Tampa Bay Rays (30.5 days until Opening Day)

Went out to check the mail today and we were surprised with quite a little present.

That my friends is the Tampa Bay Rays’ very own BJ Upton along with his brother Justin Upton of the D-Backs. And no, this is not a fake magazine mock-up from one of those booths at the Trop. A major sports magazine actually put a Ray on the cover. We don’t recall this ever happening before. Can anybody think of an example?

And how about that uni on BJ? We were tentative supporters of the new uni’s since the beginning, but now we are really getting excited. We understand the green was unique and set the Rays apart…but boy, BJ sure looks more like a baseball player now. We likey.

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• The first spring game is not quite over. Edwin Jackson looked strong allowing only one hit in two innings. He went 1-2-3 in the first and after giving up a leadoff single in the second, he got the last two outs on strikeouts to get out of the inning. Rays had bases loaded in the first one out, but Willy Aybar struck out in his first at bat for the Rays. Jonny Gomes ended the inning without a run. Evan Longoria drove in a run with an rbi-double in his second at bat in the Rays 3-run 4th inning. Ben Zobrist has two hits including a double. Jason Hammel gave up two runs in two innings and Jake McGee got knocked around pretty good in his first spring appearance allowing four runs on three hits and three walks in one inning. Shawn Riggans was 0-3 on base stealers, while John Jaso gunned down his only chance. Last spring base stealers were 10-11 against Riggans. [MLB]
  
• Rays Anatomy takes an in depth look at the top prospect lists from several major outlets. [Rays Anatomy]
• The Rays continue to try and sell their product the old fashioned way…door-to-door. Dick Crippen a senior advisor for the Rays promoted the Rays recently at a rotary club meeting in New Port Richey. [The Suncoast News]

The 2008 25-man roster prediction is based only on players currently within the organization and will be updated when trades are consummated and free agents are signed.

With Spring Training games underway, let’s update our 25-man roster projections with a couple of changes.

Notes on the projection can be found after the roster…

A FEW NOTES ON THE 25-MAN ROSTER…

• Lineup: We know that we keep going back-and-forth, but now our gut is saying that Evan Longoria will start the season with the Rays. We don’t think it will take long for Joe Maddon and Andrew Friedman to realize that The Dirtbag is the best third baseman in camp, on the field and off. Cliff Floyd is going to be the DH most days and if healthy, Rocco Baldelli will be in right. That means limited ABs for Jonny Gomes, who needs regular ABs to be effective. If Aybar can play the outfield, the Rays may look to trade Gomes before opening day.
• Bench: If Evan Longoria makes the team, and Jonny Gomes is not traded, that leaves one spot for Willy Aybar and Joel Guzman. Both are out of options. One will need to be traded or released. Guzman may have more value on the trade market right now. Joe Maddon keeps telling us that Shawn Riggans is the favorite to be the backup catcher, so he gets the edge right now. Seems surprising consider the team repeatedly stated they wanted a veteran backup catcher and have two in camp.
• Rotation: Andy Sonnanstine is technically battling for a spot, but he would have to be awful this spring to not get a job. Edwin Jackson looked solid in his spring debut this morning which gives him an early leg up on the competition. Our feeling is that JP Howell and Jason Hammel are longshots at best. Jeff Niemann is the darkhorse that could force Jackson to the bullpen or to another team.
• Bullpen: Five spots are locked. One spot will likely go to one of the odd-men out of the rotation. That leaves one spot and a number of names. Juan Salas, Grant Balfour, Brian Anderson and Scott Dohmann. Salas is still in the D.R. and his clock is running out fast. Balfour is a longshot. Dohmann is the early leader, but there have been positive reports from veteran Anderson.

Tampa Bay Rays (31 days until Opening Day)

The Rays and James Houser have found a loophole in his suspension.

The Rays added the Sarasota native to their 40-man roster in November to protect him from being taken in the Rule 5 draft, and that move apparently trumps the suspension, even when Houser is eventually sent to the minors—which he will be at some point in March.

