#RoToTheTrop: Making Dreams Come True

The following article is a guest spot brought to us once again by Amanda, or MandaGator. To get in contact with or for more information from Amanda. Follow her on Twitter.

Ro or @Raynaadi
Courtesy: @Raynaadi on Twitter

As a Navy brat in the 1970's we were stationed in the South China Sea on Okinawa for a number of years. Some military families refer to it as "stranded" not stationed, especially since that was prior to the internet or even cable television. There was one American broadcast TV station and one American broadcast radio station, both part of the American Armed Forces Network with limited on air hours. Phone calls were absurdly expensive so snail mail letters from family back home and magazines from the Commissary or PX were the primary methods of keeping "current" socially with our homeland.

For me, the beauty of the island, the culture of the people and being a kid with an inherently short attention span who had spent very little time actually in the USA, I didn't miss much about the states, to me we were stationed, not stranded. That is until we were sent for a short time to Fort Meade, Maryland where I had the good fortune of meeting Brooks Robinson at a gas station. I was in awe that THIS massive clod of a man was the same man my Dad and news announcers raved about being athletic!! Baseball became a lot more interesting to one little girl.

The Mad Austrailian is returning home to Tampa Bay

Grant Balfour
Courtesy: Keith Allison/Flickr

The Rays are set to resign Gran Balfour, bringing him home to Tampa Bay where he spent the 2007 through 2010 seasons. This is according to a tweet by Andew Rickli of SportsReel Boston.

The deal is for 2 years and worth 12 million dollars according to Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. The deal was possible after the O's were originally set to sign Balfour to a deal of the same length and for $15 million earlier this offseason but the deal fell through after the O's had concerns over the physical. So expect Balfour to want to extract some revenge.

Balfour has spent the past 3 seasons in Oakland as the dominating closer for the A's.

For more information on the signing, see our friends at Rays Index.

We're glad to see the Mad Austrailian return home to Tampa Bay. Welcome home, Grant.

Rays sign Jayson Nix to minor league deal

Jayson Nix
Courtesy: Keith Alison/Flickr

Rays are reportedly signing utility player Jayson Nix to a minor league deal, according to Ken Rosenthal via Twitter.

The 31 year old has spent the past 2 years with the Yankees where he batted .236 with 3 HRs in 87 games in 2013.

Rays shouldn't trade David Price this offseason

David Price pitching at Camden Yards
Courtesy: Keith Allison/Flickr

All offseason we've heard how the Rays are gonna trade David Price and anyone who says otherwise is wrong. Well, we're 3 months in to the off season (November, December and January), Rays pitchers and catchers report in just over a month on Valentines Day (Feb. 14). David Price is currently still a Tampa Bay Rays player. As he should be. The Rays are not and should not be desperately trying to trade him. Yes, he can fetch more with two years of control left. But, let's think about this for a moment.

The Rays are, as they have been since 2008, in "win now" mode. The Rays want to win it all and bring the Commissioners Trophy to Tampa Bay. To do that, they have to give themselves the best chance possible. How would trading David Price help them in 2014? The simple answer is it wouldn't. You're not gonna see a trade that sends David Price elsewhere for someone that is an equal. So any trade would be a downgrade, whether it be a permanent downgrade or a temporary one while the talent grows in AAA.