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Longoria in, who is out?

Written by Paul Raymond in Saturday, April 12th 2008 under MLB, Rays

So much for not being ready for the major leagues. Tampa Bay Rays star 3B prospect Evan Longoria was called up to the majors from AAA-Durham and made his major league debut tonight against the Baltimore Orioles. I thought this guy wasn’t ready for the Majors??? Well, I thought he was but the Rays front office didn’t. But after only 7 games in the minors, he’s all of a sudden is ready??

Now lets get this straight first, Longoria was called up due to an injury to Willy Aybar, whom is currently on the disabled list. In his 7 games at Durham, Longoria is 5-25 with 0 extra base hits and 1 rbi. Great start, so why did the Rays call him up even with the injury is the question. The Rays currently have Eric Hinske and Joel Guzman who could all play third base, and quite capably for a 2 week period. It again makes you wonder why the Rays really sent this kid down to the minors saying he wasn’t ready. Could the rumors be true about the Rays just wanted to save money?

By starting the first 2 weeks in the minors, Longoria now has to wait an extra year to become a free agent. A player must spend at least 172 days on a ML roster to receive credit for a full season, by spending 2 weeks in the minors he can now only accrue 167. The Rays now own the rights to Longoria through the end of the 2014 season.

This whole thing just shows the dirty side of baseball, the business end. The Rays knew along Longoria was ready, no matter what they may say, and decided they want to keep his services. Luckily for this kid, he’ll still get almost the entire season in the show instead of against inferior talent at AAA.

So who’s going to go when Aybar comes off the DL? You’d have to consider the last roster spot would come down to Eric Hinske and Nathan Haynes. Problem, Haynes is out of options. So could a trade be worked out? Jonny Gomes or Hinske could easily become trade targets for a playoff contending team who wants a little more experience and pop off the bench. Will be interesting to see.

As, I finish writing this, Longoria just finished his first at-bat. It was a ground out to second.