Houser was originally suspended for 50-games with 17 games remaining in the 2007 season. He was also suspended for the Montgomery Biscuits’ playoff run. He had approximately 26 games remaining on the suspension. However, Houser was suspended as a minor leaguer. He is now technically a major leaguer (even if he is in the minors) and no longer subject to minor league roster rules. If Houser is ever out-righted off of the 40-man roster, he will be forced to finish serving the suspension.

Houser’s suspension evaporates [Rays Report]

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• Dioner Navarro will not see action until at least Monday. Navarro, who missed the beginning of camp late to be with his ailing mother, feels his arm is not quite ready to let loose. [Tampa Tribune]
• In the same piece we learn that Rocco Baldelli’s 2008 outfield debut is now being pushed back to the end of next week. We know the team is just being cautious, but this sort of news makes us hang our head and cry a little. This is starting to sound eerily familiar. Last year it was “Rocco’s minor league rehab is being pushed back”. Then it was “Rocco should be able to join the Rays next week. Nope. Make that the week after. Nevermind. Rocco isn’t coming back.” We are hoping this is just some watered-down baseball version of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. [Tampa Tribune]
• Rays of Light thinks the loophole that got James Houser out of his suspension for Performance Enhancing Drugs is a slap in the face of baseball’s drug testing system, and yet another sign that baseball is dropping the ball on this issue. [Rays of Light]
• This is not the most flattering image of Evan Longoria we have ever seen. [Art of Beast]
• While most of the roster spots are spoken for, there are still a number of decisions that Andrew Friedman and Joe Maddon will have to make prior to opening day. Edwin Jackson who is battling for a spot in the rotation, says he is ready to go today in today’s spring opener. [Tampa Tribune]

“I’m ready to go,” Jackson said. “I know it’s not the season, but spring training’s still pretty important to me. Unless you have a roster spot on lock, you pretty much have to be in game mode if you’re trying to battle for a spot.”

• The Bradenton Herald takes a look at the Rays Spring Training. With so few roster battles, the Rays will concentrate on fundamentals. At this point in the Spring batters are just trying to comfortable in the box, recognizing pitches. [Bradenton Herald]

“At this point, as a hitter, you try to get as comfortable as you possibly can in the box,” Pena said. “You focus on seeing the ball and recognizing pitches and getting to that comfort level that you want…The most important thing at this point is to get comfortable in the box. See the ball. See the ball, see the ball, see the ball, see the ball. Get that trust back with your eyes, trust in your hands. Pretty soon you start feeling that swing. Right there. Right there. Right there.”

• Remember when we mentioned that PECOTA projected that the Rays would win 88 games? WEll, Bugs & Cranks did their own math and they are projecting the Rays to win 118 games. B&C said it, so it must be true. [Bugs & Cranks]
• Yankees Chick takes a look at the 2008 Rays and their increased payroll. The tone of the piece is very…Ahhhh, how cute. [Yankees Chick]
• We have mentioned this before, but it is worth mentioning again. The Rays will be partnering with the Moffitt Cancer Center to offer free skin cancer screenings at select Spring Training games. Tomorrow’s game versus the Jays will be the first game on the schedule. Follow the link for a full schedule of games. [Tampa Bay's 10]

Tampa Bay Rays (31 and a half days until Opening Day)

The Rays have released their pitching schedule for the next few days, including all pitchers that are scheduled to take the mound tomorrow, Saturday and Sunday and the starting pitchers for Monday and Tuesday.

