Rays Securing Future

First off let me apologize for just now hitting on this topic. Birthdays and busted transmissions made for an interesting last couple of days, but any way.....

On Friday the Rays front office gave the fans another reason to have confidence in the team by signing prospect and phenom Evan Longoria to a long term deal. The contract, in a nutshell, will give the club control of Longoria for the next nine years, assuming they pick up all the options. Evan will be paid about 17.5 million of guaranteed money and has the chance to make as much as 45 million if all incentives are met.

Now the signing has been met with mixed speculation from around the baseball community. On one hand critics are surprised the Rays would put so much stock in a player with a whole two weeks of big league experience and the flip side of the argument is wondering why Evan would commit to such a long term deal when he could potentially make three times as much on the open market (assuming he lives up to all the hype). Personally I see it as a "win win" for both sides. The Rays get a gold glove, silver slugger, instant impact guy for nearly a decade, for what could be a very cheap price in the long run. And Longoria gets a sweet pay day now, and even if the contract goes the distance he will only be 31 and still be more or less in his prime.

So kudos to every one involved. Now if the Rays can just start playing like our friends to the south of us.