Archive for March 13th, 2008

Mar 13

[HAPPY HOUR] Rays Blogosphere Refrains From Throwing Brushback Pitches

Dan Shanoff, Evan Longoria, Joe Maddon, Jonny Gomes, Scott Kazmir, Shelley Duncan is a lil' bitch Cork Gaines 6 Comments »

Tampa Bay Rays (18 days until Opening Day)

This morning we included a few links to the Yankees Blogospere in reaction to Shirley Duncan’s cheap shot yesterday on Akinori Iwamura. Now let’s take a look at what other people are saying, including some Rays blogs, in case you missed them.

I am sure we are going to get pounded for this, because apparently all we do is attack other blogs…but we are a little disappointed in the Rays Blogospere today. There was very little reaction from the other Rays sites. Some might say we overreacted. And we are not saying that everybody needed to take Shirley and the Yankees to the woodshed, but we got little in the way of viewpoints on the incident. This is a national story and Rays fans and non-Rays fans are flocking to our sites. They are not looking for a play-by-play. They want to know what we think and what we feel and how we are reacting. They are looking for us to be representative of Rays fans and the views, thoughts and emotions of Rays fans.

We also sprinkled in a few other afternoon links in case you are tired of reading about this mess.

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

  • Scott Kazmir threw 33 pitches this morning in batting practice and is all set to make his spring debut on Sunday. He will throw one inning against the Tigers. [Tampa Bay Rays]

“For me, he looked really good,” Maddon said. “I was watching from the side, I wanted to see if he was cutting himself off at all, he was not. His fastball was really alive. So was the slider, the slider had some nice bite to it, and a changeup, so he looked good overall.”

  • Brittany Ghiroli takes a look at the hot spring that Evan Longoria is having. [MLB]

What Longoria has made clear, in arguably the most important spring of his young career, is this: He can flat-out play…Longoria has seen action in eight games and is batting .368 with five RBIs and a .520 on-base percentage. He has marveled fans, impressed teammates and done everything possible to convince the Rays staff that he belongs.

  • Dan Shanoff of The Sporting News makes a great point that makes us giggle. [The Sporting News]

Here’s the crazy part: No matter what, the Rays win. A few seasons ago, you couldn’t get the Yankees to acknowledge the Rays even existed; now the Yankees are treating them as if their name was the “Ray Sox.”

The Rays recognized the first rule of feuding: Always punch up a weight class. (Admittedly, they only had one direction to go, but they chose well in picking baseball’s most storied franchise.)

  • Shirley Duncan doesn’t understand what the fuss is about…No? Well we now understand why it took Shirley seven years to reach the majors…He obviously has no idea how to play baseball properly…Meanwhile Joe Maddon stuck to his initial assessment of the play and said that punishment is out of his hands and up to the league. [Rays Report]
  • Rays of Light doesn’t think the Yankees as a whole should be held responsible for the acts of one player. They note that “its mostly just one hot-headed career minor leaguer who decided to act like a tough guy”. [Rays of Light]
  • Rays Digest called Shirley Duncan’s play “premeditated” and says it is “Time to take the Yankees blue dresses off and let’s play some baseball.” [Rays Digest]
  • Outs Per Swing provide an even-handed description without passing judgment. [Outs Per Swing]
  • Sports Indeed offers a very simple “don’t mess with Jonny Gomes” [Sports Indeed]
  • DRays Bay actually did have a few choice words saying that somebody apparently had to be a “hard ass” however reminding Shirley Duncan that Jonny Gomes has wrestling experience gave the post more of a silly edge as opposed to coming down hard on the Yankees…However, HUGE hat tip to DRays Bay for being the first with the actual video. [DRays Bay]
  • Bugs & Cranks? Well, they just got some quote from a Rays Town official that is clearly emotionally on edge. Somebody needs to get that guy a stressball. [Bugs & Cranks]
  • One Yankees blog was harder on Shirley Duncan than most of the Rays blogs. [River Ave. Blues]

There’s a difference between sliding with your spikes high and sending your sole towards another man’s family jewels (I’ve always loved that euphemism, family jewels). So I pretty much agree with what B.J. Upton said: “Just a flat-out dirty play. Period.”

Mar 13

[BARRY BONDS] Exploring Exactly What Barry Bonds Would Mean To Rays

Barry Bonds, Cliff Floyd, Jonny Gomes, Moises Alou, New York Mets, Rocco Baldelli Cork Gaines 16 Comments »

According to one projection system, the Rays are a 92-win team with Bonds…

A few weeks ago, news broke that the Rays had brought up Barry Bonds’ name in internal discussions of available free agents. At the time we made it clear that it was highly unlikely that the Rays would pursue the all-time home run king. We cited the recent clubhouse headache cast-offs, Delmon Young and Elijah Dukes as well as the overall image-conscious nature of the Rays front office.

