.5-million
2023: Team option - $5-million buyout or $13-million plus incentives.

In other Rays news, infielder Jeff Keppinger suffered another freak injury that may affect the type of contract he gets this offseason. CBSSports.com reports that Keppinger broke his right fibula after tripping down stairs in his home. Coming off a season in which he hit .325/.367/.439 he was going to get plenty of interest, with the Cubs, D'Backs and Rays aggressively after him according to Buster Olney.

Links:

-Grant Bisbee ranks the top 10 pitches in baseball, starting with numbers 10-6. No Rays make an appearance so far.

-Craig Biggio talked about his HOF chances with MLB.com. In a year where there will be plenty of intrigue regarding who gets voted in thanks to Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, Roger Clemens and Mike Piazza appearing on the ballot, Biggio has a pretty good shot of being elected.

-The Reds are on the verge of signing Jonathon Broxton to be their closer, which means Aroldis Chapman is likely moving to the rotation. Jeff Sullivan takes a look at what that means for Chapman and the Reds.