So in case you guys haven't heard, the Rays are everyone's sexy sleeper pick to have a huge year. Think the Arizona Diamondbacks with better offense. Well, if you don't want to believe in hype alone, look at their two latest deals.
First off, they claimed Dan Johnson off of waivers from Oakland. Dan is a potentially great hitter who is notoriously fragile. If you take his career averages for the three full years he has played and prorate them over 162 games, then he is a 20 home-run, 80 RBI threat with a .763 OPS. Those are great stats as long as you aren't expecting him to be your stud number 3 or 4 hitter. If he can stay healthy, the Rays just scored a solid DH while Cliff Floyd is injured.
Secondly, they signed Evan Longoria to a monstrous six year deal with three more club option years. The deal is actually very very cheap, but unprecedented as no other player has ever been signed to such a long deal after playing only six games in the majors. ZiPS projections have him as a possible 20 homer guy with a .350 OBP, which would make one of the best 100 players at getting on base...serious value considering the most they would pay him annually will be six million in 2013.
I've picked them to hover around the .500 mark this year(so far their Pythag record is 87-75) but sometime within the next five seasons, we could potentially see the first Devil Ray playoff run.
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