Beltre To Rays?
by Rob T. ~ July 28th, 2008
Jim Street has an interesting blurb at mlblogs:
With the clocking ticking towards the Thursday afternoon non-waiver trade deadline, the Mariners reportedly are considering deals that would include left-handed pitcher Jarrod Washburn (Yankees), third baseman Adrian Beltre (Rays) and left fielder Raul Ibanez (Mets).
This is the first I have heard of this rumor. You might be thinking why would the Rays trade for Beltre when they have Longoria? Well, Longoria is capable of playing SS even though he has never played there before, and even though Bartlett is a great defender he gives them absolutely nothing offensively, so trading for Beltre would greatly improve their offense while only slightly hurting their defense. The Rays would be the perfect team to trade with as their farm system is stacked and they should be more willing to trade off some of their top tier prospects than other teams, except David Price because he is untouchable.
UPDATE: Rumor busted. See comments.
6 Responses to Beltre To Rays?
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1 July 28th, 2008 at 4:29 pm
Interesting stuff. The Rays would indeed be a perfect team to trade with. Longoria has started one game at shortstop this season, if I remember correctly. I don’t fully trust Jim Street, though. He comes up with some pretty dopey things sometimes (like putting Jose Vidro at Edgar Martinez’s level).
And, more importantly, Longoria getting bumped to SS would help my fantasy team immensly!
2 July 28th, 2008 at 5:52 pm
I hate Jim Street. The drays bay blog emailed him and all he said was he copied an article that speculated the Rays could be interested in Beltre. Apparently Street can’t come up with his own information.
“Elsewhere, the Rays and Mariners are worth watching, for entirely different reasons. The Rays for the first time have reason to invest, while the woebegone Mariners look to divest.
Rays manager Joe Maddon could use a right-handed bat, a southpaw for the back of the bullpen and a starting pitcher. The Mariners, trying to fit Jarrod Washburn into the Yankees plans, could fill all the Rays’ needs with Adrian Beltre, Arthur Rhodes and Erik Bedard. Seemingly everyone but Ichiro Suzuki is available in Seattle, with the Mets angling for Raul Ibanez’s productive bat.”
http://cincinnati.reds.mlb.com/content/printer_friendly/mlb/y2008/m07/d28/c3211613.jsp
3 July 28th, 2008 at 6:35 pm
^Tim at MLBTR just emailed me that link as well. Street is an idiot.
4 July 29th, 2008 at 1:24 pm
I’d love to deal into the Rays farm system.
But, this being debunked, I’m okay holding onto Beltre a little while.
5 July 29th, 2008 at 3:52 pm
How about we trade our major league roster for the Rays’ AAA team?
6 July 29th, 2008 at 4:21 pm
^they’re not that stupid