Archive for November 28th, 2007

Nov 28

[DELMON YOUNG] Rays Trade Delmon Young And Two Others To The Twins For Matt Garza, Jason Bartlett And A Minor Leaguer

Brendan Harris, Delmon Young, Eduardo Morlan, Jason Bartlett, Jason Pridie, Matt Garza Cork Gaines 6 Comments »

ESPN.com is reporting that the deal to send Delmon Young to the Twins has been finalized. The Tampa Bay Rays will send Young, along with Brendan Harris and Jason Pridie to the Minnesota Twins for Matt Garza, shortstop Jason Bartlett and minor league pitcher Eduardo Morlan. The deal does not include relief pitcher Juan Rincon, as had previously been mentioned.

The big piece in the deal is Garza, which gives the Rays a legitimate #3 starter in the rotation. The acquisition pushes Edwin Jackson and Andy Sonnanstine down to the #4 and #5 slots. Adding a starter to the rotation should strengthen the bullpen as Jason Hammel will now most likely be the Rays long reliever and spot starter. Jeff Niemann, the Rays top pick in 2005, will now have to compete with Sonnanstine for the final spot in the rotation and is more likely to begin the season at AAA Durham.

The acquisition of Jason Bartlett gives the Rays an above average defensive shortstop and a strong upgrade defensively. Bartlett, made 26 errors in 2007, but has consistently been above the league average in range factor.

Both Harris and Pridie wee expendable pieces for the Rays. Harris would most likely have been the team’s utility infielder, a position that Ben Zobrist or Josh Wilson can fill adequately. Pridie, who was recently added to the 40-man roster, spent the 2006 Spring Training with the Twins after being selected in the Rule 5 draft. Pridie posted strong numbers this past season at AA Montgomery and AAA Durham, but stood no chance of being added to the 25-man roster.

Moving Young, leaves an opening in right field for the Rays, and opens a roster spot and playing time for Justin Ruggiano. Andrew Friedman and Joe Maddon are most likely hoping that some combination of Rocco Baldelli, Jonny Gomes and Ruggiano can fill the roles of right fielder and DH, with all three likely to see significant playing time.

Morlan was a third round pick by the Twins in 2004. He was being groomed as a future closer and split time this past season between A and AA, posting 18 saves and 99 strike outs in 69.2 innings with only 20 walks.

We will have more on this trade tomorrow.

Rays, Twins finish 6-player deal including Young, Garza [ESPN]

Nov 28

[RAYS MEDIA] Why The Devil Rays Columnists Suck: Marc Topkin

DRaysBay, Marc Topkin, RJ Anderson Cork Gaines 11 Comments »

Yesterday RJ Anderson of DRays Bay reported that a source informed him of a trade that would send Boof Bonser to the Rays was close to being made.

I have from a reliable source that Boof Bonser has told people close to him that a deal with him heading to Tampa is imminent.

Later in the day, Marc Topkin dismissed the report as just another internet rumor.

One [trade possibility] that made its way into Internet rumors that [the Tampa Bay Rays] are not discussing involves Minnesota pitcher Boof Bonser, a Gibbs High product.

There is only one small problem…Anderson’s source? It was Boof Bonser.

Boof Bonser is in the area for a golf tournament and while speaking to a group of people, he mentioned that the Twins were close to completing a deal that would have him pitching for the Rays in 2008. Among the group of people that Bonser was speaking with, was JP Peterson of WFLA. Somebody from Peterson’s radio show contacted Anderson to relay the quotes from Bonser. The potential trade was then reported on DRays Bay and also apparently on the radio show Hot Lunch with JP Peterson (we heard about the latter from more than one of our own sources, but have yet to actually hear a tape of the show).

We assume that Topkin then contacted his sources within the Rays organization to verify or refute the trade talks. We are forced to assume this because Topkin does not tell us why he believes the trade rumor is not true. His source is most likely from within the organization and may in fact have been Andrew Friedman, as Topkin’s claim comes at the end of an article with several quotes from Friedman.

It is not surprising that a major league general manager would deny the veracity of a trade rumor. It is surprising that an experienced journalist, or anybody with a heartbeat, would assume that the general manager was telling him/her the truth. Marc Topkin took what the Rays said as being truthful and then smugly dismissed Anderson’s report as just another internet rumor, as if he just pulled it out of his own ass.

Trade rumors are a common topic among baseball blogs. Most often it is simply relaying something that was reported elsewhere and sometimes a blogger will speculate on trade matchups. Is it possible that RJ Anderson or his source made up the quotes attributed to Bonser? We have no reason to think he would make them up. No more reason than we ever think that Marc Topkin makes up his reports.

At least Anderson reported that he had a source. Topkin dismissed the rumor without even telling us if he had a source or if it was own speculation. And in doing so, came off as an elitist that thinks bloggers just sit around in their parents basements making shit up. We have read a lot of these so-called “internet rumors”. 90% are probably not true. 99.9% of those rumors were started by professional reporters like Marc Topkin.

Does anybody have the phone number for Marc Topkin’s parents basement? We have a rumor for him.

