Sunday, May 09, 2004 |
Die, Devil Rays, Die: Part 2, The Revenge
CHICAGO - The Devil Rays have made some good acquisitions, picking up Julio Lugo when the Astros didn't want him, grabbing Paul Abbott before a market developed, trading for Tino Martinez at a huge discount.And they only found that out after they traded a promising infield prospect for him? I'm sorry, but an organization so badly run that their sole reason for being is to guarantee the rest of the teams in their division a dozen wins annually -- each -- is just wrong. They need to be contracted. This isn't just a mercy killing, it's about evening the odds for everyone in the AL West. Dammit, if we don't get any slack, neither should the Yankees.But the Jason Romano transaction was a bad deal.
The trade was made on the recommendation of a Rays senior scout, major-league consultant Syd Thrift, a former GM, expecting the former Hillsborough High star to provide depth at second base and shortstop.
The problem was Romano hadn't played the infield since the 2003 season and was no longer comfortable doing so. Rays officials knew something was wrong when they saw Romano's quotes in the local papers about not having taken ground balls in a year.
Whether Thrift thought he saw Romano play infield this spring, as he told Rays officials, or whether he just thought Romano could play the infield, as he claimed the other day, it was bad information.
Romano said as much Friday when he joined the Reds, who made it a total loss for the Rays by claiming him on waivers.
"They were looking for a middle infielder," Romano told Cincinnati writers. "They thought they saw me play infield in spring training, but I didn't play any in spring training. When I got there they saw I was more of an outfielder, and they've got a pretty good young outfield out there, so it wasn't really a good fit."
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