May 14
Archive for May 14th, 2008
May 14
[SCOTT KAZMIR] Sternberg Hints That Rays Are Currently Negotiating Long-Term Deal With Scott Kazmir
New Stadium, Scott Kazmir, Stuart Sternberg, The Rays are going to Disney World 2 Comments »Subscribe Free
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[UPDATE 10:06PM] We touched on this quite a bit in the Live Blog-A-Baloo. Marc Topkin is reporting that the Rays and Scott Kazmir have agreed to a 3-year, $28.5MM deal with a 4th year team option for $11MM. In essence, the Rays have bought out two of Kid K’s free agency years.
Stuart Sternberg just appeared as a guest on WFAN’s “Mike & The Mad Dog” show. Among the several topics covered was the Tampa Bay Rays’ recent willingness to give long-term deals to their young stars. After reminding the hosts that the team had also secured James Shields, Sternberg dropped this minor Cherry Bomb…
“We are exploring something with our other star pitcher as we speak right now”
The show’s hosts did not push Sternberg further on the topic, but it can be assumed that he was referring to Scott Kazmir, and the quote suggests that the team is in active negotiations with the young Ace.
Other topics covered…
- Sternberg referred to the attendance for the Orlando series as “dissapointing” and his tone suggested that the team will not schedule any future series at the Disney complex.
- On the proposed waterfront stadium, Sternberg made it clear that the stadium would either be open by 2012 or it will not happen. If the referendum does not pass this fall, there will not be another attempt to get it passed.
May 14
[BITCH-SLAPPIN' THE YANKEES] Basking In The Glory Of Whooping The Yankees, Day 2
Rays Index Store 7 Comments »Checked in on the NYC tabloids again this morning, and not a single cover story about the Rays thrilling win over the Yankees. Apparently they seem to think a new coach for the most overpaid franchise in the history of sports, is more important. In lieu of a good tabloid image of Mo Rivera walking off the field or Jonny Gomes tossing his helmet, we will just go with a gratuitous self-promotion item.
One-of-a-kind T-shirts from the Rays Index Store. And remember all t-shirts in the Rays Index Store are available in women’s sizes…
RAYSHEADS UNITE!
Also keep in mind that purchasing items from the RI Store goes to support this site and help us justify to Mrs. Professor the amount of time we spend working here. Of course, like we always tell her…There are worse hobbies to have and worse things we could be doing on the internet.
May 14
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 50.4%.
- The most common response for “Confidence in future of franchise” was 9 with 47.3%.
- 93.1% of respondents feel the Rays have a shot at the playoffs in 2008. That number is up from 74.2% a week ago.
- 100% of respondents feel the Rays should be at least a .500 team in 2008. Last week that number was 96.7%.
May 14
Forgot to mention in “The Hangover” this morning that we will be live-blogging tonight’s tilt against the Yankees.
The Rays Index Live Blog-A-Baloo of the Week will be held here and NOT at the RAYSHEADS Facebook group.
So if you are bored be sure to stop by and as usual, crowd participation is welcome.
–Cork
May 14
[THE HANGOVER] Rays Get To Mo Rivera In 11th, Take Over First Place
Andrew Friedman, Edwin Jackson, First-place Tampa Bay Rays, Rocco Baldelli 8 Comments »
THE GOOD: Andrew Friedman. Every single move this guy has made in the last year has been pure gold. Even the moves he did not make. There were lots of rumors this off-season of trading Edwin Jackson. In particular, the hope was to get a catcher back in return. Instead, Friedman stuck with Jackson and Dioner Navarro. The non-move may have been the best move of all…Edwin Jackson. His shutout streak now sits at 15 innings. In his last 2 starts: 15 ip, 11 hits, 2 walks, 8 strike outs, 0 runs. Only 2 walks?!? Seriously. If we hadn’t seen it, we wouldn’t believe it. He also seemed to get better late in the game. The 6th inning may have been the best pitched inning of Jackson’s career. With the Yankees top of the lineup up, he got Jonny Damon to ground out. That was followed by a misplay by Eric Hinske in right that turned a single into a triple for Der-ek Jet-er *clap-clap, clap-clap-clap*. With a runner on third and 1 out in a 1-run game, Nuke got Bobby Abreu to ground out to the drawn-in Jason Bartlett and then got Hideki Matsui to pop-up to end the inning. Then in the 7th, the last batter he faced was Shirley Duncan. After 5 straight non-fastballs, he came back with his hardest fastball of the night at 97 to get Duncan looking…Anytime a team gets to Mariano Rivera it is a ‘Good’, but the double play enduced by JP Howell to end the top of the 11th may have saved the game.
THE BAD: Eric Hinske turning a single into a triple in the 6th inning of a 1-run game. That is not the sort of thing Joe Maddon wasnt to see with Gabe Gross sitting on the bench. In fact, Gross replaced Hinske an inning later…Troy Percival owes Edwin Jackson a steak or two. That is the second straight outing in which Jackson did not allow a run and Percival blew the save.
THE TELLING: Edwin Jackson was not throwing as hard as usual. Normally, Jackson’s fastball sits 91-95 with the ability to crank it up to 97-98. Last night, his fastball was regularly 88-90. This happens to pitchers occasionally, but with Jackson, it appeared to be deliberate. This could be yet another golden move by pitching coach Jim Hickey, to get Jackson to ease up on the fastball a bit for the sake of location…Eric Hinske got the start in right field instead of Gabe Gross, against the right-handed pitcher. Of course, that might not happen again after the 6th inning blunder.
DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…
- Don’t forget to VOTE for Carl Crawford to start the all-star game. If you haven’t voted yet today, go NOW! Bored at work? VOTE OR DIE! [MLB All-Star Voting]
- This is the typical reaction of a Yankees fan: “Matt Garza is not as impressive as he seemed”. In other words. It is impossible for a Yankees fan to conceive of a universe in which other teams beat the Yankees. Rather the only logical explanation is that the Yankees lost. We guarantee that this is a Yankees fan that is less than 30 years old and clearly does not remember a time when the Yankees used to lose on a regular basis and were considered one of the laughingstocks of baseball. When New York City was actually a Mets town…Winning is NOT a birthright. [Yankee Rage]
- Even the New York Times gets in on the fun: “Taking advantage of slumping Yanks…” because apparently the Rays can’t beat the Yankees unless they are slumping. Like we said before this series, the Rays are probably going to have to sweep the Yanks to get their attention. [New York Times]
- One blogger thinks the Rays’ celebration was over-the-top…Another Yankees fan we presume. If this was a Rays team that was 8 games back and they were playing the Royals, then we might tend to agree, but to criticize a young team for enjoying the game of baseball is ridiculous. And in a division where every game could be the difference between the playoffs and an early vacation, then beating the Yankees and Mo Rivera in the 11th inning with a walk-off win, is plenty worth celebrating. [The Sports Hernia]
- Baseball Analysts takes a closer look at the numbers and comes to the conclusion that the Rays are for real. [Baseball Analysts]
- The Big Lead tried to tackle the question of whether or not it matters the size of a team’s payroll…We have said this before. A team can win with a low payroll, but the room for error is less. If the Yankees lose a $14MM player, they go get another one. If the Rays lose one of their top paid players, they fill the hole with Nathan Haynes or JK Ryu. [The Big Lead]
- Let’s not get too excited about the report that Rocco Baldelli took batting practice. 1) He took BP off of Aki Iwamura’s interpreter; 2) This is not new, he has taken batting practice several times since being shut down; 3) Everything Rocco said about new tests and results just sounds like doctors trying to keep their patient optimistic; 4) the last statement may be the most telling: “I’m hoping that some of the medications that I’m taking are going to help me get on the field for an extended period of time without having the problems that I had. That’s kind of the next step, is just trying new things and experimenting. It’s like trial and error, and hopefully one of them works.”The key words are “hoping”, “trial and error” and “hopefully”. [Rays Report]
- It is hidden behind the “Insider” wall but Buster Olney praises the work of Andrew Friedman and co. He goes on to list 12 moves that the Rays have made in the past year that have turned golden. [ESPN]
[I]n the last year, Rays general manager Andrew Friedman and the Tampa Bay baseball operations staff has pitched the front office version of a perfect game, in keeping with a long-range plan that was begun long before that. Virtually every transaction that the Rays have made, going back to last year’s June draft, has worked out, and contributed to Tampa Bay’s strong start and ascension, for the first time, into the ranks of contenders.
- David Chalk has some choice words for the Rays’ PR Department. [Bugs & Cranks]
May 14
[DOWN ON THE FARM] Potential Top Pick Screams ‘Look At Me, Look At Me!’
Buster Posey, Jeremy Cummings 10 Comments »Durham 5, Toledo 3. Jeremy Cummings picked up the win in his first start for the Bulls, throwing 6 shutout innings. He stuck out 4 and walked 4…Grant Balfour earned his 6th save, striking out 4 in 2 innings…Justin Ruggiano was 2-3 with a 3-run home run, his 4th…Dan Johnson was 4-4 and is now hitting .317.
Mississippi 2, Montgomery 1. Richard de los Santos only gave up 3 hits and 2 walks in 7 innings, but picked up the loss…Sergio Pedroza was the only Biscuit with more than 1 hit. He was 2-2 with a walk.
Vero Beach 1, St. Lucie 0. Heath Rollins finally picked up his 2nd win, throwing 7 shutout innings, on 2 hits and 1 walk. He struck out 6…Joey Callender drove on the only run with a sac fly.
Hickory 7, Columbus 5. Glenn Gibson dropped to 1-5 after allowing 3 runs in 5 innings on 7 hits and 3 walks…Emeel Salem was 2-5 with his 24th stolen base…Maiko Loyola was 2-5 with his 18th steal…Greg Sexton was 2-5 with an RBI.
NOTES FROM DOWN ON THE FARM…
- Potential #1 pick by the Rays in the June draft, Buster Posey, played all 9 positions in a 7 inning game…No offense. Wait. Yes, take offense. This is friggin’ ridiculous. The just screams, “Look at *me* do something ridunculous against a weak Savannah State squad. This is NOT the type of player the Rays want in their system. And this has only a little to do with DRG’s anti-FSU bias. This is really a little league/Bush league move, unless of course the Rays draft this kid, in which case it was friggin’ awesome! [Biscuits Batter]
- OK. It has been a while since we ragged on Bill Chastain, so we will keep this minor. But to say “David Price is close to resuming his season” is kinda ridiculous, no? We mean, doesn’t “resume” mean it had already started once. And in fact, Price will not only be making his 2008 debut but his professional debut. Of course, there is the little fact that the team is still not ready to schedule the #1 pick for his debut, saying only that he will make another extended spring training start later this week. Oh, Bill, where have you been? We missed you. [MLB]
- Jeremy Cummings got the win last night for Durham after starting the week in China. [Durham Herald-Sun]
