On Sept. 23, 2007, Delmon Young hit a 2-run home run against the Red Sox in the 2nd inning. After being traded to the Minnesota Twins for Matt Garza and Jason Bartlett this past off-season, little did anybody know that 8 months later, Young would yet to have hit another. The Twins and their fans were certainly hoping for a little more production from the young “slugger”.
We have already made our feelings known about Young’s performance in Minnesota (it’s not good). However, in light of Garza’s 4th win of the season (5th since Sept. 23, 2007) we feel like we should start tracking how long Young can go beforeDishin’ Out A Delmon to an opposing team. For his sake and their fans, let’s hope this will jinx an opposing pitcher sooner, rather than later.
We understand the temptation. The Cardinals are in rebuilding mode and are pitching-thin. The Rays have a set rotation, and a top pick that so far appears to be toying with minor league hitters. A Pujols in the Rays lineup would instantly make them a legit World Series contender. In addition, Pujols is the type of player that would brings fans to the Trop. And while we believe the Rays still have some flexibility in the payroll, are they willing to add a player that makes $16MM a season over the next 3 years? In today’s market, that is a bargain, but it still isn’t cheap. And they still owe Carlos Pena $18MM over the next 2 years. Not to mention, can the Rays give up already on Price who looks like an Ace in the making?…0.1%
TOSS UP
If Troy Percival goes on the DL…Grant Balfour, Juan Salas or Kurt Birkins?
The Rays have an open spot on the 40-man roster, so the fact that Balfour is not on the roster should have little bearing. Salas has been solid since his first outing of the year in Durham, but he still only has 6 games and 11.2 innings under his belt since finally resolving his Visa issues. This is basically his spring training and we have to imagine the Rays will like to get him a couple of more weeks in Durham before a call-up. Birkins was solid for the Rays when he made 6 appearances (0.90 ERA) earlier this season, but he has been knocked around in Durham since his demotion (9.45 ERA), and the Rays already have 2 lefties in the bullpen. That leaves Balfour who is toying with IL batters so far. 23.2 ip, 5h, 10bb, 39Ks, 0.38 ERA…GRANT BALFOUR
If Andy Sonnanstine is relegated to the bullpen at any point…Jason Hammel, Jeff Niemann or David Price?
Since the beginning we have been very bearish on Price. Everything the Rays say and do suggests that it is longshot for Price to make his big league debut before 2010(!) much less sometime this season. But after seeing him mow down FSL batters in his first 2 starts, it is very clear that he is the real-deal. Still, the Rays are going to be patient. Last week we said 10 starts at Vero Beach. We are sticking to it, but it will be less before it is more. As for Niemann, he has battled a bit of shoulder soreness and if the Rays need a starter in the next couple of weeks, it will not be Niemann as he was limited to 75 pitches his last outing. That means Hammel if there is a need in the next few weeks, but in the long-run we have to believe that Hammel’s career as a starting pitcher with the Rays is over. That means Sonny’s job is safe, at least until Niemann is ready…Jeff Niemann
OVER/UNDER
15 wins for Matt Garza:
He has about 20 starts left in the season, assuming he can stay healthy. Garza seemed to finally be putting it all together in his last 2 starts. His season-high strikeouts prior to last night was 4. Last night he had 10. This one is going to be close. We have to assume there will be a few bumps in the road along the way, but this kid has nasty stuff. In fact he probably has the best stuff on the staff, which is saying a lot. It has always just been a question of location and not being so cocky with the fastball. He is going to end up somewhere within the 14-16 range. But if we have to pick one or the other…OVER
20 games for Rocco Baldelli this season:
