Expletive Deleted...

I have never used an obscenity on this blog before, I hope that I have readers and I hope that some of them are young and impressionable and for that reason I keep the text vulgarity free to make it suitable for all ages and audiences. Trust me when I tell you that as I type these sentences, I am most definitely screaming very inappropriate things at my computer screen. I had a pretty good day today. I went to school, went to the doctor, hung out with my father, bought a bunch of packs of cards and went to work. It was an uneventful evening and a beautiful night. I got home with the intention of checking my e-mails and going to bed. I am on the mailing list for three different MLB teams, the Orioles, Pirates and Rays. I have ties to all three teams and like to keep up to date on them whether I check their websites or not. While perusing my e-mails I noticed one from Pirates.com that was titled “Pirates pick up Iwamura in trade with Rays”. WHAT??? There were no e-mails from the Rays, so I openied it, hoping it was spam or some sort of a joke. It looked pretty official, but I still had to double check and read it from a few different sources before I believed it. Well, I can’t freaking believe it, but it does seem to be true. The e-mail from the Bucs didn’t say who they gave up; I tried to calm down and thought to myself, well if we got Zach Duke or Ross Ohlendorff that might not be a bad deal. Well, they didn’t get Duke or Ohlendoff. They got Jesse Freaking Chavez, a 26 year old middle reliever with limited stuff and no proven track record. A guy who in 6 years in the minors had a 21-30 record with a 4.36 ERA, a guy who came from Texas for Kip Wells and did a whole lot of mop-up work for the Bucs this year. He isn’t a bad pitcher, he eats innings and gets the ball over the plate, he doesn’t have spectacular stuff, but on a last place team he had a job as a middle reliever. He did pitch in 73 games last year, mostly short appearances; he worked a total of 67 innings and served up 11 homers. He was 1-4 with a 4.01 ERA; he had 15 holds and 4 blown saves. Like I said, he aint awful, but he’s nothing to write home about. He is no better than Chad Bradford or Dan Wheeler or Grant Balfour. He isn’t an upgrade, he’s just a body in the pen with little upside or potential to go much further. In other words, he isn’t what the Rays needed and when and if they find what they actually need, I wonder if there will even be room in the bullpen for Chavez. Akinori is one of my favorite players and I hate to see him go, but I understand the reality of the business side of the game, too. On the business side, Aki was one of their most valuable, tradable assets. Had the Rays used him in a package to unload Pat Burrell’s ridiculous salary, I would understand, had they gotten a closer or a legit starting catcher, I would have understood, but to get a right handed specialist middle reliever is a joke. I’ve been sitting here staring at this screen and cussing off and on for over an hour. I typed a lot of things about Aki, positive stats and reasons he was one of my favorite players. He is a winner and he brings a lot to the table, he didn’t single handedly bring a pennant to Tampa Bay, but he was a huge part of the team that brought that flag here and to lose him a pretty severe loss. His defense mainly, but his offense, his leadership, his work ethic and his winning presence will all be missed. I chose not to bore you all with his stats, or my favorite memories of him in Tampa Bay, or how I think that the Rays front office is ruining this team. I will say that the Pirates suddenly don’t seem so crazy for trading Freddy Sanchez and although I still think they are a horribly run organization, too, I really hope that they intend on building a winning team around Iwamura because he deserves to part of a competitive team because he is a competitor. I will always and forever bleed Rays blue, but since they hung that banner calling themselves 2008 AL Champs, they have gone downhill instead of up. It all started with the Burrell signing and each move since has been reactionary to that mistake. They went into the off-season with a whole lot of good pieces to the puzzle; they needed to sure up the bullpen, get a legit closer, chose a starting right fielder and perhaps get a starting catcher. What they have done so far was fire their exceptional hitting coach and trade away their Gold Glove caliber second baseman and not address any of their needs. It makes me wonder, did the Pirates not want Crawford? Couldn’t they thrown together a package and shipped Bartlett, Pena and Zobrist to Pittsburgh, too? Maybe throw Wade Davis and Jeff Niemann in on the deal as well… Since this is a business and all players are products, I imagine that they will sell every product that they can, which will leave the Rays with Pat Burrell and a bunch of third rate prospects. Then, we can change the team's name to the Tampa Bay White Elephants... I promised not to swear on here, but this is freaking bull… This really stinks and I am not happy. I know baseball is a business, but I don’t think this move is good business. I am freaking pissed. It is way past my bedtime; maybe after 12 hours of sleep I can tell you all how I really feel. Best of luck to you #1, hope things click for ya in the ‘Burgh, you will be missed in the Bay! Go Rays-Dismantle the team, not a happy troll out.