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Rays Manager Maddon Gets White House Invitation

The Associated Press

Rays skipper Joe Maddon during the winter meetings of major league baseball's general managers.

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By MARC LANCASTER | The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 8, 2008

LAS VEGAS - Marc Lancaster, Rays beat writer for The Tampa Tribune, is at the Major League Baseball winter meetings, being held at the Bellagio hotel and casino. Here are highlights from his Monday blog. Follow Marc's updates live at http://www.tboblogs.com/index.php/sports/related/C142/.

Maddon Gets White House Invitation

Rays manager Joe Maddon has been invited to the White House for a dinner with President Bush and his wife, Laura, on Jan. 4.

Also ...

Free-agent outfielder Juan Rivera might be on the Rays' radar. His name has come up in connection with Tampa Bay in the past, including way back in spring training when there was some thought that the Angels might have to shed an outfielder to clear out some room. As it turned out, they ended up putting Nathan Haynes on waivers and the Rays claimed Haynes for a short stint with the big-league team.

Friedman: Bradley 'very impressive'

Rays executive vice president Andrew Friedman characterized the Rays' lunch meeting with free agent Milton Bradley on Monday as a "get-to-know-you" session, and apparently it went well.

"He was very impressive," Friedman said of the 30-year-old outfielder/DH, who posted an impressive .321/.436/.563 line with the Rangers this season.

"We have a tremendous amount of respect for Milton as a player and felt it was a good opportunity to sit down and learn a little bit more," Friedman said. "It was a great meeting."

The Rays have a handful of meetings with other free agents scheduled for the remainder of the week — Friedman declined to name names — leading Friedman to say it was "very unlikely" his team would close a deal for a big bat before leaving town.

Philly a potential landing spot for Delmon?

There doesn't seem to be any doubt that former Ray Delmon Young is on the trading block, especially after Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said last week that he sees Michael Cuddyer, Carlos Gomez and Tampa's own Denard Span as his starting outfielders.

There has been some talk of him resurfacing with the Rays, but everything I've heard suggests that's very, very unlikely. The Rockies seem to have been the team mentioned most often, but there's a new one in the mix today. The Philadelphia Daily News reports the world champs seem to have some interest.

Young was dealt to the Twins last November in the deal that brought shortstop Jason Bartlett and starting pitcher Matt Garza to Tampa Bay.

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