My hopes for an underdog in the ALCS were dashed last night thanks to the O’s loss at the hands of those bloated, overpaid, primadonnas in the Bronx. Hooray, two teams with high payroll’s are going head-to-head with one-another! Sure sounds like compelling baseball to me. Furthermore, the NL side of the coin doesn’t look much better. Oh well, I suppose there’s no time like the present to look ahead.
As it stands, there are ten players on the Rays 2012 roster that are either free-agents, or Tampa Bay holds the option on their contract:
Free Agents
Kyle Farnsworth
JP Howell
Jeff Keppinger
Carlos Pena
Joel Peralta
BJ Upton
Contracts with Options
Jose Molina
Luke Scott
James Shields
Fernando Rodney
The question du jour stands; Who should come back next season, and who should go the way of the buffalo? Marc Topkin, of the Times, made some rather cogent points in his latest article. Most notably, “With potentially five open spots in the lineup and an abundance of starting pitching, the Rays certainly have a lot to do this winter,” and “Since the Rays don’t share, or even establish, a set payroll number — maintaining it’s flexible with an impact on future seasons — it’s always a bit of a guess how much they’ll have to work with.” I guess the question could be, who can the Rays afford?
We’re in the process of writing a similar piece on what can be expected once Spring Training rolls around. That said, this is a “your feedback is welcomed” kind of post. Please take the poll below and have your say. Also, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section. (below) Vote for those that you think should return. Note: I left the poll open for repeat voters, so you can have your say for more than one player. Sadly, you may have to take the poll more than once…that’s Poll Daddy’s fault, not ours! Ahem…they’re the turkey’s, not us.
[polldaddy poll=6605243]