We are now less than a week from the greatest day of the year, opening day, and our hearts are starting to beat a little faster. It is time to preview the rest of the Rays divisional rivals. Rather than have us rant about the inadequacies of the other teams and how jealous we are of their payrolls, we decided we would call in the experts. Each of these four days, a different guest writer will preview his/her team. We have turned to our favorite team blogs for writers that would provide an entertaining, passionate and completely biased view. (click “continue reading” at bottom for the complete post)

Up next: Toronto Blue Jays. Our guest author is Dave Carrol of Blue Bird Banter. Like the Devil Rays, The “Blue” Jays have moved away from the “Blue” and now refer to themselves as the Jays, although they don’t appear ready to make it official as the Rays will in 2008. The reason for the move is decidedly less satanic (depending on who you talk to). The Jays have been owned by Rogers, one of two major communications companies in Canada since 2000. The other company, Bell, uses blue as their primary color. The irony is that the original owners of the team was Labat’s who named the team “Blue Jays” in honor of their Blue beer. We have always had a soft-spot for the Jays having lived close to Dunedin as young tike and chasing George Bell home runs over the left field fence. Dave is one of our favorite writers and has a great site at Blue Bird Banter which is part of the Sports Nation community and is the place we hit up first whenever we need to get caught up on all things Jays. Enjoy…

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Toronto Blue Jays: Coming attractions

Baseball is the great social game. It’s a drama that unfolds before your eyes every summer. Unless Bud the Spud and Don Fehr get giddy, the 162 stage appearances a year allow you to really… truly… turn your favorite ballplayers into one dimensional, personified, exaggerated imaginary characters. So in that spirit, we look at the Toronto Blue Jays.

Last year, the Jays really made up some ground and finished one game above the Boston Red Sox who could have used some Dr. Phil assistance by the end of the season. We were all DELIGHTED. It made the parade down Young Street extra special. This season, the Jays (armed with ace sharp shooters like Jason Smith, Royce Clayton, and Matt Stairs) are aiming high… 2 games above the Red Sox.

Around the horn

1B: Lyle Overbay: Toronto is getting a man-crush on Lyle. He is pretty foxy. Yet the word that is most often used is “steady”… like John Olerud. Now, it’s baseball… so that’s a good thing… but how many fantasy drafts had Overbay taken this season? Still average.

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3B: Troy Glaus: I’m honestly not sure if big boy could touch his toes if he tried. Bending does not appear to be one of his strengths. Yet last season, Johnny “Boomhower” Gibbons played him at shortstop. Should you be able to do more than hope a ball bounces up to you before you get to play short?

SS: Royce Clayton: I feel a great sense of loss that Royce shaved off the dreads. Maybe they were just a weave? Can’t say too many Clayton jerseys have sold on the mean streets of TO this winter.

2B: Aaron Hill: A disproportionate number of Jays fans LOVE this guy. Likely because he reminds us of us. Kind of a short, elf-like, white guys. Tries real hard. So did Rudy. You know what Rudy was? Some dude who played one down of college football. ODog come home!!!

C- Greg Zaun: Whatever. Did you Tampa Bay folks know that people at Rogers Center dress up as “Zaunbie’s”. Honestly. You should pass that on to the psychopath who heckles behind home plate in your empty stadium. I’m sure he’d like to know.

The Outfield

LF: Reed Johnson: Did you realize that Reed Johnson finished 10th in the AL in average last year? We had no idea! The word used most commonly to describe Reed Johnson… “sparkplug”. Kind of another backhand compliment methinks. BUT… the no doubt winner of the weirdest facial hair contest!

CF: Vernon Wells: I bow down in reverence to thou oh great and mighty Vernon. Your countenance shines upon as we approach your throne in the middle of the “tried unsuccessfully to look like real” grass. Vernon… it is only by your grace and mercy that are able to merely dwell in your presence. Seriously… he’s good.