Friday at Reds
Rays—Jackson, Hammel, Sonnanstine, Balfour, Orvella, Houser

Saturday vs. Blue Jays
Rays—Shields, Talbot, Reyes, Miller, Wheeler

Sunday at Pirates
Rays—Niemann, Davis, Ryu, Munter, Birkins

Monday at Tigers
Rays—Garza

Tuesday vs. Twins
Rays—Jackson

A few notes on these assignments…

• Keep in mind that only the first 2-3 pitchers of a game are likely to face major league batters as minor leaguers and non-roster invitees will usually take over later in the game.
• Nary a David Price sighting. That’s OK. It is still a little early and he did have some shoulder stiffness a couple of days ago
• Three of the five competing for the final two spots of the rotation will throw tomorrow.
• Jeff Niemann gets a start on Sunday, before Andy Sonnanstine and Jason Hammel. This tells us that the team knows what they have in those two, but will give Niemann plenty of opportunities to show what he can do.
• Edwin Jackson gets two starts in the first five days. This tells us that the team wants to get a real good look at Jackson and see if he can build on his second-half performance.
• We get our first look at Wade Davis on Sunday, yet no Jake McGee sightings. This is consistent with most reports that suggest that Davis is the more polished of the two super-prospects.

Updated pitching schedule [Rays Report]

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• Bill Chastain discusses Andy Sonnanstine and how he benefited from his experience in 2007. Sonnanstine stated that he lost his confidence early on but by the end of the year, he was back on track. He also noted that he feels the competition in Spring Training will make him better. [Tampa Bay Rays]

“Now I can take that mound and know I’m going to do well,” Sonnanstine said. “Just logging those innings and learning as much as I could, putting it all together in the big equation, really helped me…Right when I first got up, I had two good starts and felt like I belonged,” Sonnanstine said. “After that, I ran into quite a few losses, and that shook my confidence a little bit. By the end of the year, I’m picking [Dan] Wheeler’s head, talking to [Jay] Witasick. That helped. Logging the innings, talking to the older guys, and the experience, that really helped.”

• MLB.com takes a look at Jeff Niemann who says he feels better this year than he usually does this time of year. [MLB.com]
• Hopes have been riding high for the 2008 Tampa Bay Rays. Rays Digest wonders how that will be affected by the recent news that Scott Kazmir strained his elbow. [Rays Digest]
• One website calls the Rays one of their “Top 5 Interesting Teams” for 2008. [How Youz Doin Baseball]

The Rays return in 2008 with a much different lineup than that which started the 2007 campaign as only catcher and left field figure to have the same opening day starters. With most of the regular lineup set, there are still a number of questions concerning the Rays entering Spring Training. Let’s consult the Rays Magic 8-Ball…

1. Will Scott Kazmir get enough of a Spring tune-up to be ready for opening day? Magic 8-ball says: What? You couldn’t start me off with an easy one? Kazmir wants to be on the hill opening day. The team wants to be careful. The team usually wins. At this point it doesn’t seem very likely that Kaz will pitch opening day. Even if he is pitching pain free, the team will be tentative about sending out their young ace on opening day in front of a sold-out crowd in Baltimore with 40 degree weather. Kazmir may overthrow with the extra bit of adrenaline that will be flowing. Look for Kazmir to be skipped in the rotation the first time through the order with 80-90 pitch limits placed on him the first 3-4 starts.

2. Will Evan Longoria be in the lineup on March 31? Magic 8-ball says: America…Fuck yeah! Stuart Sternberg has said that the needs of the prospect outweigh the needs of the team, but it won’t take long for everybody on down to Joe Maddon and the waterboy to realize that the best third baseman in camp is Longoria, both on the field and off. They might as well start stocking Longoria jersey in the Trop shops.

3. Who will fill out the back end of the rotation? Magic 8-ball says: Joe Maddon has stated that the ability to throw strikes on a consistent basis will go a long ways towards deciding the final two spots. I also know that Maddon does most of his evaluating on the previous season. That means that Andy Sonnanstine is a lock for the rotation. The final spot is a bit more dicey. Edwin Jackson has the edge over the other incumbent Jason Hammel, due to his 98mph fastball and a second-half in 2007 that at least showed that he is moving in the right direction. Still, he is going to need to show further progress in the Spring. Hammel is a long-shot at best. With 23 major league starts under his belt he has never shown that he can be a major league starting pitcher. JP Howell may be better suited for the ‘pen. That leaves Jeff Niemann as the only serious contender for Jackson’s spot. With no big league experience to gauge, Niemann will have to show Maddon that he can consistently throw strikes, consistently dominate major league hitters and show that he has the endurance to work late in games. If he can do that, look for Niemann to sneak past Jackson.

