I dont think that would give an advantage really. Usually the best players sign first and that sets the market for the other players. So his agent probably would have had him wait until now anyways and really the best offer (including location/money/etc.) will win out in the end.

Can they get a fanbase with the few great years they have ahead. If they are a legit world series contender for the next 3-4 years, can they develop a fanbase to then support the signing of their top level players

And to answer the question on the fan base: The Rays have only existed since ’98. We like in a town where the Yankees have a spring training. So why would a community suffer with the Rays when they claim glory with the Yankees? To make matters worst you have the Red Sox holding spring training 2 hours away in Fort Myers.

It’s easy for cities like Baltimore, New York, Boston, to poke fun at our fan base. You guys have had your clubs for generations. Tampa Bay has had their club for going on 12 years. When the times are bad for the Orioles, you can latch on to your “winning years” and know it will get better. Tampa Bay, until this year, didn’t have any “winning years.” Around this area come June the local media would start to talk about Buccaneer football, not the Rays going into the All-star break. I mean we even have local broadcast of Yankees games on the radio. This town can, and will be a Tampa Bay Rays town.

The Fan base will come around. How do I know this? I have been living in Tampa since ’99 and I have seen with the Bucs, the Lightning, and USF athletics.

The Tampa Bay area is 75% transplants. The area will rally around the Rays, don’t you folks worry about that.

will be more tradeable this season than last season with one less year attached to it. The A’s are gaining on the Angels and could be looking for a bat at first base if they don’t sign Dunn or Giambi.

“Really, don’t bother with a new offer, you’d just be wasting your time,” which is basically what he did, then we have some proof for the assertion that Tex never wanted to come here. As Peter Schmuck wrote, “He was never really that into you.”

and will have to be traded? But what team is going to offer a worthwhile deal? The Cubs’s offer last season was dubious with the inclusion of Pie and Cedeno, and they certainly don’t have that much to offer this time around. But what other teams are interested, that have the pieces to complete a deal?

Huff and Sherrill just don’t seem like tradable pieces anymore. Even after Huff’s monster season, I just don’t see teams all that interested in him. At least in the capacity that we are: a trade chip that will land this team a prospect or two.

I really hope MacPhail doesn’t go after draft picks and just let him walk at the end of the season. The Brewers can attest to how well that works.

I think the listing is simply arbitrary, and it certainly has little bearing on reality either way. But maybe somebody actually knows— SC? duck?

Because the back end of the bullpen is theoretically full, he sucks, and the rotation is wide open. I think they figure if it doesn’t work, then, uh, oh well. I don’t think he’s genuinely in the plans for ’09 as anything more than a mop-up man.

The O’s sound like the ‘05 Rays. Good luck this year. The O’s do have some great building blocks.

On one hand, I’d like to say there’s no way it could ever get any worse than the 30-3 game. On the other hand, it probably could get worse.

Otherwise, I am sick and tired of the Orioles, I plan to watch from a distance and see if ALL of the farm hands pan out.

Uh huh. Do you write this stuff solely to try and trick newcomers around here? The rest of us have been reading these sentiments for years on end, yet here you are, still. Not that I mind one bit. I just like pointing out how you keep coming back, like Tina to Ike.