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Rays extra

By Marc Topkin, Times Staff Writer
In print: Sunday, June 1, 2008

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Draft daze — the 1s

With the No. 1 overall pick in Thursday's draft, the Rays have a chance to add another impact player. What they've done with their first pick in the previous 12 drafts:

Year, RD./Pick, Player, POS., For Rays, Status

1996, 1/29, Paul Wilder, OF, Minors only, Out of baseball

1997, 1/31, Jason Standridge, RHP, 0-5, 6.38 ERA, 21 G, Pitching in Japan

1998, 4/132, Josh Pressley, 1B, Minors only, Playing in independent league

1999, 1/1, Josh Hamilton, OF, Minors only, Drafted, Rangers starter

2000, 1/6, Rocco Baldelli, OF, .282, 48 HR, 419 G, 60-day disabled list

2001, 1/3, Dewon Brazelton, RHP, 8-23, 5.98, 54 G, Traded, out of baseball

2002, 1/2, B.J. Upton, SS, .285, 32 HR, 276 G, Rays starter in OF

2003, 1/1, Delmon Young, OF, .293 in 192 G, Traded, Twins starter

2004, 1 /4, Jeff Niemann, RHP, 1-1, 5.79 2 G, Triple-A Durham

2005, 1/8, Wade Townsend, RHP, Minors only, Class A Vero Beach

2006, 1/3, Evan Longoria, 3B, .252, 7 HR 45 G, Rays starter

2007, 1/1, David Price, LHP, Minors only, Class A Vero Beach

Got a minute? | Scott Kazmir

Best meal you make?

Spaghetti — mom's recipe.

Guilty pleasure at the mall?

Hmm … Cinnabon.

Band you'd like to be on stage with?

Dave Matthews.

Whose autograph would you pay for?

Muhammad Ali, definitely.

Dream date?

Where's that Maxim Hot 100? (Opening the magazine to a familiar page …) Right there, Elisha Cuthbert (right). She's unbelievable. (And No. 6)

Draft rumblings

ESPN.com's Keith Law says the Rays are down to FSU C Buster Posey and Georgia high school SS Tim Beckham for the top pick in Thursday's draft, and he has them taking Posey. … Baseball America's updated rankings have Beckham No. 1 and the Rays taking him. … So does mlbdraft

source.wordpress.com. … MLB.com's Jonathan Mayo's mock draft has the Rays taking Beckham but on a blog says they "narrowed their choice" to Posey and Vanderbilt 3B Pedro Alvarez, with the (odd) idea that 3B Evan Longoria moves to second.

Rays rumblings

So if there is ever a playoff game at the Trop, will it sell out without a free postgame concert? … Mets star Pedro Martinez raved after seeing LHP David Price, saying the 22-year-old was "amazing," approached hitters "like a big-leaguer" and "seems far superior" to Martinez at that age. … Equipment manager Chris Westmoreland's nephew, Rhode Island prep star Ryan, is projected as a high-round draft pick. … Disgusted with their team, the MetsGeek.com bloggers "adopted" the Rays and rechristened themselves RaysGeek. … White Sox officials, who do things like sell the starting times of their games to 7-11, weren't happy with the Rays for starting Saturday's game at 6:10 (and thus inside Fox's national window), forcing their TV coverage to join the game in progress. … ESPN's Buster Olney says the Rays are "for real," are "not going away" and "if you told me that at year's end they finished with a better record than any team other than Boston, I wouldn't be shocked." … A June 15 fashion show at the International Plaza Nordstrom benefits the team charity foundation and the Children's Dream Fund.

Draft daze —

the current ones

The rounds the current players were drafted:

First

Rocco Baldelli* 2000

Cliff Floyd 1991

Matt Garza 2005

Gabe Gross 2001

J.P. Howell 2004

Scott Kazmir 2002

Evan Longoria 2006

Trever Miller 1991

Carlos Pena 1998

B.J. Upton 2002

Second

Carl Crawford 1999

Sixth

Edwin Jackson 2001

Troy Percival* 1990

10th

Jason Hammel 2002

13th

Jason Bartlett 2001

Chad Orvella* 2003

Andy Sonnanstine 2004

15th

Gary Glover 1994

16th

James Shields 2000

17th

Eric Hinske 1998

18th

Jonny Gomes 2001

24th

Shawn Riggans 2000

34th

Dan Wheeler 1996

Not drafted: Willy Aybar, Grant Balfour, Akinori Iwamura, Dioner Navarro, Al Reyes

* Disabled list

2005, a draft odyssey

It's not clear exactly what happened with their No. 8 overall pick, but the story is that some Rays officials wanted to draft Craig Hansen, a reliever with hefty bonus demands, and ownership said no. The Rays instead took RHP Wade Townsend, whose career has been stalled by injuries. Among those drafted later: OFs Cameron Maybin, Andrew McCutchen and Jay Bruce, and RHP Matt Garza.