Johnny Damon and Manny Ramirez sign with Tampa

[craig01]

Biggest thing for the Rays is someone on that pitching staff... bullpen/starters what have you - needs to step up big time. Jake McGee could be that guy.

I think McGee probably will be babied some early on given his past injury issues.

I would expect that Maddon will use the bullpen by committee thing until McGee establishes himself. He does have awesome stuff and definitely holds a major role in how far the Rays will go this year.

[Tom Haverford]

This isn't going to do a whole lot for them but it'll make things a bit more interesting in Tampa. Especially for those games against the Red Sox and Yankees.

Worst case, might not.

Best case.....might help a lot.

Its looking like worst case right now....

[Tom Haverford]

Please tell me you are not trying knock the Rays for signing someone who has an OPS+ of 147 the past 2 seasons for $2M? That is one of the best signings, if not THE best signing this offseason.

Often times, hyperbole is a bad thing

[bigboy1234]

No doubt, the $90,000 the Rays paid Manny killed them. And you shouldn't look at signings in hindsight, unless you are trying to analyze to find a better way to evaluate a player, there was no way to know Manny was going to be done with baseball after a week. Or hell maybe you can point me to some witch who predicted such a thing.

[Tom Haverford]

No doubt, the $90,000 the Rays paid Manny killed them. And you shouldn't look at signings in hindsight, unless you are trying to analyze to find a better way to evaluate a player, there was no way to know Manny was going to be done with baseball after a week. Or hell maybe you can point me to some witch who predicted such a thing.

I just find it laughable that a guy who had a history of not giving a damn, has a history of PED use, was DFA'd last season, did jack for the White Sox etc... could possibly be the BEST signing of the whole offseason.

and the phrase "there was no way to know Manny...." is key. You never know what you are going to get with him. Even if he never failed that test in spring training the Rays awful start would have disinterested Manny. He's check out for far less in the past.

Best signing of the offseason? No. There is a reason they got him so cheap.

[bigboy1234]

You shouldn't use DFA if you don't know what it means. He was put on waivers because of the money he was being paid. He performed as a league average hitter for 88 PA for the White Sox after putting up a 151 OPS+ in 232 PA with the Dodgers that same year and a 153 OPS+ in 431 PA in 2009. I'm assuming you think Pujols should probably be cut loose because he currently sports a 44 OPS+ in 35 PA.

If Manny would have played the whole season like everyone had expected he would have been one of the best signings. As is, they paid him $90,000, which is absolutely nothing. It was an extremely high reward, zero risk signing.

[craig01]

This isn't going to do a whole lot for them but it'll make things a bit more interesting in Tampa. Especially for those games against the Red Sox and Yankees.

Worst case, might not.

Best case.....might help a lot.

Its looking like worst case right now....

Sure ......Manny fizzled.

Was it a huge risk? No

Was the risk vs reward worth it? Sure

Has Ramirez damaged the Rays? No

The Rays are damaging themselves at this point......Ramirez will be forgotten by the time this post hits realgm