Down far 7th Avenue where life translates into a more grim reality, which is to say real, there is a little pawn shop we go visit ever so often. There is something to be said about purchasing stolen goods and putting them on your mantle as a token of how decent of a human being you feel like. Benefiting off other people's miseries/misfortunes.
"Cool, do you need anything else?"
He looked ever his shoulder.
"Nope, you are good to go sir," he says while handing over the AR 15.
In light of the school shooting in South Florida (where the Marlins have already beat the Rays in the fire sale) I figured to load the apartment with more guns so whenever I pick up Strawberry late, I can be sure to have the AR in the car and when our kids go to public school, they can match their teacher's arms. Eye for eye. Gotta make sure too, that the color of the AR matches Strawberry's dresses.
I drove to the McDonalds off US Forty One to read the news only to find more madness and confusion...
Souza arrived to Port Charlotte the other day only told to beat it. Huh? The Rays sent Souza to Arizona for LHP Anthony Banda and also acquired RHP Taylor Widener, The Yankees sent the Rays Nick Solak meanwhile the Yankees DFA'd Jabari Blash. The rebuild has truly begun. Souza was only owed 3.5 million and really begun to find his stride. A real five tool player. He started growing on me during the 16' season and was a nice leader throughout the 17' campaign. We could have had Trea Turner, we got rid of Wil Myers and now got rid of Souza only after acquiring him in 15'. Thus 2015-2017. People are arguing they are building for the future. Weren't they doing that then when they traded off nearly the entire 14' roster? Only four years later...Souza was the team MVP as well last year. "I just don't know man," Archer was quoted saying.
Judging by facial expression, the dude wants out and for good reason. You think there was an attendance problem last year? Welcome to the terror dome. The roster is a nearly full triple A roster at this point.
"It hurts man but it is our job to do our best on the field," KK was telling the media.
Dick Vitale was on the record saying "they should just sell the team and let Archer and KK go somewhere else. It is unfair to them."
Homeboy aint too far off. Sucks to think raccoon boy Kevin Cash will be sitting there looking dumbfound in the dug out, spitting seeds and never wearing a jersey to a whopping crowd of one thousand people (who will be more than half opposing fans).
The front office knew there a was problem and needed to counter the fans by showing they cared, so they go out and sign Carlos Gonzalez for four million dollars. Peep his road/home splits. Ouch. Thus they let Souza go (who was more economical actually) for some good prospects and signed a hot head for one year service time (who could very well get hurt for a good chunk of the year). Let's review...
Subtract from 2017 Opening Day Roster - to last game: Dickerson (All-Star who walked for nothing), Beckham, Souza, Lomo (all of whom in which had career years) Boxberger, Cobb, Odo, Longo (face of the franchise), Xavier Cedeno, Rasmus, Erasmo, Cishek, Hunter, Weeks Jr., Jumbo, Peterson, Bourjos, D-Norris (let him rot in hell). Oh but Brad Miller is still a Ray. Don't drop the mic...
Conclusion is nearly half of the 25 man roster is gone. That is truly remarkable when analyzing it. That was a solid core they could have built around. Young dudes who were controllable for another couple of years but they were all traded off. To say simply this is the first time Rays fans have undergone this is pure bullshit. I loved that 14' roster and they tore it down. Joyce, Zobrist, Price, Molina, S-Rod, et cetera...they are doing it again in the span of four years. Embarrassing.
At this point it is nearly impossible to project the Opening Day Lineup. You figure with all of the infielders they have collecting this off season they are looking to see who is going to battle it out. They DFA'd Micah Johnson, which slightly bummed me out but oh yeah, Brad Miller is still on the depth charts. So, I will take a new approach on this...who will definitely be on the Opening Day Roster?
Core: Archer/KK
Roster Purgatory: Sucre, Ramos, Span and Cargo (these two will play because of the money they are making), Cron
It is a curious factor to consider Denard Span will be patrolling the outfield knowing that Dickerson was ousted for nothing and Souza was traded for a LHP prospect and 2B prospect. It seems a lot of people are more on board with the analytics of how a team should win. Sure, that is the point of the game, to win. Rather you have a team full of people who come and go as opposed to some familiarity? Amazing to think how big Souza was becoming with the fans (and was actually fun to watch) now back to a bunch of players on the field who we don't know and will need another two plus years to get used to seeing? Even if this team does go on and win the AL East (with our fearless leader Kevin Cash leading the pack) all of these dudes are young and a complete mystery. I'm not saying there is nothing to be excited about but when you go from one season to the next and completely overhaul the roster every three-to-two years, what message does that send to fans (who already don't drive out to that abomination of a stadium)? I won't front on my emotions towards it, I am not nearly excited as I was last year. That was a damn good core of players (sprinkled with veteran leadership). They actually added last off season and made some really good trades. They traded for Mallex, signed Rasmus, nabbed Bourjos during Spring and so on. Now it's just one big guessing game.
"Oh fuck it baby, let's get McFlurries,"
Strawberry loved the Oreos.
We went home and fornicated to keep the human species alive.
No comments:
Post a Comment