I very much enjoyed John Romano's column on the Rays' "All-Star Team" (An all-time team to shame the Spiders, July 17). He misses one major individual, however, the man who is responsible for this awful mess. Vince Naimoli may be a public relations nightmare, but he is not responsible for the team on the field. That responsibility lies with our crack GM, Chuck "Trader" LaMar.
Boggs and McGriff aside, this guy has not completed a successful trade or signed a quality free agent in the eight seasons he has been with the team. During that time he has spent more than $200-million of the organization's money on overpaid losers, most of whom are no longer playing the game.
Even his supposed strength, player development, is suspect. He has spent some $25-million on prospects such as Wilder, White, Hamilton, Kelly and Seay, and all we have to show for it is a few innings of middle relief. He is about to drop $5-million on a 17-year-old who never has swung a wooden bat or seen a backdoor slider. Wilder or Rocco? Who knows? Meanwhile, the team has six homegrown players on its major-league roster with any upside. That's one a year for an organization touting player development.
The Rays seem to have no trouble paying off players like Vaughn for nonproduction. Why is the architect of this mess still on the job?
-- David Egbert, St. Petersburg
Forget about Prospal
So Prospal is gone, but if the destiny of the Lightning depends on one player, then the fans and team are truly in trouble. Who knows what kind of year he'll have? We'll still have Khabibulin, Andreychuk, Lecavalier and St. Louis. Maybe Modin will step up and make us forget Prospal altogether. Remember, great players do not necessarily take a team into the playoffs (see N.Y. Rangers). Let's not be judgmental about Davidson and the Lightning until the final horn sounds in April.
-- David Lubin, Tampa
[Last modified July 27, 2003, 01:33:08]
