December 15th in Rays history: Welcome, Aki

Welcome to the Rays Tank!

Where the Aki Era Begins and and the CC Era Ends!

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In 2006, the Rays (a month after winning his posting bid) sign Japanese gold glove third baseman, Akinori Iwamura to a three year deal. Iwamura would enjoy to excellent seasons with Tampa Bay, providing stellar defense at both third and second base, while being a catalyst for their magical playoff run in 2008. However, during his third year with the team, he was off to another great start, until Chris Coghlan ruined his career.

I'm feeling nostalgic so here are two Aki highlights, including what I think is the greatest bat flip in team history.

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Trivia Time!

The answer to yesterday's question was Jorge Cantu, answered first by nomo.red.evil & also WilMyers'BatFlip

Today's prospect:

"[Prospect] has a smooth lefthanded stroke and a knack for driving in runs. He generally hits gap to gap but possesses some home-run power. A well above-average right fielder, he gets great jumps and has a strong, accurate arm. He can play an adequate center field if needed."

Hint: wasn't in Rays system at time of report.

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There are 110 days until Opening Day!

That's the same number of runs scored by Carl Crawford in 2010.

One of those runs came from Crawford's final regular season homer for the Rays.

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Links!

- The Brewers signed Jake Elmore to a minor league contract.

- The Orioles have made an offer to Hyun-Soo Kim, and it's cheap. That's interesting, since right now I think many people are unsure of the market for players coming out of the Korean league.

- More deals with player opt-out clauses.

- Pete Rose continues to be banned from baseball. I totally don't care about this, but some people do.

- Random Ray of the Day!

- Please sign our petition to help bring back the team;s original uniforms for a game in 2016.

- Need a baseball fix? Check out this great comeback!