Tampa Bay Does The Unthinkable

After only 6 Major League games the Tampa Bay Rays signed highly touted 3rd base prospect and former Long Beach Dirtbag Evan Longoria to a 6 year $17.5Mil contract that includes bonuses and extensions that can reach as high as $44.5Mil over 9 season. This guy has played in less than a weeks worth of real games and, yet, they felt confident enough to sign him to this sweetheart deal. I guess time will tell if this was a smart move, but considering the quality of their youngsters it might just be the right move.

As some of you know, the Rays have been aggressively tying up their young players to long term deals. They include Carl Crawford, Rocco Baldelli, James Shields, Carlos Pena, and Dan Wheeler. Furthermore, they are in talks with the agents of Scott Kazmir and B.J. Upton. So, I think their future is looking bright.

Now this news has got me thinking. Should the Dodgers do the same thing? Is there anybody on the Dodgers you would like to have signed up to a long term deal? How about any prospects that will be coming up soon or later this year?

Of course we would like to see Russell Martin signed up, but, as we all know, the Dodgers were rebuffed by Martin's agent over the Winter. Right now James Loney and Andre Ethier come to mind as potential beneficiaries of a long term deal. Also, if we wanted to take a risk I would sign Matt Kemp to a contract. Should we consider something along these lines for Clayton Kershaw, or how about Andy LaRoche? Should Blake Dewitt be considered at this time? These are tough questions that has me thankful I'm not a GM.