Apr 11
Two years ago on Rays Index we put together a graphic honoring all of the Tampa Bay professional franchises and their championships.
A Shout-Out To All The Tampa Bay Franchises [Rays Index]
Archive for April 11th, 2010
Apr 11
Would The Rays Cut Pat Burrell And Replace Him With Rocco Baldelli?
Pat Burrell, Rocco Baldelli 14 Comments »
The Tampa Bay Rays are like your grandmother. They never throw anything away unless they absolutely have to. But what if that “anything” is costing the team wins?
Marc Topkin writes that if Pat Burrell continues to struggle, at some point the Rays will cut their losses and cut Burrell loose…
For now, the Rays are going to continue to be patient with DH Pat Burrell. They’ll keep having him work with hitting coach Derek Shelton. And they’ll keep saying they’re confident he’ll start to produce…But they won’t keep that up for long. There’s a date — maybe in mid May at the 45-game mark, perhaps into June after 60 or so games — when if Burrell (hitting .083 at 1-for-12 with six strikeouts) continues to struggle, enough will be enough…The $9 million they are paying him this season, on top of the $7 million last season, is spent money. Barring a team unexpectedly willing to make a token trade, the Rays will just have to accept their mistake and cut him loose.
And who would replace Burrell? The Prodigal Son, Rocco Baldelli…
Baldelli, 28, is working out and taking batting practice regularly at the Trop…And though his shoulder still isn’t right, he could hit in a big-league game today. And, be sure, he wants to play again.
One thing is for certain. Rocco couldn’t be any worse than Burrell has been so far. And the fans would be much more patient with Rocco.
Topkin speculates that this could happen in mid-May or early June. That seems reasonable. But if the Rays have already decided that this is an acceptable course of action, then they may not even wait that long.
Apr 11
[THE HANGOVER] The One Where We Discuss A Near No-No, Unbalanced Scheduling And Using The Shift
Carlos Pena, Joe Maddon, Kelly Shoppach, Pat Burrell 15 Comments »
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: Blackout. At least many of us didn’t have to watch that crap. Thanks FOX!
THE BAD: Schedule. Thanks to 2 off-days in the first week, the Yankees were able to skip their 5th starter and still have CC Sabathia on an extra day of rest. Meanwhile, the Rays have yet to have a day off and had to oppose Sabathia with Wade Davis, a pitcher that almost lost his job to Andy Sonnanstine. Needless to say, the result wasn’t far from expected…Ugh. CC Sabathia after the game on the number of Yankees fans at the game: “It felt like we were at home.”
THE TELLING: We don’t think we are going out on a limb here when we say that the hit by Kelly Shoppach to break up the no-hitter in the 8th, was a bigger hit than any Dioner Navarro will have all season…Joe Girardi announced after the game that CC Sabathia was coming out of the game after Kelly Shoppach even if the no-hitter was still intact saying he didn’t want Sabathia to go past 115 pitches (he finished with 111).
DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…
- Jeff Niemann feels better and is expected to throw a bullpen session today. [Tampa Tribune]
- Joe Maddon says he will continue to use Pat Burrell as his most-days DH. [Tampa Tribune]
- Joe Maddon talks about his use of the defensive shift and Carlos Pena talks about hitting against one. [Tampa Tribune]
- Joe Henderson writes that Kelly Shoppach’s denied us a great debate. [Tampa Tribune]
DOWN ON THE FARM…
- Check out “The Rundown” from Rays Prospects for boxscores and more detailed recaps. [Rays Prospects]
- DURHAM: Matt Joyce left the game after being hit by a pitch in the first inning…John Jaso was 2-4 with a double and Fernando Perez was 2-5 with a triple. Perez also stole 2 bases…Chris Richard hit his first home run…
- MONTGOMERY: Jake McGee threw 5 shutout innings in his first double-A start since 2008. He struck out 3 and walked 2…Emeel Salem was 2-2 with a pair of walks…
- CHARLOTTE: Matt Sweeney went 0-4 with a pair of strikeouts and an error…Anthony Scelfo was 4-5.
- BOWLING GREEN: Brett Nommensen, the Rays 8th round pick last year, went 3-4 with a triple and a walk.
