The Rays Tank: Upton Brothers and More Award Nominations

With B.J. Upton set to decline the Rays' qualifying offer it gives me an excuse to link to another article written about him. This one, written by FanGraphs' Alex Remington, speaks about the disappointments B.J. and his brother Justin have been thanks to the burden of expectations. Many people have expressed the same feelings (especially Joe Maddon) but this last paragraph bears repeating:

A big part of the problem with the Uptons is expectations. If they had no expectations, like Ben Zobrist back in 2006, then everything that they have done in their careers would have been celebrated, much as the Zorilla has been. An alien from Mars who didn’t follow minor league prospects — maybe this alien happens to have a Yahoo fantasy league or something — would think that B.J. and Justin have had solid careers.

Justin will almost assuredly be traded this winter. At just 24-years-old the Diamondbacks are ready to part ways. They're both good players, just not good enough to satisfy most people. The Rays are said to be one potential fit for Justin. It would be a fun coincidence if they brought in one underachieving Upton as they said goodbye to another.

I'll admit I had never heard of the GIBBY Awards until this morning. GIBBY stands for Greatness In Baseball Yearly awards, the 12th such time they've been given out. The Rays are well represented with nominations, including Pitcher, Set Up Man, Closer, Comeback Player and Top Play. They're voted on by literally everyone besides players and coaches: Executives, media, former players and even SABR.

David Price is obviously nominated for Best Pitcher and Fernando Rodney has already won Closer of the Year. He's also competing for Comeback Player. Joel Peralta is in the running for Setup Man while B.J. Upton's game ending gun down of Omar Vizquel in Toronto is up for Top Play.

Links:

-If you've never listened to the FanGraphs Audio podcasts with Carson Cistulli and Dayn Perry, do yourself a favor and listen to this one.

-ESPN's Dave Schoenfield talks about some proposed improvements being discussed at the GM Meetings.

-The Internet Baseball Awards results for the American League are out. No surprises there.