Mar 25
Archive for March 25th, 2008
Mar 25
[EVAN LONGORIA] Evan Longoria Demotion: What They Are Saying In The Blogosphere
Evan Longoria, Jonny Gomes, Scott Kazmir 3 Comments »Yesterday the Tampa Bay Rays sans Devil of St. Petersburg Near Tampa announced that Evan Longoria would begin the season at AAA Durham.
Despite only 198 career games as a professional and 31 games at AAA most viewed the move as purely financial. Many fans and non-fans weren’t happy noting that the move was just “The Rays being The Rays”…or is it “The Rays being The Devil Rays”? We aren’t sure.
Even if the decision was based completely on The Dirtbag’s service time (it wasn’t), it is as if everybody has suddenly forgotten the state of baseball economics in the 21st Century. These are the type of decisions that all small-market teams must make if they have any hope for competing against teams with payrolls two to four times larger, even if it may cost them money in the short-term.
Fans weren’t the only participants unhappy with the move. Jonny Gomes was asked how the team felt about the move.
“I think there’s one person happy out of the entire Rays organization, and that’s Charlie Montoyo, the Triple-A manager.”
We have understood the move since the beginning. Our only beef has been the Rays were fudging the reasons behind the move. The move itself only bothers us from the standpoint that the 2008 Tampa Bay Rays are a better team with Longoria on the roster. But now that Scott Kazmir is out indefinitely that point is moot.
Let’s take a look at what is being said about Dirtbag’s demotion in the Blogosphere…
- Rays of Light understands the decision but feels the organization lied about giving Longoria a shot to make the team, feeling that the decision to send him to the minors was made before spring training…We would not go that far, but they might be close. We have a feeling that the team was about 90% sure Longoria would start the year in Durham, but did not want to rule out the alternative. [Rays of Light]
- Nine Bo Jacksons are hypocrites saying that the move is “solely being done to delay Longoria’s arbitration clock”. And then just two sentences later say that “move to AAA actually may help him”. Huh-wha?!? Golly. If only the Rays had figured out that a move to AAA would actually help Longoria. Those selfish bastards *very thick sarcasm*. [Nine Bo Jacksons]
- Fanhouse is also hypocritical calling the Rays bosses “cheapskates” and saying that the team’s commitment to winning now is “essentially nonexistent”. And yet they go on to say that the move is “certainly understandable from their point of view, because you want to protect your assets as long as you can”. In other words it was a good move but they shouldn’t have done it. [Fanhouse]
- Outs Per Swing says it is the right move and the Rays front office is “playing the game smart”. The biggest reason stated is that Longoria won’t be the difference-maker for the 2008 Rays who are not contending for the playoffs. [Outs Per Swing]
- Bugs & Cranks is not going to let this move dampen their excitement for opening day of the 2008 Rays. [Bugs & Cranks]
Mar 25
Mar 25
We must admit, few things get us more excited than seeing a new post pop-up in our feedreader from The Dugout. The humor is sooo 9th grade, but it is usually short, sweet and to the point and is almost always good for at least one out loud laugh. Just the sort of thing to get us through the day.
Every day during spring training, The Dugout is visiting the “chatrooms” of all 30 teams. A few days ago, they visited the Rays chatroom. [The appearance of Eva Longoria is a reference to a previous chatroom session in which Evan Longoria hallucinates about Eva.]
Below is just a snippet. You can see the entire chat session HERE or by clicking on the image below.
Spring Dugz: The Tampa Bay Rays [Fanhouse]
Mar 25
It’s Tuesday so it is time to update the Tampa Bay Rays Power Rankings. These rankings are a combination of overall importance to the team and a general “who’s hot and who’s not”, mixed with how we currently feel about and perceive each member of the team. It is by far, the least scientific thing we do on this site…
Mar 25
[THE HANGOVER] Edwin Jackson Is Mr. March
Ben Zobrist, Carlos Pena, Chad Orvella, David Price, Edwin Jackson, Evan Longoria, Kurt Birkins, Reid Brignac, Shelley Duncan is a lil' bitch 4 Comments »Tampa Bay Rays (6 days until Opening Day)
Yesterday: Tampa Bay Rays 13, Pirates 4.
