Archive for March, 2009

Jayson Stark: Price’s Imminent Demotion Is Not About The Money

David Price 6 Comments »

phpKVujZfA short while ago, we took Mike Silva’s NY Baseball Digest to task for assuming that the Rays were only going to start David Price in the minors this season because the team is cheap. Jay Sorgen later responded to our flurry of jabs.

But rather than get into a war of baseball smarts versus New York bias, we will let Jayson Stark exaplain why Price will begin the season in the minors and why this means trouble for the Red Sox and Yankees.

On the depth of major league-ready starting pitching:

The Rays haven’t quite yet said that their favorite 23-year-old left-handed phenom is about to be handed a plane ticket to Durham, the Rays’ Triple-A affiliate. Not officially, anyway…But every indication is that that’s what’s about to happen, probably any day now. And if that isn’t a sign that the Rays obviously have way too much talent and way too much pitching, I don’t know what is.

On the player’s reactions to possibly not having Price [Ed note: several players expressed their disapproval publicly last year when Evan Longoria was demoted at the end of Spring Training]:

You wonder how many teams could sell their fans — and, maybe more important, their players — on the idea that sending out arguably the most dominating pitcher on their roster is actually a sensible baseball move, not some kind of sinister ploy to save money…But it tells you how far this franchise has come in the last year that you hear almost no second-guessing on this front in this team’s camp. From anybody.

“These guys are extremely smart in our front office,” first baseman Carlos Pena said. “So I respect that decision. I know there’s some very good reason behind it that will serve this team and, more importantly, serve David Price’s future.”

On why finances has little to do with demotion:

Oh, the Rays have their reasons, all right. Very, very intelligently thought-out reasons. And we should point out, at the top, that they have no reason — at least in the short term — to avoid starting Price’s arbitration clock. He’s already signed through 2012.

Read the rest of this entry »

[THE HANGOVER] The One Where We Discuss Upton’s Pain-Free Shoulder, Pena’s Pain-Filled Pennant Run And Kazmir’s Pain-Inducing Slider

BJ Upton, Carlos Pena, Scott Kazmir 14 Comments »

Time to bring back the GBT – The Good, The Bad and The Telling sandwich, where The Bad is nice and lean and the The Telling is ripe.

No game yesterday, so let’s get straight to the Webtopia.

DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA

  • BJ Upton played 4 innings in a minor league exhibition game, going 0-4, striking out about 12 times. Upton said his stamina was “pretty good” and hopes to go longer soon…Also, Scott Kazmir threw more sliders than normal and was happy with the results stating that his slider was “definitely the best it’s felt in a while.” [St. Pete Times]
  • The way Carlos Pena carried the Rays in August and September last season was amazing. It is even more incredible considering how much pain he was in. [Tampa Tribune]
  • In their sophomore seasons, only two pitchers averaged more strikeouts per 9 innings than this June’s top pick, Stephen Strasburg. Those two pitchers? David Price and Wade Townsend (thanks Joe D.). [Project Prospect]
  • Many people smarter than us think the Rays are one of the 4 or 5 best teams in baseball. But at least one doofus thinks the Rays will be more like the 2007 Devil Rays this season, and predicts 78 wins. Their logic? Because 9 does not equal 8 apparently. That’s right. Not a single baseball reason for their projection. Just a stereotype. [Stuff and Things]
  • At the other end of the spectrum, you have this Paul White piece in USA Today that says the Rays are built to prove 2008 was the rule and not the exception. How many baseball reasons does White provide? Too many to count. [USA Today]
  • The King of Lists is still at it with his “Your Team Ain’t S#!t” series. This time it is #21 Milwaukee. [Bugs and Cranks]

Projected 2009 Tampa Bay Rays 25-Man Roster Redux

25-man Roster 10 Comments »

25-Man Roster Projection and Lineup (notes and explanations on the projection can be found following the roster)…

