FanHouse WadeDavis

Wondering which young players could have an impact in the majors this year? Let MLB FanHouse guide the way in Better Know a Prospect. In this edition we look at three players from the ridiculously deep Tampa Bay system.

David Price, SP: Is this cheating? For all the hype David Price got in the playoffs, the guy's thrown 14 innings in the major leagues during the regular season and 19 2/3 total if you include the postseason. But the Rays think highly enough of young Mr. Price that they traded Edwin Jackson away for Matt Joyce over the winter to slot him into the back of their rotation. That's quite a show of faith in a guy that only made 19 minor league starts before getting the call for the stretch run, but Price deserves it. In his sprint through the minors last year he averaged a strikeout an inning with a 2.30 ERA and a nearly 3:1 K/BB. And we all saw his electric fastball and nasty slider in the playoffs. Ladies and gentleman, meet the preseason front-runner for AL Rookie of the year.

For as long as I can remember, I have been a Pittsburgh Pirate fan. I'll spare you the sob story, but being the fan of such a lousy baseball team has me seriously considering breaking the ninth baseball commandment: "Though shalt not covet your neighbor's baseball team." I am seriously jealous of Tampa Bay Ray fans right now. I want that team and if watching them doesn't make you drool a little, too, you're lying to yourself.

Look at this team. Evan Longoria's already set a record for homers in a playoff sereis by a rookie and he's slugging over .900 in the ALCS. He just turned 23. B.J. Upton is at .313/.400/.633 with two monster home runs. He's 24. Carl Crawford has nine hits in 18 at-bats and even though it feels like he's been around forever, he's just 27. James Shields and Matt Garza, the emerging aces? 25 and 24, respectively. And when you factor in guys like David Price and Scott Kazmir and Carlos Pena (still only 30) and minor leaguers Wade Davis and Jeremy Hellickson ... wow.

The key part? This isn't a fluke. This Rays team isn't the Rockies. They didn't catch fire and sneak out a wild card win because the league collapsed around them. They won the best division in baseball and they're beating the snot out of the defending World Champions at Fenway Park. This team is so good and so young that the things they're capable of in the next few years that they can afford to keep everyone together are almost unfathomable. Enjoy watching them. You know you want to.

The Tampa Bay Rays are one of the best run organizations in baseball. They've accumulated the kind of young talent that most organizations can only dream about. They're also in the thick of a pennant race this season and by not moving today, may have dealt a serious blow to their playoff hopes this year.

They were involved in serious talks with the Pirates all week about moving Jason Bay to fill their hole in right field in return for some of the Rays' young pitching talent. Talks stalled and not only did the Rays fail to land Bay, but he went to their division rivals. Now they're playing Rocco Baldelli in right field and the Red Sox managed to get rid of their Manny Ramirez distraction and replace him with Bay, who should make up for the difference in offense by actually playing the field and running the bases and not acting like a six-year old. That's a double loss for the Rays.

The sticking point seemed to be the Rays' refusal to give up Jeremy Hellickson or Wade Davis (pictured) to the Pirates. Hellickson and Davis are both very good, young prospects, but the Rays are loaded to the gills with pitching talent. In addition to those two, they've still got David Price and Jake McGee in the minors with Scott Kazmir, Matt Garza, and James Shields already in the rotation in Tampa. This was a price they could afford to pay for a big upgrade in right field and by failing to pay it, they helped one of their biggest rivals in the process. The Rays have done a lot right in the past two years, but they got today all wrong.

Keeping Matt Holliday wouldn't be the end of the world for the Colorado Rockies; they would have one more season to determine whether an extension is the path they want to go or whether Holliday would be better suited testing the free agent market. It's an option they would ideally get to skip worrying about, if they could move Holliday this season for the right package of prospects. Of course, if they don't lower their asking price, he's gonna stay put.

A deal for [Brian] Fuentes appears to have a lot better chance of happening than a deal for Holliday. According to two Major League sources, the Rockies would trade Holliday, but only for top prospect David Price. So I don't believe that will happen. Meanwhile, Fuentes can be had for less. One source said the Rockies are interested in Double-A Montgomery right-hander Wade Davis.

Let's go ahead and assume that Price, the last of the Rays number one (not in the good way!) picks, is off the table. Yes, Holliday fits the Rays needs perfectly and yes, he's an All-Star who has put up MVP numbers lately, but everyone in the league knows what his home/away splits look like, and they're terrified of them.