A baby’s on the way for All-Star third baseman Evan Longoria and his girlfriend, Jaime Edmondson. This is how Edmondson announced it on Twitter:
Then this happened and creeped us all (or at least me) out:
Congratulations to Longoria and Edmondson! May I get that image out of my head soon…
From the Tampa Bay Rays Facebook Page
With this being known around the country as “Cyber Monday,” Tampa Bay did Evan Longoria right, and made it “Green Monday” for their third baseman. Picking up all the options for his current contract, they added six years and $100 million to his deal. That means that he could be with the club until 2022, the year he turns thirty-seven. Longoria did not request a no-trade clause.
While there are no guarantees in sports, the deal comes off as a “plus” for both sides. The Rays appreciate what the hard-hitting Gold Glover brings to the team, and he loves being a part of the organization and community. While players’ salaries will more than likely continue to escalate over the years, Longoria is a great deal for the financially-strapped Rays, barring an injury.
How important is Longoria to the club? It can be argued that had he been healthy this past season, the club could have vied for a World Series title. Tampa Bay finished three games behind Baltimore and Texas in the wild card race this season, and that was with Longoria playing in only seventy-four games. Injuries are certainly a part of any season, but we’re talking about a player’s importance to an organization here, and it’s obvious: Tampa Bay wins when Longoria plays. This past season? The Rays were 47-27 with big number 3 in the lineup. That’s a percentage of .635, which translates to 103 wins over a full season.
As a high school student, I don’t know how in the world I ever passed chemistry. Sister Marlene may have simply felt sorry for me, closed her eyes, and written “C” on my report card. Or maybe she didn’t want to see me back in her class, and gave me a good enough grade to be sure I wouldn’t be back in the hope of improving my mark. But I fully understand the term “chemistry” when it comes to baseball, and Longoria improves the chemistry of the Tampa Bay Rays.
Part of that chemistry shows up whenever Joe Maddon puts the names on the lineup card. It’s easier to mix and match a lineup when you have someone to build around. But there’s also the chemistry of the dugout and locker room. It was obvious whenever you would spot Longoria in the dugout during his injury that he wanted to be on the field. But just as obvious was his desire for the team to do well. He was upbeat¸ and he was a leader.
With the winter meetings and wheeling and dealing just around the corner, it’s nice to know Longoria will be there to anchor the Rays. And rather than robbing the bank, he took a salary that will allow them to go out and get other players to complement him over the years. Evan Longoria and the Rays are together in this thing for the long haul. And winning is a high priority for this low-budget, small-market team. As a fan of the Rays, it feels like my birthday, or maybe even Christmas, has come early. And the Tampa Bay Rays and community will be better for having Evan Longoria around.
It took the Rays 14 innings to lose to the Orioles today. Take that as a silver lining if you will. I’m busy making this face with Evan.
Photo by Keith Allison
Also, is it just me or is Evan starting to look like a scruffy Mr. Schue from Glee?
Photo by Capital M
[Click on a photo to be directed to its source.]
Let’s start off on the right foot:
The Rays swept the Blue Jays and Evan Longoria went 3-for-5 on Thursday! Yayyyyyy. Is his presence alone enough to get the offense into a better groove? Like Joe over at Rays Index, I enjoy debating that.
And now for the not-so-good news…
The damn stadium debate continues. Here’s a headline from today’s Tampa Bay Times:
St. Petersburg official: I was kept in the dark on plans for new Tampa Bay Rays park
To quote Lil’ Jon, “Whaaaaat?!?”
Seriously, we’ve heard the song-and-dance of “We have a plan!” before, but keeping city officials out of the loop about said plan? Wonderful. Maybe by the time the Rays’ contract to play at Tropicana Field is over we’ll finally have an answer about a new stadium.
P.S. That contract is up in 2027.
By Keith Allison [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
Yes, he’ll likely spend a good bit of his time as DH and pinch hitter, but still. Evan’s back in the lineup. That’s a morale booster around these parts. Now let’s just hope that his hamstring is all healed up.
The Rays face the Jays at 7:10pm tonight at the Trop. James Shields takes the ball for Tampa Bay while J.A. Happ gets the nod for Toronto.
Photo from the Tampa Bay Rays
-The Rays won 10-1 over the Orioles last night. Nice change of pace, huh? Ryan Roberts, new to Tampa Bay’s lineup, got his first homer as a Rays player and Jose Lobaton picked up the first home run of his career.