RF: Alex Rios: A couple of years ago when Rios and Chris Bosh were both rookies, I proposed a reality show called… “Get me fat” when a team force-fed these two bean poles in a desperate effort to make sure they didn’t get blown away in a stiff breeze. If Rios can avoid the foot fungus this season, he’s going to be a true great white north beauty eh!

Starting Rotation: “How many do we get again?”

#1 Roy Halliday: Try and keep this down. But Roy is very good. If this secret gets out, I’m afraid he’ll bolt for the Rays… ha ha ha… oh wait, he’s under a long term deal now worth less that Vernon’s. I’m openly gloating to be able to watch Roy this much.

#2 AJ Burnett: Sure the guy’s is a head case. Sure the guy is tattooed like a circus freak. Sure the guy has nipple rings… but so did Ghandi. I think THIS is THE YEAR for juice Burnett. But I’ve been saying that for a long time… and will continue to think this way as long as I have to make in happen.

#3 Gus Chacin: Is it widespread public knowledge that last season, a male cologne called “Chacin” was actually manufactured? If everyone doesn’t know, you should discover more… it’s awesome. Isn’t this the face of a fragrance magnate?

#4 & #5 Tomo Ohka, John Thompson, Josh Towers, Victor Zambrano, Shawn Marcum, Casey Jansen, Dustin McGowen…Let’s decide this in the way that decisions were meant to be made… in a large scale, best 2 out of 3, paper-rock-scissors competition.

The Pen

BJ Ryan: Hands down the largest head I’ve ever seen. It’s a watermelon covered in a shaggy blonde mullet. That alone should make him the closer… and the fact that people swing like a mental patient on roofies at his pitches… that too.

And the rest… I always felt terrible on Gilligan’s Island for The Professor and Mary-Ann, as they weren’t included in the 1st version of the theme song. They were called “and the rest”. Really? I would say that they were AT LEAST as important as Lovely Howell!

Well that’s what the rest of the Jays bullpen is… “and the rest”. It’s still a bit puzzling that they didn’t splurge to keep Justin Spier as a set up man, but so be it. Bullpens are unpredictable. They change from season to season… you know… like the size of Sammy Sosa.

Predictions

1) I will go to the home opener and will complain about how ugly the dome is, while remembering what it was like watching April baseball in the snow

2) The Jays WILL be very active traders this season and the lineup listed above could change drastically by mid season.

3) The Jays WILL compete, even if from an arm’s length, with the Yanks and Sox. I do believe they have an honest shot at a Wild Card.

4) The pschopath sitting behind home plate at “The Trop” will use the word “Zaunbie” this season. When it happens, somebody email me OK?

Dave Carrol
Blue Bird Banter link to http://www.bludbirdbanter.com/
Big Ear Creations link to http://bigearcreations.blogspot.com/
bigearcreations@gmail.com

• After the Rays 1-0 win over the Jays, the Rays no longer have the worst spring training record. In fact they are now ahead of the White Sox and the Mets. This time it was the pitching staff led by Casey Fossum. The Fossum Flop pitched 5 shutout innings allowing 5 hits and 1 walk to lower his spring ERA to 0.71.
• Joe Maddon confirmed what we already knew by naming the order of his first four starters. The fourth starter Casey Fossum, is ready to unleash his “Fossum Flip” (we prefer Fossum Flop), because as he puts it, “it sort of breaks up the seriousness of a baseball game.” Are people laughing at the pitch? Or the fact that Fossum is the only pitcher in baseball without a fastball? Then again if Fossum was less concerned about breaking up the “seriousness of the game”, maybe his career record would be better than 32-44. Supposedly it is J. P. Howell or Edwin Jackson for the rotation. Is it to late to vote for BOTH?
• Rocco Baldelli was held out of a minor league game he was scheduled to appear in. The hope is that the Boy in the Bubble will feel well enough to play on Friday and Saturday in preparation for opening day.
• Josh Hamilton is going to make the Reds’ 25-man roster, to the surprise of nobody. The only question now is if Hamilton will be one of the Reds’ starting outfielders.
• Evan Longoria homered twice in a AA spring training game.
• The Rays are expected to make another round of roster moves today. Afterwards, we will return with an updated roster projection.

