Tampa Bay Rays news and links: In the past, Evan Longoria was the future

In the present, is he the present?

Way back in 2011 and 2012, The Hardball Times did “Franchise player drafts,” where they rated—ignoring contracts—who were the best players in the game to build a team around. They’ve dusted that off now, and will do another, but I link because of what it said in 2011.

At that time, the player THT staff most wanted to build a team around was Evan Longoria. Which is, you know, sort of what the Rays did. Looking back at that list, with 20/20 hindsight, was Longo the pick? Now there are trade rumors. Should there be?

Speaking of history, Adam got his dander up over the coverage of a game that happened nearly 15 years ago.

Rays Links

• Heading into the Winter Meetings, Jeff Sullivan is having a poll of what each fanbase thinks about their front office. Go enter!
• Rays Radio previewed the winter meetings priorities for the Rays.
• They’re old, but Topkin’s rundown of what he’s been up to, as a primer for the Winter Meetings.

• The Rays are having a FLASH SALE. I didn’t see Evan Longoria or Chris Archer listed.

Other Links

• Russell Carleton spit-balls about how it would be useful to measure pitcher effects on runner leads. It’s behind the paywall, but it’s a good thought and read.
• Miles Mikolas, who is not Shohei Ohtani, signed with the St. Louis Cardinals. Even before he signed, Jeff Sullivan had a good breakdown of him as someone in NPB we should be paying attention to.