The Rays Tank: Yuletide Special

The hot stove gets pretty cool over the Christmas weekend, but there are always a few baseball nuggets to share. Did anyone get any good baseball-themed gifts this year? We’ll find out soon whether DRB writer Jim Turvey got anything from his wish list.

The Evan Longoria trade continues to be the biggest baseball news in both Bay areas (trigger warning to those who are ready to “move on”)

• Longoria thanked teammates, staff and fans in a full page Tampa Bay Times ad:

• Our local “paper of record” weighed in with a few more thoughts about the deal; Football columnist Thomas Bassinger opines that the trade was inevitable
• Roger Mooney writes about the homecoming of Denard Span, Tampa native, albeit with a note of uncertainty about Span’s future with the Rays.
• Steve Kinsella reminds us that another Tampa Bay sports team made the hard decision to part with its Face of the Franchise and it didn’t work out badly:

In other news:

• It’s not Rays related, but who can resist a Tim Lincecum comeback story? The picture of the newly buff Timmy is well worth a click.
• I really love almost all of John Paschal’s baseball wishlist. Eliminate the terms “scrappy” and “gamer” from lexicon? Check! Eliminate those requisite on-field in-game and postgame interviews? Yes, please! Eliminate all references to Derek Jeter and get rid of the New York Yankees? This writer is on fire! But then of course he makes the obligatory insulting reference to Tropicana field (“a large and misshapen missile silo”) and its fans, even while conceding he’s NEVER ACTUALLY BEEN TO THE STADIUM. I forgive him (partially) because the insults are en route to hoping we get a new stadium, rather than suggesting that we undeserving Flori-DUH denizens don’t deserve a team at all.
• Chris Archer continues his charitable work in his North Carolina home town:

We at DRaysBay wish everyone a joyful day and look forward to sharing baseball fandom with you all as we move toward 2018.