12:12pm: It sounds like the Rays are moving close to a deal with Scott, tweets Topkin.
8:50am: Luke Scott is among the players the Rays have talked about, reported Marc Topkin of the St. Petersburg Times yesterday. Scott could be a one-year option for the Rays mainly at designated hitter. Reportedly ten teams aside from the Orioles have shown interest in Scott since he was non-tendered a month ago, but none of them had been revealed until now. Shoulder surgery ended Scott's season in July.
As we mentioned yesterday, Topkin talked to agent Scott Boras, who said Carlos Pena and Johnny Damon remain possible for the Rays.
Good fit to replace Damon, Pena to Baltimore (Total Oriole Move) and Damon to Toronto???…
Why Damon to Toronto? We have a ton of OF’ers already… and a decent DH…
Blind Guess… Turn one of their OF’ers into a 1B and move Damon to OF/DH.. No idea where he (Damon) will fit in
Damon to retirement?
Maybe he’ll be the next one squeezed out of baseball
Baltimore doesn’t need 3 160+ Strikeout guys in their starting lineup. See: Mark Reynolds, Chris Davis.
Not sure if you’ve noticed but the Orioles haven’t competed in 12 years, around the same time they purposely put a bad team on the field to draw down attendance, and lower TV ratings with the hopes that MLB wouldn’t allow a team to move to DC… so ya know.. player acquisition and development is not exactly a science in BirdLand…
I’ve noticed that it’s actually been 14 consecutive losing seasons rather than 12. I hardly doubt any MLB team is trying to “purposely put a bad team on the field”.
..But “okay” you can believe that. I think they were just flat out bad & didn’t make any legit attempts to sign some impact players + the development wasn nonexistant.
I thought MacPhail did a pretty good job w/ trades bringing in JJ Hardy, Adam Jones, Mark Reynolds for next to nothing.
I think he would have offered the $$$ to Free Agents if it wasn’t for their greedy owner Peter Angelos. Things could be a lot worse though we could have wasted money on Adam Dunn or Carl Crawford. I think Prince Fielder is a different breed & he would make a lot of people around him better on the 2012 O’s team.
Apparently the Rays want a wannabe political commentator in their clubhouse. More power to them. They made good choices last offseason.
Who cares about a player’s political commentary? I would be more concerned about the results on the field.
Generally, baseball players have enough common sense to keep their political opinions to themselves. I think the concern is that if he’s so tactless that he brings up loony opinions like these in baseball interviews, he may lack common sense and tact in other areas.
It doesn’t necessarily have to be the case. John Smoltz said some controversial stuff here and there, but was generally held to be a terrific teammate.
We can’t really know from our vantage point, but if I were a team, I’d sure put some feelers out to make sure the guy wasn’t going to be a problem.
I think the better Braves example would be John Rocker.
Nah. I mean, yeah, he said controversial stuff. But I was looking for an example of a guy who was uncomfortably outspoken politically, but was otherwise still a good guy and a productive player. Rocker was neither.
Rocker isn’t even a good example of the player who ruins his career by putting his foot in his mouth. From what we know now, steroids had quite a bit to do with his implosion. It wasn’t all just him being a loudmouth.
Yeah, but his birther views should fit in a little better down in FL
Haha, you obviously don’t know the state well.
Good fit for the Rays. You can get him cheap and if healthy he is a solid DH option.
Pena is a perfect fit to go back to the Rays. he was a good fit before and if he is smart would fire that agent of his, get someone to work in his best interest and then get him a 2-3 year deal so he might be able to land somewhere and finish out his career
Not sure Damon is an option for OF anymore. Now that Posada is retiring maybe back to Yanks ?
I would agree but the Yanks need a LH Bat that can play at the IF corners, not sure there is a fit for Damon esp with a younger, better and cheaper DH option in Montero. Just resigned Andruw as well. Like I said, I have no idea where he fits in.
Fair point considering their OF is pretty locked up barring injuries. The main starting three are going to be Gardner, Granderson, and Swisher, and against RHP they are all lefties. Damon doesn’t fit in the outfield there, even as a 5th OF. He also doesn’t fit at DH what with Montero primarily DHing (most likely) and the occasional ‘day off’ for the other guys (namely ARod and Jeter).
Scott is a fair match for the Rays. Relatively inexpensive, but a moderate risk. I’d be cautious about his shoulder surgery though- how likely will he regain his power? A good offensive year will get you 20 hr’s and 80 RBI’s- if he’s healthy. He’d bring some power to their line up. He is primarily a DH, but can spot start in left field and 1B in a pinch.
Another left handed hitter who can’t hit lefties. Not sure the Rays need this.
1) The Rays have a much better lineup against L than R right now without Kotch, Damon and Jaso.
2) Scott’s career OPS against LHP: .787 (vs. RHP: .859); last year: .781 (vs. RHP: .686). That’s not so bad!
Put him in the Rays lineup with their hitting philosophy and I’ll guarantee his strikeouts will rise.
Rays don’t need this guy.
A Right handed stick makes more sense for the Rays.
One good thing about Scott is he is not afraid to fire his rifle.
Not to nitpick, but the St. Petersburg Times changed to the Tampa Bay Times on January 1st.
I don’t really like this unless we trade for another power hitter. Scott would be okay at the DH, but who knows how healthy he’d be.
Luke Scott I view as a guy who could benefit by hitting in a tough lineup. Unfortunately the Rays can’t help him with this. Still, he’s decent, but I don’t see him producing much in an unproductive lineup.
Um, there are certain people who probably would hate Luke Scott and his 1920’s, crazy and insulting beliefs. Oh yeah and who knows how healthy he is, I will just take Damon back thanks.
Also we can’t trade Hager yet and that seems like a lot for Suzuki but to answer your question, the final bench spot would go to Guyer most likely.
This has be the trend of our off season, Lueke, Rodney, now Scott. Just getting guys no one likes.
Gives me hope.
– M. Bradley