Tampa Bay Rays: Update 1.3 - 1st Place in Spring Training...Plus Idiots They Draft.

There's one thing I really have to say for the Rays. They are pursuing players, very important since they finished in the AL East cellar last year. But there's only one thing wrong and it's pretty important. They're pursuing the wrong ones...

We've seen it in the past. The Rays love to sign the very young flashy baseball players who generally turn to be awful classic AAers or those who have issues: on and off the field. Let's examine three players specifically:
1. Dewon Brazelton

'Who?' you instinctively yell. But if you look at the 2003 and 2004 Prospectus Books, you will see him everywhere! Dewon was the man for the Rays -- or at least, that's what commentators told us. Dewon was flashy. Dewon was fast. But Dewon wasn't ready for the Bigs and the Rays may have ruined his career. Let's take a look at Dewon's outrageous stats.

Pitching Statistics

Year	Team	Lg	Age	Org	Level		W	L	ERA	G	GS	CG	SH	GF	SV	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO	WP	BK	H9	HR9	BB9	K9	WHIP	GB%
2001	Mddle Tenn	NCAA	21		NCAA		13	2	1.42	15	15	11	3		0	127.0	82	34	20	6	24	154	9		5.81	0.43	1.70	10.91	0.83	--
2002	Orlando	Sou	22	Tb	AA		5	9	3.33	26	26	1	0	0	0	146.0	129	69	54	7	67	109	10	2	7.95	0.43	4.13	6.72	1.34	--
	Durham	IL	22	Tb	AAA		1	0	0.00	1	1	0	0	0	0	5.0	5	0	0	0	1	6	0	0	9.00	0.00	1.80	10.80	1.20	--
	Tampa Bay	AL	22	Tb	MLB	log	0	1	4.85	2	2	0	0	0	0	13.0	12	7	7	3	6	5	0	0	8.31	2.08	4.15	3.46	1.38	68%
2003	Bkrsfld	Calif	23	Tb	A+		1	5	5.26	9	9	0	0	0	0	49.2	62	33	29	4	19	42	4		11.23	0.72	3.44	7.61	1.63	--
	Orlando	Sou	23	Tb	AA		2	0	2.53	2	2	0	0	0	0	10.2	8	6	3	0	8	5	0		6.75	0.00	6.75	4.22	1.50	--
	Durham	IL	23	Tb	AAA		2	2	4.21	5	5	0	0	0	0	25.2	23	14	12	1	11	18	0		8.06	0.35	3.86	6.31	1.32	--
	Tampa Bay	AL	23	Tb	MLB	log	1	6	6.89	10	10	0	0	0	0	48.1	57	49	37	9	23	24	1	0	10.61	1.68	4.28	4.47	1.66	54%
2004	Durham	IL	24	Tb	AAA		4	4	4.71	10	10	0	0	0	0	49.2	61	35	26	0	15	38	2		11.05	0.00	2.72	6.89	1.53	--
	Tampa Bay	AL	24	Tb	MLB	log	6	8	4.77	22	21	0	0	0	0	120.2	121	71	64	12	53	64	2	1	9.02	0.90	3.95	4.77	1.44	34%
2005	Montgomery	Sou	25	Tb	AA		0	0	0.00	1	1	0	0		0	3.0	2	0	0	0	0	6	0	0	6.00	0.00	0.00	18.00	0.67	--
	Durham	IL	25	Tb	AAA		2	2	3.72	5	5	0	0		0	29.0	29	17	12	3	14	26	1	0	9.00	0.93	4.34	8.07	1.48	--
	Tampa Bay	AL	25	Tb	MLB	log	1	8	7.61	20	8	0	0	2	0	71.0	87	65	60	12	60	43	5	0	11.03	1.52	7.61	5.45	2.07	39%
2006	Az Padres	Ariz	26	Sd	Rk		0	0	0.00	1	1	0	0	0	0	2.0	1	2	0	0	2	2	0	0	4.50	0.00	9.00	9.00	1.50	--
	Portland	PCL	26	Sd	AAA		5	7	4.53	17	16	1	1	0	0	91.1	100	50	46	15	25	53	4	0	9.85	1.48	2.46	5.22	1.37	--
	San Diego	NL	26	Sd	MLB	log	0	2	12.00	9	2	0	0	3	0	18.0	28	25	24	6	9	9	1	0	14.00	3.00	4.50	4.50	2.06	35%
2007	Altoona	East	27	Pit	AA		5	5	3.53	15	15	3	1	0	0	86.2	88	37	34	5	17	52	3	2	9.14	0.52	1.77	5.40	1.21	--
	Omaha	PCL	27	Kc	AAA		0	4	7.11	4	4	0	0	0	0	19.0	24	16	15	3	8	14	0	0	11.37	1.42	3.79	6.63	1.68	--
Major League Totals - 5 Season(s)							8	25	6.38	63	43	0	0	5	0	271.0	305	217	192	42	151	145	9	1	10.13	1.39	5.01	4.82	1.68	39%
Minor League Totals - 6 Season(s)							27	38	4.02	96	95	5	2		0	517.2	532	279	231	38	187	371	24		9.26	0.66	3.25	6.46	1.39	--

