According to the press release, all games will be broadcast in HD and the first broadcast will be on Friday, April 1 when the Tampa Bay Rays take on the Baltimore Orioles.

Tampa Bay Rays fans, please take a moment to remember Officer David S. Crawford. Officer Crawford was killed last night as he investigated a prowler call last night at 10:30pm Officer Crawford was shot and pronounced dead on arrival at Bayfront Medical Center last evening.The shooting occurred just a few blocks east of Tropicana Filed.

Officer Crawford is the third St. Pete. police officer to lose his life in the line of duty since January 1st, 2011. Nine Florida police officers have been killed in the line of duty as well since January 1st. Please take some time to remember the friends and family of those officers.

Joe Maddon cooked dinner for a packed house in the Batter’s eye restaurant at his annual event, Thanksmas.

In related Rays news over the weekend, RP Juan Cruz finally solved his visa issues and reported to the training facility in Port Charlotte. Manager Joe Maddon told reporters that Cruz might be this year’s version of Joaquin Benoit as he was also recovering from a shoulder injury at this point of spring training last season.

A key component of the Rays starting pitching rotation this year will be Jeremy Hellickson. Hellickson made some starts for the Rays late last summer and looked impressive in doing so. Hellickson reported to Spring training this season with a slightly tweaked hamstring but does not figure that his injury will be an issue. Speaking with reporters, Hellickson said regarding his injury, “It’s getting better. There’s really no concern, just being cautious”.

Cruz has played 10 seasons in the majors with the Chicago Cubs, Atlanta Braves, Oakland A’s and the Arizona Diamondbacks. During his career, he managed a 32-35 overall record with three saves and a 4.15 ERA.

Cruz,32, has historically been regarded as a middle relief pitcher, and was lost for last season after having to undergo shoulder surgery in order to remove a cyst. The Rays now have 28 pitchers on their roster heading into spring training, qand it is believed that 11 pitchers will compete for three open reliver positions.

The signing cannot hurt, and once again, this comes as an addition which comes with little downside, but maximum upside. The Rays have shown a propensity for re-claiming players off the scrap heap. We can only hope that Cruz is yet another one.

Joe Maddon, nick-named Merlot Maddon, for his affection for wine, also has an affinity for cooking. Fans which want to spend $30 dollars in advance or $40 dollars at the door, can sample his homemade spaghetti sauce, pierogies and sausage.

For the past five seasons, Maddon has worked through his initiative, Thanksmas, where he cooks meals at local homeless shelters. The proceeds from this event will go to the Salvation Army and the Rays Baseball Foundation. Tickets can be purchased in advance on raysbaseball.com or by calling 1-888-FAN-Rays.

If I were able to attend FanFest, I would certainly be buying a ticket to this event.

Lopez, 31, has primarily played shortstop in his career, but can play second or third base and has experience both in the outfield and playing first base. The switch-hitter has a career .266 BA along with 88 homeruns and 428 RBI’s. His best season came in 2005 while he was with the Cincinnati Reds. Lopez hit 23 homeruns and drove in 85 runs, batting .291 while winning a Silver Slugger award and being named an All-Star.

If Lopez makes the final Rays roster, ESPN reports that he will earn $1 million in salary with the chance to earn another $1 million in incentives.

Lopez saw his production drop off last year, finishing the season with a .233 batting average while splitting time with both the St. Louis Cardinals and the Boston Red Sox. However, in 2009 while splitting time between the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Milwaukee Brewers, Lopez hit .310, 9 homeruns and 57 runs in 680 at bats.

This is yet another in a long line of Rays ownership’s low risk, high reward signings.

During the signing of the two former Boston Red Sox teammates, Manny Ramirez told reporters, ” Like Johnny said, the pitching is great. Me and Johnny, we could help. We have a lot of experience. I think we could work with the young guys and make them better”.

The signing comes as I explained, with little risk and a huge upside potential. Johnny Damon now can possibly return to the leadoff position, giving the Rays a genuine leadoff bat, and Ramirez comes with some huge potential as finally providing the Rays with a DH bat which will no longer be hovering around the .200 batting average level. While Man-Ram might not blast 30 homeruns at this point in his career, if he can hold his batting average around .280 and hit 20 homeruns, he will be more productive in the long run than Carlos Pena was last season.

These two are interesting signings, and as many Rays fans were getting ready to write the Rays fans off for the 2011 season, the addition of these two veterans could make the 2011 season very, very interesting. The signing of these two are drawing some interest from baseball observers around the league. Bryan Douglass chimed in at Gunaxin Sports. Bryan always adds a very interesting take on the latest in the world of sports. You can read his take right here.

