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Great defense, great locker room presence.....

But damn, other than the few weeks a year that he goes on a tear.....Pena was a black hole in the lineup.

Hopefully he'll do better than the Mendoza line this year.

I think that it is a good sign. Gives the rays more power in the lineup and I can stand the strikeouts as long as he hits 30 HR and around 90 RBI, which is very possible. 28 HR and 80 RBI last year with Cubs so very possible with Jennings, Upton, Zobrist, and Longo in the lineup with him.

Diehardmagicfan wrote:I think that it is a good sign. Gives the rays more power in the lineup and I can stand the strikeouts as long as he hits 30 HR and around 90 RBI, which is very possible. 28 HR and 80 RBI last year with Cubs so very possible with Jennings, Upton, Zobrist, and Longo in the lineup with him.

The trade off by not resigning Kotchman with his .300 average, is that Kotchman provided zero protection for Longoria and didn't drive in runs.

Both players defense is about equal, but yeah, I think the Rays need more beef than Kotchman was capable of providing.

I love this signing. it reminds me of the Magic letting Hedo go in free agency just to trade for him the year after. lol

While he doesn't have a great BA or OBP, he demands respect from pitchers for his power, so that's something that was missing in our line-up from last year, aside from Longo.

craig01 wrote:

Diehardmagicfan wrote:I think that it is a good sign. Gives the rays more power in the lineup and I can stand the strikeouts as long as he hits 30 HR and around 90 RBI, which is very possible. 28 HR and 80 RBI last year with Cubs so very possible with Jennings, Upton, Zobrist, and Longo in the lineup with him.

The trade off by not resigning Kotchman with his .300 average, is that Kotchman provided zero protection for Longoria and didn't drive in runs.

Both players defense is about equal, but yeah, I think the Rays need more beef than Kotchman was capable of providing.

I'm just not a believer in Kotchman repeating his 300 average. So next year all he will be providing is an average that is in the middle of the pack and defense. I think the tradeoff is not too high.

The Real Dalic wrote:I love this signing. it reminds me of the Magic letting Hedo go in free agency just to trade for him the year after. lol

How that turn out?

kmgarnett21 wrote:While he doesn't have a great BA or OBP, he demands respect from pitchers for his power, so that's something that was missing in our line-up from last year, aside from Longo.

Agreed