While we argued that the Rays wouldn’t sign Bonds, we never said whether or not the Rays should sign Bonds. The truth is we truly understand both sides of the argument. We loathed Keyshawn Johnson but we were sure glad he was around to help the Bucs win the Super Bowl. Would we feel the same about Bonds? If he helped the Rays make the playoffs, then ‘hell yes’. And now that we know that Rocco Baldelli will start the season on the DL and his career is in jeopardy, signing Bonds may no longer be a luxury item, he might be a necessity. And as they say, ‘necessity is the mother of Barry’s Barcalounger’ (or something like that).

Many argue that Bonds is a difference-maker. They argue he is the type of impact player that could help put the Rays over-the-top and into the playoffs. But what isn’t clear, is exactly how much of an impact one team could truly expect from adding Bonds to the lineup.

To answer this question, we contacted Chone Smith of Anaheim Angels all the way. Smith is the creator of the CHONE projection system. Smith uses those projections to run a full simulation of the 2008 season. In those projections, the Rays are predicted to win 89 games and finish in third place, 3 games behind the Yankees and the Red Sox. They noted that the vast improvement was do in most part to improved pitching and defense.

So we asked Smith to insert Bonds into the Rays lineup and rerun the projections. He obliged, removing Baldelli from the roster and making Bonds the most-days DH.

According to the CHONE projection system, the Rays would score 36 more runs in 2008 with Bonds in the lineup. In the field the Rays would surrender 7 more runs on defense due to increased playing time for Gomes and Floyd in right field. Overall the Rays would be projected to win 3 more games which ups their win total to 92…smack dab in the middle of the playoff hunt.

As a point of comparison, we also asked Smith to run the same projection if Bonds were signed by the Mets, another team in need of outfield help. In this case, he removed Moises Alou and inserted Bonds. The change meant 30 more runs for the Mets and an increase from 92 to 95 wins in the standings.

This seems to indicate that even though he will be 43 years old and has two bad knees, Barry Bonds is still worth at least 3 wins over the course of an entire season over an above-average player. That number may be more like 5-7 wins over a replacement-level player. According to Baseball Prospectus, Bonds was worth 6.2 wins in 2007 over a replacement-level player. In only 126 games, the 42 year old Bonds hit .276-28-66 with a .480 OBP. His 170 OPS+ would have led the NL had he not come up about 30 plate appearances short of qualifying.

Should the Rays attempt to sign Bonds if they can get him at a discount rate? If you think that the Rays are indeed an 88-89 win team, then the answer should be ‘Yes’, because Bonds might indeed be the difference between the 2007 Brewers (just missed) and the 2007 Rockies (World Series).

[Ed. note: An excellent question was brought up in the comments that we don't have the answer for, but raises a good point. The Rays were an 89-win team (projected) with Rocco. They are probably more like an 86-87 win team with Jon Weber or John Rodriguez. So right now, Bonds would actually be worth approximately 5-6 wins if you consider that he is in reality replacing Weber or Rodriguez.]

Marc Topkin Wants You To Believe That It Is Possible For Barry Bonds To Sign With The Rays [Rays Index]
Signing Barry Bonds Would Go Against Everything The Rays Have Done The Past Two Years [Rays Index]
Finally, the hitter projections [Anaheim Angels all the way]
AL projected standings [Anaheim Angels all the way]
The Devil Rays, how they will go from the cellar to contenders [Anaheim Angels all the way]
Barry Bonds [Baseball Prospectus]

Mar 13

[EVAN LONGORIA] Dirtbag-O-Meter: 18 Days Until Opening Day

Dirtbag-O-Meter, Evan Longoria, Willy Aybar Cork Gaines 5 Comments »

We call him The Dirtbag because of how he plays and because he played college ball at Long Beach State whose baseball team has the coolest mascot in sports…The Dirtbags.

The biggest question mark for the Tampa Bay Rays in Spring Training is whether or not Evan Longoria will be named the opening day third baseman. Manager Joe Maddon has repeatedly stated that the decision will be based less on his stats, and more on how the 22-year old handles himself on a day-to-day basis and how well The Dirtbag adjusts to everyday life as a major leaguer. From now until the Rays announce a decision on Longoria’s fate, we will track The Dirtbag’s progress through his numbers, our own observations and quotes from Maddon and Andrew Friedman…

Notes on the Dirtbag-O-Meter…

Yesterday at the plate: Evan Longoria went 0-1. In the first inning, he was hit by a pitch. In the third, he flied out to center. In the sixth he drew a leadoff walk. In the field, Longoria committed his first error when Shirley Duncan’s groundball went off his glove, but he recovered to grab the ball in foul territory to throw Shirley out by 15 feet at second base.

