The Rays Tank: Maddon Ready for Season

Joe Maddon called into 620 WDAE yesterday as he was about to hop into his 1967 Galaxy and drive down to Port Charlotte to discuss his offseason and his expectations for the season. He talked about how before the Winter Meetings, Andrew Friedman called him up and asked him to reach out to James Loney to let him know that the Rays wanted him back.

He was also asked about the payroll issues, but Maddon said that he doesn’t get involved with payroll, but rather focuses on the players that he does have. He stated, "money doesn’t win games, players win games, and players playing baseball properly win games."

You can listen to the full interview on 620 WDAE’s website here.

David Price has teamed up with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Tampa Bay again this year to host a "Bowl for Kids Sake" fundraiser. By making a donation, you have the chance to win entry to his VIP Bowling Party. You can follow this link to make a donation.

If you haven’t already made your guesses for Tuesday’s "Know Your Rays: Swinging at the Fastball", head on over to the post and examine the heat maps!

ICYMI: Alex Cobb proposed to his girlfriend, Kelly Reynolds, over the weekend with the help of a dolphin.

Marc Topkin listed the Rays spring roster by position.

Links:

-Fernando Rodney (2012 edition) made the All-Time Single-Season American League Team, according to CBS Sports.

-There won’t be any Rays Spring Training games televised on ESPN this year. However, there will be three straight Red Sox games for everyone’s viewing pleasure!

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>ESPN announces <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23SpringTraining&amp;src=hash">#SpringTraining</a> game schedule. More details: <a href="http://t.co/cnQdNtEFku">http://t.co/cnQdNtEFku</a> <a href="http://t.co/XKLhxDYDyo">pic.twitter.com/XKLhxDYDyo</a></p>&mdash; MLB Public Relations (@MLB_PR) <a href="https://twitter.com/MLB_PR/statuses/433343562231476227">February 11, 2014</a></blockquote>

<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

-Masahiro Tanaka officially put on his pinstripes yesterday. He told reporters, "I wanted to come here and win the championship. The Yankees are a team that are always in that type of situation." Perhaps he didn’t pay attention to their 2013 season.

-Nolan Ryan just couldn’t stay away from Texas baseball. It was announced yesterday that he will be joining the Houston Astros as their executive advisor.

-Speaking of Astros, Roy Oswalt announced his retirement yesterday. He plans to sign a one-day contract and retire as an Astro.

-The Orioles interest in Ervin Santana has apparently increased. We’ll see if he can pass his physical with them first.

-Eno Sarris of FanGraphs examines swinging strike rates amongst pitchers.

-Also on FanGraphs, Dave Cameron offers a suggestion to improve the qualifying offer system, which is to remove the expiration date from the qualifying offer.

-Three former minor leaguers are suing MLB because minor leaguers are underpaid and the Uniform Player Contract takes advantage of them.

-If you ask Pete Rose, PED’s are worse than betting on baseball.