Rays executive vice president Andrew Friedman is getting a lot of notice for the moves he made to get the Rays to their current position,

Former Mets GM Steve Phillips named Friedman as the American League’s top general manager for the first half of the season. OK, so it’s not exactly something to hang over your fireplace and gaze upon in old age, but it does point out the respect the Rays are gaining throughout all of baseball. Among other things, Phillips praised Friedman’s moves to acquire Jason Bartlett and Matt Garza in the Delmon Young trade, the move of Akinori Iwamura to second base, and the signing of Troy Percival.

It’s only the beginning if the Rays keep this up.

That’s a big “if” of course, but let’s play along for fun.

Joe Maddon will draw much support for manager of the year. It will difficult to deny them multiple spots on the all-star team, too. You figure Scott Kazmir is a lock. Dioner Navarro faces tough competition but he should be in any conversation at catcher. Evan Longoria’s batting average has improved to .270 and he has 15 home runs, 47 RBIs, and is playing outstanding defense.

Imagine what his numbers could look like at the end of the year - something between 25 and 30 homers, a batting average that should climb to .285 or so. Can you say rookie of the year?

You can make a strong argument for J.P. Howell to be an all-star (6-0, 3.02, only 36 hits allowed in 50.2 innings).

Plus, the Rays are on pace to win 98 games.

That’s right - 98 games.

Oh, and Steve Phillps?

He projects the Rays to make the AL playoffs as the wild card.