May 08
Archive for May 8th, 2009
May 08
FIRST INNING (A look back)…
Earlier this week, you called on the Rays to discipline Troy Percival for his actions directed towards a fan after last Sunday’s win over the Red Sox…Any surprises from the reactions you have seen?
We are surprised that we haven’t heard even an explanation or an apology from the Rays or Percival. This surprises us because it did become a bit of a national story. It was carried on Deadspin, The Big Lead, Sports Illustrated and even the St. Louis Post-Dispatch among others. It seemed like everybody was talking about it except the Rays. And of course, the reason the Rays weren’t talking about it, was because nobody at the Tampa Tribune or the St. Pete times had the guts to ask the tough question. Sure they got the comments from Evan Longoria and Joe Maddon. But not once did we see anybody address what Percival did and that is a shame…JUST ANOTHER REASON NEWSPAPERS ARE BLEEDING
SECOND INNING (Headlines)…
Evan Longoria leads the league in doubles (14) and RBI (38), is second with 10 home runs and is hitting .368 to go along with his gold glove defense. Assuming the Rays stay in contention…Is Dirtbag the leading candidate for the AL MVP award?
At first we thought there was no way anybody else was even close. Then we looked up Kevin Youkilis’ numbers. He leads the AL with a .393 average, a .505 OBP and a 1.224 OPS. His 6 home runs and 20 RBI are not terrible either. And he is the catalyst and leader for a team with a better record…NO
THIRD INNING (Headlines)…
Matt Joyce and Desmond Jennings are both off to scorching starts at double-A and triple-A respectively…Are these guys going to see a promotion anytime soon?
Here is where things get tricky. If the Rays were still struggling and Gabe Kapler was still 0 for forever, then we might see Joyce in the next week or two. But do the Rays want to mess with what is working on the chance it could be a little better? On the other hand, if Joyce is the answer at some point this season, then the Rays may prefer sooner rather than later to get him acclimated. As for Jennings, he has such little experience that he is probably in double-A through at least the all-star break…MAYBE JOYCE, MAYBE NOT JENNINGS
FOURTH INNING (Headlines)…
Carl Crawford is now 20-20 in stolen bases and on pace for 108…Will CC be the first player since Vince Coleman in 1987 to steal 100 bases in a season?
May 08
Jayson Stark On Crawford’s 2010 Option And Potential Bullpen Moves
Carl Crawford, Jason Isringhausen No Comments »Jayson Stark weighs in on Carl Crawford’s pending team option for 2010.
…the Rays are a team that looks at everything — from payroll to roster composition — in three-year chunks, not one-year increments. So one baseball man familiar with their thinking says there is just about “zero chance” that they would decline Crawford’s option and make him a free agent. If that puts them over budget, they would simply compensate by adjusting their payroll down the road by infusing more young players…So if the Rays win, or at least contend, they could find a way to bring back all their key players What’s more likely, though, is that they would pick up Crawford’s option and then listen more seriously to offseason offers than they ever have in the past — because keeping him as a free agent presents a whole different financial challenge.
The problem with the first scenario is that Stuart Sternberg has already indicated that the Rays have already borrowed from future payrolls just to reach the $63 million this season. We can’t imagine they would be willing to do that again next year.
That leaves the second scenario as the more likely of the two…The Rays will entertain offers for Crawford.
Stark then offers his two cents on the brewing bullpen logjam with the imminent promotion of Jason Isringhausen.
Jason Isringhausen’s rehab option is up May 19. And the Rays would like to add him to their late-inning mix if all goes well over the next week or so. But they have limited roster flexibility, so mark down Tampa Bay as potentially the first club to make relief pitching available. Could a Dan Wheeler or J.P. Howell be a candidate to get moved? Not likely, but there are clubs tracking both of them…Meanwhile, [David] Price is still a Triple-A work in progress, so his ascension to the Trop doesn’t appear imminent. But when Price does arrive, whenever that is, other clubs believe the Rays could look to deal either Andy Sonnanstine or Jeff Niemann — although it’s still possible they could move the odd starter out to bullpen land.
No way JP Howell is moved as he is Joe Maddon’s ideal and Dan Wheeler is a Jim Hickey favorite. So who would the Rays move? The obvious choices are Lance Cormier and Joe Nelson. Are we being too strict on Wheeler? Might somebody find some value, any value in Troy Percival? Not likely.
Sizing up A-Rod’s ‘historic’ contract [ESPN]
May 08
Two years ago on Rays Index we we told you that Juan Salas had been caught injecting himself with IEDs.
Juan Salas Caught Injecting Himself With Idiot Enhancing Drugs [Rays Index]
May 08
One year ago on Rays Index we declared Wade Boggs the God of Baseball Drinking. The story still awes us.