-In case you’d like to get to know Ryan Roberts a bit better, you can follow “Tatman” on Twitter. He’s @RRoberts14.
-Due to the addition of Roberts, Hideki Matsui has been designated for assignment.
-Evan Longoria is starting his rehab assignment today! He told his teammates, “See you soon.” Hooray!
-If you missed out on getting a Zim Bear earlier this season, the Rays will be giving them out to the first 10,000 fans at their September 3 game against the Yankees.
I got my hands on one after the first giveaway so if I manage to snag another, I’ll offer it up to my Twitter followers.
I don’t think my sister wants another one of those creepy things in our apartment…
-The Rays close out their three-game series at Camden Yards with a 12:35pm game tomorrow. Tampa Bay’s James Shields will face off against Baltimore’s Chris Tillman.
I am doing my part to help the Rays win by writing during a game again.
Last night, I walked off to bed about an hour before Elliot Johnson hit a walk-off RBI single in the bottom of the 12th. The Rays improved to 15-8 on the season with the 3-2 win over the Mariners. Sadly, I was very much awake when Evan Longoria injured himself as he was caught stealing second.
Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reported today that Longoria has a partial hamstring tear and is likely to miss 6 to 8 weeks. Longoria’s own thoughts echoed those of many a fan:
“I think it sucks.”
Continuing with the bad news, prospect Tim Beckham was suspended from 50 Minor League games due to a second violation of the league’s drug policy. Beckham expressed regret for his actions. I hope there isn’t a need for regret from Time Beckham in the future. This isn’t a “third time’s the charm” kind of situation.
I’ll end this on a lighter note: The Rays are up 3-1 over Seattle heading into the bottom of the 5th. Matt Moore has allowed 7 hits and has 7 strikeouts so far on the night.
Off to Texas tonight.
Minimalism. It’s the theme of the first themed road trip of the season that will begin after the Rays face the Angels at 1:10 this afternoon.
MLB.com’s Bill Chastain wrote of the trip:
“It’s just a three-day trip and it’s a great opportunity for us to practice our minimalist tendencies,” said the Rays manager with a customary twinkle in his eye. “I’m hoping everybody just brings their little carry-on luggage, one pair of jeans, three shirts, some socks. Those who wear underwear, bring underwear, and your toiletries. And you can make a nice three-day event where it really cuts down on the amount of work that [the clubhouse staff has] to do.
“As we move forward into this century, I think minimalism is going to become a more popular concept. So we are just doing our best right now to promote that particular concept. We’re starting with our trip to Texas.”
I think I fall in love with our fair skipper a little more each day. And “those who wear underwear”??? Of course some of the Rays go commando. That only makes sense.
Speaking of minimalism…Chastain’s recap from last night’s win over the Angels is titled, “Rays do enough little things to squeak by.”
The Rays moved to 11-7 on the season with a 3-2 win over the Angels. Jeremy Hellickson improved his record to 3-0 with six innings of work.
Perhaps Evan Longoria took the whole minimalism thing a bit too far earlier this week when he wore a glorified diaper to a “Halloween in April” party. Rays Index has the disturbing photo.
Photo by Roxanne Jo Mitchell.
Last season, Joe Maddon told his team they were allowed to be hairy. This year, he encouraged them to shave their heads. Of course, there’s a method to his madness.
Our fair skipper came up with the idea to support the Cut for a Cure cause, but when all of the clippers were done buzzing yesterday, 71 members of the Rays’ organization, including owner Stuart Sternberg and GM Andrew Friedman, had gone “bald.” Sternberg also donated $25,000 to the Moffitt Cancer Center.
Cut for a Cure participants raise money, and buzz off their locks, to benefit the Pediatric Cancer Foundation and the Vincent Lecavalier Pediatric Cancer & Blood Disorders Center at All Children’s Hospital. Yep, that’s right, the Rays joined forces with Lightning Captain Vinny Lecavalier to help children and families battling pediatric cancer and blood disorders.
Bald can truly be a beautiful thing.
Based on his ability to tweet, I’m going to tell myself that Evan Longoria’s bruised hand is healing nicely.
On this lovely Friday during Spring Training, I noticed a trend in Longo’s tweets from this past week: The guy likes to eat and he isn’t only about the high-end stuff.
This recent theme of our third baseman (@Evan3Longoria) began last Friday when he tweeted a photo of Girl Scout Cookies.
» Continue reading “This Week In #Rays Twitter: Evan’s Eats”