You can imagine our surprise when we opened this weeks Baseball Preview issue of Sports Illustrated and we see the name of our little site right there amidst the Devil Rays preview. But don’t worry, we won’t let it go to our heads. In fact we won’t even write a post about it, nor would we ever permanently display the cover of the issue in the sidebar to the right, and we will definitely not push you to vote in the POLL from sportsillustrated.com that asks “Which blog or fan site has the best Devil Rays info?” in which we are getting our butts kicked by two sites that are clearly cheating. Hey, at least we have received more votes than DevilRaysNews. What? DevilRaysNews hasn’t updated in almost a year? They still have Mark Hendrickson listed on the Rays roster? OK, well at least we aren’t losing to THIS BLOG.

(editors note: we are just kidding about the “cheating”)

We are now less than a week from the greatest day of the year, opening day, and our hearts are starting to beat a little faster. It is time to preview the rest of the the Rays divisional rivals. Rather than have us rant about the inadequacies of the other teams and how jealous we are of their payrolls, we decided we would call in the experts. Over the next four days a different guest writer will preview his/her team. We have turned to our favorite team blogs for writers that would provide an entertaining, passionate and completely biased view. (click “continue reading” at bottom for the complete post)

Up first: Baltimore Orioles. Our guest author is Scott Christ of Camden Chat. It can’t be easy being an Oriole’s fan with Peter Angelos as an owner but we can empathize after suffering through the Vince Naimoli era. Scott has built himself quite a following at Camden Chat as part of the Sports Nation community and is the place we hit up first whenever we need to get caught up on all things Orioles. Enjoy…

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When I was asked to write an Orioles preview for Rays Index, I thought, “Sure!” I like writing about the Orioles — that’s why I do it so often. I also like doing guest spots at other sites. It’s kind of like Flavor Flav stopping by on the Wu’s Iron Flag to shout a few times and have a discussion with Method Man. And I want to be more like Flavor Flav, at least pre-reality TV Flav.

Then I kept trying to write the preview. I thought about all the things I could talk about, this player or that, look out for the future of Nolan Reimold (actually, don’t), Daniel Cabrera’s BABIP, and then I had another thought. It was, “Holy crap, I am sick of previewing the Orioles.”

Spring training rolls around every year and is fun for a little while, but then you have your team’s roster pretty much established and the whole thing is a waiting game for the first real contest of the season. Given that the O’s kick off at the ugly Homerdome against Johan Santana, I’m not exactly thrilled. The next 161 games, I’m pretty sure we can win those. All of them.
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But I don’t have it in me this late in March to talk about the technical or statistical ins and outs of the club anymore. You’ve probably seen the last nine years of Orioles baseball; it’s been kind of like the last nine years of Devil Rays baseball, only slightly better, though without a Carl Crawford-type guy to get excited about because that’s your boy out there in left field. We do have Nick Markakis now, who I hope will become our boy on a consistent basis.

Instead of analyzing your usual chief rivals in the race for cellar dwelling, let me just share with you a bunch of junk you probably couldn’t care less about, all of it dealing with the Baltimore Orioles.

1. Every year, someone says that the Orioles “could surprise some people.” This year, I’ve taken it upon myself to up the ante. I say we’re making the playoffs, and the closer the season gets, the more I’m sure we’re just going to win the division. I have some sound arguments (well, they’re sound if you’re a lunatic), but the fun of being a fan sometimes lies in being nuts. Every March, I get progressively more ridiculous than I was the last.