4. Will Rocco Baldelli be able to handle an everyday role in right field? Magic 8-ball says: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA!

5. How quickly will Akinori Iwamura adjust to life at second base? Magic 8-ball says: Aki may have said it best…If Wiggy can do it, Aki can do it. The only concern the team has at this point is turning double plays. This is not to be taken lightly, but as long as Aki makes sure of the first out, I am less concerned how long it takes him to get out of the way of the runner and safely deliver the ball to first base. Aki will be fine. Gold glove? Not in 2008. But it would not surprise me if he is at least considered for the award in 2009 or 2010.

6. What happens to Jolly Guzbar if Evan Longoria is the opening day third baseman? Magic 8-ball says: One will be traded prior to opening day. With only four spots on the bench, three are spoken for: Jonny Gomes, Ben Zobrist and a backup catcher to be named later. If Longoria is the third baseman, that leaves one spot for Joel Guzman or Willy Aybar. Guzman has the glove, the pop and can play three infield positions and the corner outfield spots. Aybar is a switch-hitter. Has a solid OBP, but can only play third and second. Did I mention that both are out of options? The player to win the final spot may come down to which commands a bigger bounty in the trade market. Look for Aybar on the bench and Guzman on the Mariners with Edwin Jackson.

7. Who will be the final two relief pitchers? Magic 8-ball says: We have come a long way in one year. Last year, the entire bullpen was up in the air and we actually thought Seth McClung was going to be the closer. And we were surprised the Rays only won 66 games?!? Troy Percival, Al Reyes, Dan Wheeler, Trever Miller and Gary Glover are locks. That leaves two spots in the ‘pen. One spot will go to one of the starting pitchers with Jason Hammel (out of options) the likely choice. JP Howell also has a good shot. Juan Salas is still stuck in the D.R. with no end in sight. He also has a minor league option left, so he is out. That means the final spot will be a Spring battle between Scott Dohmann and Grant Balfour. Dohmann should win that battle easily, but don’t count out Brian Anderson, the veteran lefty has looked strong so far in camp.

8. Can Shawn Riggans really win the backup catcher’s job? Magic 8-ball says: After all the talk of wanting a veteran backup to tutor Navarro, and signing two such backstops in Josh Paul and Mike DiFelice, one of whom is very familiar with the pitching staff (Paul), it amazes me that Joe Maddon says that Riggans is the favorite. This one is truly baffling and the one I seem to have the weakest grip on. When the smoke settles, I still think Paul will be the guy, but if Riggans has a strong spring, the job will be his.

9. Can Fernando Perez play well enough in the spring to convince the Rays that he should be the first option out of Durham? Magic 8-ball says: It is not a matter of if, but a matter of when either Rocco Baldelli or Cliff Floyd lands on the DL. When that happens, the Rays’ first option will most likely be Justin Ruggiano who has a full year of AAA experience and a handful of games in the big leagues. However, if Perez can play well enough in the spring and get off to a hot start in Durham, the team could conceivably bypass Ruggiano for the more talented Perez. The real answer to this question will come if the Rays choose to give Perez playing time in right field in the spring. If they do. Perez is their guy.

10. Do wins and losses in March matter for a team like the 2008 Rays? Magic 8-ball says: For those that say wins don’t matter in the spring. I say stop farting and blaming it on the dog. Last year, of the 8 playoff teams, seven had winning records in the spring, including the D-Backs that had the second best spring record at 20-12. Of the 17 teams that posted winning records in the spring, 11 finished the regular season above .500. The Rays went 10-19 in 2007. A winning record in the spring will go a long way towards building some confidence in the young squad.

