With the recent proliferation of bench clearing antics, it seems like a good time to take a look back over the history of the Rays, or people presently associated with the Rays, and look at some of the memorable tussles in franchise history – most of which involve the Boston Red Sox.

Pedro Martinez v. Gerald Williams – September 6, 2000

There had been bad blood between the Red Sox and the Devil Rays almost from the beginning of the Rays existence. The simmering tensions at this point between the clubs came to a head on September 6th, when Gerald Williams was hit by Pedro Martimez with the fourth pitch of the game. He charged the mound, throwing a right at Martinez before being tackled by Jason Varitek. The Rays responded by drilling Brian Daubach twice and Nomar Garciaparra once, in a game where five Devil Rays players, two coaches, and the manager were ejected. To add insult to injury, the brawl only seemed to get Martinez focused, as he retired the next 24 consecutive batters he faced, and allowed only a John Flaherty single in the ninth in the Red Sox 8-0 victory.

Pedro Martinez v. Don Zimmer – October 11, 2003

Back then, Zimmer was the Yankees bench coach, a sounding board for manager Joe Torre. In what was the third game of the American League Championship Series, chances are that Zimmer never would have figured on becoming part of the storyline in what promised to be a classic matchup between martinez and Roger Clemens. That is, until Pedro hit Karim Garcia with a pitch, then motioned threateningly at Jorge Posada. Garcia took out Sox second baseman Todd Walker with a hard slide on a force out. The following inning, Clemens threw a pitch up and in to Manny Ramirez, who then charged the mound. Zimmer took this opportunity to charge Martinez, and let’s just say that it did not end well for the then 72 year old bench coach. Amazingly, the fighting did not end, as a Red Sox groundkeeper and Yankees reliever Jeff Nelson scuffled later in the game.

Elijah Dukes – November 29, 2007

Oh, Elijah Dukes. So much talent, and so little ability to not be a complete and utter train wreck. As this post is focusing on brawls during a game, we can bypass his extensive arrest record, his behavior issues, and ‘burgeoning’ rap career. Instead, we step into Professor Peabody’s Wayback Machine, and head to November 29, 2007. After being thrown off the Rays following yet another incident, this time involving Dukes texting a picture of a gun to his wife, along with leaving a voice message threatening to kill her and their two children, Dukes had actually been reasonably well behaved as he played for Licey in the Dominican Winter League. That is, until that date, when he erupted, having words with the opposing catcher and the umpire in his first at bat, made suggestive gestures tot he crowd after being hit by a pitch, and was eventually ejected after attempting to attack an umpire. That incident marked the end of Dukes time as a member of the Rays, as he was shipped to the Washington Nationals four days later.

James Shields v. Coco Crisp – June 6, 2008

This incident was carry over from the previous game, when the Rays felt that Crisp attempted to injure second baseman Akinori Iwamura, sliding hard into second base as he was caught stealing. Crisp felt that Rays shortstop Jason Bartlett had tried blocking the bag on a previous stolen base attempt, so he was going into the bag hard regardless. As such, in Crisp’s first at bat of the following game, James Shields drilled him in the hip. Crisp charged the mound, ducking a right before throwing a few punches at Shields. Dioner Navarro tackled Crisp as the benches emptied. Jonny Gomes jumped on top of Crisp, throwing punches as he was pinned under Navarro. Shields, Gomes and Crisp were all ejected for their parts in the altercation, as the Red Sox ended up winning the game 7-1.

There have been several other incidents in Rays history, often with the Red Sox as the foil, when it comes to on the field altercations. The most recent example occurred on March 16th during Spring Training this year, when the combustible Alfredo Aceves hit Sean Rodriguez with a pitch after Rodriguez had hit a home run off him in the previous at bat.the two got into a shouting match, and Rodriguez had to be restrained from going after Aceves as several Rays exited the dugout.

As the Rays face the Red Sox this weekend, the potential of another altercation adds another layer to what has become an intense rivalry. With both teams expecting to make a run at a potential postseason berth, and in what is anticipated to be a hotly contested division, each game takes on an additional level of importance, regardless of when in the season they face off. If nothing else, it helps to make their matchups must watch television.

Dukes, essentially a train wreck in a baseball uniform, was at one point a fairly highly regarded prospect. Drafted by the Rays in the third round in 2002, Dukes displayed a solid combination of speed and power. As he rocketed through the Rays farm system from 2003 through 2006, Dukes hit 45 home runs while stealing 88 bases. Despite these accomplishments, his problems continued during this span, as he fathered five children with four different women and was arrested multiple times for battery.