2. We are the only team in the American League East that did not sign a Japanese player this offseason. I will admit that I see this as a distinct disadvantage for my Birds. Unlike the Hideki Matsui sweepstakes, the Orioles didn’t even bother to send Matsuzaka an email. What kind of commitment to winning is that? Furthermore, Iwamura went for cheap. But, no, we have Chris Gomez. On the plus side, we are stocked with Canadians.

3. Hayden Penn came to camp with a sweet moustache, but shaved it off. He later forgot his luggage and missed a start, which has put him close to the doghouse. These character flaws — moustaches you never intended to keep, forgetfulness — are the type of things that can ruin a career. That, and Penn’s fastball is straight as a grizzly’s… Did you ever see Grumpy Old Men? I don’t want to curse. I love the kids.

4. If Ted Nugent was a middle reliever, he’d be Jamie Walker. I could not be happier to have that guy on my team. Endlessly quotable.

5. We traded for Kris Benson in the 2005-06 offseason, and all the humorous pundits would say things like, “Anna (and Kris) Benson traded to Orioles.” You see, Anna Benson is a stone-cold hottie — she’s bona fide. She’s been in FHM and Maxim, I think. I don’t know, I don’t really read Baby’s First Playboys. Now that Benson is hurt and out for the 2007 season, which came conveniently after the Orioles decided to bring him back, we get to hear things like, “Anna (and Kris) Benson out for the season.” It really never ends, and it never gets less funny. Really. That said, I don’t think Anna Benson is such a bad person. She’s kinda famous and she uses that to share her opinions. Big deal. Now if she were Anna Schilling, oh boy. (See what I did there? Take that, Curt, you extremely friendly guy.)

6. I am a heterosexual male, but if there is a pair of teammates in the league more handsome than Brian Roberts and Corey Patterson, I don’t know where they are. The O’s should really market those two guys for the ladies. There’s a nickel to be made there, but on the downside, the grounds crew might spend too much time collecting undergarments from the field of play. I would like to see the generally shy Patterson use his wheels to run away from an oncoming stampede of Oriole groupies.

7. Daniel Cabrera got eye surgery this winter, which is conflicting for me. I hope it improves his control, although that’s probably not terribly likely. But I’m going to miss the Wild Thing Vaughn version of Cabrera that came back from Ottawa with cool glasses and more strikes. I always wanted there to be one of those late-80s/early-90s era Fleer cards for Cabrera and Adam Loewen, with some goofy fonted graphic that says, T
WIN TOWERS. Hopefully that can still happen.

8. The Orioles are one of those teams that doesn’t allow beards, yet they’ll let Paul Shuey come to Fort Lauderdale with a moustache that would make Sam Elliott proud. I think their official rule is that they allow “neatly trimmed moustaches,” but Shuey’s was nothing of the sort.

9. Many of the offseason moves the team made have been jokingly referred to as, “So Orioles,” or, “Such an Orioles thing to do.” Most of them are right, even if I do think some of these players make this a much better team than last year’s squad, which was really quite a sad group, what with that bullpen and Brandon Fahey and Fernando Tatis playing left field. Anyway, I think the one move that even the most homeriffic O’s fan can’t help but just make fun of is giving Paul Bako $900,000 to caddy for Ramon Hernandez. You know, because you just can’t find some catcher in AAA or even Low-A to duplicate Bako’s major league production. Eli Whiteside really must have pissed off somebody.

10. I believe Melvin Mora spends roughly 78% of his life looking really glum about something. I wish I knew what it was. I’d try to help him out.

