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Derek Jeter and the New York Yankees have been going back and forth in negotiations that don’t look like they are going to end anytime soon.

There doesn’t appear to be a large market for a shortstop that will turn 37 years old next season. The Yankees are still by far the most probable team that Derek will play for next season.

However, since he is a free agent, anything is possible. If Derek Jeter is not in Yankee pinstripes next season, what uniform could he be wearing?

Maybe that of the Tampa Bay Rays.

The Tampa Bay Rays need to seriously consider attempting to sign Derek Jeter. For the Tampa Bay Rays, Derek brings a lot more to the table than he does for the New York Yankees.

Here are 10 reasons Derek is a great fit for the Rays.

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Every year, managers, coaches and writers from around Major League Baseball award honors and trophies to the players—and every year, they screw up.

So Bleacher Report’s Featured Columnists decided to do it ourselves. Instead of just complaining about the awards as they are announced as we would normally do on our own, we teamed up to hold our own mock awards vote.

On Monday, we kicked off Week 2 of our four-week-long results series with our picks for AL Comeback Player of the Year, then we followed that up yesterday with their counterparts in the NL. Today, we look at the best relievers in the American League.

The top five vote-getters are featured here with commentary from people who chose them. The full list of votes is at the end.

So read on, see how we did and be sure to let us know what we got wrong!

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The Tampa Bay Rays have won the American League East for the second time in three years. The Rays won the division with the second-best record in the major leagues at 96-66, only one game behind its 2008 World Series opponent, the Philadelphia Phillies.

But for all the success of the Rays this season, its wins did not translate to ticket sales. The Rays came in 22^nd out of 30 teams in home attendance, and many things have been attributed to this anomaly, but which are on the ball and which are off base?

Rays attendance has been a topic for as long as the Rays have been parked in St. Petersburg. Locally, the blame has been assigned to everything from the economy and bad fans to a transient population and poor location. This is my attempt to explain the mystery.

Is it the economy?

There’s no arguing the United States is in an economic downturn. Hillsborough County is the Ground Zero of the housing crash, making money seem especially scarce. But is it?

I once had a conversation with a ticket scalper about how he determines how much to charge—or rather, overcharge—for tickets. He told me that there are three indicators to any city he travels to judge what the local economy can bear. The three are: the average price of a steak dinner; the average price of a hotel room; and the average price of a prostitute.

He went into much greater detail, and I have no experience with hookers, but judging from the different cities I’ve stayed and dined in, compared to the prices I’ve overpaid for certain tickets, I’d say he was dead on.

With nationally renowned steak houses like Bern’s and Charley’s, Tampa boasts some of the finest steak dinners in the country. Depending on the time of year, a hotel room can range from sort-of-expensive to insanely expensive. I don’t know about the call girl angle, but I do know that Tampa has more strip clubs per square mile than any other city in America. That has to count for something.

So, is the economy that poor?

I believe the numbers are a little skewed because Tampa is a tourist destination as well as a renowned convention destination. That being said, the prices aren’t coming down anywhere as far as I can tell.

What the Tampa fan has evolved to is a mix between a transient fan and a fair-weather fan. Tampa has a high percentage of citizens who aren’t from Tampa originally. For the most part, the people seem to be pooled from New York, New Jersey, Ohio and Michigan. These fans have a general interest in the Rays, but not enough to buy tickets unless the Rays are playing a team they root for.

Of course once the play-offs start, all bets are off, because the fair-weather fan part kicks in. Tampa Bay has home-field advantage throughout the American League playoffs but, as fate would have it, was given the midday time slot (on a Wednesday and Thursday) to start its playoff run. Both games sold out instantly.

That tells me people can afford the games, since playoff games are much more expensive, and they can take off work to attend. They just don’t care enough to go.

Is it the stadium and or stadium location?

I find this to be a fairly lame excuse. In other cities, traffic sucks with or without a baseball game. A winning team or a new stadium generally will draw a crowd regardless of the traffic or the natural barrier of the bay.

