Just got home from my softball game, and as I wait for my pizza so I can sit down to watch American Idol with my wife, I thought I’d direct you all to DRaysBay where friend of The Show Jake Larsen interviews the man who, for all intents and purposes, will be the Rays first round choice come June, David Price from Vanderbilt.

Devilrays.com has a nice story about how Casey Fossum is trying to become stronger and more consistent. I’m not going to argue either of those facts. I mean, just look at this right here:

Take last season. During his last 11 starts he averaged 10.34 strikeouts per nine innings. And in four 2006 starts against the Red Sox, he pitched a 1.16 ERA and posted a 2-0 mark. Conversely, he experienced three outings where he could not get through the second inning.

Fossum has too many tools to be as mediocre as he has been during his career. Obviously, staying healthy is a part of it. This is nothing but a gut feeling on my part (God, I sound like one of those managers that doesn’t look at numbers but just plays his feelings), but I think Casey is finally going to break out and have a decent year this year. Which, of course, means that he’ll likely be traded late in the season. Ah, such is the life.

Tacked onto the bottom of the Delmon Young article on devilrays.com was this gem:

Dan Miceli is sporting a svelte figure this spring as he should, sincethe right-handed reliever says he lost 30 pounds in the offseason by
limiting his carbs.

You don’t see the word "svelte" enough in everyday conversation and writing anymore. And good for Dan for shedding those pounds and adopting a healthier lifestyle. Hopefully along with those pounds, about .3 or .4 points came off of his WHIP in the process.

Today, XM Radio and Sirius announced plans for a merger between the two radio giants. The deal is going to face heavy scrutiny by the FCC, and there is still a chance that it will fall through, but it doesn’t change the fact that these two "rival" companies have an agreement in place to begin working as one entity in the future.

As a devoted XM subscriber, this deal leaves me scratching my head. Sirius is a mis-managed, mis-guided, money-hemorrhaging #2 competitor that they likely could have driven into the ground had they felt so inclined. Though you can argue that the takeover (similar to WWF buying WCW in 2001) is just that, they are now liable for the over 6 million customers that Sirius has paying for their services.

Not to mention that this now adds even more fuel to the Opie & Anthony-versus-Howard Stern fire. You can be that those two entities are going to have at it for the next few months while this plays out. (By the way, I’m a huge O&A fan and think Howard is the Randy Johnson of the radio biz.)

It will be interesting to see how the X-Sirius-M decides to play this one off. Do all customers get both Stern and O&A? Do you choose them a-la carte? What about the MLB and NFL packages? Premium content for subscribers? I can already see a situation where subscribers are forced to pay extra fees for the programming they want, and to me – having had all the stations that I want for the same flat rate every month – this is a scary proposition.

Pitchers and catchers are coming.

The infield was pretty good, but this is where the real mashing is going to happen on this team. Check out the kind of production we’re getting here!

Left Field — Carl Crawford – .305 BA, .830 OPS, 18 HR, 58 SB – $2,625,000

• The lone Ray on the team, we all know just how good C.C. is – and can be. He is explosive at the top of the lineup, runs down everything in left, and plays the game the right way. You might be able to get more pop from some players, but you’re hard-pressed to find a more exciting ballplayer.

Center Field — Gary Matthews – .313 BA, .866 OPS, 19 HR – $2,387,000

• I’ve NEVER been sold on this guy. I think his "tools" have always been terribly overrated, and I would probably bet money that his 2006 season was a fluke. Still, you can’t argue with the numbers he put up last year, and he would’ve been a solid addition to this club. He also plays very good defense. Strikes out too much, though.

Right Field — Jason Bay – .286 BA, .928 OPS, 35 HR – $1,000,000

• WOW – what a bargain! Bay is a masher, plain and simple, and he gets you a ton of production at a discount price due to his service time. He will terrorize pitchers in the middle of this lineup, and gives you a solid foundation to help build around for years to come.