STATS FROM THE BASEBALL CUBE

Now, you look at 13-2 and go "WOW!" But guess what, that's Middle Tennessee State University...That's where you should excel. In fact, Brazelton should have been tearing it up in the Minor Leagues. Six whole seasons of expertise in the minors gave him only a 4.02 ERA (which isn't bad, don't get me wrong...but it's the MINOR LEAGUES) and he went 27-38. So, he's ok, you say. No. Let's look at the Majors. 6.38 ERA, 8-25...This is pretty sad for Dewon. It's not his fault necessarily but this man was obviously not someone the Rays should have drafted. Do you know when they drafted him in 2001? Yeah. 1st round, 3RD PICK OVERALL. Do you know who was picked 5th? Mark Teixeira. Shame.

Next, we have Elijah Dukes.
He's had a few anger problems. He's been restrained twice. The guy was drafted from high school and has been acting irresponsibly the entire time. His stats, you say, should possibly make up for his behavior but no.
His career stats with the Rays:

	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	TB	BB	SO	SB	CS	OBP	SLG	AVG
2007	52	184	27	35	3	2	10	21	72	33	44	2	4	.318	.391	.190
Career	52	184	27	35	3	2	10	21	72	33	44	2	4	.318	.391	.190

Impressive???
If that's not bad enough: Saint Petersburg times reports "In late April, Tampa Bay Devil Rays outfielder Elijah Dukes barged into his wife's middle school classroom at lunchtime.

He was so irate that she ran to get the principal and a deputy, who banned Dukes from the property, records show.

His wife, who said she fears for her life, sought a restraining order and told the court it was the latest in a string of outbursts by the 22-year-old rookie player."

He got signed as a free agent and was paid 380,000 dollars. That could have been spent much more efficiently.

Lastly, the biggest head-case of them all: Delmon Young.

Now, for being so hyped up, he should have been amazing. Don't get me wrong: He's good. The Rays got Matt Garza for him via trade, which has really helped pitching out. But, Delmon did one bad mistake which involved getting banned from baseball for a year. Watch.

Why?? Why do we draft idiots from high school. Wait till they go to college, and mature a little. They'll get stronger and even better too ('roids not included).

Well. I'm a little annoyed by what has happened in our drafts. But there's time for improvement. After all, the Rays only started 10 years ago.

On a lighter note, the Rays are in 1st place of all the AL teams for spring training (7-1)

But hey, so were the Tigers in 2003, right?

Poll Update: AL East Winner

After reviewing the poll, we're shocked to see some of the results.
1. The Red Sox were voted as the winner (not a surprise)
2. The Orioles got second place
3. The Yankees received no votes.

But hey, let's watch the season first.

The Sixth Sense