Sep 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: Death by Singles. The Rays scored 7 runs in the 8th and 9th on 6 singles, 3 walks, a hit by pitch and scored the go ahead run on a Fernando Perez safety squeeze. Again, why teams don’t have all of their infielders 10 feet from home plate when Perez is batting left-handed is beyond us, but we’ll take it…The New Bucs. Or is it The Old Devil Rays? Either way, the Rays are still not the worst team in the Bay Area.
THE BAD: David Price. 94 pitches in 5 innings. Only 58 for strikes. Not his best day… Randy Choate. After scoring 3 in the top of the 8th to pull within 2, Choate can’t give up a home run in the bottom of the 8th. Just can’t happen. That is the sort of the thing that will usually kill a team’s hope. And to think he got the Win for that effort is sad…Improbable And Rare. The Rays rallied from down 3 in the 9th for the win. How many times did they do something similar in ’08? Once a week? Once every 2 weeks? This year, we can probably count them on one hand that is missing a couple of fingers…That’s Gross. As Gabe Gross goes, so go the Rays? Gross went 0-3 and is now 3-31 (.097) in September.
THE TELLING: With 7 games remaining, the Rays need only finish 3-4 for a winning record…The loss by the Rangers moved the Red Sox one win or one Rangers loss away from clinching at least a tie for the AL Wild Card…Next up for the Rays is Baltimore, who just lost their 10th consecutive game. Who was the last team to lose to the Orioles? If you answered the Rays, you win!
SUNBURST PLAYER OF THE GAME: Ben Zobrist.
DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…
- David Price had Right Guard caked on his forearm? Not sure we can blame the umpires for making him wipe it off. It’s been a while since we had anatomy, but the forearm is not exactly a hotbed for sweat glands. [Tampa Tribune]
- JP Howell has been shut down for the season. [St. Pete Times]
- Marc Topkin looks at which options the team might not pick up this off-season, who might be non-tendered and who could be traded. [St. Pete Times]
- Marc Lancaster looks at some moves the Rays could make this off-season, noting that the bullpen is the top priority. He also suggests that the Rays could choose to keep Gregg Zaun and non-tender (essentially release) Dioner Navarro. [Tampa Tribune]
- Bruce Levine says the Rays are “very interested” in trading for Milton Bradley and suggests Pat Burrell could be part of the deal. [ESPN]
- Ken Rosenthal says the Rays will likely look to see what they can get for BJ Upton this winter, but says they will only move him if it is a good deal…Also, Rosenthal feels the Rays will be one of the clubs interested in trading for Milton Bradley. [MLB Trade Rumors]
- Jayson Stark spoke with a scout that is very high on Wade Davis (scroll to the bottom). [ESPN]
- The Hardball Times compares Ben Zobrist and Chase Utley. [The Hardball Times]
- Joe Maddon does not think there will be any changes to the coaching staff for next season, but will meet with each of his coaches next week. [MLB]
- The Rays Party picked up on a change David Price made to his approach on the mound. [The Rays Party]
- Baseball America tabbed Wilking Rodriguez as the 3rd best prospect in the short-season Appalachian League. [Baseball America]
Sep 18
Baseball Prospectus caught up with Fernando Perez and Gabe Kapler for an interview. Or did Perez interviewed Kapler? Or Kapler interviewed Perez. Or! Perez and Kapler interviewed Perez and Kapler! Our head just exploded. [Baseball Prospectus]
http://www2.tbo.com/content/2009/sep/18/wake–call-12-games-will-haunt-2009-rays/sports-rays/
Sep 18
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: The Big W. Wade Davis made his first big league win a memorable one, pitching a 4-hit shutout, striking out 10. And he didn’t back into the shutout either, striking out the side in the 9th. After allowing the first 3 batters to reach base (2 walks and a double), Davis settled down and faced just 1 over the minimum the rest of the way…Evan Longoria. 3-4 with a double. It was his 9th game this season with at least 3 hits.
