Mar 28
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: Dioner Navarro. Navi is expected to play on Tuesday and all indications are that he will be on the opening day roster…James Shields. In what should be his most extended outing before the regular season, Shields threw 99 pitches, worked 7 innings and looked, well, he looked like James Shields.
THE BAD: Another Close Call. Dale Thayer took a line drive off his shin. He is expected to be fine.
THE TELLING: The Rays are 16-7-1 in the spring. They won 18 in 2008, which is the franchise record…Dan Johnson cleared waivers. The Rays are now waiting to hear if he accepts an assignment to Durham…It looks like Joe Maddon is leaning towards batting Ben Zobrist third, followed by Evan Longoria and Carlos Pena…Willy Aybar played first base in a minor league game yesterday suggesting he will be on the opening day roster.
DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…
- A reminder that tomorrow night’s game will be televised on the MLB Network.
- Both Willy Aybar and Matt Joyce are questionable to start the season with the Rays. Marc Topkin writes about what that means for the roster. [St. Pete Times]
- Carl Crawford is working this spring to add the drag bunt to his repertoire. Joe Maddon thinks it will add 10-15 points to his batting average…Also, Maddon says that playing time for Kelly Shoppach and Dioner Navarro could be dependent on who is on the mound. Each pitcher may get assigned one of the catchers to be their regular partner. [St. Pete Times]
- Former Rays farmhand Jon Weber has spent 11 years in the minors and never played a big league game. But he has an outside shot to make the Yankees opening day roster. [NY Daily News]
- Joe Smith writes about Elliot Johnson’s uncertain future and what may be his last week in the Rays organization after 8 seasons. [St. Pete Times]
- Marc Topkin looks at the Rays efforts to return to defensive dominance. [St. Pete Times]
- A lengthy round-table discussion of the Rays. [inside pulse sports]
- TBRF wonders what we can expect from Jeff Niemann this year. [Tampa Bay Rays Fan]
- Joey Johnston writes about Kelly Shoppach’s transition to the Rays. [Tampa Tribune]
- Another preview of the Rays. This one from RealGM. [RealGM]
- A look at the Durham Bulls schedule. [Watching Durham Bulls Baseball]
Mar 26
Three years ago on Rays Index we learned that Matt Silverman was exploring the possibility of giving Vince Naimoli a more prominent and public role with the organization. We can only assume that since we have not heard Naimoli’s name since, that Silverman came to his senses.
The Impending Return Of Vince Naimoli [Rays Index]
Mar 26
JP Howell will begin the season on the DL and will miss at least the first month of the season (we blame Peggy Fleming). And whenever he returns there is no guarantee that he will be 100%. As a result, Joe Maddon will lean even more on Grant Balfour in high-leverage situations.
As we all know The Mad Australian regressed greatly in 2009 from his amazing 2008 campaign. But how bad was he? Is it possible that he was just unlucky?
FreeZorilla over at DRaysBay thinks Balfour was, at least in part, unlucky last season (We recommend that you read the full argument in 3 parts HERE, HERE and HERE). FreeZorilla bases his argument on one key stat, home runs. Specifically, home runs with runners on base.
Here is a table copied from DRaysBay…
Balfour gave up 6 home runs in 67.1 innings. That’s not good. But worse than that is that 5 of the home runs were of the 3-run variety. That is 83.3% of his home runs despite only 18.7% of his plate appearances having 2 runners on base.
Is that unlucky? Or is something else going on?
Read the rest of this entry »
Mar 26
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: Nevin Ashley. With Dioner Navarro injured, the Rays may need a backup catcher for the first week or two. Alvin Colina would appear to be the leading candidate but Ashley has received a couple of starts the past week. And throwing out Denard Span in a first inning strike-em-out-throw-em-out doesn’t hurt his chances. He also added a single and a double…David Price. He was shaky early, had a rough 5th inning and allowed 2 home runs on the day, but he retired 9 in a row at one point and was able to work 6 full innings, walking 1 and striking out 5…BJ Upton. Bossman had 2 more hits including a deep double, this one to left-center. It is early, but Bossman seems much more confident at the plate than he did at any point last year. Hat tip to Derek Shelton.
THE BAD: Carlos Pena. Well we praised Pena for his increased contact rate earlier this spring even though he was hitless at the time. So it is only fair that we point out that he struck out 3 times yesterday in 3 plate appearances…The Bat. Pat Burrell started in right field. The Twins radio crew had this to say about one play: “Pat Burrell making a routine play look adventurous out there in right field”…sounds about right. He was also booed after one at bat when he struck out to end the inning with a runner in scoring position. You know things aren’t going well when you get booed by the home crowd during spring training.
THE TELLING: Sean Rodriguez was back at third base for the second time.
DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…
- Uh oh. Scott Kazmir and “shoulder injury” in the same title. [LA Times]
- The always great Wezen-Ball put together a list of the “worst opening day starters of the last 50 years.” Amazingly, Dewon Brazelton is not #1. In fact, he isn’t even on the list. Brzelbum was the Devil Rays opening day starter just 5 years ago, making 8 starts before being demoted. He would only make 2 more starts in his big league career. [Wezen-Ball]
- The Rays released a couple of minor league catchers, Alex Jamieson and John Mollicone (from Fordham). [Baseball America]
- Ben Badler on Rays minor leaguer Wilking Rodriguez: Sleeper of the day: Rays RHP Wilking Rodriguez. Fastball up to 96, plus CB, advanced control/feel for pitching for 20-yr-old…Remember that name folks. [Twitter]
- Sports Networker uses the Durham Bulls as one example of teams that are taking advantage of social media outlets such as Twitter and Facebook. [Sports Networker]
Mar 25
The Orioles haven’t made an official announcement on their rotation. But the way they are set up now, the Rays will face Kevin Millwood on opening day, followed by Jeremy Guthrie and lefty Brian Matusz. Also, the Yankees announced today that Phil Hughes will be their fifth starter. He will likely make his first start at the Trop in the second series of the year.
Here are the probable pitching matchups for the first week…
Tue April 6: James Shields v Kevin Millwood (Bal)
Wed April 7: Matt Garza v Jeremy Guthrie (Bal)
Thur April 8: Jeff Niemann v Brian Matusz (Bal)
Fri April 9: David Price v Javier Vazquez (NYY)
Sat April 10: Wade Davis v Phil Hughes* (NYY)
Sun April 11: James Shields v CC Sabathia* (NYY)
The Yankees do have two off-days the first week which would leave Sabathia on 6 days rest if he goes on Sunday. Joe Girardi could choose to skip Hughes the first time through the order bumping CC Sabathia up to Saturday on 5 days rest. If that happens, AJ Burnett will square-off with Shields on Sunday.
Mar 25
Will Carroll has released his “Team Health Report” for the Tampa Bay Rays on Baseball Prospectus. Here are a few of the key points…
- Injuries cost the Rays over $12 million in 2009. That was more than 2007 and 2008 combined.
- Carroll calls David Price “The Big Risk,” wondering if he can make a “great leap forward” in innings this season. For some reason Carroll only considers the 130 innings (128.1 actually) that Price threw at the big league level when wondering if he should be limited to 150 this season. However, Price threw 162.2 combined between the Rays and triple-A and the Rays have already said there will be no innings limit this year.
- Carroll says there is no reason to think Rafael Soriano will regress health-wise this season.
- BJ Upton is the only player with a red flag warning for injuries heading into the 2010 season.
Carroll gives six different players a “yellow” label for injury risk, including JP Howell, and wonders if the Rays made the Soriano deal knowing Howell was not 100%.
Mar 25
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: Jason Bartlett. Bartlett will try to prove that his new-found ability to keep the ball in the air and drive the ball was not a fluke in 2009. Yesterday was a good sign with 2 home runs…Dale Thayer. If Joaquin Benoit isn’t ready for opening day, Thayer is one of three that could get the final spot. Yesterday he pitched 2 scoreless innings, striking out 3 and walking none.
THE BAD: Unbalanced Scheduling. The Rays will play the Red Sox or the Yankees NINE times this spring. The Red Sox and Yankees will face each other ZERO times. How does that happen?
THE TELLING: The final bench spot will likely come down to Reid Brignac or Hank Blalock…Sean Rodriguez made his first start of the spring at third base.
DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…
- Wade Davis was named the 5th starter and Andy Sonnanstine was moved to the bullpen. Sonny called it a “tough one to swallow,” while Big Dub said he is “ready to rock.” [St. Pete Times]
- 11 players were cut yesterday including Justin Ruggiano. Dan Johnson, who is out of options, was also cut, so he is headed to the waiver-wire. Of the remaining cuts, several were relief pitchers that seemed to be in contention for the final bullpen spot. This means that Joaquin Benoit is almost certainly on the opening day roster. [Rays Report]
- Elliot Johnson may always be remembered for “The Collision,” but for one fleeting moment on Tuesday, Johnson gave some fans in Clearwater something to cheer about. [The Fightins]
- We answered some fantasy-related questions about the Rays for the guys at Razzball. [Razzball]
- Roger Mooney has 5 questions for Wade Davis. [Tampa Tribune]
- MLB has eliminated the off-day between games 4 and 5 of the LCS in an effort to shorten the off-season a tad. [SI.com]
- In the strongest words to date on realignment, Bud Selig said he was in favor: “I do believe in some realignment because I do believe it can work, just as I believed in the Wild Card, Interleague Play, revenue sharing. It’s something that I want to keep thinking about. When I’m on long airplane rides and travels, which are a lot lately, I’ll fiddle around with divisions and things. But one thing about it, you can come up with a hundred different [scenarios]. So we’ll just see how it works out.” [MLB]
Mar 24
File this one under “Bad signs for the future of baseball in St. Pete.”
Buried in the very last line of Roger Mooney’s list of Rays tidbits this morning was this little doozy…
Tickets still remain for the April 6 season opener against the Orioles at Tropicana Field.
We know the Rays ticket sales have always been driven by a large percentage of walk-ups. But this is Opening Day. One of the two or three greatest days of the year.
Two weeks away and the Rays can’t even sell out opening day? Earlier we heard that season tickets have been poor.
