The Rays Confidence Graph will appear every Thursday and is a look at how much confidence Rays fans have in the Tampa Bay Rays. The graph is designed to give us a look at how our emotional bias as Rays fans fluctuates through time. The “confidence” in the team is an inexact measure of how fans feel about the team’s current strength as well as how much confidence fans have in the franchise for the next 3-4 years. Notes on this week’s agida-level can be found after the graph..
Jorge Ebro is reporting that the Rays signed their second Cuban defector, Sergio Espinosa. Espinosa is a left-handed relief pitcher. Here is what Cuban Ball Players had to say about Espinosa back in November…
Sergio Espinosa is a left handed pitcher who played for Isla de la Juventud. He was suspended alongside RHP Israel Soto for trying to escape. He has been away from baseball for quite some time until he managed to escape. Espinosa was a closer. He throws over 90 MPH and also has a sharp breaking pitch which is his best weapon. His K/9IP in Cuba was 7.17. His BB/9 was 4.15 and his K/BB was 1.73.
It is unclear when Espinosa last played organized baseball. He defected from Cuba in late 2008 and apparently was under suspension in Cuba at the time.
Earlier this month the Rays signed Leslie Anderson, who has yet to report to camp.
Joe Maddon stated today that Hank Blalock will be in the lineup today and tomorrow. It sounds like the team will not make an announcement regarding Blalock’s future until tomorrow. However, quotes from Maddon suggest a decision has already been made…
We pretty much know what we’ve got going on on the field right now. There’s still some conversations that need to be had. I promise as soon as I can I’ll give it to you, but we have a pretty good idea what we want to do.
So have the Rays decided on Reid Brignac for the final spot over Blalock? Here is another quote from JoeMa…
“With Hank, I don’t know him a long time, but like I said before, he likes straightforwardness, bluntness, transparency, whatever you want to call it. So he and I had a really open conversation and it was very good, very informative. I like him.”
Maddon also added that the team “will continue to work on that,” when asked about Blalock’s status.
This suggests that the Rays have decided on Brignac for the final spot and that they are currently negotiating with Blalock to accept a minor league assignment. Blalock stated yesterday that he would not accept a minor league assignment and would instead opt-out of his contract to become a free agent.
Our guess would be that the Rays are asking for Blalock to extend his deadline by a few weeks or a month. This would give the Rays the best of both worlds. They can keep Brignac on the big league roster as a better defensive option for the second base platoon and keep Blalock in reserve should the need for a left-handed bat arise.
The Yankees announced yesterday that their fifth starter, Phil Hughes will be skipped the first time through the order and will not start against the Rays the second series of the season. Here is the updated pitching probables 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 CC Sabathia (NYY)
Sun April 11: James Shields v AJ Burnett (NYY)
All of the sudden, that series versus the Yankees doesn’t look so winnable.
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: Wade Davis. Big Dub struggled with his control, walking 4, but otherwise looked good allowing 2 runs in 6 innings with 5 strikeouts…Grant Balfour. The Mad Australian had his best outing of the spring working 2 scoreless innings, allowing just 1 hit and walking none…Sean Rodriguez. Rodzilla continued his hot spring with a double and a pair of singles…Ben Zobrist. Zobrist had 2 doubles, a single and drove in 4.
THE BAD: Andy Sonnanstine. The Duke, working his first back-to-back outings in relief, walked 2 and gave up a home run (to a guy wearing #93) in 1 inning of work.
THE TELLING: Rafael Soriano pitched in a minor league game. It was the first time he pitched on back-to-back days…Joe Dillon and Alvin Colina were reassigned to minor league camp…James Shields will pitch in a minor league game today to avoid facing the Orioles who he will face on Tuesday. Dioner Navarro will be his catcher suggesting Navi will be in the lineup on opening day…The Rays set a franchise record for wins in spring training with their 19th…Today is the final official spring training game. The Rays will play a pair of exhibitions starting tomorrow at The Trop against the Mets and this weekend against the Bulls in Durham.
DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…
