The recent cagey signing of Adam Kennedy to a minor league deal the other day is yet further evidence that the Rays under Andrew Friedman are just about the best run organization in baseball.

Not only are the Rays stocked up and down the system with an incredible array of talented prospects, but they are also stocked in AAA Durham with an amazing collection of major-league ready talent.

These are not just replacement-level mediocrities playing out the string. Virtually everyone on the team could easily be starting in the majors for the right team, and would have a reasonable shot to perform above replacement level.

Check out the projected 2009 opening day starters and rotation of the Durham Bulls:

C John Jaso – .820 OPS last season in AAA
1B Chris Richard – 26 homers, .922 OPS last year in 467 AAA at-bats
2B Adam Kennedy – solid infield glove and .276 avg for 10 seasons in the Show
3B Morgan Ensberg – former All-Star 3B for the Astros is still only 33 years old
SS Reid Brignac – one of the top prospects in the Rays system
LF Justin Ruggiano – .911 OPS including 11 homers and 20 SB in 66 AAA games last year
CF Fernando Perez – 43 SB at AAA last year
RF Matt Joyce – 116 OPS plus for the Tigers last season

SP1 – David Price – 12-1, 2.30 ERA (minors), 0-0, 1.93 (MLB)
SP2 – Wade Davis – 4-2, 2.72 (9 AAA starts)
SP3 – Jeff Neimann – 9-5, 3.59 (AAA)
SP4 – Mitch Talbot – 13-9, 3.86 (AAA)
SP5 – Ben Hendrickson – 10-9, 4.58 (AAA)

So who would have a better record if this team played the Royals 2009 schedule?

In all honesty it would probably be the Royals, but the point is that the Rays are certainly in good shape with some cheap in-house solutions if they run into any injury woes this year.

Due to trade deadline craziness, I’m a little late in getting the photos up from this game…sorry about that!

Here’s the entrance to the park. As you can see (if you squint) it was honey night. Saweeeet!

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We found Durham Bulls Athletic Park easily enough and were impressed right off the bat (so to speak). It’s a new, clean, spacious, very professional ballpark—you can really feel that third “A”—with no bumper boats or other pathetic gimmicks. Well, except for the large bull in left field, which will lash its tail, flash its eyes, and let smoke pour from its nostrils whenever the Bulls hit a home run. (Not sure why the bull looks so angry when the home team hits a dinger. Seems like it should be happy?) And yes, if you hit the bull, you win a steak. (Hit the grass on which the bull stands, and you win a salad.)

I was a bit confused as well by the left field wall, which is built to resemble the Green Monster at Fenway, but which is painted dark blue—with a pair of animalistic eyes glaring out—and covered with enormous light blue lettering that reads, “BLUE MONSTER.” Completing the Single White Female effect, they played Sweet Caroline in the 8^th inning. But either the Durham fans weren’t into the Neil Diamond singalong, or knew it was an import from up north, because it received a rather tepid reaction.

Nonetheless, let these not be construed as complaints—because it was an excellent place to watch a ballgame, and not just because 2008 marks the 20^th anniversary of the famous film. Now that the Bulls are the Triple A team of the Tampa Bay Rays, I was eager to get a look at next year’s crop of Evan Longorias.

I’d brought my Baseball America 2008 Prospect Handbook to the park, and we had a good time looking up the players in it as they came up to bat. I made some notes, which are now on a piece of paper somewhere in my car…so I’ll have to get back to you on that.

And apparently, Gary Gaetti is now Durham’s hitting/first base coach. That was pretty cool. We also got to see Morgan Ensberg and Tony Graffanino, both of whom were playing for the opposing team, the Buffalo Bisons.

As my gal pal pointed out, “Buffalo Bisons” is annoyingly ungrammatical (sort of like the Penascola Fishes, the Missoula Mouses, or the Des Moines Deers, all of which I just made up). She’s smart like that. For my part, it took me several seconds of pondering to figure out why the Buffalo team had chosen to call itself “the Bisons” at all. Go figure.

Alas, the Herd jumped out to an early lead, and held it, despite a late-game rally by the Bulls. This ended my streak of watching the home team win. I bought a couple of t-shirts in the gift shop, and we departed.

Right now, I need some coffee, and then to get back on the road again. Later tonight, of course, there will be photos from the Bulls game and a rundown of last night’s adventure, the Harrisburg Senators game. I’m sorry I’m falling behind! But it’s hard to type and drive at the same time.

“Hit Bull, Win a Steak.  Hit Grass, Win a Salad.”

The Durham Bulls’ bull, justly glorified in the 1988 movie “Bull Durham”, may have met its match yesterday in the form of Mother Nature herself.  As the story goes, any Bull who hits a homerun off of the wooden structure perched in left field wins a steak.  And yes, you guessed it – if a player hits the grass, he wins a salad.  What isn’t clearly defined by the slogan is what happens when Mother Nature ferociously rips the bull’s head off altogether.  From the Durham Bulls Media Relations:

“High winds with gusts over 50 mph ripped the head off of the Bull early Monday morning, ending the run of the junior bovine…’It was a sad sight to see when I arrived this morning,’ Durham Bulls General Manager Mike Birling said, “Mother Nature did what some pretty strong ballplayers never could.”

 Does this sadden anyone?  My friend Henry and I drove well out of our way to visit The Bull during a baseball road trip a few years back and were completely satisfied with what we experienced.  The Bull, a staple of the new ballpark in Durham, came complete with red eyes, smoking nose and lifted tail whenever the hometeam hit a home run.  In my opinion, the Bull successfully symbolized the roots of American baseball cinema…if there is such a thing.   

While reflecting on the beheaded bovine, I will take solace in the fact that the team has already contacted a “veterinarian of sorts” to put the Famous Bull back together again.  In the meantime, I hope Mother Nature enjoys her steak.