According to Heyman, Johnny Damon will be paid $5.25 million this season plus a $750K attendance bonus and Manny Ramirez will get a salary of $2 million from the Tampa Bay Rays.

This is huge news for Tampa Bay Rays fans that thought this was going to be a club which could not win 70 games in 2010. If both of these players can increase their production 10-20% over the 2010 MLB season, they could be great numbers for the Rays in 2011.

It’ll be great to watch Johnny Damon and Manny Ramirez suit up against the Boston Red Sox and Carl Crawford this season.

Reports surfaced from various outlets, including ESPN  this morning, that the Tampa Bay Rays were close to an agreement with Johnny Damon. Nothing has been confirmed as of yet, and I have to say, I was ho-hum about the prospect. I was happy it was Johnny Damon and not OF Andruw Jones, who signed a contract with the New York Yankees.

However, as the reports of Damon being linked to the Rays swirled around the internet, so were the reports that the Tampa Bay Rays might just sign Damon and either Manny Ramirez or Vladimir Guerrero as well. Well isn’t that a interesting twist. The first report was on MLB.com. Then this afternoon, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports was reporting the same thing.

Granted, these are players in their mid to late thirties and not playing at the level they once did, however, what a potential boost to the offense. Damon is just one season removed from a 24 home run season and has average over 140 games per season in his career. Damon brings the bat from the left side of the plate.

Either Ramirez or Guerrero bring the bat from the right side of the plate. Honestly, I would rather see Guerrero with the Rays in 2011, but a Ramirez which could find 15-20  home runs in a DH role this season would not be unwelcome at the right price.

This is shaping up to be a very interesting turn of events, and while the Rays have not officially issued any statement as of yet, the fact that the rumors are out there of the Rays wanting to potentially add two veteran bats, is very encouraging.

I don’t think the moves are done yet either. Rumors surfaced this week that the Rays might be wanting to execute a trade with Pittsburgh for a late inning arm as well. Stay tuned, because I think this season might be better than many of the dooms day predictors out there have forecast.

The Matt Garza trade brought five players that should contribute with in a few years. And yesterday it was reported that two Tampa Bay Rays free agents finally signed. RP Chad Qualls signed a one year deal with the san Diego Padres worth $2 million dollars for one season. In return the Rays will get a compensatory sandwich pick between the first and second rounds of this years MLB draft.

Last evening, news broke that the New York Yankees have finally signed RP Rafael Soriano, one of the highest remaining free agents of the offseason. Soriano’s contract is a remarkable 3 year $35 million dollars. Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said last week that the team would not mortgage the future by signing Soriano, despite Soriano stating he would be willing to accept a set up role with the club. This just shows how you cannot take anything a team spokesman says at face value. In return for Soriano, the Rays will now have the 31st pick in the first round in this year’s draft as compensation for losing the closer who recorded 45 saves for the Rays last season.

And for those Rays fans who wanted the club to retain all of these players, here is a staggering figure for you, of the 9 Rays free agents which have signed contracts, those contracts total 19 years of duration and the full value of those contracts are worth a staggering $215 million dollars. And that figure does not include the signings of Grant Balfour, Willy Aybar and Lance Cormier as of yet.

I feel that the Rays have done the best that they could do given the circumstances and I seriously doubt the moves are finished. I have faith that the front office understands what it is doing. The Garza trade allowed a spot on the roster for Jeremy Hellickson, a move that was overdue. These were a series of wise moves for the Rays that are putting together a team that might make another run in 2012 or 2013. However, I am not ruling 2011 out. This is still going to be a very competitive team with one of the best young starting pitching staffs in baseball.

I realize that some Rays fans are having flashbacks to the days of old and are thinking that 2011 is going to be completely lost, the team will be lucky to win 75 games this year. This is not the Rays team of old, have some faith in the moves of the front office and the young talent that this team has groomed. I can easily understand the mindset of what some long time Rays fans must be thinking, I’m also a Tampa Bay Buccaneers fans and after a 3-13 season in 2009, thoughts of the Hugh Culverhouse days flashed into my head. However, look at the season the Buccaneers had this year with very young talent, in a season when not very many analysts predicted them to win more than 6 games.

Qualls was acquired by the Rays from the Arizona Diamondbacks last year at the trade deadline and he 31 year old pitcher recorded a 5.57 ERA with the Rays in 21 innings pitched. The Tampa Bay Rays will receive a supplementary first round pick for losing Qualls since he was offered arbitration.