NFL Draft Challenge

So, how was your cool, damp Friday night?

Good?

Mine was better.

After six stifling hours of class, subsisting on cheap sushi and stuff you get out of the vending machine, my friend Brent and I headed to the New Yankee Stadium to catch the exhibition Cubs-Yankees game.

The Tampa Bay Rays are coming off their first successful season in the history of the franchise. Finally, they're not considered doormats with no vision of the future. Now the Pirates stand alone there. (Even the Royals are much improved!)

This club is scary in the pool of young talent they already hold, plus more on the way in the minor leagues. The Rays will compete for a very, very long time. But will they be able to withstand the Red Sox and Yankees assault in 2009?

Writing today from the comfort of his own electric chair, Josh Illes is the creator of the new blog The Pickup Artist. I call it The Pickup Artist because I plan on analyzing interesting in-season transactions throughout the baseball year.

But I also have a somewhat snarkier side to me, and many times I rant for no reason at all about not being able to understand a word that Eric Young is saying. Ok, so I may just rant about that once. I’m only kidding of course. I love E.Y.!

After reading a recent blog post by Greg over at Sliding Into Home, contrasting recent quotes by Randy Johnson and Jason Giambi, we feel the need to get something off our chest.

All you need to know about our bone of contention is that Yankee fans have happy memories of Jason Giambi's ringless time in Pinstripes, but rue the day that Randy Johnson toed the rubber at the "House That Ruth Built."

According to John C. Rodriguez of the Sun Sentinel, the Florida Marlins have cut 24-year-old left handed pitcher Zach Kroenke, who they drafted in this offseason’s rule 5 draft, and returned him to the Yankees.