After weeks of speculation, rumors of failed deals and the annoyance of watching every other team in the majors making moves to improve, the Rays finally kick started their off season campaign with several moves of significance.

Firstly there was the signing of Shinji Mori, the Japanese set up man who is coming from Japan with some decent credentials and a whole lot of question marks. A career 3.39 ERA seems impressive, but without any major league experience, it is difficult to predict how this will translate in the majors. If Bobby Valentine is right in his claims that the gap between Japanese and American ballplayers is closing then the Rays may have a steal at $1.5 million over 2 years, if not then it is an inexpensive trial. In my opinion it's a no-lose for the organization.

The addition of Dan Miceli may also be a good move for the Rays bullpen. Signing Miceli and Harville, both appear to have been influenced by Gerry Hunsicker who had them both in a successful Astro's side. Hunsicker is a proven winner and therefore I will not question his judgement. Again a winner for the Rays.

That brings us to Friedman's first significant move as the Rays Top Executive. Danys Baez and Lance Carter to the Dodgers, for Edwin Jackson and Chuck Tiffany. When I woke up and saw this my initial reaction was 'This seems like a good deal.' I then began having doubts after reading several disgruntled forums thinking to myself 'do these people know something I don't?' but then I got back to thinking this is a good deal and here is why.

Danys Baez was going to walk at the end of the year, he earns $4 million this year and with the inflated market the past two seasons would be able to command $7-9 million thereafter. His salary is a luxury for a team building for the future, who will not expect to win more than 75 games this year.

Lance Carter, although being an all-star (although on the Rays 2003 team that is a very loose term for any of the players) he was no lock to make the bullpen.

Therefore trading both for a 22 year old right-hander whose fastball tops out at 97mph and as recently as two years ago was the top prospect in the Dodgers deep farm system, before some forearm trouble and the dreaded sophomore slump bumped him down a few places and a lefty who has dominated Class A hitters and will project as a number 3 starter seems like astute business to me.

Ned Colletti has been on record saying that he would have preferred not trade Jackson, however with Gagne injured and the emergence of Billingsley as a starter, he felt it necessary to sure up the bullpen with a proven reliever in Baez.

The Baez deal is not perfect by any means especially if the rumors that Seo could have been obtained from the Mets are true, he would have been more of a sure thing, although with less of a ceiling than Jackson.

The deal has shown that the Rays can be trade partners, after the farcical LaMar years, and that can only help future relations with GM's around the league. It has also shown that in the face of some public pressure to sign proven players (with inflated salaries) Friedman is sticking to his plan of building a competitive team for the next 5-6 years with young top prospects, and for this he can only be admired.