Wade Boggs, The God Of Baseball Drinking [Rays Index]
May 08
[THE HANGOVER] The One Where We Discuss Beating The Beast And Maddon’s State Of Love And Trust
BJ Upton, Carl Crawford, Carlos Pena, Evan Longoria, Jeff Niemann No 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.
click above image for boxscore
THE GOOD: Back-to-Back and a Belly-to-Belly. For somebody that has watched Mo Rivera do his thing many, many times, we knew what last night meant. When Rivera comes in to a tie game, the only hope is that the Rays can hold off the Yanks for two innings, because you know the Rays won’t score in the 9th or 10th. But just when you thought all hope was lost, Carl Crawford and Evan Longoria do the impossible. Back-to-back home runs off of Rivera for the first time ever. The first time in 11 years he has given up 2 home runs in 1 game. The Rays beat the Yankees. The Rays beat Mariano Rivera…Longo’s Longballs. Two more home runs last night and Evan Longoria is now 3rd in MLB in home runs with 10. He and Carlos Pena are the top 2 home run hitters in the AL. And they are tops in RBI. Oh yeah, and Dirtbag is also hitting .368. Pujols-esque…Jason Bartlett. Another home run, this one to lead off the game into the now-imfamous Yankee Stadium wind tunnel to right field. He now has 4 after hitting 1 last season…Ben Zobrist. Zorilla homered again, giving him 5 in 61 at bats. Of course, most of those 61 at bats have come in situations where Zobrist was expected to thrive. Still, 1 Hr ever 12 at bats is very, very good.
THE BAD: Maddoning State of Love and Trust. How little trust does Joe Maddon have in Jeff Niemann? Even though Giraffe had not allowed a run, Lance Cormier was warming up in the 3rd inning with a 4-0 lead. And then as soon as Niemann was in trouble in the 4th, he was gone, and it is hard to image that Niemann would have been worse than Cormier….Jeff Niemann. Niemann is still just all over the place. Last night it was 4 walks and a hit batter without a strikeout. He now leads the majors in hitting batters with 3…Lance Cormier. He was only charged with 2 runs, but 4 scored on his watch.
THE TELLING: BJ Upton was not in the lineup last night with a stomach bug. He is expected back tonight…The Rays are now 14-16 and moved past the Yankees into 3rd place in the East, 4.5 behind the Red Sox and 5.5 behind Toronto who is yet to play the Rays, Sox or Yankees…Joe Maddon said after the game that he did not call on Troy Percival because he wanted to give him the night off…The Rays were 7-12 when we made the call for more Anteater. They are 7-4 since then. Just sayin’…What amazes us, is these last 2 games are games the Yankees never used to lose. The aura is gone and it left with Torre.
SUNBURST PLAYER OF THE GAME: Carl Crawford. Yep, could have easily gone with Evan Longoria, but it was CC’s blow that slayed the dragon.
DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…
- Joe Maddon appeared on WFAN in NYC yesterday to talk about the state of the Rays. Even though we usually learn little from these types of interviews (most topics are well-covered locally), we always enjoy these interviews because it is refreshing to hear some recent thoughts from Maddon on some of the broader topics related to the team. [WFAN Audio]
- Needless to say, Joe Maddon Sucks is all over Joe Maddon’s decision to pull Jeff Niemann. [Joe Maddon Sucks]
- Rays the Stakes gives each reliever a confidence ranking. [Rays the Stakes]
- Marc Lancaster explains why Brian Shouse picked up the win and not Dan Wheeler. [Rays Report]
- Joe Maddon refuses to push the panic button on Pat Burrell who only has 5 extra-base hits. [St. Pete Times]
- Marc Lancaster has some of the Rays’ reactions to the Manny Ramirez suspension. Our favorite is Carlos Pena who laments the loss of his preferred Sega Genesis player, which of course, means all of Pena’s victories in Sega Genesis are now tainted. [Rays Report]
- NY Baseball Digest wonders if the Mets can obtain Scott Kazmir for Oliver Perez. Perez, the same guy who is slated to make $36 million in the next 3 years and couldn’t hit water if he fell out of the proverbial boat this season and was recently demoted to the bullpen. [NY Baseball Digest]
- We saw this and we really weren’t sure what to do with it. We always try to avoid politics and religion on here. Seems safer that way. Thankfully, David Chalk does not have the same reservations. [Bugs and Cranks]
May 08
Down On The Farm: Riggan’s Pulled From First Rehab Start
Jeremy Hellickson, Shawn Riggans No Comments »Charlotte 10, Durham 2. Last night may have been David Price’s worst start yet. In 4 innings, Prince David allowed 4 runs on 6 hits and 5 walks. He did not strike out a batter. Of his 79 pitches only 39 were strikes. In 24.2 innings, covering 6 starts, Price has a strikeout to walk ratio of 21 to 16 and an ERA of 4.74…Chad Orvella got roughed up for 6 runs in 2 innings. He has now allowed 17 runs in his last 4 appearances…Matt Joyce was 2-4 with a double and is now hitting .329…Reid Brignac was not in the lineup.
Birmingham 9, Montgomery 2. Heath Rollins dropped to 2-2 after giving up 6 runs in 4.2 innings…Desmond Jennings was 0-4 with a walk and is now hitless in the past 2 games…Jason Perry homered in just his second game since being plucked from an independent league. Perry, a left-handed hitting outfielder appeared in 4 games with the Braves last season.
Charlotte 11, Palm Beach 5. Jesse Darcy gave up 3 runs in 4 innings…Shawn O’Malley was 3-5 with 2 doubles and 2 RBI…Matt Fields had 3 hits including a 3-run home run, his league leading 6th.
Augusta 2, Bowling Green 1. Matt Moore struck out 9 in 4.2 innings, allowing 1 run on 3 hits and 3 walks. He has now struck out 38 in 25.1 innings…Tim Beckham got the night off.
Notes from Down on the Farm…
- We still don’t know much else on Jeremy Hellickson’s injury other than he has officially gone on the DL. In and of itself, that means little, as we already knew Hellboy would miss one start and the minor league DL is only 7 days. [Biscuit Crumbs]
- Shawn Riggans was pulled early from his first rehab start after getting hit with a foul ball. [Biscuit Crumbs]