Tropicana is no tourist destination when compared to its contemporaries like Wrigley Field, Yankee Stadium or Fenway Park, so ownership needed to get creative. To its credit, Tampa Bay has been innovative in recent years in its approach to draw fans to the stadium and ease the impact on the wallet. It offered free parking to fans who carpooled, and allowed fans to bring food into the stadium.

These two things alone were revolutionary in the professional team-fan relationship. But if fans of a team have the means to buy a ticket, and they won’t have to pay for parking or food, and they still don’t go to the game, then there are two assumptions: They aren’t really fans, or, as I alluded to earlier, they just don’t care enough to go.

How many sports/entertainment dollars are there to spread around?

The Tampa Bays Rays have to compete for sports entertainment dollars with the Tampa Bay Lightning, The Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and the University of South Florida Bulls. But after ten-plus years of sellouts, the Buccaneers’ first two games of the 2010 season have been blacked out as per NFL rules for not selling out. Arguably, fewer season tickets for the Bucs could translate to more tickets for the Rays.

The Lightning had a poor showing in the standings last season, but still managed to fill over 78% of the seats available. This ranked 21^st in the NHL, but just above the Lightning was the New Jersey Devils at 20^th with a much larger metropolitan area and a far superior product on the ice. For 41 home games, the Lightning average attendance was 15,497. For 81 home games the Rays average attendance was 23,035.

One would think that, with the higher cost of Lightning games, and a team that may finish below .500 again, more dollars would be free for the Rays. Now, hockey attendance could be attributed to the fact that hockey has a nearly non-existent national television presence, and hockey fans only generally care about hockey, but they can watch the local team on television.

Hockey could probably broaden its fan base with more television exposure and more marketing. Hockey fans are generally middle to upper class white people, but that can change with the right marketing and right concentration in its base area. Baseball fans stretch across all races and socioeconomic backgrounds, which brings up a very important question:

Who exactly are the Rays marketing to?

There seems to be a stark contrast between who the Rays are advertising to and who actually lives in Hillsborough County. According to 2009 Census estimates, only 56% of Hillsborough County’s population claim to be exclusively Caucasian. That of course means that 44% of the population is considered minority.

A more telling number comes from Hillsborough County Public Schools, where only 40% of the student body is white versus 60% minority. This means that in the next 10 to 15 years the ticket buying public in this area will be a majority minority.

In order for the Rays to increase, or at the least, maintain its ticket sales, it must market to these minorities, with more than one Hispanic Day a year with the phrase “Los Rays” sprawled across its jerseys, and one Jackie Robinson day to pacify the black population.

I went back and researched the amount to money the Rays spent on advertising with the two most prominent minority-owned newspapers in the area, La Gaceta and the African-American targeted Florida Sentinel Bulletin. Over the past 10 years the Rays have spent exactly NOTHING with either paper. No ads, no ticket give-aways….nada. Same goes for the Buccaneers and Lightning.

It seems the policy is that only whites have money, and therefore only whites will be marketed to, in print at least, with the St. Petersburg Times and Tampa Tribune-owned papers. I called the Rays to inquire about its advertising dollars and where they went, and was told that the Rays’ advertising budget was not available for public consumption….

…neither were their advertising dollars, if you have dark skin.

Like I said, it’s not only the Rays, it’s the Bucs and the Lightning too. With the ever-changing population of the Tampa Bay area, whether the teams like it or not, the minority population will be the buying public in the future, if it isn’t already.

The Rays need to remember that just because a name ends in “Z” it doesn’t mean that the person is an uneducated illegal, and just because someone is black, it doesn’t mean he or she is on welfare. This is an extremely diverse area where Hispanics are judges and Blacks are college presidents. The local teams need to respect that, or the dollars they get today will turn to dinero for someone else mañana.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Cliff Lee is flat-out dominant in the postseason.

Lee had a historic 2009 postseason for the Philadelphia Phillies. He was 4-0 with a 1.56 ERA in five starts. He was 2-0 with a 2.81 ERA in his two World Series starts against the New York Yankees. He earned the win in game one of the World Series in Yankee Stadium, and in his two game one starts last season he threw two complete games with a 0.50 ERA.

He was only the second pitcher in history to throw a complete-game victory with double-digit strikeouts and zero walks. He also was the eighth starting pitcher in postseason history to win at least four games with a sub-2.00 ERA.

