Feb 18
Journalists are afraid to ask a “yes or no” question. This is not meant as a knock on the media. They are trained to only ever ask open-ended questions (questions that require more than a one-word answer), as it is difficult to generate quotes for a story if all the questions are answered with one word.
Unfortunately open-ended questions are flawed. Today’s sports personalities are conditioned to respond with evasive, cliche-filled, non-answers. The only way to pin these athletes/coaches/personnel down to a solid answer is to ask the close-ended question and demand an answer.
Here are 10 ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ questions that the local media are afraid to ask but we as Rays fans want answered…
- Considering ability and the fact that Kazmir is two years younger than James Shields, would the team be willing to give Kazmir a 7-year deal?
- Is there any scenario that you can imagine under which the team would be willing to give one player a $100 million contract under the team’s current financial situation?
- Would the Rays be willing to trade a key player for the betterment of the future even it meant sacrificing their playoff chances in that one season?
- In an ideal world, is Jason Bartlett the Rays starting shortstop in 2009?
- If the Rays decide to move (pending free agents) Al Reyes and Dan Wheeler prior to the trading deadline, will young relief pitchers be the team’s #1 priority in terms of asking prices?
- Is arbitration-eligibility a factor when deciding when to call-up players like Evan Longoria and David Price?
- Does Shawn Riggans lack of experience worry you as a potential backup catcher?
- Based on what you know right now, do you see Rocco Baldelli in right field on opening day?
- Would you consider 2008 a failure if the Rays finish the season with a losing record?
- If the Rays expect to be a legitimate playoff-contender in 2009, is it important that David Price get major league experience in 2008?
What questions do you want answered? Let us know in the comments.
Feb 18
Below you will see two polls that ask about your confidence in the Tampa Bay Rays. Please take a moment to answer each question. We will present these same polls every Monday and will update the results in graphical form on Wednesday, which will be displayed permanently in the sidebar. The goal of the Confidence Graph is to get a feeling of how Rays fans feel about the team and the franchise and track how that level of confidence changes through time.
Last week the Rays Confidence Graph saw little change. Raysiverse events of the past week that could impact confidence levels…
- Both Scott Kazmir and BJ Upton expressed their confidence in the 2008 Rays. Kid K even went so far as to utter the P-word…Playoffs, while Upton said “anything is possible”. There appears to be a newfound level of optimism that is being spurred by the Rays off-season moves and a new level of accountability being doled out by Joe Maddon.
- Evan Longoria will be given a chance to earn a spot as the Rays starting third baseman in Spring Training.
- Andy Sonnanstine looks like a lock for the 4th spot in the rotation. But the final spot is up for grabs.
- Gary Glover is almost a lock to be on the opening day roster.
- Joe Maddon says that Shawn Riggans is the favorite to be the backup catcher.
- The team is going to take it “very slowly” with Rocco Baldelli. In years past this might be a concern, but is anybody expecting anything from Rocco in 2008? Won’t any production from Baldelli be gravy for the 2008 Rays?
- Most jobs on the opening day roster are already spoken for.
- One simulation has the Rays winning 89 games.
Feb 18
Akinori Iwamura, David Price, Dioner Navarro, Fred McGriff, James Shields, Jim Hickey, Josh Paul, Matt Garza, Matt Silverman, Mike DiFelice, Scott Kazmir, Shawn Riggans Cork Gaines
Tampa Bay Rays (42 days until Opening Day)
Joe Maddon stated that Shawn Riggans is the favorite to be the backup catcher on opening day. Papa Joe then commented on what his criteria is for a backup catcher.
“The backup guy should be pretty effective defensively,” Maddon said. “It’s not an easy position. The guys that do it well make it look easy, but it’s not easy. Part of their job really is to help the starting catcher. … It’s like a good backup quarterback in football.”
This only surprises us because Maddon actually commented on the situation, but it does not surprise us that he named Riggans even though we project Josh Paul to win the job. Keep in mind that Riggans is the only candidate that is actually on the 40-man roster at this point. Paul and Mike DiFelice are in essence getting “tryouts”. They are on minor league deals and have done nothing yet to earn a major league contract. If the team had absolute confidence in one or the other, they would not be on minor league deals.
The team has made it clear that they prefer a veteran backup catcher to help further the development of starter Dioner Navarro. Just don’t expect Papa Joe to admit that publicly because he would have to say that he prefers a player that is not on the team over a player that is on the team.
At the end of the day, we still feel Josh Paul will be the Rays backup catcher and it is Riggans that needs to “win” the job. Paul has the edge in experience, better defensive abilities and a strong familiarity with the pitching staff and Navarro. Riggans would have to outperform Paul defensively in Spring Training to make the roster and we are not convinced he can.
Notes: Iwamura ready for second base [Tampa Bay Rays]
DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…
- Marc Topkin takes a look at the Rays trio of young talented starting pitchers. Jim Hickey feels that 26 teams in the league would prefer to have Scott Kazmir, James Shields and Matt Garza as their top 3 pitchers. [St. Pete Times]
As Rays officials went back over the last several decades, they came up with only a few teams that had three starters who were so young with the chance to be so good. There were the A’s of the early 2000s with Tim Hudson, Mark Mulder and Barry Zito. The Marlins of the same era with Josh Beckett, Brad Penny and Dontrelle Willis. The Braves of the early 1990s with Steve Avery, Tom Glavine and John Smoltz. And not too many others…”It’s certainly a rare commodity,” senior vice president Gerry Hunsicker said, “to have three young pitchers with the talent level that we’re going to run out there.”
- A quick video interview with David Price as well as a look at him throwing off a mound. (Link will open a video player) [Tampa Bays 10]
- Rays of Light begins a series in which they will spotlight certain Rays. First up is Akinori Iwamura. [Rays of Light]
- Beyond the Boxscore makes an argument for Fred McGriff to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. We think the Crime dog was a very good and very consistent player, but he was what Mike Francessa would call a “compiler”. His numbers look good because he played for a long time, not because he was a great player. We witnessed most of McGriff’s career and never once did we watch McGriff and think “There goes one of the greatest baseball player’s ever”. Sorry. Great guy, very good player, but when the voting comes, we would be surprised if he cracks 25%. [Beyond the Boxscore]
- We were in Austin this weekend. Apparently so was Matt Silverman. He was running in the Austin half-marathon. We were sitting in the front yard drinking Mimosas watching the half-marathoners and marathoners run by. [Rays Report]
- Baseball Prospectus projects the Rays to finish 82-80. The biggest change will be in the pitching. They project that the Rays will increase their scoring from 782 to 788 runs in 2008 and will decrease their runs allowed from 944 to 776. [Baseball Prospectus]
- Sean Deveney of The Sporting News feels the Rays and the Nationals have a special kinship because they have both sucked recently. The similarities are a stretch and include small fanbase (usually goes hand-in-hand with sucking), long odds to win the 2008 World Series (again, sucking), good young third basemen (1 spot out of 25 is similar), and both teams want to improve their image (as do most sucky teams). [The Sporting News]
