View from the Catwalk: Which stage of Nelson Cruz Grief are you in?

The news came down yesterday, Nelson Cruz, the target seemingly every Rays fan was banking on as the team’s big-name bat to complement Charlie Morton as the Rays offseason play, signed with the Minnesota Twins.

It sent many Rays fans spiraling.

Denial

Ok, but those sources could be totally off. Deals have totally fallen through at the last second plenty of times.

Anger

Ok, now I’m upset. That is a completely reasonable offer the Twins won him over with. Could the Rays really not top that? Did the front office not want Cruz as much as their fanbase seemingly did? Did Cruz just prefer Minnesota to Tampa Bay?

Bargaining

Ok, actually I messed up.

Depression

Replacing the possibility of Nelson Cruz with the reality of Wilmer Flores is the type of move that sets off decade-long depressions.

Acceptance

More power to you if you have reached this stage.

The way I’m going to reach it is by repeating Cruz’s age over and over to myself while putting together trade packages for Edwin Encarnacion in my head. But if Cruz has another 35+ homer season, and the Rays look great but their weakness is missing one big righty power bat, I may slip back a few stages.

Then again...

Rays News

• The other big story in Rays land stirred up just about as much noise as the Cruz (non) deal, as Tommy Pham had some thoughts:

Pham has never been afraid to speak his mind, which personally I think is an excellent trait for a ball player in a league that tends to prioritize those who are willing to be “just another brick in the wall.” However, this is the potential downside to those types of players. It will be interesting to see how his teammates, and the fanbase writ large, take the comments.

• Over at Rays Colored Glasses, Austin Reimann has his Rose Colored Glasses on in regards to the lack of a Cruz deal.
• Brent Honeywell was The Athletic’s pick for the Rays player to watch in 2019, and it’s easy to forget that the Rays will have a glut of arms returning throughout the season, after losing so many guys to Tommy John last year. Who needs free agents?! (Classic bargaining stage.)

Nelson Cruz News (for those into S&M)

• Here’s Dan Hayes of The Athletic looking at Cruz’s fit in Minny.
• Rian Watt talked about how the Twins are slowly taking all the DHs for FanGraphs.
• Mike Sherman with the Rays tilt to Cruz signing in Minny.
• And finally, longtime Twins lover Aaron Gleeman wrote up the transaction for Baseball Prospectus.

Around the League

• Any time Sheryl Ring writes about a legal issue, it demands to be read. FanGraphs hiring her was the best hire a baseball site has made in a long time. This time she deals with the new Cuba policy.
• The Athletic writers reveal their Hall of Fame ballots. The Crime Dog makes five of the 12 ballots.
• The Hardball Times is dipping its toe into fiction writing. Color me intrigued.
• FanGraphs is running a Best of 2018 series, which is just everyone’s excuse to remember how absurd Mike Trout truly is.
• Cliff Corcoran with the Ten Things We’ll Remember from 2018. The Opener is indeed on there.