Lee made his sixth career postseason start today in his win against the Tampa Bay Rays and was phenomenal. He only gave up five hits and one earned run in the seven innings that he pitched. He also had 10 strikeouts and a 1.29 ERA.

Lee is just what the Yankees are missing.

New York is in desperate need of consistent pitching after CC Sabathia. They have pulled A.J. Burnett out of the starting rotation for the postseason, going instead with Andy Pettite and Phil Hughes. If Cliff Lee was in that rotation there isn’t a team in the American League that has the pitching to match.

The Yankees have been and continue to be the most likely destination for Cliff Lee’s talents next season. But the cost of his services continue to rise with every playoff pitch he delivers from the mound.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

WDAE’s drive-time show host Steve Duemig has a Facebook page for fans to talk sports in the Tampa Bay area.

Looking at his Facebook page, there are many vociferous Joe Maddon critics that post about the Rays manager’s decisions in a game.

This has been going on for the last few years. Many people think Maddon tends to outsmart himself by fielding different lineups or using different relievers to get an out.

After a Rays loss, Duemig’s Facebook page can be comic relief. It is interesting to hear what those armchair quarterbacks would do in a game. Some of them are so off-the-wall that it is not even funny.

Maddon gave another reason for those critics to rip him. He announced James Shields will start Game 2 against the Rangers on Thursday afternoon.

This is easy to second-guess here. Shields did not have a good season. It is surprising that he is starting, let alone that he is on the postseason roster.

He has not earned the right to go pitch in this round. It is interesting Jeff Niemann is not even starting in this series. As much as he struggled since being activated from the disabled list, Niemann at least gives the team a better chance to win than Shields.

The Rays were better off either starting Wade Davis or Matt Garza in Game 2. Jeremy Hellickson was not an option to start because the Rays felt he would be better off being the first guy out of the bullpen if one of the starters struggles in the first round.

Davis would have been this writer’s pick to start Game 2. He is the second best starter on the team at this point. The Rays can expect quality performance out of him in a start like this.

Maddon did not think that way. He figured experience counts for something. Davis does not have that, but that is overrated. We have seen experienced pitchers bomb in the postseason. It comes down to whether the guy has the stuff and the guile to get hitters out.

Does anyone trust Shields in this spot? The longtime Rays starter showed he can pitch well against great teams. He demonstrated that twice against the Yankees this year, but the Yankees also hit him well in several starts.

It is hard to think a starter can go turn it on now that he is pitching in October. If a starter consistently pitches awful for most of the year, it is hard to get that stuff back all the time.

With Shields, he has been thinking too much. It appears he expects to fail when he is out on the mound. He is not demonstrating the confidence factor anymore.

He wants everything to be done right. It has to be perfect. If he is not in a jam, he can get into a groove. Once he makes a mistake or two, it becomes a big inning where he implodes.

This is not what a team wants to see out of a starter in October. That is asking for a trouble.

The Rangers feast on pitchers who have command problems. That was the case for Shields in a start against the Rangers on June 5th. In that start, he gave up six runs (three earned) and 10 hits in seven innings.

To be fair to Shields, he allowed two runs on four hits in seven innings against the Rangers on August 18th. This took place at Tropicana Field, so Maddon hopes his starter can duplicate that in Game 2. Problem is that it is hard to do it.

Maddon can talk about how Shields does fine at the Trop, but giving up 111 hits, 14 home runs, and 53 runs at home does not strike anyone as a confidence builder. He had bad outings over there too, so the difference of home and road splits mean nothing.

On Friday night, Shields was coming off a lousy start against the Royals, who will not be confused with the Big Red Machine. He gave up 12 hits and seven runs in that start. This is not the way to fine-tune for a postseason start or convince a manager to start him.

This is a surprise to see him start days after a bad start. This is a starter who went 0-4 with a 7.59 ERA in his last six starts. This is a starter who leads the league in most home runs, runs and earned runs.

When Ron Washington and the Rangers found out about this news, they had to be giggling among themselves. If the Rangers can win Game 1, they could be in a position to win the series at home in either Game 3 or 4. They have the edge in the starting pitching matchup between C.J. Wilson and Shields.

