Archive for June 17th, 2008

Jun 17

[SHOWER-SHOE FUNGUS] Playing A Little Pepper: Chicago Cubs

Papper Cork Gaines 5 Comments »

FIRST INNING…
The Rays just took 2 of 3 from the cross-state rival Florida Marlins, but Martin Fennelly of the Tampa Tribune said “taking two of three from the downstate Marlins simply won’t do.”…Did the Rays “lose” this series?

We admit, we have gotten caught up at times in the feeling that the Rays should win every game and we love it. But this is still baseball. The best teams will lose 60 games. The worst teams will win 60 games. There are going to be days when the Rays put up a stinker. It will happen. It is not a reason to think that all of the sudden the end of the fun is near. To us, the key is winning series. Win two of every three games and the Rays will be fine. And that is what they did. And the thing that should not be lost here, is that the Marlins are a good team. They entered the series 6 games over .500. The Rays did what they had to do and on Sunday they were playing with “house money”…NO

SECOND INNING…
The Rays just averaged 26,500 fans for their 3-game set with the Marlins, a 40% increase over the same series last year…Just a few weeks ago there was a lot of grumbling that the fans were not supporting a winning team…Where are those same writers now?

This is to be expected. It just isn’t a juicy story to say the fans are coming to the games. At the same time though, there is still this stereotype out there that the Rays have no fans. We showed previously that in 1997, the Bucs were coming off 364 straight losing seasons and started the season 4-0. And yet in week 5 at home against the Cardinals, the stadium was barely half full. And that is a team that only has 8 home games a year. We knew the crowds would come. We just needed to be patient. In fact it is happening sooner than we expected…TRYING TO FIND ANOTHER REASON TO CRITICIZE THE FANS

THIRD INNING…
There has been a lot of chatter about the recent stories that said Ken Griffey Jr would be willing to waive his no-trade rights (not a ‘clause’. he is a 10&5 player) to play for the Rays…Ignoring money, are the Rays a better team with Griffey on the roster?

We understand the argument for both sides of this issue. On the one hand Eric Hinske has an .852 OPS and Gabe Gross has a .737 OPS and a decent glove. Griffey has a .749 OPS and years of wear and tear that won’t translate well to the Trop’s turf. But Griff posted an .847 OPS last year and was at .926 just two years ago. If he was the fulltime DH it is not impossible to imagine he could get back to those numbers. And when he is healthy, he is still a better than average defender. But he is rarely healthy and he is 38. Let’s just say that Griffey is still capable of being better than Hinske and Gross and he would probably be in the lineup more often than Cliff Floyd. If money was not an issue we would take Griffey and Gross over the other two. Alas…YES

FOURTH INNING…
Lou Piniella said the Rays turnaround would have begun during his tenure if ownership had loosened the purse strings when he was manager…Is he right?

Would they have won more than 70 games if the Rays brought in a couple of above-average veterans? Certainly. But they would not have been in playoff contention. Piniella did not have a developed Scott Kazmir and James Shields. And he wasn’t going to find those guys on the free agent market…NO

CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING…FIFTH INNING…
Gerry Hunsicker says that buyers have to overpay at the trading deadline…Will the Rays, a team that is normally very active “sellers” at the deadline, be able to make a deal at the deadline this year?

The Rays have used a formula to get where they are and they are smart enough not to deviate too far from that blueprint and risk the future of the franchise. If the Rays want a veteran difference-maker, it is going to take a Wade Davis or a Jake McGee or a Jeremy Hellickson. They will not give those guys up lightly. The Rays might be able to make a deal, but it will be more for a Gabe Gross-level player. And in fact, there is a better chance that the Rays are “sellers” at the deadline. Why wouldn’t the Rays trade Al Reyes, a free agent at the end of the year and fill his spot with a David Price or a Jeff Niemann or a Juan Salas?…NOT A BIG ONE

SIXTH INNING…
In his last start, his first since an on-field dustup with Dioner Navarro, Matt Garza had one of his strongest outings of the year, giving up just 1 run on 3 hits and a walk in 7 innings…Has he turned the corner?

