The Devil Rays signed outfielder John Rodriguez and infielder Andy Cannizaro to minor league contracts. Rodriguez is a 29 year old lefty swinger with a solid bat. He last played in the majors in 2006 with the Cardinals. Rodriguez has played in 158 games in his major league career and he is 99 for 332 (.298 avg, .812 OPS) with 46 runs scored, 7 homers and 43 RBIs. He should make the team as a reserve outfielder/DH. Cannizaro is a 29-year old righty swinger who last played in the majors in 2006 with the Yankees. He has played in 13 games in his major league career and he is 2 for 8 (.250 avg, .958 OPS) with 5 runs scored, 1 homer and 1 RBI. He will have a decent shot to make the Rays as a utility infielder.

There was an interesting article about some promising young arms the Rays have in their farm system in today’s edition of the St. Pete Times.  You can read it online at http://www.sptimes.com/2007/03/08/Rays/Rays_cultivating_arms.shtml

While they do hype these guys a bit, at least they finally issued a dose of reality in summing up some previously hyped pitchers in the D-Rays system.  Remember Ryan Rupe and Dewon Brazelton?  Other than a few rare demonstrations of their talent, these guys were total disasters.  Hopefully this new crop turns out to be much better.  I certainly hope so, because the current pitching staff is virtually devoid of competent major league talent, with only a few exceptions.

Obviously, marijuana or some other hallucinogen is the drug of choice in their organization.

I opened my copy of the St. Pete Times this morning to see the sports page headline, “Devil Rays Owner Aims High for 2007″ and the sub-headline was “Stuart Steinberg wants 50 home wins, “a pretty reasonable goal”.  I want to know where he buys the stuff he smokes.  I want some of that!

Sure, the Rays won 41 home games last year, but they are nowhere in the league of teams that won 50 at home last year.  That club included the Minnesota Twins, New York Yankees, New York Mets, and Toronto Blue Jays.  All of those teams made the playoffs, with the exception of Toronto, which won 87 games.

No team that was so awful on the road last year, 20-61, could possibly be a 50 home game winner without doing something major to turn the team around.  These clowns have done almost nothing.

In case you’re interested, here is a link to the ludicrous article from fantasy land, http://www.sptimes.com/2007/02/28/Rays/Devil_Rays_owner_aims.shtml

It is loaded with moronic quotes.  I can’t believe we are counting on these guys to put a winner on the field.