THE BAD: Lots O’ Pitches. Wade Davis threw 124 pitches last night. We have already openly complained about Matt Garza throwing 118+ three times this month. It is not so much the number of pitches as much as the timing. Why now? When the Rays are out of the playoff hunt and these guys are hitting career highs in innings pitched? Davis has now thrown 177.1 innings this season exceeding his previous high (160.2 in ’08) by 10.2%. At a time when other teams are shutting down pitchers or moving to 6-man rotations, the Rays are actually increasing the workload on their starting pitchers…Ring of Fire. Joe Maddon does know that when Johnny Cash sang about a “Ring of Fire,” it was a bad thing, right? In the 8 games prior to dying his hair black, the Rays were 6-2. In the 25 games since, they are 8-17…‘Nando-mania. If we were the manager of an opposing team and saw Fernando Perez at the plate batting left-handed (he is a natural righty) we would put 6 fielders 10 feet from the plate. That is an almost guaranteed bunt attempt.
THE TELLING: The Rays and O’s are so bad they can even screw up a game of leapfrog (above)…The Rays Pythagorean record is 78-69. That suggests that this team has underachieved by 4 games, but that would still leave them 9 games back in the wild card…Speaking of which, the Rays tragic number for elimination is 4. But for you eternal optimists out there, the Rays magic number to clinch a wild card tie is 29 with 15 games remaining.
SUNBURST PLAYER OF THE GAME: Wade Davis.
DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…
- The Rays Party writes that Wade Davis “nibbled” his way to his first big league win and has the charts to prove it. [The Rays Party]
- Minor League Ball takes a closer look at Wade Davis and his 2009 season, and compares him to Gil Meche. [Minor League Ball]
- Statistically, few infields can match the 2009 Tampa Bay Rays. [The Hardball Times]
- Aki Iwamura reiterated again that he hopes to return to the Rays next season. Also, Joe Maddon says Grant Balfour and JP Howell will be used sparingly over the final 2 weeks. [St. Pete Times]
- Joe Maddon says some his players “just ran out of gas.” [Tampa Tribune]
- Joey Johnston looks at 12 games from this season that will haunt the Rays. [Tampa Tribune]
- David Chalk still cranking out the top 177 Devil Rays ever. An interesting name falls between Greg Vaughn and Andy Sonnanstine. But to be fair, we believe this list was created prior to the 2009 season. [Bugs and Cranks]
Sep 08
Fernando Perez is a man of many different looks and styles. His latest, is a very thick Fu Manchu, popularized in the early 70′s by several stars of Blaxploitation flicks such as Richard Roundtree and Ron O’Neal. Of those films, it was “Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song” by Melvin Van Peebles that is largely credited with the beginning of that genre. The making of that movie was recently covered in a biopic “Baadasssss!” by Van Peebles’ son Mario Van Peebles.
While this is not worthy of “Separated at Birth” status, we do like to think of Nando as “Baadasssss!”
Sep 01
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: Needed Win. After the way the Rays lost on Sunday and considering how they have played most of the season on Getaway Day, the Rays needed to come out early and remove any pressure that may have built up over the course of the game. The offense did that with each of the first 6 batters of the game scoring, capped by Carlos Pena’s AL-leading 38th HR…James Shields. It was ugly, but it was effective. With a 6-run lead before even taking the mound, Shields needed to just throw strikes and let the defense make the plays. He gave up 5 runs (4 earned) ultimately, but he only walked 1 and worked 7 innings for the win…Jason Bartlett. 3 more hits to raise his average to .340 including his 12th HR, a 400-foot blast…Big Bats. Carlos Pena and Evan Longoria combined to go 6-10 with 5 runs scored and 5 RBI.
THE BAD: Strange. (ok, this really isn’t bad…) If we had told you back in March that the Rays would play a big game in the middle of the playoff race with Jason Bartlett, Gabe Kapler and Ben Zobrist as the 1-2-3 hitters, you would have laughed.
THE TELLING: The Rays picked up a game on Texas who lost yesterday. The Rays trail the Rangers by just 1 game in the Wild Card…The Rays are 13-2 against the Red Sox at the Trop over the past 2 seasons.