11. What other players should we watch closely this spring? Magic 8-ball says: The three names off the top of my dome are Mitch Talbot, Chris Mason and Elliot Johnson. Talbot and Johnson both entered 2007 as top prospects in the organization. Talbot got off to a rough start and Johnson played horribly all year. Talbot pitched better in the second half and needs to have a strong spring or he will become an after-thought in the minds of the men that count. Johnson’s drop-off in 2007 was too great to be due to a lack of skills alone. Outside of Akinori Iwamura, Johnson is the only other potential major league second baseman in the organization. Johnson needs to build on a strong AAA-playoff appearance or he will soon be forgotten. Mason is another question mark. AA’s pitcher of the year in 2007, not many look at Mason as a big-time prospect. He will be at Durham in 2008 and if he has a strong showing this spring we could see him make a spot-start with the Rays sometime in 2008. Keep in mind when a pitcher is needed from Durham, the decision is often based on who’s turn it would be to take the mound as much as talent.

As we pointed out a few days ago, there have now been 64 katrillion gabillion Barry Bonds-to-the-Rays stories. For the most part we have glossed over most of these and don’t feel the need to point you to every article as they all say one of two things: 1) Bonds would make Rays a better team; 2) Rays are crazy to want Bonds.

However we would be remiss if we did not point to a couple of the more ridiculous examples.

From Phil Taylor of SportsIllustrated.com:

The Rays seem to think that Bonds might have a positive influence on their young players. How naive.

Yes. that would be naive. If it were true…When the team got together and listed all of the ‘pros’ for signing Bonds, the list probably included home runs, OBP, more asses in the seats, national media exposure, somebody that can wear the size 8.5 cap that is gathering dust and a shot at the playoffs (not necessarily in that order). We are just guessing at this point, but we are fairly certain that “positive influence on young players” missed the cut.

From Dimitri Burikas of The Phoenix:

Barry “Flaxseed Oil” Bonds sits in his house, unwanted and unemployed by any Major League Baseball team. As if his chronic use and chronic denial of steroids weren’t a cry of insecurity and a superiority complex, he has now shown just how desperate he’s gotten…Barry is negotiating with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

We are not sure how one goes from “the team had internal discussions about Barry Bonds once, a while back and decided it was not worth pursuing” to “Barry is negotiating with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays”, but Burikas must have one hell of a source, considering nobody else has reported that actual negotiations have occurred.

And it took a couple of days but we finally found a writer that gets it. For all the articles that mentioned why Bonds would be good for the Rays and the articles that wrote about why it would be a bad idea, Jayson Stark of ESPN.com is the first we have seen that correctly assessed the situation.

Here’s the only reason Barry Bonds makes any sense in Tampa Bay: .480/.565/1.045. That, of course, is Bonds’ stat line last season as a Giant… But now that we’ve got that out of the way, here’s why this can’t possibly happen: The Rays spent their entire offseason trying to weed out the troublemakers (exit Elijah Dukes and Delmon Young) and bringing in veteran role models and mentors (enter Troy Percival and Cliff Floyd). And remember those on-field Joke of the Day sessions and Closest to the Pin golf-shot duels I mentioned in Monday’s edition of Three Strikes? They were all about team-building. And whatever Barry might bring the Rays in baseball attributes, team-building isn’t quite the specialty of his house.

Thank you Jayson Stark. Thank you.

Too much baggage [SI.com]
Quick takes [The Phoenix]
Three Strikes: Wednesday Edition [ESPN]

Tampa Bay Rays (32 days until Opening Day)

While Scott Kazmir is still aiming to be ready to take the mound on Opening Day in Baltimore on March 31st, Joe Maddon and Andrew Friedman are taking a much more cautious approach.

“I know, with pitchers, there’s a certain prestige that goes with something like starting Opening Day and everybody wants to be able to do that if they’re capable,” Rays manager Joe Maddon said. “I get all that, but the bigger picture is much more important right now, so we’re not going to be influenced in that regard.”