We don’t like that he only had 3 strikeouts. A pitcher with Garza’s stuff should have 6-7 Ks every time out, even on a bad night. But if Garza’s problems were related to not being able to control his emotions, then the last incident might have been the one that was severe enough to open his eyes. We would expect that Garza will have problems in the future, but hopefully they will be fewer and farther between…HE IS CLOSE

SEVENTH INNING (over/unders)…
8 starts this season at double-A Montgomery for David Price:

Bill Whitehead is reporting that Price might be promoted later this week to Montgomery. If true, Price will come under our original prediction of 9-10 Vero Beach starts with 5. If he were to pitch the rest of the regular season with Montgomery, that would be 13-15 starts. The Rays could hope to split those starts with Montgomery and Durham and then call Price up for a September playoff run. That seems awfully fast no matter how good he is…OVER

1.5 wins for the Rays versus the Cubs:

In game 2, the Rays throw Andy Sonnanstine against Carlos Zambrano. Advantage Cubs. In game 3, it is James Shields versus Sean Gallagher. Advatage Rays. So it could come down to the winner of game 1 with Scott Kazmir and Ryan Dempster on the mound. Gotta go with Kid K’s hot arm…OVER

EIGHTH INNING…
The Rays now get the Cubs. This will be there fifth series, of the last six, in which the Rays have faced a playoff contender. During this stretch the Rays have lost 3.5 games to the Sox, going from 1.5 up to 2 down…Has it been all bad?

During that stretch the Rays went 3-2 in series and still have a 2 game lead in the Wild Card. In fact we would argue that the Rays proved during this stretch that they are not a fluke. They are a legitimate playoff contender and they must be taken seriously…NO

NINTH INNING (putting out the fire)…
Joe Maddon is not overly concerned about Edwin Jackson’s recent performance…Should he be?

Joe Maddon should have never stopped being concerned about Jackson’s performance, even when he was throwing well…YES

The Rays are going to add an alternate jersey in ’09 that also says “Rays” on the front, giving them three jerseys, none of which say “Tampa Bay”…Should this worry fans?

Not until the caps have an SA (San Antonio) or LV (Las Vegas) on them…NO

Chien-Ming Wang is out until September after injurying his foot running the bases…Are the Rays now the favorite for the Wild Card?

We would say that this evens the playing field a little bit. The Yankees still have a $200 million payroll and the luxury of adding a CC Sabathia, Bronson Arroyo and a Jason Bay…NO

Jun 17

[RAYS BLOGOSPHERE] Oh DRays Bay…Why Must You Bait Us?

DRaysBay Cork Gaines 25 Comments »

[Update: Vin added his "don't take this too seriously" tag long after we had added our rebuttal]

We have tried so hard to be good as some sites think all we do around here is bash other Rays’ blogs. But we are being baited…and we are OK with that.

If there is one thing we will never stand for, it is somebody standing up on their tiny soap box and calling Rays fans “dumb”. Especially when it is another Rays fan and even more when that tiny soap box is in the form of a Rays blog. [Ed.note: yes, we do realize that "Vin" is not one of the regular writers at DRays Bay and yes we know it was a "fanpost". But somebody at DRays Bay thought this garbage was good enough to make it a "featured fanpost" thus giving it front page, above-the-fold status. And besides, in DRays Bay's own words, they are "One Blog"...Not two. Just one.]

While these past few months have been great, the newfound sense of winning they’ve brought have led me to an unfortunate conclusion: A team’s winning percentage in [sic] directly proportionate to the amount of dumb in it’s fanbase.

We went to Webster’s Vin’s Dictionary to look up the word “dumb”.

dumb [duhm] -adjective
  1. lacking intelligence or good judgment; stupid; dull-witted.
  2. Fans of the Tampa Bay Rays, especially when the team is doing really, really, well

Well that explains why we left the oven on last night.

Winning means bandwagoners. Bandwagoners are, by nature, extremely shortsighted.

Apparently Vin would rather attend games at the Trop with 8,000 people, all of whom are not shortsighted, but half of whom are asleep, instead of 25,000 screaming fans that might not know the difference between a Jeremy Hellickson and a Mitch Talbot. Let’s take it easy on the “bandwagoners” please. If the Rays don’t get a whole wagon full of bandwagoners, the rest of us won’t have a team to root for in a few years.

