Archive for November 18th, 2008

Nov 18

[AL MVP] Carlos Pena Repeats As 9th Most Valuable American Leaguer

American League MVP, Carlos Pena, Evan Longoria, Jason Bartlett Cork Gaines No Comments »

For the second consecutive season Carlos Pena has finished 9th in the American League MVP voting. Dustin Pedroia of the Boston Red Sox took home the award with 16 of the 28 first place votes. Evan Longoria and Jason Bartlett each received votes. Longoria placed 11th after being named the unanimous winner of the AL Rookie of the Year award. Bartlett, who was named the Rays’ team MVP, finished 18th.

Pena received a single third place vote and appeared on 13 of the 28 ballots. Longoria’s highest votes were two sixth place votes and he appeared on 12 ballots. Bartlett received a single 5th place vote, the only ballot he appeared on.

Pena’s 9th place showing in 2007 was the highest finish in the MVP voting in franchise history. The previous high was Aubrey Huff, who finished 24th in 2003. Carl Crawford finished 26th in 2006 and Jorge Cantu finished 27th in 2005, the only other Rays to receive MVP consideration.

Pedroia named AL MVP [MLB]
Carlos Pena 9th Most Valuable American Leaguer [Rays Index]

Nov 18

[RI CONFIDENCE GRAPH] The Tampa Bay Rays Confidence Survey

Confidence graph Cork Gaines No Comments »

Last week’s Rays Confidence Graph results.

Below you will see two polls that ask about your confidence in the Tampa Bay Rays. We will present these same polls every Tuesday. The results will be presented in graphical form on Thursday, and will be displayed permanently in the sidebar. The goal of the Confidence Graph is to get a feeling of how Rays fans feel about the team and the franchise and track how that level of confidence changes through time.

Raysiverse events of the past week that could impact confidence levels…


Nov 18

[THE HANGOVER] Joe Magrane Leaving Rays TV Booth

David Price, Dioner Navarro, Evan Longoria, Felix Hernandez, Joe Magrane, JT Hall Cork Gaines 5 Comments »


DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…

  • Joe Magrane is leaving the Rays TV booth and will join the new MLB Network. [The Heater]
  • The Rays have raised ticket prices for the 2009 season. [St. Pete Times]
  • Bobby Fenton of 1010 Sports pointed out that all the changes to ticket and parking prices (ie. day of game surcharge) are designed to increase the number of season ticket holders. He also feels that many Bay Area fans are more likely to walk up day of the game and wonders if the day of game surcharge might backfire. [The Free Stretch]
  • UmpBump is running an offseason series looking at what every team needs. They have now published the Rays’ needs. [UmpBump]
  • In the upcoming “Bill James Handbook”, James ranks the top 25 young major leaguers under the age of 29. Evan Longoria is #17. Only Longoria and Felix Hernandez (#15) are under the age of 23…Also, the Rays are ranked third in terms of young talent on the major league roster, behind only the Twins and D-Backs. Of course, this does not include David Price. [Baseball Analysts]
  • In the same piece, we see that in the upcoming “Bill James Handbook”, one formula ranks Dioner Navarro as the worst baserunner in baseball. In the formula a baserunner, among other things, gets 1 point for a stolen base and -2 points for a caught stealing. Navi was 0-4 on the year. How many of those do you think were straight steals as opposed to missed hit-and-runs?…On a side note it really should be -3 points for a caught stealing. It has been shown that stealing bases only has a positive effect on the offense if successful about 75% of the time. Anything less and it costs the team runs. [Baseball Analysts]
  • David Chalk of Bugs and Cranks doesn’t care if Dioner Navarro is a bad baserunner. [Bugs and Cranks]
  • Baseball Happenings thinks baseball can work in the Bay Area. [Baseball Happenings]
  • Examiner takes a closer look at prospect JT Hall. [Examiner]