Quotes: none reported

Summary: The Dirtbag is now 7-19 (.368) with 5 walks (.520 OBP) and 2 strikeouts. Willy Aybar is hitting 6-20 (.300) with 4 walks (.429 OBP) and 4 Ks. Aybar has played 34 innings at third base while Longoria has logged 38 innings…Nothing happened yesterday to warrant a move of the needle.

Mar 13

[THE HANGOVER] Shelley Shirley Duncan Is The New A.J. Pierzynski (A Little Bitch)

BJ Upton, Brian Anderson, Chris Mason, Joe Maddon, Joel Guzman, Jonny Gomes, Rocco Baldelli, Shelley Duncan is a lil' bitch, Troy Percival Cork Gaines 1 Comment »

Tampa Bay Rays (18 days until Opening Day)

Yesterday: Tampa Bay Rays 7, Spankees 6. Andy Sonnanstine got his first start of the spring and looked sharp going 3 scoreless and giving up only 1 hit. He did not walk a batter. Troy Percival pitched another perfect inning in the 5th. Both veteran non-roster invitee catchers saw playing time with Mike DiFelice getting the start. He went 0-2 with a strike out, while Josh Paul had a single in two at bats. The Yankees were 4-4 in steals against Paul. Reid Brignac who now has an outside shot at being on the roster for the first week or two as the Rays backup shortstop played late and went 2-2 with a walk. John Rodriguez played right for a while and went 1-2 with a double and 2 RBI. Jon Weber the other leading candidate for the 4th outfielder spot saw time at all three outfield positions going 1-4 with an RBI. Joe Maddon’s decision is likely to be based on who can handle center better, which rules Eric Hinske out. Evan Longoria started at third and had a walk in 3 plate appearances. Hinske relieved Longoria while Willy Aybar received one plate appearance as a first baseman.

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

  • Oh It’s Those Girls recreated yesterday’s brouhaha with the aid of various toys and bobble heads. Excellent work, with our favorite detail being the use of AJ Pierzynski bobble-head to represent Shirley Duncan. [Oh, It's Those Girls]
  • You remember Shirley Duncan, don’t you? He’s is the little bitch that thinks a second baseman keeps his glove near his groin. [The Heater]
  • Jonny Gomes hopes everything is “under the rug” but doubts it. While Joe Maddon called the play “borderline criminal”. [New York Times]
  • Marc Lancaster has several quotes from the Rays in regards to the Shirley Duncan slide. BJ Upton called it a “dirty play” and Troy Percival noted that this play was not typical of the way the Yankees play the game, which might be the biggest insult anybody can lob at Shirley. It is one thing to play for the Yankees. It is something else entirely to be a Yankee. [Rays Report]
  • Big League Stew says yesterday is “The day the Rays finally became a real MLB franchise”. [Big League Stew]
  • This past weekend we linked to this Yankees blog for their idiotic rant after the home plate collision. Now they are back at it. This time they make fun of Jonny Gomes for being so foolish for attacking somebody as big as Shirley Duncan…I can forgive Yankees fans for not knowing about baseball players that makes less than $12 million a year and isn’t a future hall-of-famer (re: future Yankee), but Gomes is not a small man and he did not grow up attending private schools the way Shirley did. We’ll take Gomes and we’ll take our chances. [Joblog Chamberlain]
  • Another Yankees blog blames Yesterday’s fracas on Joe Maddon…and goes on a long-winded non-sensical ignorant rant against Maddon citing the incident last year when Joe Torre checked Akinori Iwamura’s bat as another example as to why Maddon is “a pompous, sarcastic wise ass” and he should “Lay off the beer for a little while, so you stop bursting blood vessels around your nose and so you can reduce the size of the unsightly gut”. [The Analytical Typical Yankees Fan]
  • Brian Anderson had to be pulled after facing only three batters after feeling “something strange” in his left elbow. Anderson is attempting a come-back after two Tommy John surgeries. [Tampa Bay Rays]
  • Chris Mason was reassigned to minor league camp. [Herald-Tribune]
  • Would the Dodgers want Joel Guzman back? They are suddenly short on third baseman and if Guzman does not make the 25-man roster, he must be traded or released as he is out of options. [Mike Scioscia's Tragic Illness]
  • Baseball Happenings has a personal affinity for Rocco Baldelli and they will be rooting hard for him to get back on the baseball field…We will too…We will too. [Baseball Happenings]
  • Members of the Columbus Catfish and the Montgomery Biscuits received their championship rings yesterday. [Montgomery Advertiser]
  • The Montgomery Biscuits extended their Player Development Contract with the Rays for the 2009 and 2010 seasons. [Montgomery Advertiser]