The Good: Holy Schnikey! Edwin Jackson made 31 starts in 2007. Want to take a guess how many times he worked at least 7 innings? Take your time…Hint: You will only need one hand…That is missing three fingers…TWO TIMES. Then again, he posted a sub-2.00 ERA in the spring last year also. Yesterday Jackson pitched 7(!) innings giving up 2 runs on 7 hits and 2 walks. He struck out 2…Eric Hinske was 2-3 with a long home run to straight away center into the wind. He added a stolen base just to rub it in the face of the other players that hold out hope for the 4th outfielder job…Reid Brignac hit his first spring home run just before he was demoted…As a team the Rays collected 17 hits and 2 walks.
The Bad: In our best effort to always find something bad about an Edwin Jackson start, he did throw a wild pitch. So take that and stick it in your pocket and smoke it…Scott Dohmann pitched 1 inning. He allowed 2 runs on 3 hits and hit a batter.
The Telling: The two pitchers battling for the final bullpen spot, Grant Balfour and Scott Dohmann each pitched 1 inning with a job on the line. Dohman was knocked around while Balfour only allowed one base runner (via walk) in his 1 inning of work…Shawn Riggans got the start and worked the first seven innings showing he is healthy and ready for the regular season…
DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…
- If you haven’t had a chance to vote in this week’s “Rays Confidence Survey”, you can do so right HERE. [Rays Index]
- And in case you missed it yesterday, the RAYSHEAD ARMY is now on Facebook. [Rays Index]
- In keeping with yesterday’s 25-man roster projection, we have also updated the 40-man roster projection in the sidebar. And the CorkBoard, which is updated at least once a week, will start seeing proper minor league assignments as soon as they are made public.
- David Price will be out 6 weeks with a muscle strain in his elbow. [Tampa Bay Rays]
- USA Today takes a look a the newest First Family of Baseball…The Uptons. BJ Upton’s dad, Bossman Senior, notes the family secret to getting two sons into the major leagues. [USA Today]
“I’d say discipline, keeping them in the church and making sure they had that fear of Mom,” says Manny Upton, a four-sport athlete in high school who works for a mortgage company and came to Arizona in game shape, having just officiated an NCAA men’s basketball tournament game in California…”I’d just give them that ‘Mom’ look, and they’d straighten up,” laughs Yvonne, retired after 25 years of teaching health and physical education. “But when it came to baseball, it was Dad. He won’t say so, but he put in so much time with both those boys when it came to fundamentals.”
- Elliot Johnson will get a start at shortstop today for the first time to see if he can handle being the backup shortstop for the first week of the regular season. The final bench spot will come down to Johnson or Andy Cannizaro. [Tampa Tribune]
- Ben Zobrist, Chad Orvella and Kurt Birkins are all going to start the season on the DL. [The Heater]
- Oh yeah…On of the Rays other top prospects was demoted yesterday. Reid Brignac, unlike Evan Longoria probably won’t be back anytime soon. A good summer though could lead to a cup-o-coffee in September. [Tampa Bay Rays]
- Baseball Musings has their 2008 AL East Preview up. The Rays are predicted to finish 4th but David Pinto notes that if everything breaks right, the Rays have a chance to finish on top. [Baseball Musings]
- Outs Per Swing has had enough of Edwin Jackson and doesn’t care if he goes someplace and is successful…On a lot of days we agree. [Outs Per Swing]
- Sports Indeed found Shirley Duncan’s long-lost twin. [Sports Indeed]
- Carlos Pena received the Paul C. Smith Champion Award for the player who best exemplifies the spirit of true professionalism on and off the field. [Tampa Bay Rays]