Notes on the 25-man roster projection…

  • Lineup: With BJ Upton likely starting the season on the DL, Ben Zobrist is now probably the opening day center fielder. The rest of the lineup is likely set as Gabe Gross probably doesn’t need to be labeled blue any longer. As for the batting order, 2-5 are set. The next three will be some combination of Gross, Zobrist and Dioner Navarro. That leaves the leadoff spot. Upton will be there once he returns. So the logical step is probably to keep Aki Iwamura there until that happens. But what if Maddon wants to go ahead and move Aki to his new spot in the lineup? Jason Bartlett has lead off in 5 of the last 8 spring games. We have a feeling Bartlett will be in the box when that first pitch of the 2009 season is thrown.
  • Bench: Gabe Kapler is probably a lock. And if Ben Zobrist is really in center to start the season, Joe Maddon will need a backup shortstop on the bench. That could be Adam Kennedy. The Rays can open up two spots on the 40-man roster by moving Chad Bradford and Fernando Perez to the 60-day DL. BUT…Marc Topkin made a good point this morning in a piece we linked in the webtopia. Do the Rays want to put Adam Kennedy on the 40-man roster even though they only need him for a week? That makes us think that Reid Brignac makes more sense for the first week. And yesterday that is exactly who started at shortstop.
  • Rotation: As recently as a week ago it looked like the fifth spot was Jason Hammel’s. After Hammel’s last two appearances the door may still be open for somebody else, but who? Jeff Niemann imploded in his last appearance and David Price has been deemed “not ready” by the team. Also telling are Joe Maddon’s quote that The Hammer’s struggles are linked to some minor issues that are easily solved. So for now it is still Hammel. But he remains blue.
  • Bullpen: With Derek Rodriguez being returned to the White Sox, it is really down to 4 for the final 2 spots, with one of those spots likely going to Jeff Niemann or Jason Hammel (unless one is traded). So the final spot is up for grabs. It seems to us that the spot belongs to Jason Isringhausen, BUT, he may need a little more time to get ready. So he may be headed to extended spring training for the first few weeks or so. That leaves Joe Nelson and Lance Cormier. Cormier has received a lot more work and much of it (6 innings) has come in the first half of games against the tougher competition. And he has the better spring numbers. Does he have the edge? We have no idea. You can pretty much flip a coin on those two.

The Tampa Bay Rays Confidence Survey

Confidence graph 2 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…



[THE HANGOVER] The One Where We Discuss Cormier Vs Nelson, Hammel’s Loose Grip And Kennedy’s Future

Adam Kennedy, Jason Hammel, Lance Cormier 15 Comments »

phpcmnzynTime to bring back the GBT – The Good, The Bad and The Telling sandwich, where The Bad is nice and lean and the The Telling is ripe.

THE GOOD: Lance Cormier. Cormier (right) is making a strong case to be the last man in the bullpen ahead of Joe Nelson. Joe Maddon has gone to Cormier a lot early in game to face the tougher batters and he has come through with solid spring numbers (1.80 ERA). He pitched two more scoreless innings and his ability to work more than one inning is only going to help his case.

THE BAD: The offense. Rays hitters managed only 1 run on 4 hits and 3 walks. Only one of the hits went for extra bases, a double by Gabe Gross…Jason Hammel. The fifth spot in the rotation is Hammer’s but his grasp may be slipping after walking 5 in 4 innings and giving up 4 runs and 6 hits.

THE TELLING: Adam Kennedy made his spring debut at shortstop, while Reid Brignac made the start.

DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA

  • Marc Topkin takes a look at the questions that remain for the Rays with opening day just around the corner. [St. Pete Times]
  • Jason Hammel called his performance “unacceptable.” [St. Pete Times]
  • Adam Kennedy says he is willing to start the season in Durham if needed, but the Rays made it clear that if there is not an immediate spot for him with the Rays and another team needs a major league infielder, they will not stand in the way of an opportunity for Kennedy to play in the big leagues. Also of note is Marc Lancaster pointing out that one reason Kennedy signed with the Rays is because he knew he would receive a lot of playing time in the spring to showcase his skills with Aki Iwamura away at the WBC. [Tampa Tribune]

Matt Garza’s Dead Arm Is A Red Flag

Matt Garza 9 Comments »

php6d6M2NA couple of months ago we looked at the toll the long 2008 season had on the Rays pitching staff. We were concerned about the large number of pitches thrown by each pitcher, the extra month of work as a result of a World Series run and the shortened off-season and how those combined factors could prove stressful on the young arms moving forward.

The one pitcher that concerned us the most was Matt Garza, who saw a 21.8% increase in the number of innings worked over the previous season and the large number of games in which he threw at least 110 pitches.