The influx of casual fans has led to an overall dip in the knowledge of our farm system. Hellickson is due to jump a level any day now; as are Davis and McGee (although thats debatable), and we have a former first round pick waiting in AAA along with a Mitch Talbot who is flashing some brilliance that definitely warrants attention… You people think Sonny v. Jackson is the fight to watch? Psh. Thats just the undercard. Wait for the Hellickson v. Davis v. McGee v. Niemann v. Talbot free-for-all.

Actually, no. The main event is the 2008 Tampa Bay Rays which means Edwin Jackson and Andy Sonnanstine. The Rays are in first place in the wild card race and nobody in the minors is going to replace Jackson or Sonnanstine unless one gets hurt. Jeff Niemann couldn’t do it in the Spring and now he is battling arm problems again. Talbot is a marginal prospect at best.

Now if we assume that David Price is in the rotation in ’09 [Ed. note: This is hypothetical. We actually think the second half of '09 is more likely based on the Rays track record with prospects], that will leave one spot. Unless somebody is traded it will be Jackson or Sonnanstine. There is no reason to think Niemann and Talbot are suddenly going to step up. Wade Davis and Jake McGee won’t be ready and Hellickson is still two years away at the earliest.

And if history in baseball has taught us anything, it is that we cannot be certain what these prospects will look like in two years. We cannot be certain how good Jackson and Sonnanstine will be in two years. And we have ZERO idea what the team needs will be in two years.

It is OK if Vin is more concerned with winning in 2010 and 2011, but just because “casual” fans are more concerned with winning in 2008 and 2009 does not automatically make them “dumb”.

Telling a lifelong, diehard Rays fan he sucks for calling for improvement on [Carl Crawford's] flaws is however, dumb.

Lifelong? Now we feel a little guilty. When we were in 5th grade we called a lot of people “dumb”. And here Vin is clearly upset because somebody criticized him for his comments of Carl Crawford. Do you know who else criticizes people for their opinions? Vin.

Quite frankly we couldn’t stand to read anymore of this nonsense. So if the last sentence of the post says “Just kidding, I don’t really think Rays fans are dumb. I love you guys.”, then we owe Vin an apology.

In the meantime we have petitioned Vin’s Dictionary to change the definition of “dumb” to”:

dumb [duhm] -adjective

1. lacking intelligence or good judgment; stupid; dull-witted.
2. Fans of the Tampa Bay Rays named “Vin” that are given a platform at DRays Bay with which all they can do is bash fellow Rays fans

Chock full of dumb [DRays Bay]

Jun 17

[BIG MO] Snuffleupagus Moonlights As Minor League Mascot

Big Mo, Raymond is a sexy beast, Snuffleupagus Cork Gaines 4 Comments »

The Montgomery Biscuits are regularly recognized as having one the coolest mascots in minor league baseball…or the worst.

Well, apparently having “Biscuits” as a mascot doesn’t translate well to an on-field, furry, live-action mascot. Compared to the Biscuits mascot Big Mo, Raymond is Salma Hayek. We aren’t even sure what Big Mo is. Is he a biscuit? Is he an orange elephant? Is he Snuffleupagus? We’ll let you decide…

Clearly if Big Mo is ever promoted to the Big Leagues, he will shoot straight to the top of Maxim’s list of “5 MLB Mascots That Deserve a Groin-Punching”.

Jun 17

[THE HANGOVER] Queue The Dramatic Music: Lou Piniella Returns To The Trop

Aki Iwamura, Carl Crawford, Edwin Jackson, James Shields, Larry Rothschild, Lou Piniella Cork Gaines No Comments »



With the Red Sox loss last night, the Rays pull even with Pink Hat Nation in the loss column. The Rays still maintain their 2 game lead in the Wild Card race over the A’s.