[Ed. note: Marc Lancaster of TBO is also reporting that it is his "understanding that there’s nothing to" the Bonser trade rumor. Like Topkin, Lancaster does not tell us if he checked with his sources or if he is just speculating. At least he did not dismiss it as just another rumor that is floating around the internet.]

Boof coming to Tampa? [Drays Bay]
Friedman: The time is now [tampabay.com]

Nov 28

[THE HANGOVER] Rays Pitchers Are Allergic To Strikes

Akinori Iwamura, Andrew Friedman, Carlos Pena, Chris Richard, Hector Gimenez, Jon Weber, Payroll, Reid Brignac, Scott Kazmir Cork Gaines No Comments »

Devil Rays (66-96)
Recondite Baseball recently did a little research on a simple pitching statistic and unwittingly may have stumbled upon one of the main reasons that the Rays pitching has been so awful and in turn, why the Devil Rays have been so bad.

Since the year 2000 (encompassing all but two of the seasons in which the Devil Rays have been in existence), there have been 347 pitchers that are still active and have thrown 200+ innings. Of these pitchers, 39 have thrown less than 60.0% strikes for their career.

The amazing part? Six (6!) of these pitchers (15.4%) currently pitch, or have pitched*, for the Devil Rays.

2. Victor Zambrano – 57.4%
7. Seth McClung – 58.6%
26. Jesus Colome – 59.6%
27. Dewon Brazelton – 59.6%
36. Jay Witasick – 59.8%
37. Edwin Jackson – 59.9%

If Penn State is “Linebacker U.”, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays are “Pitchers that can’t throw strikes U.” Just remember…It is not the home run that kills the ball club. It is the walk given up to the batter before the home run. Or in the case of most of these pitchers, the walksss.

Seeing these numbers, it is easy to understand why so many Rays fans have taken to Andy Sonnanstine so strongly. The Duke is not going to blow any batters away, but at least he is going to make the hitter beat him. At the other end of the spectrum for the Rays is Edwin Jackson. Nobody denies that Nuke has a major league fastball, but questions still remain if he can develop a second (and third) pitch and if he will ever be able to consistently pound the strike zone. When a pitcher throws 97-98, he does not need to have the ball on the black with every pitch, but he does need to be close. If not, enough batters will wait him out and take the walk, and more often than not, when Jackson does throw a strike, it will be of the 400-foot variety.

Pitchers and quarterbacks have many things in common, but the most important thing is that the most difficult thing to teach them is accuracy. It is easier to tweak a pitchers mechanics and add a few inches to their fastball than it is to help them find the strike zone. This is why it was so perplexing when the Mets pitching coach Rick Peterson said he could fix Victor Zambrano in “10 minutes”.

The Rays and their fans already have too much experience with pitchers that cannot throw strikes. If Edwin Jackson can’t be “fixed” his career as a major league starting pitcher may be short-lived.

*In several of these cases we use the term “pitched” very loosely…cough, cough, Dewon, cough, Brazelbum, cough, cough

Strike Percentage, Active Players with 200+ Innings Pitched [Recondite Baseball]

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

  • Andrew Friedman emphasized that the Rays do have some flexibility when it comes to the 2008 payroll. In our 2008 40-man roster projection, we see the opening day payroll at approximately $36 million, which would be about a 25% increase over 2007. It is difficult to tell exactly how much “flexibility” is dependent on the 2008 salaries of Scott Kazmir and Carlos Pena, both of whom are arbitration eligible. [TBO]

“If the right player comes along, whether it be in a trade or as a free agent, that puts us over by a million dollars or two million dollars what our upper limit is, we’ll view that kind of independent of anything else,” said Friedman. “But you also have to factor in that as you do that, you’re just depleting what you can do the next year and the next year. All this money is fungible and it all will go into keeping our own players. It just gets to roster flexibility and how important it is for a lower-revenue team.”

  • MILB is counting down the top 50 prospects. Reid Brignac is the first Rays’ farmhand on the list at #32. [MILB]

He spent all of 2007 in the Southern League and while the overall numbers weren’t as good as in the previous year, there’s still a lot to like about the young shortstop. Though his batting average suffered — largely because of a two-month slump — he still had 52 extra-base hits and stole 15 bases. Perhaps more impressively, his defense improved greatly, and questions about his ability to remain a shortstop have subsided. Winning two titles in as many years with Montgomery certainly doesn’t hurt, either.

  • The Rays will officially unveil their plans for a new stadium today at Al Lang Field. Governor Charlie Crist will be on hand for the ceremony. [Bradenton Herald]
  • The Rays re-signed outfielders Chris Richard and Jon Weber to minor league contracts. Both players were with Durham in 2007. The Rays also confirmed the signing of catcher Hector Gimenez, also to a minor league deal. [tampabay.com]
  • Beyond the Boxscore compares Akinori Iwamura’s first season with the Devil Rays with his career averages from Japan. Surprisingly, the numbers are very consistent, except of course for the home run totals. [Beyond the Boxscore]