So I know I'm a day late with this post, but hey I'm planning a freaking wedding here and have more important priorities. Anyway I just had to add my two cents in on Pat the Bat signing with the Rays. First off this is a great deal for Tampa Bay. They get a solid DH for only $8 million a year and got a two year deal. The risk here is very small and Burrell rounds out their lineup perfectly. As good as Tampa Bay was last year, they didn't hit lefties very well and had sub par production from the DH spot. With the Yankees upgrading their roster and the still dangerous Red Sox lurking the Rays needed to upgrade their offense. The biggest positive for Rays has to be the fact that management has shown a willingness to add salary when they believe they have a competitive team. This is not bringing in Cliff Floyd or Juan Rivera. The other aspect of course is that it appears as though the Rays front office made moves with the expectation that both their run prevention would slide a bit and that expecting 180+ innings of 3.50 ERA or less from David Price is probably not realistic. Upgrading their offense was necessary to help counter act some natural regression from their pitching and defense. Add the Matt Joyce signing and you have the Rays making strong moves to upgrade RF and DH. Tampa's front office seems to be up to the challenge of competing in the AL East.
For Burrell this has to be a bit of a let down contract wise. His last contract had him earning $14 million last year. He also signed for less annual salary and years than either Milton Bradley or Raul Ibanez. However the league switch is clearly a good idea for him and who knows, maybe DHing will help reduce the ankle problems he seems to have to deal with for a month or so every year.
Pat the Bat came to Philly with much hype as an MVP foundation type player and while he never quite reached those expectations, his career was more success than failure and the last 4 years saw him as perhaps the best LF in the NL. He leaves the Phils number three all time in HR, 5th in walks, 7th in RBI and in the top 20 for TB and OBP. His final Phillies line:
257/367/485 with 251 HR/827 RBI/253 DB/2200 TB, 8 20+ HR seasons and 4 30+. His final OPS+ as a Phil was 119 and he contributed 47.7 WARP3. Pat, it was good to see you play and I hope the Rays enjoy your 30 HR's and 90 BB. Best of luck.
