CBRACKE
Loading ...
Despite a strong showing this spring, the Rays optioned uber third base prospect Evan Longoria to Triple-A Durham on Monday, putting an end to the rampant speculation on whether or not he would make the roster out of camp. Longoria was disappointed with the decision, but seemed to understand.
“It’s a tough thing to swallow; just going to go back down and keep doing what I’m doing,” he told the St. Petersburg Times. “There’s a lot of reasons for it, but it’s not really my say on that. It’s what the front office has to say and they made the decision.”
Despite being just 22 years old, Longoria was not overmatched against major league pitching, hitting .262 with three homers, 10 RBI, and 10 walks. Rays management made it clear from the beginning that there would be many factors weighed in making this decision, but the popular opinion is the Rays didn’t want to start his arbitration clock a year early. On top of that, they insist they’re handling this situation without regard to how other franchises have dealt with their prized prospects, but with the recent demotion, one can’t help but draw comparisons to the Brewers handling of Ryan Braun last season.
“It was a tough decision; it’s something that was a collaborative process and we spent a lot of time thinking about it,” Rays executive VP Andrew Friedman told MLB.com. “It wasn’t a unanimous decision. It’s one of those things I think with the way he played this year and the way he carried himself his timetable has been expedited even in our minds.”
While most fantasy owners don’t like it, this is the right decision for the Rays. If they keep him in the minors a mere three to four weeks it would delay free agency until 2014–something that could be key in keeping a very talented young crop of hitters together through what could be the Rays most competitive years.
For a keeper league owner like myself, I love it when something like this happens to an overhyped player prior to my league draft because I truly believe it knocks the value of that player down a bit. I consider it a reality check of sorts. If it means owners in my league are unwilling to take Longoria early (I consider 15th round or earlier to be too early in my upcoming 40 round keeper league draft). I think in this case Tampa’s loss is both Triple-A Durham and fantasy owners’ gain at this point.
EDITORS NOTE: Oh yeah, and not uber prospect Willy Aybar is penciled in at third base until Longoria is “ready.” Aybar is spanglish for “nausea inducing player you don’t want on your fantasy roster.”
No Comments so far
Leave a comment
Leave a comment
Line and paragraph breaks automatic, e-mail address never displayed, HTML allowed:
<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <code> <em> <i> <strike> <strong>