[THE HANGOVER] The One Where We Discuss Vintage Shields, An Extension For Crawford And Shouse’s Contract.
Brian Shouse, James Shields October 1st. 2009, 7:14am
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: James Shields. Things fell apart a it in the 8th, but by that time Shields had tossed 7 shutout innings with only 3 hits and no walks. In the first six innings, he faced one over the minimum and allowed only 1 leadoff hitter on base…Ben Zobrist. Zorilla provided the big blast, a 3-run home run in the 3rd.
THE BAD: Diesel Running Low. Rough night for Shawn Riggans who went 0-4 with 2 strikeouts and left 5 runners on base.
THE TELLING: Russ Springer’s save last night gives the Rays 9 different pitchers with at least one save…Last night’s win clinches a winning season for the Rays…Playing in the tough AL East has not been a problem for the Rays this season as they are 38-30 against East foes.
SUNBURST PLAYER OF THE GAME: James Shields
DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…
- The Rays have a club option on Carl Crawford that will likely be picked up. Still, CC says he would like to work out a new deal with the Rays this winter. [Tampa Tribune]
- Last night, Rocco Baldelli played…third base? Huh-wha? [Providence Journal]
- The Rays Party shows that Jeff Niemann does appear to be suffering from fatigue. [The Rays Party]
- John Romano takes a closer look at Ben Zobrist’s breakthrough season, noting that he is resetting the standard for utility players. [St. Pete Times]
- If Brian Shouse makes one more appearance this season, he will receive a $50K bonus and his 2010 option jumps from $1.9 million to $2.0 million. [St. Pete Times]
Related posts:
- [THE HANGOVER] The One Where We Discuss Bartlett’s Hammy, Longo’s 30-30 Pace And Shields’ Changeup
- [THE HANGOVER] The One Where We Discuss The Giraffe’s Psyche, A Familiar Bullpen And Shields’ Dead Arm
- [THE HANGOVER] The One Where We Discuss Another Blank By Shields, Crawford’s Return, And Youk’s Dirty Play
Really shouldn’t be an “IF’ with Carl…
Owners/Mgt to restore credibility to their operation must go for a longer
term than just next year….a 5 year deal… payed out over time..I think CC would accept..but of course with an agent involved..looking for fast money????
Why can’t they unload all marginal players making 2-5 mil. and let young players have a chance with our core players….
Tear up Zobrist contract now…and sign him to 6-7 years….guarantee he would go fo a raise now plus a long term contract..He is worth It!
The 9 different players with saves mark leads the league. Closest to us are Washington with 8 and Texas with 7. The majority of the league (18 teams) only had 4 players or less with a save. The only teams headed (currently) for the playoffs are the Yanks (5) and the Rockies (6).
That last sentence should be “The only teams with more than that, that are headed (currently) for the playoffs, are the Yanks (5) and the Rockies (6).”
re: Shouse, I think the smart play is to not play him(save 50k, and hey, there’s the rule 5 pick fee right there), decline the option, go in with Choate as our Loogy, but also sign a loogy guy to a minor-league deal(like we did with Choate before this season) as insurance at Durham.
That might be the ideal, but the Rays have to be careful. They don’t want to alienate the clubhouse. Not because the players are loyal to Shouse, but because the Rays don’t want the other players worried the Rays will do the same to them when the time comes.
Maybe the serial relief changes Maddon is making in the last month are his way of ensuring every reliever meets their incentive clauses!
Note to Andy: When negotiating such clauses this winter, make sure you make the numbers based on innings pitched, not appearances.
Nice job by the team playing well down the stretch. As dissapointing as April and early September were, I think they have established themselves as a contender that, with proper bullpen personel changes and management, will be a contender in 2010.
Agreed, I like what I’ve been seeing from the team this past week or so. They could’ve “mailed it in” but they kept playing hard.
I would agree — I think it would be bad precedent all around for the field manager to make decisions based on the various salary incentives in players contracts.
As for Shouse’s 2010 option, however….hopefully the Rays can do better for $2 million.