Knee injury for a player who spends half a season playing on artificial turf? That doesn't sound like a receipie for longevity.

It'll take a few more of these signings to prove to the fans that the Rays are worth paying attention to.

Without knowing the details, it sounds like a great deal for the Rays. They avoid three years of arbitration hassles, and have already set the price for Baldelli's first three years of free agency. If he becomes a decent player, they've got him locked up through his peak years. If he tanks, they buy him out in three years and wish him well.

I'll agree that Baldelli hasn't really proved himself yet, but if he improves like Crawford did after signing a similar deal last year, the Rays might have the makings of a decent (and cheap) outfield.

It's a pretty good deal for the Rays. Rocco is likely to settle in as an above average center fielder, good defense with solid enough offense. The key is the option years, probably only half of the contract is actually guaranteed. A contract like this will also make him attractive in trade if the Rays decide to move him later.

As David mentions it's also a positive thing for the fanbase. Rocco is probably the most popular player on the team so this creates goodwill and helps with the complete PR overhaul that has been going on since Sternberg took over.

I don't understand why everyone is praising this. Besides the fact that they kept their most popular player, I find this to be a rather silly deal. They have Crawford locked up to a good long term deal, they have Johnny Gomes and Joey Gathright at the majors, Delmon Young ready by the end of next year and at least one other good outfield prospect. A good move would be for them to trade Baldelli for pitching or a hitter in a position that the organization has a deficit of good young talent in. Not to block other cheap young talent from getting a chance.

Well, Adam, you bring up a good point. It would have been better for the D-Rays to trade Baldelli. But in a way, they've made him more tradeable by signing him to this contract. He's no longer arbitration-eligible so a team taking him on wouldn't get sticker shock from a potential arbitration loss. And the fact that his contract has three years of options gives a potential trade partner more flexibility. It would almost make sense for the Devil Rays to go ahead and in a few months ship Badelli off to one of the teams still looking for a center fielder (say the Yanks or Red Sox when the dust settles).

Additionally, Baldellli shows promising improvement. From 2003 to 2004, he improved his walk rates while cutting on K/AB. He's got a long way to go walk-wise before he could be a top-of-the-order kind of guy, but for $6 million a year on real grass, his would be a reasonable contract.

Let's see what the D-Rays do to maximize their talent overflow in the outfield...this is a good deal, for both Baldelli and the Rays, with good pay up front for the player and good flexibility on the back-end for the team....as Benjamin points out, it makes his trade value that much better, too.

Don't forget about Dukes - a toolsy of who actually takes a BB once and again. He could be better in years 1-3 than Crawford or Rocco were.

Dirt on the contract can be found on the Unofficial MLB site.

If Baldelli gets 600 PA next year, the deal is worth 13M over three years (due to 4M '09 buyout), which seems full-priced, even if he improves significantly upon his past performance (considering that these are arbitration years)...

If Baldelli doesn't hit 600 PA, it was probably due to injury, which would have meant a reduced arbitration salary. Though, the deal is still worth 9M in that case, which ain't cheap for an injured, non-free-agent, non-superstar CF...

But, at least they didn't trade him away for a mediocre veteran pitcher... :)

Since it's an incentive based deal with only 3 years guaranteed, I can see it making a bit more sense. It certainly makes Baldelli tradeable.

Yes, Dukes could and probably will be better than either Crawford or Baldelli IF he makes the majors. He's also a tempermental nutjob with a long list of transgressions both in baseball and out of it, as well as arrests. He isn't someone that can be counted on to fill a hole, though he may get things under control and do just that.

Anyway, as Benjamin and I have said, it's a very tradeable contract if he's moved.

You draft for potential, not pay out long-term deals based on it. Rocco is at this point a below average CF, who has been quite injury prone at a young age.

For $33M, TB could have went out and got a real star, not one that might be.