While Kazmir says he understands the importance of taking it slow, he has no concerns that he will be able to get back on the mound quickly.

“Definitely,” Kazmir said. “I’m going to take it slow, but I think this is something that is going to heal pretty quick and the inflammation is going to go down pretty quick. I’m confident I’m going to be out there pretty soon.”

But pitching coach Jim Hickey wants to make sure there are no further setbacks.

“Our goal is that once he retakes the mound that he never comes back off of it,” Hickey said. “I would rather him begin late and finish with all consecutive starts vs. maybe getting back a little bit early and have a two-week setback.”

Maddon in fact may already be resigned to skipping Kazmir on opening day by giving Kid K the fifth spot in the rotation. Maddon stated that the five pitchers fighting for the final two spots in the rotation will get more innings in the Spring with Kazmir out.

“Somebody’s going to benefit from this – in the short term, anyhow,” Maddon said.

With Kazmir and the Rays having clashed late in 2007 over his pitch counts, it will be interesting to see if the team will be able to reign in their young ace while they are erring on the side of caution.

Kazmir, Rays see different plans [Tampa Tribune]
Rays planning to hold a tight rein on Kazmir [St. Pete Times]

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• James Shields and Matt Garza each worked one inning in yesterday’s intrasquad contest. Both pitchers allowed one hit. [Herald-Tribune]
  
• Rocco Baldelli was originally scheduled to play the outfield in yesterday’s intrasquad game, but was moved to DH due to inclement weather. Now Joe Maddon says that Baldelli will not see action in the field until next week. [Tampa Tribune]
• David Price felt fine yesterday after missing a pitching session on Tuesday with shoulder tightness. Price says he is day-to-day and pitching coach Jim Hickey said the move was purely “precautionary”. [Tampa Bay Rays]
• The Giants suddenly find themselves devoid of any major league shortstops. McCovey Chronicles thinks Ben Zobrist could be the answer. We glanced over their system and we are wondering if Pat Misch would get the deal done. Misch is a lefty that like Zobrist, posted outstanding minor league numbers that have yet to translate in the major leagues. [McCovey Chronicles]
• Willy Aybar finally arrived in camp and thanked the team for their support and apologized to his teammates for the distraction. [Bradenton Herald]
• Rays of Light takes a closer look at Al Reyes in their ongoing “Player Spotlight” series. [Rays of Light]
• DRays Bay has put together a “DRB Season Preview Guide” that is free to download. We have not yet had a chance to look through it. [DRays Bay]

Tampa Bay Rays (33 days until Opening Day)

The injury bug is striking the Rays camp early this year. After earlier scares from Scott Kazmir and David Price, we now get word that Reid Brignac will miss a week with a broken toe.

In other injury news from yesterday’s intrasquad game, Reid Brignac suffered a fractured fifth toe on his right foot when he was hit by a pitch [thrown by Chris Mason]. He is expected to be out for 4-7 days

*mumbling to self* One…Two…Three…Four…Five? Five!?

That’s the friggin’ pinky toe! Seven days for a pinky toe?! In our day we just taped that piggy to the 4th piggy and got our ass back on the field. We wouldn’t even tell the coach.

In brighter news, Kazmir’s MRI results came back and while there is a minor tear, it is officially listed as a “strained elbow”. He is expected to miss two weeks. Andrew Friedman stated that Kid K could miss one or two starts in the regular season. Kazmir has other plans.

“We still think that what we have now is something where it’s possible to get out there and be ready for Opening Day,” he said.

Nice.