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]
  • The Rays still have not received official word as to when Edwin Jackson will begin his suspension, which will likely be either tonight or Thursday (at the conclusion of James Shields’ suspension). Tonight is also the last game of Carl Crawford’s suspension with Aki Iwamura to begin his tomorrow. [St. Pete Times]
  • “No one could have imagined the Cubs-Rays series would be a possible World Series preview”…Those are the Chicago Tribune’s words. Not ours. Reading that and something comes to our mind. Something about a “cart” and a “horse”?? [Chicago Tribune]
  • The Cubs are just the latest good team to face the Rays. They will be the fourth series of the last six that featured a team in first place and 26 of the Rays last 28 games have been against a team with a .500 record or better. [Tampa Tribune]
  • In addition to the first to the Trop for former Devil Rays manager Lou Piniella, tonight’s game also marks the first return to the Trop for the Devil Rays original manager Larry Rothschild, who is now the Cubs pitching coach. [St. Pete Times]
  • Lou Piniella said that if he had stayed with the Devil Rays for another year or two, he probably wouldn’t be the managing today. [Southtown Star]

”I was crazy enough to think I could win anywhere with anything,” said Piniella, who won two World Series rings as a player in New York and another as a manager in Cincinnati. ”Not crazy, but confident in my ability…At that time, you go on a road trip to New York, Boston and Toronto, and if you win one game in each city, it’s a good trip,” Piniella said. ”From a professional standpoint, I wasn’t prepared for that. I’d won everywhere I’d been. I didn’t enjoy the losses. And it wasn’t going to get any better, so I got out.”

  • Gerry Hunsicker was on The Show with Rob Dibble and Kevin Kennedy and talked about making deals at the trading deadline…Hunsicker said “…deals arent easy to make, atleast significant deals and you’re probably going to have to overpay regardless of what you get because of the supply and demand factor…” Overpaying is not something the Rays ever want to do, so don’t expect any major deals from the Rays before the trading deadline. [MLB on XM]
  • Cubs f/x breaks down the pitchf/x of Scott Kazmir. [Cubs f/x]
Jun 17

[DOWN ON THE FARM] Rocco Baldelli Makes ’08 Debut

Emeel Salem, Jake McGee, Jared Sandberg, Wade Davis Cork Gaines 1 Comment »

Durham @ Buffalo (ppd.). This game was called in the 3rd inning and will be concluded today. Joel Guzman hit his 14th home run to give the Bulls a 2-1 lead prior to the rain…Jeff Niemann had retired the first 6 batters before giving up a solo home run to lead off the third.

Montgomery (off-day)

Vero Beach 7, Brevard Co 2. David Price started for the D-Rays, working 5 innings, allowing 1 run on 4 hits and 2 walks. He struck out 7. The run came in the first inning when Price gave up a lead off single. That runner stole second and third, sandwhiching a pair of strikeouts, and then scored on another single. Nevin Ashley bailed out Price in the second with 2 outs and runners on first and second, following a pair of walks, Ashley picked the runner of first to end the inning. In the third, Price bailed himself out. After a leadoff triple, Price struck out the next three batters, the final one looking. Price retired 9 of the final 10 batters he faced…Rocco Baldelli made his first regular season appearance since last season as the D-Rays DH. He batted second and went 1-3 with a pair of walks. He walked in the 1st and was forced at second base. In the 2nd, he singled home 2 runs, and was again forced at second. In the 5th he grounded out to short. In the 7th he flied out to center. In the 8th, he walked with a runner on first. He was replaced by a pinch-runner.

Columbus (all-star break)

NOTES FROM DOWN ON THE FARM…

  • Montgomery manager Billy Gardner says that both Jake McGee and Wade Davis need to be more consistent in the second half. [Montgomery Advertiser]

McGee, who is scheduled to start tonight, is 6-3 with a 3.86 ERA but has sometimes had control issues. He’s totaled 32 walks and 62 strikeouts in 70 innings…Davis is 6-4 with a 3.47 ERA and is 8-of-14 on quality starts but also hasn’t been a rock of consistency.

“Both are definitely going to have to be more consistent,” Gardner said. “I think expectations can precede you and there was a lot expected from both…I think they’ve done better than people give them credit for. The expectations were so high, I don’t think anybody could have lived up to them.”

  • Princeton and Hudson Valley begin their short-season schedules today.
  • Emeel Salem is expected to be 100% by next Spring Training after breaking his elbow. At the time of the injury Salem was leading all of professional baseball in stolen bases. [Rays Digest]
  • Former Devil Ray Jared Sandberg is a bench coach for the Hudson Valley Renegades. [Poughkeepsie Journal]