So how exactly did the Rays get their World Series roster? Here's how.
Doin It Through the Draft
You know what sucking for a long time gets you? It gets you a lot of draft picks in the top 5. It gets you the "can't miss" prospects. Start with a core of top 50 draft picks and sprinkle in some late round steals and you've got the biggest building blocks.
David Price 2007 Round 1 Pick 1
BJ Upton 2002 Round 1 Pick 2
Evan Longoria 2006 Round 1 Pick 3
Rocco Baldelli 2000 Round 1 Pick 6
Carl Crawford 1999 Round 2 Pick 52 (1st pick of the 2nd round)
Fernando Perez 2004 Round 7 Pick 195
James Shields 2000 Round 16 Pick 466
Andy Sonnastine 2004 Round 13 375
Tradin Garbage for Gold
What's another step to forming a great team? Pulling off trades in which you completely rip off the other squad.
Scott Kazmir & Joselo Diaz from the Mets for Victor Zambrano & Bartolomé Fortunato. Nothing says rip off like 20 year old beast Scott Kazmir in 2004 for Victor Zambrano.
Matt Garza, Jason Bartlett & Eduardo Morlan from the Twins for Delmon Young, Jason Pridie & Brendan Harris. The Rays decided to go with pitching over hitting and traded top prospect Young and a solid shortstop for Top Prospect Garza and a solid shortstop. Not a complete ripoff.
JP Howell from the Royals for Fernando Cortez and Joey Gathright. Joey Gathright is fast that's it.
Edwin Jackson & Chuck Tiffany from the Dodgers for Danys Baez and Lance Carter. The Rays brought in Jackson hoping he would regain the form that made him a top prospect. He's been good at times but not great.
Willy Aybar & Chase Fontaine from the Dodgers for Jeff Ridgway. Never heard of any of these other guys.
Dioner Navarro, Jae Seo and Justin Ruggiano from the Dodgers for Mark Hendrickson & Toby Hall. Navarro was the starter over Russell Martin until he got hurt and when Martin played out of his head in 06 the Dodgers didn't need him anymore.
Grant Balfour from the Brewers for Seth McClung. Seth McClung was ok for the Brewers but I'm sure they would rather have Balfour back.
Ben Zobrist & Mitch Talbot from the Astros for Aubrey Huff. Huff was gonna be a free agent so they spun him off for 2 players. Not a ripoff really just a rebuilding move.
Dan Wheeler from the Astros for Ty Wigginton. Pretty even, but again trading hitting for pitching.
Chad Bradford from the Orioles for John Cass. Beat out other squads for Bradford's services.
Gabe Gross from the Brewers for Josh Butler. Never heard of Butler but I don't think Gross is really good.
Michel Hernandez from the Pirates for Cash. They essentially needed a backup catcher and got Hernandez on August 31st this year.
The Free Agent Market? Really the Rays do that?
Trever Miller 1 year 1.6 Million: They brought back old man Trever Miller and well, he's not that important.
Carlos Pena 1 Year 0.8 Million + 3 Year 24.25 Extension: Pena was signed off the scrap heap of both the Red Sox and Yankees in the 2007 offseason. He was signed to a Minor league contract and because of the great 2007 campaign was given a massive extension in January of this year.
Cliff Floyd 1 Year 3 Million: Clifford is a solid role model for the youngster but his time as a stud is long gone.
Akinori Iwamura 3 Years 7.7 Million: Not a superstar but an all around solid player. Gets the job done at leadoff and has a great glove.
Doin It Through the Draft
You know what sucking for a long time gets you? It gets you a lot of draft picks in the top 5. It gets you the "can't miss" prospects. Start with a core of top 50 draft picks and sprinkle in some late round steals and you've got the biggest building blocks.David Price 2007 Round 1 Pick 1
BJ Upton 2002 Round 1 Pick 2
Evan Longoria 2006 Round 1 Pick 3
Rocco Baldelli 2000 Round 1 Pick 6
Carl Crawford 1999 Round 2 Pick 52 (1st pick of the 2nd round)
Fernando Perez 2004 Round 7 Pick 195
James Shields 2000 Round 16 Pick 466
Andy Sonnastine 2004 Round 13 375
Tradin Garbage for Gold
What's another step to forming a great team? Pulling off trades in which you completely rip off the other squad.
Scott Kazmir & Joselo Diaz from the Mets for Victor Zambrano & Bartolomé Fortunato. Nothing says rip off like 20 year old beast Scott Kazmir in 2004 for Victor Zambrano.
Matt Garza, Jason Bartlett & Eduardo Morlan from the Twins for Delmon Young, Jason Pridie & Brendan Harris. The Rays decided to go with pitching over hitting and traded top prospect Young and a solid shortstop for Top Prospect Garza and a solid shortstop. Not a complete ripoff.
JP Howell from the Royals for Fernando Cortez and Joey Gathright. Joey Gathright is fast that's it.
Edwin Jackson & Chuck Tiffany from the Dodgers for Danys Baez and Lance Carter. The Rays brought in Jackson hoping he would regain the form that made him a top prospect. He's been good at times but not great.
Willy Aybar & Chase Fontaine from the Dodgers for Jeff Ridgway. Never heard of any of these other guys.
Dioner Navarro, Jae Seo and Justin Ruggiano from the Dodgers for Mark Hendrickson & Toby Hall. Navarro was the starter over Russell Martin until he got hurt and when Martin played out of his head in 06 the Dodgers didn't need him anymore.
Grant Balfour from the Brewers for Seth McClung. Seth McClung was ok for the Brewers but I'm sure they would rather have Balfour back.
Ben Zobrist & Mitch Talbot from the Astros for Aubrey Huff. Huff was gonna be a free agent so they spun him off for 2 players. Not a ripoff really just a rebuilding move.
Dan Wheeler from the Astros for Ty Wigginton. Pretty even, but again trading hitting for pitching.
Chad Bradford from the Orioles for John Cass. Beat out other squads for Bradford's services.
Gabe Gross from the Brewers for Josh Butler. Never heard of Butler but I don't think Gross is really good.
Michel Hernandez from the Pirates for Cash. They essentially needed a backup catcher and got Hernandez on August 31st this year.
The Free Agent Market? Really the Rays do that?
Trever Miller 1 year 1.6 Million: They brought back old man Trever Miller and well, he's not that important.
Carlos Pena 1 Year 0.8 Million + 3 Year 24.25 Extension: Pena was signed off the scrap heap of both the Red Sox and Yankees in the 2007 offseason. He was signed to a Minor league contract and because of the great 2007 campaign was given a massive extension in January of this year.
Cliff Floyd 1 Year 3 Million: Clifford is a solid role model for the youngster but his time as a stud is long gone.
Akinori Iwamura 3 Years 7.7 Million: Not a superstar but an all around solid player. Gets the job done at leadoff and has a great glove.
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