Joe Maddon Tweets 'Hate to Lose James and Wade,' Momentarily Terrifying Florida Populace

Joe Maddon Tweets ‘Hate to Lose James and Wade,’ Momentarily Terrifying Florida Populace

by Jen Slothower on Mon, Dec 10, 2012 at 1:32PM

If you walked up to someone on a street in Florida and said a local team was “losing James and Wade,” what would that person think?

Miami Heat fans would likely think that meant saying goodbye to the NBA team’s biggest stars, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade.

But lucky for Florida fans, the house-cleaning this week involved the Tampa Bay Rays and the loss of James Shields and Wade Davis via a trade. Both are great pitchers and valuable parts of the MLB team, but they’re not as vital to that 25-plus-member team’s success as James and Wade are to their 13-player roster, which won the NBA title last year.

Still, Rays manager Joe Maddon was treading in dangerous territory when he tweeted this Monday afternoon.

HATE..HATE to lose James and Wade. But this who we are. This is how we have to operate. Excited about the guys we are getting.
—
Joe Maddon (@RaysJoeMaddon) December 10, 2012