There were reports earlier this week with quotes from Baldelli that he is still planning on playing for the Rays at some point this season. Rocco has a little extra incentive now to get on the field. After the Rays bought out his 2009 option, he is now scheduled to be a free agent after the season. Will any team be willing to offer a major league contract to Rocco if he spends the entire season on the DL? The most-likely scenario has Rocco signing a incentive-laden, minor league deal with the Rays. But keep in mind that the doctors still haven’t pinpointed the problem. And if Rocco does attempt a comeback he will have to spend at least 2-3 weeks on a minor league rehab assignment to show that he can at the very least DH against lefties. Until we hear a confirmed diagnosis and a scheduled rehab assignment, we are very skeptical…UNDER
2.5 wins for Rays in this 4-game set versus the White Sox:
Who woulda thunk that this would be a battle of first-place ballclubs at this point in the season. In fact, if the playoffs started today, these two teams would face each other in the first round of the playoffs…After winning 8 straight games, the Sox are only 3-3 in their last 6 games, having dropped 2 of 3 to the Angels at home and winning 2 of 3 in Cleveland. The White Sox are winning with their starting pitching, sporting 4 starters with ERAs below 4, although only 3 of those will face the Rays. At the same time, the Rays get 2 of their big 3 in this series. The biggest question mark is Andy Sonnanstine. We just don’t know which Sonny will show up. The good news is he is facing Mark Buehrle in the 4th game, and he has been bad all year. Still. At this point we have zero confidence in The Duke. If that game is an L, can we count on W’s from Edwin Jackson, James Shieldsand Scott Kazmir? That is tough. This is a good squad, and we know Ozzie Guillen will be fired up…UNDER
Just wanted to take a moment to thank everybody that has ordered a shirt from the Rays Index Store.
In an effort to reconcile our love of the past and move forward with the team, we declared ourselves RAYSHEADS and asked you to join us and many of you did pledge your allegiance to THE RAYSHEAD ARMY.
Thank You.
Thank you for supporting our site and thank you for giving us at least a little justification to Mrs. Professor for the amount of time we spend doodling in this little corner of the Raysiverse.
One year ago on Rays Indexwe saw exactly why it is never a good idea for a sports team to be involved in a partenership with a newspaper that covers the team.
St. Pete Times Reports The News, But They Don’t Want You To Read It [Rays Index]
[Update] Nice pick-up by Steve…If you watch the ticker at the bottom of the screen, not only does it happen to be on the Rays-Rangers numbers, but they also give us the pitching line from David Price in his second professional start.
In the 7th inning yesterday the Rays ballboy down the left field line made a great snag, proving that great defense truly is contagious. It was so great that John Adams made “Web Gems” last night as a “bonus baby” on Baseball Tonight. BJ Upton’s diving grab in the 9th made the list also at #5.
THE GOOD: Matt Garza finally discovered the strikezone. He had shown improvement in his last start, but yesterday he was dominating. 10 strikeouts. 2 walks. 77 of 114 pitches for strikes (67.5%). He was also 23-30 (77%) in getting strike-one on the batter, and two of the batters in which he fell behind 1-0, were the final two batters he faced, when it was questionable that Garza should still be in the game. Garza was 60% strike-one in his last start and that was a huge improvement over the start before that in which he was ahead of the batter only 40% of the time. Also, one of the big knocks on Garza is that he relies too much on his fastball. Prior to yesterday’s game he had thrown his fastball 75% of the time. Yesterday, he did a better job of mixing in his other pitches, as fastballs accounted for only 64% of his pitches.
THE BAD: Seeing Troy Percival crumple to the ground after a pitch. We have been wondering aloud since the spring whether we could get an entire season out of Percy. The injury does not appear serious, but we would be surprised if Percival does not get a cursory trip to the DL just to be safe…Jason Bartlett batting 6th? Yes. It was a left-handed starter and Bartlett is hitting near .300 this season against lefties, but is this the guy we want protecting Evan Longoria in the lineup? Apparently it is the batter the Rangers wanted “protecting” Dirtbag as they intentionally walked Longoria in the first inning with 2 outs and got Bartlett to ground out to kill the rally.
