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December 21st in Rays History: A PTBNL is Named!

Check out today's tank which includes daily history, trivia, and the countdown to opening day, plus links from the baseball world.

At least it's not a Red Sox uniform on the front page
At least it's not a Red Sox uniform on the front page
Norm Hall/Getty Images

Welcome to the Rays Tank!

Where Deals Are Completed and Rally Killers are Mashed!

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This Date in Rays History!

In 2009, the Rays complete a trade announced earlier in the month as they sent Mitch Talbot to the Cleveland Indians as the player to be named later in the Kelly Shoppach trade. Talbot was acquired by the Rays in the 2006 Aubrey Huff that also landed Tampa Bay, Ben Zobrist.

Talbot had only pitched in three games for Tampa Bay and that came during September of 2008. Following the trade, Talbot pitched in 40 games for the Indians from 2010 to 2011 but hasn't reached the majors since and didn;t pitch anywhere last season.

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Trivia Time!

The answer to yesterday's question was Chad Orvella, answered first by RaysOfHope

Today's prospect:

"[Prospect] has the quick hands and raw strength to hit 20-25 homers per year, plus the understanding of the strike zone and the hand-eye coordination to hit for average. He's most comfortable hitting pitches on the outer half, but Double-A pitchers busted him inside with fastballs and he struggled to turn on them."

Hint: was with another organization at time of report

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There are 104 days until Opening Day!

That's the same number of runs batted in that Evan Longoria during the 2010 season.

Three of them came on one swing!

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Links!

- Hardball Times suggests that the Hall of Fame would look a lot different if the players of yesterday were voted on according to today's standards

- The Mets re-signed fan favorite Bartolo Colon to a one year deal worth $7.25 million with several incentives, including one for winning the Silver Slugger award!

Rays Colored Glasses continued their rankings of Rays prospects with 40-man roster addition, German Marquez, at number eight.

- Also at Rays Colored Glasses, they ranked the team's top ten nicknames

- A few days ago, Neil Solondz looked back on previous surprises the Rays have stumbled upon through non-roster invites.

Random Ray of the Day!

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