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It appears we've seen the last of Rocco Baldelli in a Rays hat and uni. I think it goes without saying that I and every other Rays fan hopes Rocco does well wherever he lands, but man, this is about as surreal as it can get.

Things just didn't work out with Rocco and the Rays at no fault to either side. Rocco's body may have betrayed him over the years, but as we saw over the years his heart, spirit, and mind were still strong and well. Rocco went through more than most of us could endure, and did so without ever lashing out as if he were some innocent victim at the hands of fate.

When news about a potential mitochondrial disorder broke last off-season many people, including myself, assumed he would never play another game as a Ray. In the minors, his performance was not awe-inspiring, but upon reaching the majors, he proved his bat still had some power. His body was still limiting his game, but Rocco had accomplished more by simply making it back to the majors than any baseball performance could have done.

The comparisons to Josh Hamilton are going to be numerous. Those are complete and utterly ridiculous. The two cases are nothing alike, and to compare Baldelli's situation to Hamilton's is being reckless and disregarding Rocco's upstanding character. Rocco didn't choose his body just like he didn't choose to be compared to Joe DiMaggio, yet never did Rocco come across as someone full of self-pity, never did Rocco try and make himself the object of sympathy, and frankly that tells me a lot more about his character and personality than his baseball statistics.

At the same time, the Rays had to move on, and so did Rocco. The additions of Pat Burrell and Matt Joyce designated Rocco as "odd man out" and frankly, that is the smart baseball maneuver. Andrew Friedman is one of the best general managers in baseball, and part of that involves separating emotions and off the field matters from his on the field maneuvers -- with one exception, that being the Elijah Dukes deal. I suppose you could call that his Jeremy Giambi trade.

Rocco still wants to play, but as a contender with limited roster spots, the Rays simply could not bank on his health. Yes, it will sting if Rocco wins a ring with his new team before the Rays do. Hindsight will kick in if Rocco defeats his greatest enemy and becomes a full-time player again, but right here, right now, this is the best move for both sides.

Even still, Rays baseball won't seem right without Rocco, and that's a testament to Rocco the person and the player.

Good luck Rocco.

Ed note: this was written prior to the Red Sox being verified as his new destination.

A post we'll update in order to track the progress of the bullpen search.

Troy Percival

J.P. Howell

Grant Balfour

Dan Wheeler

Chad Bradford

Joe Nelson

Jason Hammel

Derek Rodriguez

Jeff Niemann

Dale Thayer

Juan Salas

Jason Childers

Randy Choate

Julio DePaula

Mitch Talbot

Italicized = minor league contract

Bold = guaranteed 1 mil+

Underlined = out of options

Strikethrough = won't be in opening day bullpen

---

1/6/09

15 arms.

~7-8 spots.

4 making 1+ million (possibly five with Balfour)

3 on minor league deals.

2 out of options. (3 if you consider Derek Rodriguez)

1 with potential season-delaying injury.

Oh, and there's the potential Bradford could be dealt for salary relief, so things could get even murkier before spring training.

Outstanding contract alert! Outstanding contract alert! Just a day after Pat Burrell and Milton Bradley inked deals, Jason Giambi returns to Oakland. Giambi returning to the place where he was lionized as one of baseball's best sluggers during the past decade. It's an appropriate reconciliation, and comes on a contract with a base of one-year and 4.5 million. A club option for 5 million in 2010 isn't quite what Giambi was reportedly hoping for (a three year contract), but then again, perhaps Oakland was the exception to that demand.

The A's endured a somewhat disappointing Daric Barton campaign in 2008, but will now have a bit of a quandary on their hands. Neither Giambi nor Jack Cust should ever wear non-batting glove, but now one will have to in order to utilize both. Giambi seems like the lesser poison at first base, might the Athletics implement a platoon based on their pitcher's tendencies? For instance, when Dana Eveland is pitching (a heavy fly ball pitcher) play Cust at DH and field your best outfield defense. When a groundballer is playing, let Cust mosey in the outfield and put the plus-defender Barton get some reps.

In any matter, the contractual expectation of Giambi is to produce 0.8 wins. Worth 2.6 last season, 0.5 in 2007, and 3.4 in 2006 Giambi is up for the task. Of course Giambi was also worth 36 batting runs in 2006 and that's simply not happening in 2009, but even if we average his past two seasons Giambi averages ~1.5 WAR, which seems like a safe bet for 2009. If that does indeed come to pass, Giambi will earn the Athletics three million in gain.

Unbelievably, when a player is "average", that does not mean they're bad. It means average. As in: better than replacement level and fringe level, worse than superstar level and above average level. An "average" player is still worth ~2 WAR, mainly because replacement players are awful and yet still make up most of the minor league population (in terms of skills translating to major league success) which means average players are a valuable commodity.

Applying this information tells us of a difference in classification when dealing with average and replacement levels of talent. Ray Olmedo is a replacement-level infielder. The "average" version of him might be Asdrubal Cabrera. Gabe Gross is an "average" outfielder. Jason Tyner is a poor man's Gabe Gross. This will sound odd, but average talent is still good talent.

Smart teams recognize this and add average players in their cost-controlled seasons, less smart teams pay big money to these same players during free agency. Smart teams realize that fringe level players should be paid as such; others sign Aaron Miles for two years and 4.9 million. Generally though, unless your team is full of superstars (it's not) you can do a lot worse than having average players fill bench slots.

Bumped due to Burrell swamping yesterday.

Rightfully so, most are thinking about 2009 with Burrell, but that doesn't (nor should it) stop us from thinking about 2010. Using PECOTA (since 2006) and ZiPS comparables from previous years, I ran the FanGraphs age uh...graphs for each pair and Burrell. Let's just say I'm a little less encouraged about 2010's production than I was yesterday.

The comparisons:

Tim Salmon

Greg Luzinski

Jay Buhner

Dwight Evans

Andre Thornton

Randy Milligan

Gorman Thomas

Tom Brunansky

Morgan Ensberg

Jeff Burroughs

Ralph Kiner

Bob Bailey

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