Now we see what may be the first sign that Garza could suffer from a tired arm in 2009.

Garza, charged with four runs in 42/3 innings in the 15-4 loss, said his “arm didn’t feel too great” as he’s “facing that dead-arm period where it feels like you have nothing in the tank.” Garza (74 pitches) was encouraged by the work he got in with his changeup. “Garza threw the ball pretty well,” Maddon said.

It is not unusual for a starting pitcher to suffer from a “dead arm” at points during the season and many pitches go through this during spring training. But it is a red flag in the case of Garza because of his workload in 2008 and because he is already suffering from a dead arm despite only having worked 10.2 innings this spring.

Jeff Niemann hits setback in bid to join Tampa Bay Rays’ rotation [St. Pete Times]

Carlos Pena Refuses To Play Until He Signs A Taco

Carlos Pena 3 Comments »

[Update] Turns out this interview was actually conducted on behalf of Big League Stew. We originally gave credit to another website that stole the piece. Our apologies to ‘Duk and the rest of the crew over at the always entertaining Big League Stew.

phpD4mLDvDavid Brown of Big League Stew provides us with an entertaining interview with Carlos Pena, the highlight of which is Pena’s toungue-in-cheek refusal to play until one particular fan shows up to spring training with another taco for Pena to sign (something that has occured each of the previous two seasons).

CP (to the other reporter): Can you put out a call to the guy who always has me sign the taco? He always brings a Taco Bell taco for me to sign. Put something in the paper. That’s funny, right?

Other reporter: OK, how about, “I’m not playing until the Taco Man shows up”?

CP: I won’t, either. That’ll work.

So either this is a good luck charm, or El Gato is angling for a Taco Bell endorsement deal.

Some other topics covered in the interview

  • Pena prefers Barnes and Noble to Borders and admits it gets him “chicks…at certain times.”
  • If he wasn’t playing baseball, he would be making independent films.
  • Tampa Bay is the best-kept secret in baseball, and not just because of the baseball team.

Answer Man: Carlos Pena talks tacos, reading and filmmaking [Big League Stew]

[THE HANGOVER] The One Where We Discuss Aki Vs JP, Kennedy For Opening Day And Zorilla The Center Fielder

Adam Kennedy, Ben Zobrist, BJ Upton, David Price, Fernando Perez, Jenn Sterger, Matt Joyce 1 Comment »

Reds Rays Spring BaseballTime to bring back the GBT – The Good, The Bad and The Telling sandwich, where The Bad is nice and lean and the The Telling is ripe.

THE GOOD: David Price and his changeup. King David threw 4 scoreless innings and said afterwards that he is now confident enough to throw his changeup “at any time.” Price struck out 4 and allowed 3 hits and allowed 2 walks… Adam Kennedy. Kennedy showed in the first inning one thing he can bring to the table. Experience. With 1 out and a would-be base stealer beating the throw, Kennedy successfully blocked the bag with his foot for the out…Carl Crawford. At the other end is Crawford stealing bases successfully. His legs sure look fresh as he stole 2 more bases yesterday (although he did get caught going to third) and is 5-6 in the steal department this spring with 2 triples…The Closers. A new TV show featuring Troy Percival and Jason Isringhausen got off to a slow start but is picking up steam as we head to sweeps-week. Both Percy and Izzy and pitched scoreless innings yesterday…Matt Joyce. Joyce made his first appearance in a Rays uniform and just missed 2 separate home runs, one to the track (off a lefty) and one foul. He finished 0-2 with a K.

THE BAD: David Price. Want the quickest way into a manger’s doghouse? Walk the leadoff batter. Price did that yesterday in the second inning and has done that a few times already this spring.

THE TELLING: In last night’s semifinal matchup of the WBC, JP Howell came in to pitch the 6th inning and faced Aki Iwamura during the inning. Aki flied out to center on the first pitch he faced. Howell gave up 2 hits in a scoreless inning, getting a strikeout to retire the side. Aki finished 1-4, driving in a run with a triple and later scoring a run in the 5-run 5th inning. Evan Longoria made his debut with Team USA as a pinch-hitter and the tying run in the 8th inning. He struck out…Pat Burrell will start in right field today. Somebody should warn the groundhogs.

DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA

  • Jenn Sterger told us on Twitter that we need to be reading her blog. You hear that? C’mon guys. Let’s get to it. She is in New York and if we fail her, she could easily be sucked into the Evil Empire. We can’t let that happen. [officially...jenn]
  • Not a good weekend for Rays center fielders. First up, we can now rule out BJ Upton from the lineup during the opening week, which means the opening day center fielder very well could be Ben Zobrist. Amazing. The opening day shortstop just 2 years ago, and some wondered if he would ever be a starter again and now he is the opening day center fielder.  [Rays Report]
  • Marc Topkin also speculates that Adam Kennedy could be the 25th man on the roster and not Justin Ruggiano. With Zobrist starting in center, the idea would be that Joe Maddon would need a backup infielder, not another outfielder. Maddon also says Zobrist may not need a platoon partner in center being a switch-hitter. [St. Pete Times]
  • Then we learn that Fernando Perez’ injury is worse than originally believed and he will now be out 4-5 months instead of 3. [Rays Report]
  • James Shields and Andy Sonnanstine both pitched in a minor league game and Matt Joyce also played in the morning game before making his spring debut in the big league game. [St. Pete Times]
  • The Rays have set a spring attendance record of 83,274. [St. Pete Times]
  • The 134th best Devil Ray ever…Vinny Castilla. [Bugs and Cranks]

BJ Upton Is Becoming Quite The Pitchman

BJ Upton 1 Comment »

In his latest commercial endeavor, BJ Upton is part of a series called “Addidas Pros” in which Upton discusses his tips for stealing bases. See if you can count how many times the addidas “three stripes” appears on Upton’s clothing.

[THE HANGOVER] The One Where We Discuss Upton’s Pinky Pain, Openings On The 40-Man And Niemann’s Last Nail

BJ Upton, Jeff Niemann, Jon Weber 3 Comments »

Rays Blue Jays Spring BaseballTime to bring back the GBT – The Good, The Bad and The Telling sandwich, where The Bad is nice and lean and the The Telling is ripe.

Saturday’s game was rained out, but the GBT for Friday’s game can be found after the Webtopia.

DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA

  • Today’s Grapefruit League matchup between the Rays and Yankees will be broadcast on the MLB Network at 1:00pm.
  • With yesterday’s rainout, the Rays shuffled their starting pitchers, with David Price working against the Yankees and James Shields pitching in a minor league game so that he can stay on normal rest. [Tampa Tribune]
  • BJ Upton was hit in the hand with a pitch, but x-rays were negative. Certainly missing any time will hurt Upton’s chances of being in the opening day lineup. [St. Pete Times]
  • Marc Topkin talks to career minor league Jon Weber, who is 31 and still looking for just one day in the major leagues…In the same piece, Topkin notes that the Rays may soon add Chad Bradford and/or Fernando Perez to the 60-day DL. Doing so would open one or two spots on the 40-man roster for somebody like Jason Isringhausen. [St. Pete Times]
  • Roger Mooney notes that the Rays are drawing big crowds this spring everywhere they go. [Bradenton Herald]
  • Marc Topkin looks at how the Rays have given other teams hope to accomplish the impossible. [St. Pete Times]
  • Marc Lancaster wonders if the Rays will be the “next Rays” in 2009 and become a model franchise that is mimicked by other organizations for years to come. [Tampa Tribune]
  • Gabe Kapler thanks the local Jewish community for welcoming him to the area…Also, a good example of how missing one word can completely change the meaning of a title. [Gruntig!]
  • This shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, but Jonny Gomes has made the Reds opening day roster. [Pearls of Wisdom]

THE GOOD: Carl Crawford. CC hit a 2-run home run in the first inning…Morgan Ensberg. Ensberg had maybe his best offensive game this spring, going 2-2 with a double and an RBI

THE BAD: Matt Garza. 4 runs on 6 hits and 2 walks in 4.2 innings is not good, even in the spring…Jeff Niemann. Niemann may have put the nail in his own coffin as far as the starting rotation goes and any hopes of seeing meaningful innings in the bullpen as a relief pitcher are slowly fading also after giving up 9 runs in two-thirds of an inning. Niemann faced 12 batters, and gave up 5 singles, 2 doubles and 3 walks.

THE TELLING: Gabe Kapler got the start in center field and Morgan Ensberg started at third base with Evan Longoria gone to the WBC.