Probably not so in-depth, I know. But let me say this: The Orioles could make some noise this year if Bedard, Cabrera and Loewen pitch well, if Wright and Trachsel can hold up the back end, and if Huff hits something like the good Aubrey Huff and less like the lame Aubrey Huff. We know Tejada will be good, we know that the bullpen almost has to be better (for $43 million, it better be), and we know that Kevin Millar will at some point take off his pants or do a cartwheel on top of the dugout or race the Oriole Bird for charity. Look around the division. There isn’t a single team that doesn’t have some very serious problems with its starting rotation. The Yankees, Red Sox and Blue Jays are the favorites (probably in that order) because they have a lot of hitting to balance out what almost everyone expects will be shaky pitching for all three teams. If the Orioles actually pitch, they have a shot at beating those teams consistently. Which means they have a shot at winning something this year. The AL East has become baseball’s most overrated division, simply because these are not teams built to win close, low-scoring games very frequently. Teams like the Tigers and Angels have an immediate upperhand on the AL East powers simply because they have the pitchers. Whatever team in the AL East winds up having a solid rotation will have a huge advantage, and if it’s like last year and nobody has a very good rotation, it’ll just be the team that has two guys they can rely on instead of one, like the Yankees with Mussina and Wang.

I hope you enjoyed my stunning insight on the Baltimore Orioles, and I’d like to thank you for reading, and thank the big cheeses at Rays Index for letting me get a word in on this fine site. We’re practically neighbors at this point, so teams like ours have to stick together.

• The Rays fell to Cleveland 4-3. You can tell that Joe Maddon wants his pitchers working deeper in games this year. For the second time this week a starting pitcher worked 7 innings, a rare sight in spring training. This time it was James Shields, who gave up 4 runs on 8 hits and a walk. He struck out 7. Jorge Cantu had his first home run of the spring and Elijah Dukes doubled home the other run.
• Dioner Navarro was scratched from yesterday’s game which is not good news. Navarro has had hamstring problems in the past. The Rays may be better served to put him on the shelf for two weeks and make sure he is 100%. Carl Crawford was also a late scratch from Monda’s lineup although his injury appears to be less threatening at this point.
• Speaking of injuries, Wade Townsend pitched in a minor league game for the Rays yesterday. You remember Townsend, right? He was the Rays top pick in 2005 and then after 12 unimpressive outings, he threw out his elbow and needed Tommy John surgery. He missed all of 2005. He is 24 now and scheduled to pitch all season at single-A Columbus.
• B. J. Upton is playing more relaxed this season and it is probably going to translate into a position on the opening day roster. Now the question is will he be relaxed enough to duplicate something similar to his 2005 numbers at Durham?
• In 2006 Delmon Young drew one walk in 126 plate appearances with the Rays. That would normally be a red flag for a prospect. Young isn’t worried, and believes the walks will come when pitchers learn to fear what he can do with strikes. We are big believers in plate discipline for young hitters, but with Young, it won’t be a problem. For the record, Young has 2 walks in 62 plate appearances this spring.
• Al Reyes has no regrets and is just happy to be back, even if he is old enough to have fathered half his teammates.
• The Curse of LaMar-Naimoli.

We are one week from opening day and based on the pitching assignments that manager Joe Maddon has utilized recently, we now know the order of the Rays starting pitching rotation and it hints at who the 5th starter is. First let’s look at the slots…

1. Scott Kazmir
2. Jae Seo
3. James Shields
4. Casey Fossum
5. Edwin Jackson/J. P. Howell
   

We already know that Scott Kazmir is going to be the opening day starter. Kaz made a start on Friday and will get the ball again on Wednesday, which will put him on normal rest for the opening day start in Yankee Stadium. Jae Seo pitched yesterday and will likely get the ball again on Friday. That will put him on a normal four days rest heading into the second game on Wednesday, after the off-day on Tuesday. James Shields is in the third slot, as he is on schedule to pitch the final game of the Yankees series, with Casey Fossum slotted to be the fourth starter. With Fossum pitching last Thursday and again this upcoming Tuesday, a normal four-days rest schedule would have him taking the mound in the Rays home opener against the Jays on Friday.

