Around the Dock

I hope all of you have enjoyed a great holiday season so far and that the time has been even more enjoyable than you hoped it would be. Even though there is no baseball this time of year, I love this time of season because of the extra time with family and friends as well as the persistent energy of my children who struggle to contain their excitement about Christmas. I could barely get them to sleep the other night so I could spend the time setting up the train that Santa had left under the tree for my son.  While I have been busy with family and friends, here are some of the Rays-related happenings in recent days:

• Pat Burrell was named one of the ten least valuable players of this decade by ESPN’s Jayson Stark.  Fangraphs shows just how bad it has been the last four years for Burrell and DRaysBay does a good job of grading Stark’s ranking.
• John Romano discusses Fred McGriff’s Hall of Fame Chances.  Before the Rays even existed, I was a huge Fred McGriff fan so I cannot even pretend to be unbiased about this topic. I hope McGriff gets in because I think his numbers are hurt by playing in a “medicated” generation but I know McGriff’s chances are slim this year. I am more concerned with voters ending the ridiculousness of keeping Bert Blyleven out of the Hall of Fame so far.
• Both Jeremy Hellickson and Desmond Jennings made Baseball America’s Top 20 prospect list for 2009. I am amazed that Hellickson jumped right over Wade Davis on these lists in one season. People were impressed with Davis last year at both levels so for Hellickson to jump him like this speaks to just how good his breakout season was.
• B.J. Upton has joined Twitter – the account has been verified by MLB
• Baseball America announced their Top Ten prospects for the Rays organization. In the accompanying chat, Bill Ballew said Rays’ prospect Matt Moore has a chance to be the #1 overall prospect in baseball this time next year. Wow!
• We are officially under 100 days until the first pitch of the 2010 season. 99 days if you count the Sunday night game against our two most hated enemies but 100 days until the Rays home opener. Re-live B.J. Upton hitting for the cycle to tide you over for today.