Wilson can be counted on to pitch a great game. His wins and his command speak for themselves. Shields cannot say that.

It will be interesting how Maddon proceeds in using his struggling starter in this game. Will Shields go five innings only? Can Maddon muster relievers to pitch through the middle innings before he can give it to Joaquin Benoit and Rafael Soriano?

If Shields can somehow pitch six good innings, it will be a victory in itself for him and the Rays. Maybe the Rays can get by with a so-so start out of him. That would be the best scenario, but who knows if Shields has it in him?

Maddon is hoping his gut will pay off here. He is banking on Shields to show his savvy here.

One thing’s for sure: If it does not work out, Duemig’s Facebook page will be a must read.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

There is a saying that bad news doesn’t get better with time. However, announcing plans to cut payroll while your team is in the middle of a division race can’t be a good idea.

That’s exactly what Tampa Bay Rays owner Stu Sternberg did when he announced that even if the Rays win the World Series payroll will be cut in 2011. The current estimate is that the Rays will cut this year’s $72 million payroll by $15-20 million.

Prior to Tuesday’s game Sternberg said,  “Unfortunately there’s nothing that can happen between now and April that can change that unless Joe Maddon hits the lottery and wants to donate it, or I hit the lottery.”

This is the reality of having one of the best teams on the field coupled with one of the worst attendances. The Rays have done everything to try to boost attendance and revenue including hosting postgame concerts on Saturday’s in the summer. There were even empty seats when the Yankees and Red Sox recently played in Tropicana Field.

With the upcoming reduction in payroll the Rays will be fielding an even younger team. The starting lineup this season has an average age of 26 years old.

Here are four Rays rookies that will be critical in the franchise’s future.

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Let me begin by saying that I am a fan of Ben Zobrist. He is a switch-hitter who can play a multitude of positions and he has a great attitude. Overall, Zobrist is a solid baseball player and a great person. However, that does not mean the Rays should have given him a three-year contract extension worth up to $30 million.

Sure, the Rays have team options for the 2014 and 2015 seasons. In other words, the Rays are only liable for $18 million if they decide to part ways in the future. It almost sounds like an NFL contract with the guaranteed dollars. This still is a large amount of money to put forth for a small-market team who is trying to retain upcoming free agents Carl Crawford and Carlos Pena. 

The Rays would have been better off if they had first locked up Crawford to a long-term deal, and then decide on whether they could afford Zobrist as well. In this case, they clearly had their priorities reversed. It is unlikely the Rays would have been able to sign both Pena and Crawford, but the signing of Zobrist may prevent both of them from remaining in Rays uniforms. 

Honestly, I would not lose much sleep if Pena left. Pena is a great clubhouse guy and defensive first baseman, but he is currently hitting .203 and will only depreciate at 32 years of age. He has peaked. Dan Johnson may not be able to replace him in terms of defense, but he will surely be able to replace Pena’s power.

The loss of Crawford will be devastating to this franchise. Yes, Desmond Jennings is a similar player, but he can not duplicate Crawford’s accomplishments. He is a four-time all-star, legitimate MVP candidate, and has been a Ray since the team’s inception. He is a Rays icon.

Crawford is currently having his best year yet as he has the highest slugging percentage of his career along with his usual .300 average, 15 home runs, and nearly 50 stolen bases. 

The signing of Zobrist, who had a career year last season, may lead Crawford to sign with a large market team such as the Yankees or Red Sox. Zobrist’s numbers are average at best. Although he has 23 steals, he is batting a sub-par .247 with a measly 10 home runs. 

Baseball is not all about statistics, but when you add Zobrist’s numbers, defensive flexibility, and leadership together, it still does not add up to $30 million with $18 million guaranteed.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

The Tampa Bay Rays and the New York Yankees play a four-game series this week in the Bronx. This series is pivotal in deciding which team will be the AL East champion and which team will fight the Boston Red Sox for the wild card. Winning the division is important for home field advantage since it is believed that they will meet in the ALCS.

