Friday, January 21, 2011

Reunited and it Feels so Good

Manny Ramirez and Johnny Damon are together again... in Tampa Bay... The 37 year old Damon and 38 year old Ramirez last played together in 2005 with the Redsox, a year removed from their epic 2004 World Series run, and now they're headed south. Both players are looking to rebound from subpar 2010 seasons. Damon hit just .271 with 8 homeruns and 51 rbis with the Tigers. The 8 homeruns were his lowest output since 1997 back when he was with the Kansas City Royals and the 51 rbis were his fewest since driving in 49  for the 2001 Oakland A's. Ramirez hit .298 which doesn't sound bad, but he only 9 homeruns and 42 rbis, his lowest totals since he was a rookie September callup back in 1993. On top of that, he only appeared in 90 games splitting time between the Dodgers and Whitesox. After being claimed by Chicago he had just 1 homerun in 69 at bats. Despite their apparent declines, this isn't a bad move by the Rays. It's relatively low risk as the two players will cost them just $7.25M TOTAL next year. By comparison the two had contracts valued at nearly $27M last year. Tampa desperately needs to make up for the departures of Carl Crawford and Carlos Pena and there are certainly worse solutions out there. All they need now is Pedro Martinez and Kevin Millar! COWBOY UP!


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