Archive for January 28th, 2008

Jan 28

[RI CONFIDENCE GRAPH] The Rays Index Confidence Graph: 9 Weeks Until Opening Day

Confidence graph, Jolly Guzbar is the balls Cork Gaines 6 Comments »

The RI Confidence Graph will appear every Monday and is a look at how much confidence we have in the Tampa Bay Rays at this moment. The graph is designed to give us a look at how our emotional bias as Rays fans fluctuates through time. The “confidence” in the team is an inexact measure of how we feel about the team’s current strength as well as how much confidence we have in the Tampa Bay Rays moving forward. You can think of a “confidence” rating of 10 as an indication that we believe the team is “playoff-caliber”. A rating of 0 is a strong indication that we need to start reevaluating the process that led to us becoming Rays fans. Notes on this weeks agida-level can be found after the graph..

Notes on the RI Confidence Graph…

The big news this past week was the announcement the Rays had signed James Shields to a deal that could be as long as 7 years. The deal could be a major coup for the Rays but in reality it has little or no bearing on the Rays this year or next, so it doesn’t do much for our confidence in the 2008 Tampa Bay Rays. In addition, the Rays were named the Top Organization by Baseball America, which again bodes well for the future. On the other hand, the team claims they are losing money. Those are the types of words that teams start throwing around just before they sell-off big or potentially big contracts (Scott Kazmir?) or threaten to move if they don’t get a new stadium.

9 weeks until opening day and we can see this team as 70-win team or an 85-win team and anything in the middle. That keeps our confidence at a 5.

  • PROS
    1. We feel good (not great) about the offense as RF and DH should be much more productive in 2008 and Akinori Iwamura should see a minor up-tick in his stat-line which will be a nice contribution from a middle infielder. We also have this feeling that we don’t like to say out loud to often for fear of jinxing it. But we have a sneaky suspicion that Carl Crawford and BJ Upton are both going to blow up in 2008 with huge years.
    2. The top of the rotation can match-up with just about anybody in the league. If the Rays enter a series with Scott Kazmir, James Shields and Matt Garza scheduled to throw, there is no reason they should not win the series.
    3. The bullpen is much better as-is…if they can stay healthy.
    4. The pitching staff should benefit from a much-improved defense, especially up the middle with Jason Bartlett, Akinori Iwamura and BJ Upton, who should be much more comfortable in center field in 2008.
  • CONS
    1. Nobody has yet figured out a way to combine Willy Aybar’s OBP with Joel Guzman’s power and glove. “Jolly Guzbar” would make one hell of a third baseman and nobody would be in a hurry to see Evan Longoria.
    2. It is looking more and more like the final two spots in the rotation will be Nuke (Edwin Jackson) and The Duke (Andy Sonnanstine). We are hoping for great things from The Duke, but Nuke scares the hell out of us.
    3. The bullpen is old and the Rays are only two pitches away from Dan Wheeler closing games and Gary Glover setting him up in the 8th inning.
Jan 28

[THE PROFESSOR] Cork Gaines Has Joined The Staff At MLB Trade Rumors

MLB Trade Rumors, The Professor revealed Cork Gaines 3 Comments »

Ricky Henderson would be so proud…

Just wanted to take a moment and let you guys know that I have accepted an invitation to write a regular feature at MLB Trade Rumors. We have long been fans of Tim Dierkes’ site and have watched it grow into one of the biggest sports blogs in the world.

While my exact role has yet to be determined, I am excited to be joining the staff, and look forward to bringing the Raysiverse to a larger audience. I might even wear pants when I am writing over there.

Introducing Cork Gaines and Matt Birt [MLB Trade Rumors]

Jan 28

[EVAN LONGORIA] The Evan Longoria/Eva Longoria Jokes Have Commenced

Eva Longoria, Evan Longoria, The Dugout Cork Gaines 2 Comments »

We have professed our love for The Dugout on this site before. And today they are back with another chatroom featuring the Tampa Bay Rays top prospect, Evan Longoria and his alter-ego, Eva Longoria, who gives young Evan some investment advice.

As Rays fans the Eva/Evan Longoria name-similaritiness seems like old news. We have joked about it. We have talked about it. Sometimes we even see a headline (LIKE THIS, or THIS) and go ‘huh-wha!?!’. But we need to come to terms with the reality that we live in very special place. The Raysiverse. And the population is not very big and news from within the Raysiverse does not travel very far, unless of course a player chucks a bat at an umpire or threatens the lives his wife and children.

Of course we would probably enjoy this more if he was named Selman Hayek…Just Sayin’.

The Dugout: Stocks, pt. 1 [AOL Fanhouse]

Jan 28

[THE HANGOVER] Edwin Jackson Now More Likely To Be On Rays Opening-Day Roster

Andrew Friedman, Edwin Jackson, Eric Bedard, Evan Longoria, Marc Topkin, Ryan Braun Cork Gaines 1 Comment »

Tampa Bay Rays (17 days until pitchers and catchers report)
We hope you didn’t forget to add blueberries to your pancakes this morning. It is National Blueberry Pancake Day. But don’t worry. If you screwed that up, Joe Maddon will point out how well you tied your shoes this morning.

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

  • There was never much life to the rumors of a potential deal to send Edwin Jackson to the Mariners. If there was a pulse, news that Eric Bedard has been traded to the M’s just killed it. It is not out of the realm of possibility that the Mariners would still want Jackson, but they just acquired a much better starting pitcher and it cost them a king’s ransom (Adam Jones). [Seattle Times]
  • The Rays Way argues that Evan Longoria should start the season in AAA and cites the success of Ryan Braun and the mediocrity of Ryan Braun as examples of why. [The Rays Way]
  • Rays of Light points out that Marc Topkin wouldn’t make a very good General Manager. The “team” of free agents that Topkin suggests, reminds us a lot of the 2006 Royals, who brought in a bunch of “names” that people knew that really had poor career numbers. The were considered true “baseball players” and a great presence in the clubhouse. That team lost 100 games. [Rays of Light]
  • Bill Madden named Andrew Friedman as one of two GMs that had the best off-season. [Daily News]
  • Rays Digest points out that not everybody believes that the James Shields deal is a good one for the Rays. In addition, they project the Rays 2011 lineup, which we guess is made under the assumption that the Rays will not make any trades or sign any free agents and no players will get hurt in the next three seasons. Seems reasonable. [Rays Digest]