Kazmir and Seo as the first two starters is a surprise to nobody, but Maddon’s decision to go with Shields in game 3 is a telling one. This could be an indication that Papa Joe is leaning towards Edwin Jackson for the final spot in the rotation. If Maddon had gone with Fossum in the third slot, it would have given the Rays a lefty-righty-lefty-righty rotation at the top. However, given the current order of starting pitchers, if J. P. Howell were to earn the final spot, the Rays will send out lefties on three straight days (Fossum, Howell, Kazmir). That is a situation most managers would try to avoid. Jackson in the 5th spot would break up the two lefties.

Jackson and Howell two have very similar spring numbers. Howell has given up 13 hits, 5 walks and 1 hit batter with 9 strikeouts in 15 innings (1.80 ERA). In 14.2 innings, Jackson has allowed 10 hits, 8 walks and struck out 13 (1.84 ERA). With Jackson out of minor league options Howell probably would have needed to be markedly better than Jackson this spring to win the final spot. Maddon will probably make his decision official on Thursday. Whoever starts on Thursday will be on schedule to pitch the 5th game of the season.

With the off day the first week, the Rays may choose to skip the fifth spot in the rotation the first time through. If that is the case, the Rays will not need a fifth starter until the ninth game of the season, against the Rangers. However, last season Maddon chose to give Kazmir an extra day of rest the first week as he did use the teams 5th starter the first time through the order.

• How bad were the Rays first 15 spring games? After the Rays 12-4 win over Pittsburgh yesterday, their 7th in 10 games, they still have the worst record in baseball. Delmon Young picked up three more hits to raise his spring average to .345 and Jonny Gomes smacked his 4th spring home run. Jae Seo was stretched by Joe Maddon going 7 innings, giving up 2 runs on 5 hits and 2 walks. Seth McClung is doing his best to assure a return to Durham giving up2 more runs in 1 inning.
• Al Reyes will pitch today and tomorrow. Joe Maddon wants to see how his arm responds to pitching on back-to-back days. A strong outing on Tuesday could secure Reyes the closer’s job.
• However, Joe Maddon suggests that he may start the season with a closer-by-committee.
• Supposedly Jonny Gomes is competing for a spot on the roster. We find that hard to believe. Gomes represents the Rays only real power threat in a lineup that will not hit a lot of home runs.
• The new turf at the Trop may change the way the Rays approach games this season. We may see the Rays bunting more frequently in 2007 due to the slower speed of balls in the infield.
• On opening day the Yankees may send out Carl Pavano to face the Rays. Pavano hasn’t pitched in the majors since June 2005.

Normally we begin the day with The Hangover, but something has come to our attention that just couldn’t wait. Buried at the bottom of a longer article on the growth of the Rays as a franchise is a tidbit that made our jaw hit the keyboard.

In what might be (Matt) Silverman’s boldest and most compassionate task, he’s exploring the possible public resurrection of Vince Naimoli – the guy who helped bring the Rays franchise here, then so successfully alienated this region’s entire fan base.

A public relations expert is working with Naimoli, who has an office at the Trop. Can Vince be redeemed? Are we heading to the World Series? In baseball, anything’s possible.

That sound you just heard was thousands of Rays fans gasping in unison.

Let us reiterate what you just read. Matt Silverman has hired a public relations expert to work with the Rays former managing general partner Vince Naimoli in a possible move to reestablish him in the public eye. And how is that going to be good for the team or the fans? More importantly, how is the new front office supposed to lift The Curse of LaMar-Naimoli if Vince Naimoli still has an office at the Trop? This is not the way we wanted to start our Monday.

Raising the Rays right [St. Pete Times]

• OK, maybe there is as the Rays and Red Sox tied 1-1. Edwin Jackson struck out 6 and only walked 2 in 4.2 innings. Gary Glover only surrendered 1 walk in 2 innings.
• It seems like a bit of a stretch that Jorge Cantu could be sent down to Durham to start the season, but to hear Cantu talk about it, he sounds worried.
• Has Gary Glover earned a spot in the bullpen? The way Papa Joe Maddon is speaking of him, he just might have. The problem is Glover is not on the 40-man roster and the team already has one player to remove from the 40-man to make room for Al Reyes.
  
