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Gossip around here is a three way trade with the Bosox and Mets, with - [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/ohmy.gif[/img] -ManRam coming to the Rays.
Danys Baez and Huff are part of it on TB's end.
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http://www.sptimes.com/2005/11/09/Rays/Roc...s_to_Rays.shtml
Rocco commits to Rays
The young centerfielder, impressed with the new management team, is ready to sign a six-year contract.
By MARC TOPKIN, Times Staff Writer
Published November 9, 2005
INDIAN WELLS, Calif. - Outfielder Rocco Baldelli likes what the Devil Rays' new ownership and management has done. He showed how much by agreeing to six-year contract that could be worth about $33-million and keep him with the Rays through 2011.
Baldelli, 24, missed all of last season because of surgeries to repair serious left knee and right elbow injuries. But he is expected to be fully recovered by spring training, and the Rays are taking what amounts to a calculated risk that he will return to the promising form he showed in 2003-04.
The contract, expected to be announced at a Thursday news conference, covers three seasons of arbitration eligibility and his first three seasons of free agency.
"I'll be a Devil Ray for a while," Baldelli said by telephone. "I didn't just do this to do a deal. I want to win. I like what I've seen from the new ownership, and I think this is going to be a winning organization and I want to be there."
The first three years are guaranteed, with the Rays having some protection against further injury with incentives based on plate appearances. The Rays have two team options that cover his three free-agent years, though there is a hefty buyout if they decline the options.
The deal is similar in structure to the one the Rays made last spring with Carl Crawford, which included $15.25-million guaranteed and could be worth $32.5-million over six years.
The biggest difference is that the Rays have options for two free-agent years with Crawford and three with Baldelli. The biggest news is that if all goes as planned, the Rays can keep two young centerpiece players in uniform for years without worrying about being unable to afford them and losing them to big-market teams, one of the primary philosophies of new principal owner Stuart Sternberg.
Baldelli has been talking on and off for months about the deal with Andrew Friedman, Rays executive vice president of baseball operations. Team officials declined comment Tuesday.
"I'm pleased with how it's gone," Baldelli said. Coming off two solid seasons in which he hit .285 with 27 homers and 152 RBIs, Baldelli sustained a freak injury in October 2004, tearing the ACL in his knee playing with younger brother Dante in the backyard of their Rhode Island home. After months of grueling work, he was two weeks from starting a minor-league rehabilitation in June when he tore the ulnar collateral ligament in his elbow and had Tommy John surgery.
Baldelli said he has been recovering well, though he's limited to throwing at short distances, and plans to be ready for spring training. As part of the deal, he had extensive physical exams and "the doctors said everything was good."
Baldelli severed ties last year with agent Scott Boras and plans to hire Casey Close, who will look over the deal before it is signed.
Danys Baez and Huff are part of it on TB's end.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.sptimes.com/2005/11/09/Rays/Roc...s_to_Rays.shtml
Rocco commits to Rays
The young centerfielder, impressed with the new management team, is ready to sign a six-year contract.
By MARC TOPKIN, Times Staff Writer
Published November 9, 2005
INDIAN WELLS, Calif. - Outfielder Rocco Baldelli likes what the Devil Rays' new ownership and management has done. He showed how much by agreeing to six-year contract that could be worth about $33-million and keep him with the Rays through 2011.
Baldelli, 24, missed all of last season because of surgeries to repair serious left knee and right elbow injuries. But he is expected to be fully recovered by spring training, and the Rays are taking what amounts to a calculated risk that he will return to the promising form he showed in 2003-04.
The contract, expected to be announced at a Thursday news conference, covers three seasons of arbitration eligibility and his first three seasons of free agency.
"I'll be a Devil Ray for a while," Baldelli said by telephone. "I didn't just do this to do a deal. I want to win. I like what I've seen from the new ownership, and I think this is going to be a winning organization and I want to be there."
The first three years are guaranteed, with the Rays having some protection against further injury with incentives based on plate appearances. The Rays have two team options that cover his three free-agent years, though there is a hefty buyout if they decline the options.
The deal is similar in structure to the one the Rays made last spring with Carl Crawford, which included $15.25-million guaranteed and could be worth $32.5-million over six years.
The biggest difference is that the Rays have options for two free-agent years with Crawford and three with Baldelli. The biggest news is that if all goes as planned, the Rays can keep two young centerpiece players in uniform for years without worrying about being unable to afford them and losing them to big-market teams, one of the primary philosophies of new principal owner Stuart Sternberg.
Baldelli has been talking on and off for months about the deal with Andrew Friedman, Rays executive vice president of baseball operations. Team officials declined comment Tuesday.
"I'm pleased with how it's gone," Baldelli said. Coming off two solid seasons in which he hit .285 with 27 homers and 152 RBIs, Baldelli sustained a freak injury in October 2004, tearing the ACL in his knee playing with younger brother Dante in the backyard of their Rhode Island home. After months of grueling work, he was two weeks from starting a minor-league rehabilitation in June when he tore the ulnar collateral ligament in his elbow and had Tommy John surgery.
Baldelli said he has been recovering well, though he's limited to throwing at short distances, and plans to be ready for spring training. As part of the deal, he had extensive physical exams and "the doctors said everything was good."
Baldelli severed ties last year with agent Scott Boras and plans to hire Casey Close, who will look over the deal before it is signed.
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