Maybe the Rays should start advertising campaigns in San Antonio and Charlotte. Bet those folks wouldn’t mind getting an opening day look at their future baseball team.
This is starting to look like the beginning of the end for baseball in St. Pete. Let’s just hope something can happen in Tampa.
HOOCHIE MAMMA!
Mar 24
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: Justin Ruggiano. We completely ignored Ruggy in our roster projection yesterday. But with 2 more hits yesterday he is now 17-38 with 7 extra-base hits. And it would not surprise us if he is selected for a bench spot if Matt Joyce is on the DL and the Rays do not keep Hank Blalock…Joaquin Benoit. Benoit looks to be in mid-season form after his second consecutive no-hit outing. This one lasted 1.1 innings and he struck out 1. We would be surprised if he is not on the opening day roster, and even more surprised if he is not the main high-leverage guy in the 7th and 8th innings by the second-half…Matt Garza allowed 3 home runs in 5.2 innings, but all were solo and he struck out 4 without walking a batter. In 21.2 innings this spring he has walked only 3.
THE BAD: Missed Signs. Joe Maddon was upset after the game because several batters missed signs…Grant Balfour walked 2 including the eventual winning run in the 9th inning. He has now allowed 8 runs on 10 hits and 5 walks in just 7.1 innings this spring.
THE TELLING: The decision on who will be the 5th starter in the rotation will be announced today…Sean Rodriguez was originally slated to start but was pulled with a sinus headache. JJ Furmaniak replaced him in the lineup but was pulled after 1 inning after injuring his foot during his first at bat.
DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…
- Jonah Keri, who is currently writing a book about the Rays, made an appearance on “The B. S. Report” with Bill Simmons. The podcast is over an hour long and they spend a good deal of time talking about the Rays and the race in the AL East. [ESPN Radio]
- What do the regulars do when they are given the day off during spring training? Well, apparently if you are BJ Upton you stay home and play video games. BJ announced on Twitter that he was “at the crib playing that FIFA” at almost the exact same time that the Phillies were driving in the winning run. [Twitter]
- Roger Mooney makes the case for Wade Davis as the 5th starter. [Rays Report]
- Marc Topkin says the final spot on the roster could come down to Hank Blalock or Reid Brignac. [St. Pete Times]
- Desmond Jennings will be on the cover of the latest issue of Baseball America (with image). [Biscuit Crumbs]
- Matt Joyce and Joe Maddon comment on Joyce’s struggles with his arm. [Tampa Tribune]
- Marc Topkin looks at some numbers that show just how much JP Howell will be missed…We are not the first to make this observation, but without Howell, the bullpen suddenly looks very thin. [The Heater]
- Bill Chastain examines the Rays roster possibilities and who might fill the last available spots. [MLB]
- Martin Fennelly says Pat Burrell needs to be better this year or his career could be in jeopardy. [Tampa Tribune]
- Jenn Sterger served as a guest bartender in NYC recently. [BobsBlitz]
Mar 23
Earlier today, Joe Maddon raised some eyebrows by indicating that Hank Blalock now has a shot at making the opening day roster. With a decision on the final rotation spot expected tomorrow, and several key players still nursing injuries, let’s see what these decisions mean for the opening day roster projection…
Notes on the 25-man roster projection…
- SECOND BASE: Ben Zobrist has played almost exclusively at 2B this spring indicating that it might not be much of a platoon after all. Still, Reid Brignac’s spot on the roster seems safe, and we would expect him to get ~2 starts per week versus righties.
- RIGHT FIELD: Matt Joyce won’t be able to play in the field until next week. His job wasn’t safe before the injury, so the lack of playing time doesn’t help. He will either be on the DL or back in Durham playing catch-up. So if Ben Zobrist is at 2B most days, that leaves Gabe Kapler and/or Sean Rodriguez. We think Rodzilla has impressed enough this spring to get most of the RF starts to start the season.
- BENCH: If healthy, Willy Aybar gets one spot. Another goes to Dioner Navarro if healthy, but we suspect the Rays will be very patient with his recovery. That opens the door for Alvin Colina who has a little big league experience and much more AAA experience than the other options. Reid Brignac seems safe to us as the backup middle infielder, and should get plenty of ABs during the season. That leaves one spot for Gabe Kapler or Hank Blalock. So what is more valuable? A Pat Burrell/Blalock DH-platoon with Sean Rodriguez and Ben Zobrist in RF or Burrell at DH with Rodriguez and Kapler in RF? We’ll take the former.
- ROTATION: With JP Howell on the DL, Andy Sonnanstine will likely head to the bullpen, giving the 5th spot to Wade Davis by default. The interesting question is what happens when Howell returns and Davis is only pitching so-so.
- BULLPEN: With JP Howell, there are 2 spots up for grabs. One seems destined to be Andy Sonnanstine’s. The other will go to Joaquin Benoit if he can go back-to-back games. If not, Jeff Bennett would be the leading candidate, but we wouldn’t be surprised if the Rays went with Dale Thayer, Carlos Hernandez, Winston Abreu, Joe Bateman, Mike Ekstrom or Heath Phillips.