Kazmir out ‘weeks, not months’ [Rays Report]
Kazmir: I’ll be ready by opening day [Rays Report]

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• Rocco Baldelli was the DH in this morning’s intrasquad game, going 0-2. [The Heater]
• We previously mentioned that according to Anaheim All The Way’s CHONE projections, the Rays are projected to win 89 games. Nate Silver of Baseball Prospectus, wrote a guest-column today for SportsIllustrated.com explaining why the Rays are expected to win 22 more games in 2008 based on their PECOTA projections. The biggest improvement is slated to come from the defense. [SI.com]

It’s in the field…that the Rays will make their biggest gains. According to BP’s Fielding Runs above Average (FRAA), the Rays gave up 72 more runs than an average defense last season. Of that total, 56 resulted from poor middle-infield play as the Rays rotated overmatched utilitymen Brendan Harris and Josh Wilson at shortstop and saw Upton commit 12 errors in just 48 games at second before moving him to centerfield. But the acquisition of slick-fielding shortstop Jason Bartlett in the Young trade and the move of sure-handed Aki Iwamura from third to second (to make room for Longoria) has stabilized the infield. As a result the Rays’ defense projects to be 10 runs above average this year, an 82-run improvement, which will allow the improved rotation to work through its innings more efficiently.

• Jon Heyman today said that one “Rays person” put the chances at signing Barry Bonds at 100:1. They went on to say that it would most likely only happen if one of the Rays current players were injured and even then, there would have to be other extenuating circumstances. A friend of Bonds said he would most likely not want to sign with the Rays as his main goal is to win a World Series. [SI.com]
• The Rays have the top pick in the June draft. The odds-on favorite to be the first pick, Pedro Alvarez broke a bone in his hand and will be out of action for up to six weeks. [VU Commodores]
• Rays Anatomy has posted their Rays preview for MVN’s new Roster magazine. [Rays Anatomy]

Earlier this week, in our ever-popular feature “Why The Rays Columnists Suck”, David Whitley made his debut. In his column Whitley emails the Church of Satan in an effort to ask Satan himself how he feels about the Tampa Bay Devil Rays changing their name to the “Tampa Bay Rays.

It was recently pointed out to us that Whitley’s piece was much worse than we originally believed. Not only was the column awful and a poor attempt at humor…turns out the idea for the column was unoriginal.

Whitley attempts to explore the reaction of the Church of Satan to the Tampa Bay Rays’ franchise name change. Regular readers of my blog, as well as visitors from Deadspin.com and RaysIndex.com might remember I wrote about the exact same topic five months ago.

Shame on us for not remembering the original piece as we did indeed link to Jordi’s original piece when it was first posted to The Serious Tip.

We want to emphasize that this is not an accusation of plagiarism. Rather it is an accusation of laziness. As The Serious Tip points out, “David Whitley claimed to have done “much research” in finding the Church of Satan website (www.churchofsatan.com, by the way). Had he simply incorporated ‘Devil Rays’ after ‘Church of Satan’ in his search, he would have easily found my post. It is the first web site listed.”

Why The Rays Columnists Suck: David Whitley [Rays Index]
Who cursed the Rays? Could it be…Satan?! [Orlando Sentinel]
David Whitley of the Orlando Sentinel is neither funny nor original [The Serious Tip]
Church Members Upset Over Devil Rays’ Name Change [The Serious Tip]

The Rays Confidence Graph will appear every Wednesday and is a look at how much confidence Rays fans have in the Tampa Bay Rays. 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 fans feel about the team’s current strength as well as how much confidence fans have in the franchise for the next 3-4 years. Notes on this weeks agida-level can be found after the graph..

Notes on the RI Confidence Graph…

• The most common response for “Confidence in 2008 Rays” was 7 (If things break right, they could be in race for playoffs) with 45.0%
  
• The most common response for “Confidence in future of franchise” was 8 with 39.7%.
• Confidence in the 2008 Rays ranged from 2 (Good shot at having top pick in draft for 3rd straight year) to 10 (The Rays are built/playing like a World Series contender)
• Confidence in the future ranged from 5-10.
• 63.4% of respondents feel the Rays have a shot at the playoffs in 2008
• 91.6% of respondents feel the Rays should be at least a .500 team in 2008