The Rays Tank: Happy Birthday, Wil Myers!

On the day Wil Myers turns 22-years old, he wakes to find himself a new employer: the Tampa Bay Rays.

It was a given that the Rays were inclined to trade from their well of pitching. Now the Rays have traded "Big Game" James Shields and Wade Davis for Myers, Jake Odorizzi, and two prospects. Shields will obtain a $750K trade bonus as part of the deal, according to Jon Morosi.

We will continue updating today's Rays Tank with reactions from around the world of baseball. Below, you can catch up on the rest of the weekend news.

TRADE REACTIONS:

- Tampa Bay Times: Marc Topkin provides heart-felt quotes from Andrew Friedman and James Shields in his monday morning article, along with 10 observations.

- Fangraphs: Dave Cameron compares the trade to the infamous Erik Bedard for Adam Jones + prospects swap of 2008 that bankrupted the Mariners future and got the entire front office fired.

- Baseball Prospectus ($): Jason Parks envisions the future of Wil Myers as a power hitting regular and a corner outfielder with an All-Star ceiling, but without Mike Trout aspirations.

- MLB Daily Dish: More reactions from the twitter-verse last night.

- The Process Report: Tommy Rancel provides his thoughts on the other prospects in the Shields-Myers trade.

- Fox Sports: Ken Rosenthal praises the Royals for acquiring 40% of their starting rotation without sacrificing any major-league players. So, Myers and Odorizzi don't count. Got it.

- Big League Stew: Eight reasons the Shields-Myers trade is bad for the Royals, by David Brown.

- Royals Review: Craig Brown on the process of Royals GM Dayton Moore. (Spoiler: "And all we get is James Shields and Wade Davis. Ugh.")

- Bless You Boys: Rob Rogacki on why the Tigers and the AL Central should not be worried (last three paragraphs).

- CBS Sports: Danny Knobler disagrees with Rob Rogacki.

- Grantland: While we wait on Jonah Keri's response, enjoy this tweet from site editor and Red Sox fan Bill Simmons.

- MLB Network: (Audio) Andrew Friedman discusses the Shields-Myers trade with Jim Duquette and Mike Ferrin on Sirius XM.

- Rotographs: Eno Sarris on James Shields leaving the Trop.

- Yahoo! Sports: Jeff Passan says it's hard to blame the Royals for trying to win now.

- MLB Network: (video) David Price responds to the trade on the phone, says "Our front office guys ... are doing what they think is best for our club."

- Twitter:

Wanted to thank the #Royals organization and fans for supporting me so much over the last few years. I'm excited to join @raysbaseball!

— Wil Myers (@wilmyers) December 10, 2012

- Baseball America: Six pro scouts say this trade was not one-sided.

- SBN Tampa Bay: Bryan Grosnick weighs in on the Shields-Myers trade.

- Twitter: ESPN Stats - "New Rays OF Wil Myers was Baseball America's 2012 Minor League POY. Previous 5 winners have all won ROY and/or been named an All-Star"

- Tampa Bay Times: (Video) Rays manager Joe Maddon takes a break from his thanksmas event to discuss the trade, santa hat included.

- Twitter: ESPN Stats - "New Rays OF Wil Myers was Baseball America's 2012 Minor League POY. Previous 5 winners have all won ROY and/or been named an All-Star"

- ESPN: Jerry Crasnick talks to some MLB executives on the trade, claims Myers reaching perennial-all-star status is not a guarantee. (Gem: "Along with his numerous other skills, Friedman is the acknowledged master of the hold-a-phone-to-your-ear-so-you-can-avoid-idle-chatter ploy.")

- MLB.com: (Video) Royals GM Dayton Moore discusses the addition of Shields and Davis.

- Fangraphs: Dave Cameron gives more perspective to the uncertainty of big league talent and prospects. Royals Review covered the same topic last February.

- The Process Report: R.J. Anderson provides a scouting report after watching Jake Odorizzi's first two major-league starts.

- Yahoo! Sports: Jeff Passan gives 22 paragraphs on Shields and Myers.

- Twitter: Roger Mooney reports that of all outfield positions, Wil Myers prefers center field!

- Rays Radio: Thanks and thoughts on the Shields-Myers trade.

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OTHER LINKS:

- Marc Topkin spoke with Bo McKinnis, agent of David Price, about the Cy Young winner's future contract situation:

"He wants to have the best contract in baseball, however that may be defined. He expects to be the best in everything that he does. So hopefully we're able to make that marriage between the Rays and that best contract. But we also recognize the economics of the game may not allow that."

- Affordable hitters: The Mariners signed Jason Bay, and the Indians signed Mark Reynolds to one year deals. Ryan Ludwick will return to the Reds for 2 years, $15M.

- Pitching: The Dodgers used the money tree growing in their back yard to give six-year contracts to Zack Greinke for $147M and Hyun-Jin Ryu for $36M, putting seven starting pitchers on their opening day roster. Meanwhile, the Diamondbacks signed Brandon McCarthy to 2 years, $15.5M.

- Texas sent the face of their franchise - Michael Young - to the Phillies to play third base in exchange for pitching depth. The move does little to solve their needs today in the rotation or the outfield.

- Beyond the Box Score: Rays pitchers are ditching the slider, a new approach to defensive WAR, and an analysis of pitcher retaliation.

- Fangraphs caught up with Bo Porter, the new manager of the Astros.