SUNBURST PLAYER OF THE GAME: Carlos Pena
DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…
- If you missed it late last night, Fox Sports is reporting that the Player to be Named Later in the Scott Kazmir deal is one of two players. [Rays Index]
- The Rays will add Jeff Bennett, Shawn Riggans, Fernando Perez and Andy Sonnanstine to the roster today. That means no Reid Brignac, Matt Joyce or Michel Hernandez. However, Marc Topkin does report that more players will be added at a later date. The Rays may be waiting to see how the Wild Card race unfolds and leaving any unneeded players in Durham for their own playoff race. [The Heater]
- Joe Maddon had a telling message for his team prior to yesterday’s game. [Rays Report]
- Joe Maddon is hopeful that a different Andy Sonnanstine is coming back to the Trop. Maddon says that he is hearing The Duke was better against righties at Durham, something he struggled with early in the year…While Sonny is better, it is still not great. While with the Rays earlier this year, right-handed batters were hitting .370. At Durham, the number was still a not-very-good .323. [Tampa Tribune]
Aug 04
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: The Magic Touch. Joe Maddon makes some unorthodox move sometimes. OK. All the time. And sometimes every single one seems to work. Yesterday, JoeMa started Willy Aybar and he hit 2 home runs. He put Jason Bartlett in the leadoff spot and he was on base 4 of 5 times. And he started Pat Burrell in the bench spot and he didn’t kill any rallys…Offense. Sometimes they look great. Zack Greinke entered the game as the AL ERA leader and had not allowed more than 5 earned runs in any start this season. The Rays scored 6 and scored in 4 of the 5 innings he took the mound…Day Baseball. If we were commissioner, we would make sure that every day of the regular season featured at least one day game, especially Mondays. A Rays day game on Monday is like finding a Barbie Big Wheel outside your apartment at 2am – A gift from above.
THE BAD: Scott Kazmir. He would have been pounded by a better team. He allowed more than one baserunner in 3 of the 6 innings and had to battle out of a couple of jams including a bases loaded situation in the 5th. But what really hurts is that even his “good” innings aren’t good. Kazmir needed 18 pitches to get through a 1-2-3 1st inning…In A Nutshell. The last two games sum up the entire Rays season. In one they score 10 runs and look like world-beaters. They look like the best offensive team in baseball, and get contributions from everybody, including 2 home runs from a bench player. In the other, the offense can’t score a run and the Rays somehow lose a game in which the starting pitcher took a no-hitter into the 8th inning.
THE TELLING: If the Red Sox go 29-29 in their final 58 games, the Rays would have to finish 33-23 just to tie. The Rays also have 6 games left with Detroit, 6 with the Rangers and a West Coast trip. Anybody still think there is “plenty of time”?
SUNBURST PLAYER OF THE GAME: Willy Aybar
DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…
- Fernando Perez will play in a simulated game on Thursday and begin a rehab assignment with Charlotte after that. Chad Bradford is still a couple of weeks away…In the same piece, Joe Maddon wishes Matt Garza would have chosen his words better when asked about hitting Mark Teixeira on purpose. [Tampa Tribune]
- Joe Maddon may do the impossible. He is considering some changes to the lineup with Jason Bartlett moving to leadoff and Pat Burrell possibly sharing his DH role with Willy Aybar. [St. Pete Times]
- Jason Bartlett says that when Willy Aybar is in the lineup, “everybody gets happy”. [St. Pete Times]
- John Romano argues that it is time to move BJ Upton out of the leadoff spot. [Point After]
- Joey Johnston discusses the Rays trade deadline acquisition – A rejuvenated Scott Kazmir. [Tampa Tribune]
Jul 30
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: Playing the Game the Right Way. On Monday, Evan Longoria was hit by a pitch. Last night in the 3rd inning, Joba Chamberlain sailed a ball at Evan’s head. It missed. In the 5th inning Matt Garza plunked Mark Teixeira. No bench-clearing brawl. No yelling from the dugouts. And that was the end of it…Evan Longoria. Dirtbag homered for the 5th time in 16 games. Of course it was in the 9th inning with the score 6-0, but at least somebody did something.
