Hold on. Why would you trade Evan Longoria after the run the Rays just made, going all the way to the World Series? He's young, he's - Oh, not him.
Well, Carl Crawford and B.J. Upton had off-years, so they can't really be the team MVP.
James Shields? Matt Garza?
Regardless, why on God's green Earth would an up-and-coming team like the Rays trade any of these guys.
They aren't, but they are looking to trade the little guy they named team MVP.
For some reason void of any logic or rational thought whatsoever, their "team MVP" was Jason Bartlett this past season. He of the averageish defense, good speed, and 82 OPS plus. That's right, the Rays' team MVP was a well-below-average hitter. He's got good range, but not great, defensively. He stole 20 bases, so there's that. I'm just trying to find some other legitimate reason he was voted their team MVP. Nothing stat-wise jumps out at me. He only played 128 games, so it's not like you can say something like, "with Longoria and Crawford hurt, he was the ironman of the team." You could try to say something about his attitude, I guess, but would his have really meant that much more than adding Troy Percival or subtracting Delmon Young and Elijah Dukes? And did they really win by staying positive, or by actually playing well?
What's great about this story, though, is that the Rays are apparently selling high on Bartlett. He obviously built up significant momentum with that prestigious Rays' MVP award, and now they are shopping him. It's a savvy move by the Rays front office, especially with help waiting in the wings.
One of the Rays' top prospects is shortstop Reid Brignac, who played at Triple-A Durham in 2008. Also, the Rays took another shortstop, Tim Beckham, as the top overall pick in last June's draft.A little-engine-that-could type isn't going to hold off actual major league talent, charitable team MVP awards notwithstanding.
I tell you what, I have to hand it to the Rays. They obviously doctored this team MVP award thing in an effort to up Bartlett's market value. A brilliant move to say the least, and that's why I like the Rays. They have moxie.
