29-year old lefty swinging LF Carl Crawford finished 7th in the A.L. MVP Award voting. Crawford played in 154 games for the Rays last season and he was 184 of 600 (.307 avg, .851 OPS) with 110 runs scored, 19 homers, 90 RBIs and 47 stolen bases. He has played in 1,235 games in his nine years with the Rays and he is 1,480 of 4,992 (.296 avg, .781 OPS) with 765 runs scored, 104 homers, 592 RBIs and 409 stolen bases. The Rays are really going to miss Crawford in 2011 no matter how well rookie Desmond Jennings plays.

25-year old righty swinging 3B Evan Longoria finished 6th in the voting for the A.L. MVP Award. Longoria played in 151 games for the Rays last season and he was 169 of 574 (.294 avg, .879 OPS) with 96 runs scored, 22 homers, 104 RBIs and 15 stolen bases. He has now played in 430 games in his first three years with the Rays and he is 455 of 1,606 (.283 avg, .881 OPS) with 263 runs scored, 82 homers, 302 RBIs and 31 stolen bases. With his combination of offense and defense I wouldn’t be surprised at all to see Longoria be a MVP at some point in his career.

30-year old righty closer Rafael Soriano finished 8th in the A.L. Cy Young Award voting. He pitched in 64 games (0 starts) for the Rays last season and he was 3-2 with 45 saves, a 1.73 ERA and a 0.80 WHIP. Soriano was so awesome last season that he priced himself out of Tampa Bay’s plans. He is likely going to get $10+ million bucks per year on a 3-4 year deal and I think he’s worth that on the open market. Soriano has now pitched in 342 games (8 starts) in 9 years in the majors and he is 11-20 with 88 saves, a 2.73 ERA and a 1.00 WHIP.

UPDATE: (12/2/2010) - Rafael Soriano also has finished 12th in the voting for the A.L. MVP Award.

27-year old lefty swinging catcher John Jaso finished in a tie for 5th in the voting for the A.L. Rookie of the Year with outfielder Brennan Boesch of the Tigers and lefty starting pitcher Brian Matusz of the Orioles. Jaso played in 109 games for the Rays last season and he was 89 of 339 (.263 avg, .750 OPS) with 57 runs scored, 5 homers, 44 RBIs and 4 stolen bases. He also was actually leading off a lot for the Rays last season to his plate discipline as evidenced by his 59 walks and 39 whiffs as a rookie. Jaso has now played in 114 games in his first two years with the Rays and he is 91 of 349 (.261 avg, .741 OPS) with 59 runs scored, 5 homers, 44 RBIs and 4 stolen bases. Jaso will likely get a lot of starts for the Rays behind the plate in 2011 and beyond.

25-year old righty starting pitcher Wade Davis finished 4th in the voting for the A.L. Rookie of the Year Award. Davis pitched in 29 games (all starts) for the Rays last season and he was 12-10 with a 4.07 ERA and a 1.35 WHIP. He has now pitched in 35 games (all starts) in his first two years in the show and he is 14-12 with a 4.01 ERA and a 1.34 WHIP. Davis was really solid for the Rays last season and he has a bright future near the top of the rotation.