THE BAD: Big Mouth. Sticking up for your players is great, but keep your damn mouth shut. Everybody knows Matt Garza hit Mark Teixeira on purpose. Garza doesn’t need to spout off about it after the game. Because now it is going to cost him his next start because the league will have no choice but to suspend him. JUST. SHUT. UP!…Pat Burrell. Pat the Rally Killer left 2 more runners on base and went 0-4 with 3 strikeouts. And yes, we are now officially picking on Burrell. Sue us. He deserves it…Uniting Yankees Fans. For a while now, Yankees fans have been divided into two camps. Those that think Joba Chamberlain is a starting pitcher. And those that think he should be Mo Rivera’s set-up guy and closer-in-waiting. Last night he was both a starter and an 8th inning guy. Way to go Rays. Way to make him work. This was a guy that entered the game giving up about 1.4 baserunners per inning and the Rays could only muster 5 in 8 innings. If that had been a good pitcher, they might have been perfected again.
THE TELLING: PECOTA now says the Rays playoff chances are 11.4% and falling.
SUNBURST PLAYER OF THE GAME: Evan Longoria
DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…
- Shawn Riggans was activated from the DL and optioned to triple-A Durham. [The Heater]
- Both Aki Iwamura and Fernando Perez took BP prior to the game and Joe Maddon thinks both could be ready to play in August. [St. Pete Times]
- There was a GEICO Caveman at the Trop last night in a Rays jersey. He mingled with players and coaches before the game and at one point he ran on to the the field and attacked a GEICO sign. We can only assume they were filming a commercial. The good people of Rays Renegade snapped a few pics, HERE, HERE and HERE.
- Just when you thought the Rays were out, Ken Rosenthal and Jon Paul Morosi pull them back in! Word now is that the Rays have not given up on trading for Roy Halladay and instead of trading away a reliever or two, they may be thinking about acquiring one. Of course, all of this was before last night’s game. [Fox Sports]
- And Jon Heyman says the Indians are intent on moving Victor Martinez and the Rays and Red Sox are in the mix. [Twitter]
- Meanwhile, Joe Maddon says he wouldn’t be surprised if nothing happened. [The Heater]
- And John Romano points out that the Rays already made their big acquisition. His name is Pat Burrell and the Rays are stuck with him. [St. Pete Times]
- Tony Fabrizio notes the the defense has been less than stellar this season. [Tampa Tribune]
- Separated at Birth: Dewayne Staats and Tony Clifton? [Bugs and Cranks]
- Who knew? Joba Chamberlain’s first name is an acronym. [Her Rays!]
- Look who gets all the toys. This time it is the Scott Kazmir bobblehead. It must be good to know people. Wait. We know people. Where in the H-E-Double Hockey Sticks is our bobblehead?!? [Rays Revolutionary]
Jun 26
Yesterday we linked to a story by Jon Heyman of SI.com that said the Rays were looking for a closer, but do not want to add payroll. Something he called a “tough task.”
Now Jayson Stark of ESPN.com is spinning a different tune. One that makes a heck of a lot more sense. Stark says the Rays are not looking for a closer.
Contrary to what we (and others) have been reporting, we’re now hearing that the Rays aren’t necessarily shopping for bullpen help. Clubs that have talked to them say they’re shopping for “upgrades.” And those upgrades aren’t exclusively bullpen upgrades or even big-league upgrades. They’d also prefer long-term upgrades over short-term upgrades. So what they’re looking for in the bullpen, in other words, is the next J.P. Howell, not the next Eric Gagne. And they’ve been asking about the potential availability of young corner outfielders, as opposed to the Jermaine Dyes of the world, an indication they clearly think they can live, for now, with the .805 OPS and excellent defense they’ve been getting from their Gabe Gross/Gabe Kapler/Ben Zobrist rotation in right.
The first part does not surprise us at all. The Rays have always been about long-term value as opposed to short-term fixes.
The second part is a little more telling. With the recent addition of Matt Joyce as the future right fielder, Stark’s report suggests that the Rays are now looking for somebody to play left field for the next 5-6 years. If true, it suggests that the Rays are looking to a future without Carl Crawford, who is due $10 million if the Rays pick up his option.
It also suggests that the Rays are not completely enamored with some of the in-house options they have in the minors to replace Crawford (Fernando Perez, Justin Ruggiano) and maybe this means that Desmond Jennings is not as close to the majors as some might want to believe.
Focusing on baseball’s many mysteries [ESPN]
May 07
We have been providing snippets of the statlines for Matt Joyce and Desmond Jennings in the morning “Down the Farm” report. But let’s draw them out a little more. And in the comments, let’s hear what you think the Rays should do with these prospects.