Designated Hitter — Travis Hafner – .308 BA, 1.098 OPS, 42 HR – $2,700,000

• There’s nothing I can say about T-Haf that hasn’t already been said. Maybe the best hitter in the American League, he put up those numbers while losing 30 games to injury. He also comes nice and cheap – although that is certainly not going to last forever.

The Bench

• Juan Rivera, Outfielder — .310 BA, .887 OPS, 23 HR – $1,250,000
• Wes Helms, Utility — .329 BA, .965 OPS, 10 HR – $800,000

Synopsis
Of course there is no way that a team like this could have ever been put together, but its still fun to dream, right? The only real deficiency is that there isn’t much depth in the outfield, though I would probably give Brandon Phillips an outfielders glove and have him shag some flies during Spring Training. Still, I’m confident in this team’s ability to contend for the World Series.

The starting lineup looks like this:

1. SS – Hanley Ramirez
2. LF – Carl Crawford
3. RF – Jason Bay
4. DH – Travis Hafner
5. CF – Gary Matthews
6. 1B – Nick Johnson
7. 3B – Rich Aurilia
8. C – Josh Bard
9. 2B – Orlando Hudson

I like our chances. I think I’m going to pop this team into Out of the Park Baseball over the weekend, and have it play 162 games against the 2006 Cardinals, and see who comes out on top.

Come back tomorrow for a very special post.

Double-header today! First, we’ll cover the infield of the $35 million team. Not a bad group if I say so myself.

Catcher — Josh Bard – .338 BA, .943 OPS, 9 HR – $353,000

• Went from a bad situation for him in Boston to a great one in San Diego, and he truly delivered, having a great season (albeit in only 93 games). For nearly the league minimum, Bard provided one of the better OPSes of any catcher in baseball, and he the position very well. You really can’t do much better.

First Base — Nick Johnson – .290 BA, .940 OPS, 23 HR – $3,200,000

• There’s quite a few mediocre and highly-paid players at the first base position, and Nick the Stick is a little more expensive than I would’ve liked, but he also put up really good numbers over the course of the season. His injury history worries you, but he’s still in the upper tier of first basemen, in my opinion.

Second Base — Orlando Hudson – .287 BA, .808 OPS, 15 HR – $2,300,000

• Second base was a tough position to get cheap production from in 2006, but for just over $2 million, you could do a lot worse than Hudson. He’s not the fastest or most powerful bat in the lineup, but he’s not exactly an automatic out, either.

Third Base — Rich Aurilia – .300 BA, .867 OPS, 23 HR – $1,300,000

• He’s obviously on the other side of the fence as far as age goes, but surprisingly, his numbers weren’t terribly altered by his park (Home/Road splits are fairly even). 23 homers for only a million dollars – at a premium position like the hot corner – you can’t beat that.

Shortstop — Hanley Ramirez – .292 BA, .833 OPS, 17 HR, 51 SB – $327,000

• I almost feel cheap picking Hanley for this team, but he DID make his debut with the Red Sox, so he fits within the rules. The NL Rookie of the Year had a great 2006; based on his position, age, and salary, is there a better pick at any position?

The Bench:

• David Ross, backup Catcher — .255 BA, .952 OPS, 21 HR – $500,000
• Jose Valentin, Infielder — .271 BA, .820 OPS, 18 HR – $912,000
• Brandon Phillips, Infielder — .276 BA, .751 OPS, 17 HR – $327,000

Well, no update except for this update saying that there is no update, which I suppose is an update in and of itself.

Either way, because of Valentine’s Day stuff, the next installment of "What could $35 Million Buy" will wait until tomorrow, and I’ll give you a double-dose with both the infield and outfield.

Also, keep an eye out for a very special post Friday morning.

Okay, so maybe PETA hasn’t actually made any statement regarding the Rays acquisition of Jae Kuk Ryu, but you have to figure that they are none too pleased at the 2003 incident in which the Korean Killer (I’m gonna try that name on and see if it fits) took out the Daytona Cubs’ mascot Ozzy the Osprey. According to sources, the Osprey had it coming to him, inciting Ryu with such taunts as "Chirp Chirp" and looking at him funny from time to time.