Coming into the series the Yankees have a half-game lead on the Rays. Tampa Bay should be able to hold off the Yankees and win the division.

There are five factors that the Tampa Bay Rays have in their favor over the Yankees in the upcoming series and remainder of the season.

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October can’t come any sooner for fans of the New York Yankees, Tampa Bay Rays, Minnesota Twins, and Texas Rangers. The American League has little to no excitement on the postseason hunt in September with teams like the Red Sox and White Sox playing for any realistic hope that just isn’t there to be had. 

Major League Baseball is in a difficult spot when it comes down to September every year. The National Football League opens play in September and if a team such as the Red Sox or White Sox is out of the hunt you pretty much forget baseball to focus on your Patriots or Bears. 

Personally to play 162 games in the regular season and only have four teams from each league pass through to the next round of the season makes it impossible for teams to end playoff droughts. Teams like the Washington Nationals or Kansas City Royals will never make it to the playoffs in this system. Not with the wealthier teams dominating in their divisions with no space for them to make any ground up. 

Now with Major League Baseball taking the initiative to end the postseason before Halloween, any such fix to the playoffs would have to be relatively short. So what can be done to fix up a leaking faucet of a playoff system? MLB could start by adding a pair of teams into the mix giving 6 teams a shot at the playoffs from each league. 

American League/National League

Team #1 (Best Record); Bye                                                 Team #1 (Best Record); Bye

Team #2 (Second Best Record); Bye                                     Team #2 (Second Best Record); Bye

Team #3 (Winner advances to LDS)                                       Team #3 (Winner advances to LDS)

Team #4 (Loser goes home)                                                  Team #4 (Loser goes home)

Team #5 (Winner advances to LDS)                                       Team #5 (Winner advances to LDS)

Team #6 (Loser goes home)                                                  Team #6 (Loser goes home) 

Italics: Teams play in Wild Card Series (best-of-three) 

Essentially you would have your usual three division winners and now three wild card winners instead of a solo wild card team from each league. The top two teams from each league, if you were translating to this season, Rays and Yankees in the American League and let’s say Phillies and Reds in the National League would get a “bye” for the first round of the playoffs. 

This extra rest adds incentive to play well in the regular season and finish with a better record. This can be seen as one reason teams rarely reach 100 wins in a season mainly because the All-Star game awarding home-field advantage to the winner. Teams usually rest their players down the stretch once they clinch a spot and that’s what eliminates the triple-digit wins from the standings. 

Beyond the top two teams from each league, you have a pair of “Wild Card Series” games in each league. In order to keep the postseason within the month of October, the “Wild Card Series” should only be a best-of-three format. After it’s said and done, the best team from both leagues faces the lowest seeded team (team with lowest record) and vice-versa with the other two teams in both leagues.

In other words, the postseason would revert back to its original format with the LDS (League Division Series) in a best-of-five and a LCS (League Championship Series) in a best-of-seven. The World Series would be the grand finale to a baseball season in its usual best-of-seven format. 

In using this formula for the National League we would see the likes of the Braves, Reds, Padres, Phillies, Rockies, and Giants all in the playoffs this season. Now this would certainly take away from the luster of making it into the playoffs but it would make for an exciting run to see who can avoid the “Wild Card Series” and have a bye to start off instead. Additionally, more teams would be involved in the playoff mix such as the Cardinals or Marlins although both are further back than the rest of the pack this season. 

In the American League, in addition to the Red Sox and White Sox, a team like the Blue Jays or Athletics could be in the mix. They’re records may not be approximate to Boston and Chicago but it would be better if they knew there were more spots up for grabs. 

The reality is that September is seen a trial period for the grand majority of Major League teams. Rosters expand to 40 players and you have an array of players make their debut or essentially try out for a spot next season. It takes away from having teams go all out at the end versus just laying low and parking your season in. Baseball needs more markets involved while it tries to stay afloat against the National Football League in its final weeks. Having six teams in each league make it to the postseason would give more teams hope they can be in the Fall Classic. Since the league doesn’t have a salary cap it makes it hard for low market franchises to ever dream about October, yes, Pirates, Royals, and Nationals I’m talking to you and I hope Major League Baseball is listening too. 

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com