Scott Kazmir since the All-Star break

[Dr Octagon]

4-1, 1.20 ERA, 39 IP, 46 K, 12 BB, 30 hits, 0 HRs allowed. After struggling mightily in the first half of the season, he's turned it up a couple notches. He did the same thing his rookie season as well.

Also, how ridiculously red hot is Carl Crawford? Five straight multiple hit games and he is absolutely killing the ball.

That's good.

Picked up Kazmir right after AS Break for my Fantasy team.

Have CC also.

[Abraham Lincoln]

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S

[bigboy1234]

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Poor, poor delusional Rays fan. I really feel sorry for you guys and that franchise.

Naimoli sucked badly but Sternberg is just as bad. The Devil Rays continue to suck ass and spend no money to improve the team.

Yes, as you can tell I'm a huge Ray fan. Seriously if thats the best argument you got you should just stop.

Ever heard of Carlos Pena, yeah pretty good signing eh. I guess they didn't spend any money to get Akinori Iwamura either did they? And the owner has said he will keep increasing the payroll yearly. If I was a GM, the Ray roster is A LOT more appealing then the Yankee roster, and arguably any roster in the game.

[Abraham Lincoln]

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Yes, as you can tell I'm a huge Ray fan. Seriously if thats the best argument you got you should just stop.

Ever heard of Carlos Pena, yeah pretty good signing eh. I guess they didn't spend any money to get Akinori Iwamura either did they? And the owner has said he will keep increasing the payroll yearly. If I was a GM, the Ray roster is A LOT more appealing then the Yankee roster, and arguably any roster in the game.

Oh really? Does it both you that the team is filled with minor leaguers and journeymen? Give me a break. The pitching is simply awful and you call spending $3 million on a player like Iwamura(decent player) "spending"? Sternerg hasn't increased anything since he took over and if increasing the payroll by $3 million each year is his plan then we might have to wait another 10 years before the Rays become good again.

Are you really trying to tell me Pena was a guy you spent money to sign? You signed a guy off the scrap heap and he turned out good. Whoopdeedamndo. It's happened many times before. It's not the first and certainly not the last.

I don't know what you are but I've seen you post about the Devil Rays before so I was imagining you are at least partially a fan. If you aren't, then we clearly need to find one(rare) and ask them what they think about this situation.

[bigboy1234]

You've seen me post about the Devil Rays before? Yeah about there prospects before, thats about it. And its not that hard to look at my avatar and sig is it honest Abe?

minor leaguers and journeymen?

Yeah, those Upton, Crawford, Pena guys suck. There also, all young as hell and just coming into there own. Not too mention someone like Delmon Young who was the top prospect in all of baseball last year, and only 22.

The pitching is simply awful

Kazmir is hideous as we all know. And Shields, ewww. And it's not like they have studs in the minors like 3 top 25 pitching prospects in Price, Davis, and McGee. But you probably don't know that much about baseball so I won't bother you with that.

wait another 10 years before the Rays become good again.

You're going to feel stupid as hell when the Devil Rays are rocking the division crown in 2010, with there 150M less payroll.

Are you really trying to tell me Pena was a guy you spent money to sign?

You? What the hell are you talking about, I'm a Cardinal fan, not that hard to find out. See if you knew anything about Pena, which you don't, you would know he used to be a highly touted prospect. Buy low, sell high, you know like the opposite of what the Yanks do. Now you should understand.

I would even make a friendly wager that a Yank fan like NYKGM would see the D-Rays as a pretty good competition come 2010.

[Abraham Lincoln]

You've seen me post about the Devil Rays before? Yeah about there prospects before, thats about it. And its not that hard to look at my avatar and sig is it honest Abe?

minor leaguers and journeymen?

Yeah, those Upton, Crawford, Pena guys suck. There also, all young as hell and just coming into there own. Not too mention someone like Delmon Young who was the top prospect in all of baseball last year, and only 22.

The pitching is simply awful

Kazmir is hideous as we all know. And Shields, ewww. And it's not like they have studs in the minors like 3 top 25 pitching prospects in Price, Davis, and McGee. But you probably don't know that much about baseball so I won't bother you with that.

wait another 10 years before the Rays become good again.

You're going to feel stupid as hell when the Devil Rays are rocking the division crown in 2010, with there 150M less payroll.

Are you really trying to tell me Pena was a guy you spent money to sign?

You? What the hell are you talking about, I'm a Cardinal fan, not that hard to find out. See if you knew anything about Pena, which you don't, you would know he used to be a highly touted prospect. Buy low, sell high, you know like the opposite of what the Yanks do. Now you should understand.

I would even make a friendly wager that a Yank fan like NYKGM would see the D-Rays as a pretty good competition come 2010.

I don't enjoy sarcastic people who insult other posters to get a point across. I would continue here to prove you wrong(funny how you mention only a small group of good players - young players is something we all know the D-Rays always had, thanks for the news genius) but I feel your only retort will be petty sarcastic replies that try too hard to be witty and fail to get a point across. When you want to get serious about a discussion, let me know.

[Abraham Lincoln]

And let's not forget to add,

If you aren't a Rays fan, then we clearly need to find one(rare) and ask them what they think about this situation.

[trwi7]

and arguably any roster in the game.

Last time I checked the Rays didn't have Ryan Braun on their roster.

Sorry I couldn't help it.

[HeyIt'sMe]

If you want to ask a Rays fan, go to their RealGM board and ask. Or, better yet, go here: www.raysbb.com. Yes, we do exist.

It's still too early to judge Sternberg as and owner. No, not a ton of money has been spent, but at the same time, they've established academies in the Domincan Republic and Venezuela (something the old regime wasn't willing to do) and have been a player in the foreign market (Iwamura, and they signed an Asian pitcher the year before, but he got injured and never pitched), which is very important in developing relationships with foreign clubs and being able to be a factor down the line for foreigh talent.

Friedman and co. have said all along that their goal was to develop the young talent on the team, and then go from there. Thus far, they haven't strayed from that goal. The Upton's and Young's of the world are getting the chance to play every day and develop, and they have a nucleus of young talent in the minors on the cusp of joining the club real soon (i.e., Evan Longoria, who is an absolute stud). Just because they haven't spent a ton of money, doesn't mean that they won't make necessary additions to the club down the line via free agency to add a veteran prescence or two. If anything, I applaud them for not spending money just for the hell of it. Sure, the Rays could of added a couple of decent players in a weak FA year (Gil Meche and Barry Zito were the best pitchers, and Zito has been awful in the NL), but, ultimately, it wouldn't of made this team hardly any better than they already were.

I'm not sold on Sternberg, far from it, but at the same time, I'm not going to throw him under the bus just yet. It's only been a couple of years, and unlike the previous regime, they at least have a plan and are sticking to it. And, unlike Chuck Lamar, Friedman makes smart and savvy trades and isn't a pain in the ass to deal with. Lamar wouldn't make a trade unless he was ripping the other team off (Scott Kazmir for Victor Zambrano), and he turned other GMs off and made it hard for the Rays to be a player at the trade deadline. Friedman's not that way and earns a lot of respect from his peers.

It'll be interesting to see how the situation unravels down the line, but I've been fairly encouraged from what I have seen thus far.