A lot of people on these here Internets seem to look at this as a good deal for the Rays, which it very well may be, but I have a hard time getting excited about a 23-year old that the oft-injury depleted Cubs were willing to give away for the equivalent of a half-eaten pizza and flat Diet Coke from Papa John’s. Keep an eye on him this spring – he will likely break camp with the club, though in what role remains to be seen.

To see the back story behind this, and to see what rules I used, see my post from yesterday.

Now, on to the fun! Though I’m not necessarily thrilled with who I’ve got closing on this team, the bullpen is a solid foundation. They are a little long in the tooth, but the proof is in the pudding, as these guys all put up good numbers in ’06 while making virtually no money at all.

Cla Meredith — 5-1, 1.07 ERA, 50.2 IP, 0.711 WHIP; $327,000

• You could argue that he was the best reliever in baseball last year. His strikeout numbers don’t blow you away, but he gets people out and that’s all you really need. With just one full major league season under his belt, it will be interesting to see how he continues to grow and mature as a pitcher.

Dennys Reyes — 5-0, 0.89 ERA, 50.2 IP, 0.987 WHIP; $550,000

• Reyes is one of the two lefties in my pen, and comes with a bit more mph behind his pitches, striking out just less than 1 per inning. His 2006 stats are a complete anomaly when put up against the rest of his career (he was a 29-year old 10-year veteran, by the way), and I wouldn’t expect him to put those kinds of numbers again in 2007. Still, as far as last year goes, you couldn’t get much better in a setup role.

Dan Wheeler — 3-5, 2.52 ERA, 71.1 IP, 1.150 WHIP; $930,000

• Former Ray Dan Wheeler coming home on the $35-million team! The numbers aren’t as flashy as the first two, but Wheeler gets the job done out of the bullpen, and he did so for a bargain price considering the going rate for serviceable relievers in the big leagues. He tends to give up the long ball, which is something to look out for when using him in key situations, but his nasty slider can get any hitter out.

Jon Rauch — 4-5, 3.35 ERA, 91.1 IP, 1.248 WHIP; $335,000

• Though Rauch isn’t bad by any stretch of the imagination, it was at his selection where it started to get a little more difficult filling out the bullpen. Obviously, these numbers are much better than most any other middle reliever you’ll find, but none of his stats jumped out as eye-popping to me. Another pitcher with home run problems (he gave up 13 in 91 innings), he’s a "tools" guy with a good physical presence on the mound.

Darren Oliver — 4-1, 3.44 ERA, 81 IP, 1.123 WHIP; $600,000

• I know. I thought the same thing you did when he resurfaced with the Mets. Isn’t this guy like 53 years old? Actually, he was 36 last year, and he had a bit of a career renaissance, helping to stabilize the Mets bullpen. He doesn’t scare you anymore, but he’s got a good cutter, can give you some innings if you need them, and doesn’t walk too many batters. Plus, he’s a lefty, which means that someone will give him a look until he’s about ninety years old.

And finally…

Salomon Torres — 3-6, 3.28 ERA, 93.1 IP, 1.457 WHIP; $1,520,000

• I suppose Torres is the closer by default on this team, which scares me a little bit because he’s not that great. Still, the talent pool drops sharply around this area – at least in terms of trying to get pitchers that are affordable on the meager budget we are working with. This guy is a workhorse, appearing in 94 games last year, and he saved 12 for the Pirates. He walks a few too many, strikes out a few too few, and if you were looking at him as a closer, you’d put him in the lower-eschelon in the big leagues. This team is a definite candidate for closer-by-committee, but at least Torres gives you an innings-eater at the back of the pen.

So, there you go! Another $4.262 million down for a grand total of $11.064 million spent on our pitching staff. That leaves us with a nice paltry $24 million to spend on our position players. Tune in tomorrow for the infielders!