His obvious talent caused Dukes to be considered one of the top prospects in baseball, as he was named the 79th best prospect prior to the 2007 by Baseball America. That spring, he broke camp with the Rays, and hit home runs in his first two games, including one in his very first at bat. From that point on, he struggled, and was hitting only .190/.318/.391 with 10 home runs and 2 stolen bases when he was thrown off of the team as his behavior issues again resurfaced. On May 2nd, he sent a picture of a gun to his wife, and left her a voice message threatening to kill her and their children. On June 12th, he was involved in a domestic dispute with a 17 year old girl who accused him of impregnating her.

After the season, Dukes joined Licey in the Dominican Winter League, and proceeded to be the exact same person. Quiet until November 29, Dukes erupted, having words with the catcher and umpire in his first at bat, making suggestive gestures to the crowd after being hit by a pitch, then being ejected after almost attacking an umpire. On December 3rd, Dukes was traded to the Nationals for Glenn Gibson, as the Rays were likely just happy to be rid of the headaches.

With the Nationals, he failed to live up to his promise, lasting two injury plagued years before being released in 2010. After appearing with the Newark Bears for that season, Dukes was arrested twice more, for failure to pay child support and assaulting his pregnant ex-girlfriend. Meanwhile, he had quit baseball to focus on being a professional rapper.

Now, Dukes finds himself arrested again, this time on a warrant due to his failure to appear in court on drug charges from 2012 and for driving with a suspended license. Even though he is only 28 years old, Dukes has not played in organized ball since that last season with Newark in the Can-Am League. He also brags about being arrested ‘dozens’ of times since 2001. Should he somehow manage to avoid jail time for this incident, it likely would not matter – any chance of Dukes being a productive major league player have probably long since dissipated.

Elijah Dukes, through his complete inability to keep himself out of trouble, wasted what could have been an excellent career. Now, he may best serve as a cautionary tale for other prospects with behavior issues, as a warning for what they could become.

On December 3, 2007, the Rays traded outfielder Elijah Dukes to the Washington Nationals for right-handed pitching prospect Glenn Gibson. The Rays knew Dukes was talented- but they also knew that his attitude problems made him enigmatic and also reduced the morale of his teammates. They decided to deal him, receiving a good pitching prospect in Gibson in return with a solid sinker, a plus changeup, and a good curveball. Gibson never panned out in the Rays organization and they wound up releasing him, but it showed us that the Rays were willing to take risks to put together a winning ballclub even if meant trading promising players.

On December 10, 2008, the Rays dealt right-hander Edwin Jackson to the Detroit Tigers for outfielder Matt Joyce. Jackson was a 25 year old right-hander with electric stuff coming off a 14-win season, albeit with a 4.42 ERA, and the Rays were willing to trade him for a promising outfielder in Joyce, but one who had just debuted in the big leagues in 2008. Most teams have a bias toward their guys and even when they struggle, they keep with them seeing their promise. But the Rays knew that there was no guarantee that Jackson would improve and that they had plenty of pitching depth with bigger needs elsewhere*, and they were willing to pull the trigger even though casual fans would not believe that they would trade a pitcher who tied for their team lead in wins. The winner of that trade is debatable, but when you consider that the Rays had plenty of pitching and Joyce gave them a huge offensive season in 2011 and strong performance in 2010 and 2012 as well, the Rays definitely are happy with their end of the deal.

*Sure, the Rays have pitching depth and bigger needs elsewhere now as well, but they don’t have a pitcher anywhere near as enigmatic as Jackson was in 2012 and are confident that all their starters can pitch well for them next season if they are retained and don’t feel a need to sell-high.

Those two moves were vintage moves the Rays would make, taking calculated risks to give their team the best long-term reward. The move they made on December 11, 2009 was quite a bit more surprising as they traded Jesse Chavez, who they had just acquired in November for Akinori Iwamura, to the Atlanta Braves for Rafael Soriano and signed him to a one-year, 7.25 million dollar contract. Soriano was coming off a great season for the Braves in 2009, posting a 2.97 ERA, a 102-27 strikeout to walk ratio, and 27 saves, but he had made just 14 appearances in 2008 after dealing with injury problems all year and then undergoing surgery on his right pitching elbow to remove bone spurs. If Soriano had gotten hurt again, the Rays would have been in trouble. Instead, they took a chance knowing that they needed an effective late inning arm to contend after J.P. Howell was lost to the year to shoulder surgery, and the results were remarkable as Soriano posted a 1.73 ERA and 45 saves to help the Rays win the AL East division title.

The Winter Meetings presents the Rays with plenty opportunities for potential deals. Most of the time, they don’t take them for a variety of reasons. But in these trades, the Rays saw opportunities for upside and seized them, something they did once again today when they signed James Loney. The Rays don’t carry out trades during the Winter Meetings if they think that they can find a better value at a later time. But if the right player becomes available or the offer comes along, anything can happen and it will be interesting to see exactly what will.