THE TELLING: If Troy Percival does go on the DL (we have to think that Percy will have to talk his way out of a 2-week vacation), the Rays appear to have three options to replace him on the roster. Juan Salas and Kurt Birkins are already on the 40-man roster and Grant Balfour who is not. Balfour has dominated the IL this season. He has 39 strikeouts and only 5 hits allowed and 10 walks in 23.2 innings. He has given up only 1 earned run. Salas has 15 strikeouts in 11.2 innings, but has been touched for 6 runs on 10 hits and 4 walks. However, 5 of those runs came in his first appearance of the season…The Rays have three players on the roster that can be listed as “right fielders”, and yet Ben Zobrist got the start in right yesterday. This tells us that the Rays are leaning towards dropping one of their regular (too many) right fielders when Willy Aybar comes off the DL…The Rangers entered this series red hot with an 8-0-1 record in their last 9 series. The Rays are now 6-1 in their last 7 series…Stuart Sternberg wanted 50 home wins and we chuckled a little. After all, he wanted 50 home wins last year and the Rays finished 37-44. After yesterday’s win the Rays are now 21-9 at home, on pace to finish with a 57-24 home record in ’08…
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! [MLB All-Star Voting]
Troy Percival underwent an MRI on his hamstring. [Rays Report]
Marc Lancaster speculates that Grant Balfour could be promoted from Durham if Troy Percival needs a trip to the DL. Balfour is not on the 40-man roster, but there is an open slot on the roster at this time. [Rays Report]
If you want to get on the attendance at the Trop, fine. But yesterday should not be cited as evidence the area won’t support baseball. It was a Wednesday afternoon game that started at 12:30. Schools are still in session and most importantly it was the TEXAS RANGERS. Not exactly a team that Rays fans are going to skip work for. [Fox Sports]
For the first time in the history of the Rays franchise, we present to you a Power Rankings with the Tampa Bay Rays, as the #1 team in baseball. Great Googly Moogly. [Bugs and Cranks]
Beyond the Boxscore takes a look at why Carl Crawford’s numbers are down this season. [Beyond the Boxscore]
Tampa Bay Sports Blog feels that the Rays are winning in spite of Joe Maddon. They list several pieces of evidence, most notably from yesterday’s game…Our only objection is the notion that Maddon doesn’t utilize the bunt enough. This is a personal preference, but we are of the school that a team only gets 3 outs per inning, why waste one. That doesn’t mean Maddon should never bunt. Just be selective. [Tampa Bay Sports Blog]
Poor Raymond. Comes in at #4, on the Maxim list of “5 MLB Mascots That Deserve a Groin-Punching”. [Maxim]
DRays Bay counters a couple of claims by Protect Our Wallets and our Waterfront (POWW), who oppose the new waterfront stadium. [DRays Bay]
Durham 7, Norfolk 1. Jeremy Cummings improved to 4-0 in 4 starts since signing with the Rays organization. The only hit he allowed in 7 innings, was a 2-out single in the 6th. He walked 2 and struck out 5. In those 4 starts, Cummings has allowed only 10 hits and 7 walks in 25 innings to go with his 1.08 ERA. He has struck out 18…Fernando Perez was 2-4 with a walk and is hitting .272, with a .344 OBP…Reid Brignac was 1-3 with his 19th double and 2 RBI…Joel Guzman finished 1-5 with 2 RBI. He has driven in 35 on the season.
Chattanooga 4, Montgomery 1. Kevin Lynnallowed 1 run in 5 innings…Montgomery managed only 3 hits. One hit was a solo home run by Gabby Martinez, his 7th.
Vero Beach 2, St. Lucie 0. David Price threw 6 shutout innings in his second professional start. He struck out 9 and walked none, allowing only 2 singles. He faced one over the minimum. In 2 starts, Price has given up 5 hits and 1 walk in 11 innings. He has yet to allow a run and he has struck out 13…Wade Townsend relieved Price, striking out 6 in 2 innings. He walked 1 batter and gave up a double…Chase Fontaine was 2-4 and drove in a run.
On Sept. 23, 2007, Delmon Young hit a 2-run home run against the Red Sox in the 2nd inning. After being traded to the Minnesota Twins for Matt Garza and Jason Bartlett this past off-season, little did anybody know that 8 months later, Young would yet to have hit another. The Twins and their fans were certainly hoping for a little more production from the young “slugger”.
