Buhner Dot Com Est. 2000, which is like 1947 in Internet years.

Beating a dead horse

Not to pick on Tampa, but here we go again. From ESPN.com:

The Rockies also claimed outfielder Michael Restovich on waivers from Tampa Bay. He started the season with Minnesota before the Devil Rays picked him up on waivers on March 31.

Restovich, designated for assignment when Tampa Bay signed Charles Johnson on Monday, will join the Rockies in San Francisco this weekend.

So the Devil Rays, whom earlier in the season looked to Danny Bautista to be their #4 hitter, couldn't find room on their 25 man roster for Restovich, who has shown 20+ HR power in AAA the last three seasons. Why? Because they had to make room for Charles Johnson, a 34 year old backup catcher, whom almost immedately left the team to handle a "personal matter". The Rays have Josh Phelps on their roster, who is officially listed as "DH" (judging by his major league career fielding numbers, this is understandable), and Eduardo Perez, a career .246 hitter in 11 major league seasons, whom is as much of a utility player as Gary Sheffield is.

For as many mistakes as Tampa makes and as little as they draw, you'd think that they'd throw caution to the wind and try out younger players that bring something "unknown" to the table, instead of players who are proving to be failures that might somehow bounce back in their mid 30s. But the Rays elect to keep Johnson, despite having Kevin Cash on their 40 man roster (and whom they gave up 22 year old prospect Chad Gaudin for) and players like Perez, Hideo Nomo, and Chris Singleton (who DHed last night) on their roster.

Really, if there wasn't this whole "big/small market" thing hovering over baseball, it'd be more obvious that the Devil Rays are easily the worst run franchise in baseball.