• Dioner Navarro is working his way back from his sore hamstring. He worked 5 innings yesterday and will have today off before working 7 innings tomorrow. Carl Crawford and Rocco Baldelli will both have the day off today as they work back from their ailments.
• The Rays may have caught a break in their season-opening series against the Evil Empire. The Yankees placed Chien-Ming Wang on the DL.
• Edwin Jackson has a new mental approach this season and it could translate into a spot in the rotation.
• Peter Gammons says that the Rays are one of only four teams with no shot at finishing .500, but that the Rays’ talent is “NFL level”…whatever that means.
• The Rays and the Pink Sox don’t play until July 3, and Joe Maddon does not know yet whether he will employ the “Maddon Shift” that he used against David Ortiz last season.
• FoxSports.com is reporting that the Rays have expressed interest in Jorge Julio of the D-Backs. Yes, the Rays need bullpen help, but we can’t see this one happening.
• Manny, Tim and Neil unleash their mathematical genius and a few big words mixed amongst a lot of little ones to project the 2007 Tampa Bay Devil Rays, with their first installment of “Raise or Raze the Rays“. The consensus appears to be that there is no consensus and the Rays may be the biggest question mark in baseball. The guys make a case for the Rays finishing with anywhere from 60 wins in a worst-case scenario to 86 wins with a lot of luck. The most telling statement is the they believe the Rays could potentially contend this season if they were in one of the other divisions. High praise indeed.
• We never liked the “Z-man” nickname, and “Benny Boo Boo” was never going to stick, but “Zoey”? That could work.

• 15 more runs and 14 more hits and the Rays have now won six of eight. Ben Zobrist and Jonny Gomes each homered. It was Gomes’ third of the spring. J. P. Howell staked his claim to the 5th spot in the rotation by pitching 5 innings of 1-run ball giving up 4 hits and striking out 5. The most important number in his stat line was 1, as in 1 walk. Howell’s ability to keep runners off base may just give him the edge over Edwin Jackson.
  
• Carl Crawford is the latest Rays to miss a game with a sore muscle as he sat out last night with a tight groin. Jon Switzer was placed on the DL with tendinitis in his shoulder, virtually guaranteeing that the Rays will start the season without a lefty in the bullpen.
• Here is an interesting (and sobering) attempt at projecting Akinori Iwamura’s numbers based on his Japanese statistics. They looked at six offensive categories for all Japanese hitters currently in the big leagues and averaged the differences between their Japanese stats and their big league stats. Over 600 at bats, Muu-Rah’s numbers would be.287 BA, .340 OBP, .441 SLG, 82 runs, 18 HR and 75 RBI. Well, we already know that Joe Maddon will only be starting Iwamura against righties, so 450 at bats is more realistic. That would translate into 62 runs, 14 HR and 56 RBI. We are not surprised about the drop-off in power, but we were expecting something a little better than Ronnie Belliard.
• We have teased Elijah Dukes at times, and have been critical at times, but we have never wanted him anywhere but the Rays lineup. We have been teased by the minor league numbers and the scouts reports. The idea that some scouts think he could end up being better than any of the three current starters in the outfield, just gives us goose bumps. After reading this sportsIllustrated.com piece, Mr. Dukes may be the one player we are most looking forward to seeing on opening day. Is it wrong that we are secretly hoping that Rocco Baldelli is limited to DH duty the first week?
• One pitcher that hasn’t been mentioned for the closer’s role is the one pitcher who had the job to start 2006, Dan Miceli. Miceli says that throwing in the World Baseball Classic during spring training last year threw of his schedule and could have led to the injury that sidelined him for half the season. This spring he has lost 30 pounds and is working on regaining his velocity. If he does, he will be in the mix for saves.
• The Baseball Thinkfactory has a very in depth look at the 2007 Devil Rays. Its amazing what somebody can put together when they actually do some homework.