Tampa Bay Rays

It was just two seasons ago that B.J. Upton posted a 24 HR, 22 SB season sending fantasy owners into a frenzy, thinking the next great outfielder had emerged.

Since then, while the speed has proven to be real (86 SB the past two seasons), the power is nowhere to be found with just 20 home runs total.  Is there any hope that he can get reasonably close to his 2007 campaign?

First, let’s take a look at the numbers he did post in 2009:

The Tampa Bay Rays acquired catcher Kelly Shoppach from the Cleveland Indians in exchange for a player to be named later, according to Bill Chastain of mlb.com (click here for the article).

Late Tuesday afternoon, the Cleveland Indians traded C Kelly Shoppach to the Tampa Bay Rays for a player to be named later or cash.

Shoppach, 29, was a former top prospect and International League All-Star with the Boston Red Sox organization. Throughout his Major League career, almost entirely with Cleveland, he's hit .241 with a .776 OPS. He is arbitration eligible this offseason, and the Rays are expected to give him a raise from his $1.95 million he made in '09.

Welcome to another edition of Thaddeus' Tampa Bay Rays Offseason Report. Each and every Friday, we're going to recap the moves, trades, signings, and other nonsense of the previous week in the wonderful world of Tampa Bay baseball; keeping you, Dear Reader, up to date with the team until Opening Day in April 2010 against the Baltimore Orioles.

Alright, along with being a professional baseball player, and a sportswriter for ESPN, The Mag, a general manager for an MLB team is on my short list of dream jobs.  Fantasy baseball has filled the craving to play with rosters, but playing with rosters that will actually go out and play against 29 other teams excites me tremendously.

I thought about it, and thought why not write about a fantasy of tinkering with a real team?

Welcome to another edition of Thaddeus' Tampa Bay Rays Offseason Report. Each and every Friday, we're going to recap the moves, trades, signings, and other nonsense of the previous week in the wonderful world of Tampa Bay baseball; keeping you, Dear Reader, up to date with the team until Opening Day in April 2010 against the Baltimore Orioles.

Oakland Athletics Director of Player Development Keith Lieppman, and Durham Bulls Manager Charlie Montoyo have been named the recipients of the second annual Sheldon “Chief” Bender, and Mike Coolbaugh Awards.

According to MILB.com , they will be honored along with the other award winners at the Baseball Winter Meetings in Indianapolis from Dec. 7–10.

The Bender Award is presented to an individual who has shown exceptional skills in player development.

Rumors are flooding the Internet that the Rays are offering up Pat Burrell in trade talks. The Rays are desperate to part with the bad contract of Burrell, a major disappointment in the DH role for the team and are even willing to trade bad contracts to rid themselves of the much maligned player.

Burrell was an awful .221 at the plate with just 14 homers and 64 runs batted in. With limited athletic ability making him a liability in the outfield, Burrell's return on investment on his $9 million a year salary is very low.

Ah, here we are yet again, sports fans: the offseason.

Just a week after the Yankees won their 27th World Series trophy, the baseball world is itching and ready to go for next April, when our stars will finally take the field again for another season of America's Pastime.

Of course, not all is quiet in the land of baseball from November to March, and teams are shuffling both players and coaches to try to stand where the Yankees do now in 12 short months. Everyone has a plan to get them into October 2010 and beyond.