As I looked through the lead stories of the sports world late last night, I started reading the headlines. "Okay, let's see, Venus retired from her match with injury, the Hornets destroyed the Hawks, Ramirez and Damon signed with the Rays, Polamalu is going to...wait, what?!"
It's hard to believe, even if the Rays dug up their graves to get them, that Manny Ramirez and Johnny Damon are headed south. Their careers have already done that. How much is left in the tank with these two?
Ramirez has been voted into the Summer Classic a dozen times, and has a pair of World Series rings with Boston, to go with 555 career home runs. Damon has rings with both of the Rays' biggest enemies, the Yankees and the Red Sox.
Even with these two ghosts of October's past coming back into the AL East, it's not a huge risk being taken by the Rays. That's hard to comprehend, seeing as Ramirez has always been a risk for teams willing to take their chance on him and his long dreads.
Damon will sign for over $5 million, but "Man-Ram" will only get $2 million. That's why it's not a big risk. It can't be any worse than bringing Pat "The Bat" Burrell to Tampa. You may say he was younger, but if you saw him hit or run while he was here, it sure didn't seem like he was.
I personally thought Vladimir Guerrero or maybe even Jim Thome would be here before these two. Vlad clearly was more productive than Damon and Ramirez combined. The two put together had just 235 plate appearances with 17 home runs and 93 RBI.
Looking at the amount of numbers, or lack thereof, I don't know why I'm so excited about this move. This may remind some devoted Rays fans (there aren't many) of the "Hit Show" from 2000, when the then-"Devil" Rays brought in Jose Canseco, Fred McGriff and Greg Vaughn all past their primes.
This isn't nearly the same deal, other than the fact that it involves players well removed from the heydays of their careers. Damon will most likely hit in the front of the order, and Ramirez will be given the job of protecting Evan Longoria.
Manny's days in the outfield are all but over, but I think he can produce at the plate in the DH role. The question everyone is asking is, "Can he stay in line?" Well, if he doesn't, he could be waving "bye" to his last chance in the majors.
If Damon plays left field, it could mean a few more months in Triple-A for prospect Desmond Jennings. Although Jennings is a top prospect in Tampa's organization, he has yet to produce at the major league level, and may still need some seasoning in the minors before becoming an everyday player in MLB.
We've seen these types of moves by the Rays before as players get late into their careers. We saw it with Wade Boggs, Canseco, Vaughn, McGriff and Tino Martinez. But for some reasons that can and can't be explained, this seems different. The two players fit the needs that the Rays have, and there's still a decent chance they'll produce at a higher level than what the Rays would have had at those spots.
Overall, it's not a huge risk, and it has the potential of working out nicely. It won't put them in conversations with New York and Boston, but it will help their needs for this season. Look at it this way: With Damon and especially Manny coming in, it will be an interesting season, to say the least.
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