Welcome Home Carlos!!!

Okay, as always I am a little on the draw, but I felt like I needed to acknowledge this signing... Last week or month, or whenever it was, I wrote a long, long post about the Luke Scott signing... Disgruntled fan type stuff. I was seriously pissed off that the Rays weren't bringing back Damon and I felt that Scott was a huge downgrade from Kotchman offensively and defensively... I put together a list of 20 different free agents that I would rather the Rays went after who would be more productive, more beneficial to the team, more versatile and likely cheaper than Luke Scott. One of the name's on the list was Carlos Pena.Yes, he who barely lives atop the Mendoza line and strikes out more often than (insert clever zing here)...

I do acknowledge his shortcomings and know that Pena doesn't mean a World Championship, BUT he is a solid first baseman, a good lefthanded bat, a solid team leader, clubhouse guy and fan favorite and a guy who can provide real protection for Zobrist and Longoria. It allows Matt Joyce to stay in rightfield and Zobrist to live in the infield with Sean Rodriguez. Of course Tampa Bay still really needs a catcher, but now the brass can concentrate on filling that hole. I can live with DH by committee, but would be much happier if they did the right thing and brought Johnny Damon back...

Time will tell, but I am damn excited about the 2012 season. Pitchers and catchers will be rolling into town very soon and I will be there to greet them... Posts are sitting in the folder in wait... I keep saying I am back, but I keep on disappearing, so I will stop making false claims... I will just say that I love this hobby, I love this forum and I damn sure LOVE this wonderful game of baseball and this season is gonna be super special for me.

Why you ask? Well, I will tell you... My super awesome wife is starting a new (and much more lucrative) job this Monday. She will be working the same schedule as me and we will both be home at nights and just in time for the standard 7:05 start time... Aside from that my awesome Mother-in-law got us a sweet HD TV for Christmas and today my Wifey surprised me by getting cable installed INCLUDING the MLB Season Pass in HD!!!!!!! Did I mention that I love my Wife?

As an endnote - many of my wantlists have been cleaned up and updated AND I have introduced a NEW list... I am now chasing (and documenting said chase) 1979 Topps.

I had sort of forgotten about this quest until Scott from Smed's Cards hit me up with a surprise package of over 100 cards from that glorious set. A HUGE thanks to Senor Smed's for the awesomeness!!! I will, someday, post up some of the super sweet cardboard that Mr. Smed has shared with me...

Also, big ups to my homie the Cardboard Don who supplied the C. Pena illustration at the top of this post... I am very excited about Pena coming home, for real! I fully expect him to deposit 40 blasts into the rightfield seats at the Trop in 2012... It wasn't too long ago that as a member of the Rays Carlos Pena has been a Silver Slugger, Gold Glove, All Star, Comeback Player of the Year and homerun champion... Lets do it all again Los! Cheers to all! I love it! Go Rays!!! troll out.