Notes on the stats after the table…
Notes on Joyce and Jennings
- The biggest question mark for Joyce heading into the season was whether he was ready to handle lefties on a regular basis. Certainly it is a small sample size, but you have to like what you see so far. And many of the at bats against lefties have been late-inning relievers brought in to specifically face Joyce. That is exactly the type of situation you hope that Joyce can handle once he is promoted.
- Overall, Joyce is smoking the ball to the tune of a 32.1% line drive rate (20.0% is very good). Certainly the Rays have to feel that Joyce is pretty much ready right now. The only question is how do they make room for him on the roster. Either Gabe Gross or Gabe Kapler will have to be traded or released. Kapler’s salary would be easier to swallow, but he offers more positional flexibility off the bench.
- As for Jennings…we always said we needed to see him do it above the single-A level. He has not disappointed and we are officially sold. There is nothing not to like. Strong numbers across the board against lefties and righties. The only knock might be that his numbers against lefties might be a little bloated with a .609 BABIP. Based on his LD% that should be closer to .350. Either way, we have seen players promoted to the majors from double-A with less impressive stats.
- What this ultimately presents is a very interesting situation for the Rays next spring. Carl Crawford has a $10 million team option. BJ Upton is the center fielder. That leaves Joyce, Jennings and Fernando Perez possibly all looking for a big league job.
Apr 24
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: James Shields. Wasn’t Shields’ fault. The Rays owe him one at some point. Maybe one of those nights when he gives up 3 home runs. The offense owes Shields a 10-spot…More Golden D: There was another running grab by BJ Upton and there was the play Jason Bartlett made in the hole and somehow got rid of the ball quick enough and strong enough to get Ichiro. And there were the two plays Evan Longoria made in the sixth. The first was stopping a ground ball and making the throw from foul ground. Then he ended the same inning with a diving snag to his left…Pat Burrell. He hasn’t flashed the big bat yet, but it is a good sign that Burrell is still showing mastery of the strike zone. Yesterday he singled and walked 3 times. That tells us that The Bat is not slumping and the bombs aren’t far behind.
THE BAD: No Momentum. The offense learned the hard way that momentum is only as good as the next game’s starting pitcher. one day after scoring 9 runs and seemingly breaking out of their collective slump, the Rays were shutout…Pat Burrell tagging up. Burrell tagged up from second base on a ball in deep right-center. Watching Burrell “sprint” to third base was one of the more painful things we have seen in a while. Look at that pic above. Is he running or doing the “Truffle Shuffle”?…No O-Swing%. The Rays may be one of the best teams in baseball when it comes to not swinging at pitches out of the strike zone, but that didn’t stop Ben Zobrist from popping up ball-4 with 1 out in the 9th and the tying run on second.
THE TELLING: Ben Zobrist started his third straight game in right field…The Rays were only shutout 7 times in 2008. They have been shutout twice in 16 games this season…We watched a lot of Edwin Jackson last night, and that sure looked an awful lot like the Jackson we remember. He looked great for 3 innings and then had two bases loaded walks in the fourth. Maybe we can all simmer down about the “new” EJax.
SUNBURST PLAYER OF THE GAME: James Shields. Hold a team to 1 run on 4 hits and a walk, that should be a ‘W’.
DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…
- Rays the Stakes has added a couple of new writers, and one of them has their first post up calling for Ben Zobrist to be the everyday right fielder. [Rays the Stakes]
- Fernando Perez has his latest blog post up for the New York Times. and t includes one of the best lines we have read in a while. [New York Times]
When asked about helping to carry the Rays championship banners: If it was really a big deal, you’d imagine the Rays would have gotten someone iconic or wise. Someone other than me. Maybe Bob Barker or Bono or something.
- For only the 22nd time in big league history, a 1-0 game was decided by a leadoff home run. [The Heater]
- Somebody at the St. Pete Times calls The Trop, one of “10 things that suck (but are secretly awesome) about life in Tampa Bay.”…We don’t even know what that means. [St. Pete Times]
- The Rays dropped to 7th in Tim Brown’s latest Power Rankings. [Yahoo! Sports]
