Apr 27
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
RANDOM THOUGHTS: The Rays and St. Pete Mayor Bill Foster will apparently set aside their difference long enough to make a “major sports announcement” this morning at The Trop. All indications are that it is not baseball related…Rays and Twins will play a double-header on Thursday…Thanks to a shutout, a near-complete game, an off-day and a rainout, the Rays’ relievers have thrown 5 pitches in 5 days. All of those were by Kyle Farnsworth on Saturday…Andy Sonnanstine hasn’t pitched since April 10.
THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA…
- Evan Longoria will begin a rehab assignment on Thursday with double-A Montgomery and is eyeing a return to the Rays next Tuesday against the Blue Jays. [TBO.com]
- Gabe Gross announced Read the rest of this entry »
Feb 09
My dad (Prof’s Pop) is a graduate of the Naval Academy (Class of ’68). He passed along this note for any other Navy alum in the Bay Area…
NAVY ALUMNI: Join us FRIDAY evening MAY 14th VS Seattle Mariners. Last year we witnessed the largest comeback in Rays history vs the Cleveland Indians. Need minimum of forty (40) attendees to get the group rate ($40 last yr).
Don Coughlin action guy – please email him (DTCZ@msn.com) if you plan to attend. Need early probable head count before we commit to forty. Not binding as we know plans change.
And of course, if any Marines want to go and need a ride, we’re sure the Navy guys would be happy to help.
DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…
- Andrew Friedman was on AM620 last night with Andy Freed and Dave Wills. Marc Topkin provides the highlights. [The Heater]
- Later in the same show, Wills and Freed spoke with Matt Silverman. [The Heater]
- Another “Matt Joyce has a chance to be a starter” story. [Lakeland Ledger]
- Joe Stiglich spoke with Gabe Gross, who compared his new A’s club to the 2008 Rays. [Chin Music]
- Steve Henson writes about what the addition of Rafael Soriano means for the Rays. [Yahoo! Sports]
Feb 01
Portfolio.com looked at 82 different US and Canadian markets to determine which cities are best suited to support professional sports franchises. Tampa did not fare so well (thanks Jordi)…
Nineteen areas are overextended, with Denver, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and Tampa facing the worst problems. The income bases of these overextended markets are inadequate for their existing teams, let alone any new ones.
Of those 19 areas, 12 of them are home to MLB teams (San Francisco-Oakland has two teams). Only two markets without baseball teams (New Jersey and San Bernardino, CA) were deemed to be able to support big league baseball.
Meanwhile, remember the ABC group that released it’s final report on the Rays stadium recommendations? The same group that was formed by the mayor of St. Pete? Well now that ABC has basically said the Rays should be in Tampa, the city of St. Pete no longer wants anything to do with the ABC group.
“We appreciate ABC’s efforts,” City Attorney John Wolfe and Senior Administrator Rick Mussett wrote Tuesday in a memo to the council. “However, any relationship the city may have had with ABC has been effectively severed.”
Politicians fighting. And the only ones that will lose are the fans. Thanks assholes.
DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…
- Howard Troxler says it is now time for Stuart Sternberg to become more vocal on the Rays stadium situation…The problem is, if Sternberg wants the Rays to be anywhere besides St. Pete (likely), he is not allowed to talk about it. It is in the Rays contract with St. Pete that they are not even allowed to publicly discuss moving the team to another city. [St. Pete Times]
- Michael Sasso speculates on what a bullet train would mean for the Rays attendance. Of course, the catch is that the Rays would have to be in Tampa. [Tampa Tribune]
- Marc Topkin makes a case for the Rays making more additions to the roster in the next few weeks…Look for 2-3 recognizable names invited to spring training on minor league deals. [St. Pete Times
- Gabe Gross may have signed with the A's. [MLB]
- BJ Upton or Andrew McCutchen? Go. [Baseball Professor]
Dec 12
[Update 10:55pm] The Rays not only did not non-tender Dioner Navarro, they reached an agreement with Navi on a 1-year, $2.1 million contract. They also non-tendered Shawn Riggans making him a free agent. Signing Navarro is a bit of a surprise, but this could just be buying the Rays time to trade him.
[10:30 pm] Marc Topkin is reporting that the Rays have non-tendered Gabe Gross, making him a free agent. No decision has been announced on Dioner Navarro.
Also, the Rays avoided arbitration with Randy Choate and Lance Cormier. Choate will make $700K this season while Cormier will make $1.2 million.
These moves leave the Rays with six arbitration-eligible players including BJ Upton, Jason Bartlett, Matt Garza, Kelly Shoppach, Grant Balfour and JP Howell.
In addition, the Rays re-signed Winston Abreu and Carlos Hernandez to minor league deals. Abreu made three appearances with the Rays last season. He struck out 77 in 51 innings with a 1.94 ERA at triple-A Durham. Hernandez went 7-6 with a 3.29 ERA in 21 starts for Durham.
And in the ex-Rays department, Jonny Gomes has been non-tendered by the Reds and is now a free agent.
Dec 02
If you missed it last night because your significant other was making you watch “The Biggest Loser,” the Rays did offer arbitration to Gregg Zaun and Brian Shouse, but not Russ Springer. Zaun and Shouse have until December 7 to accept or decline those offers.
The next important dates for the Rays are December 10 and 12.
December 10 is the Rule 5 draft. Aneury Rodriguez is a candidate to be selected off the Rays roster by another team.
December 12 is the deadline to tender contracts to all players with less than six years of service time, including those that are arbitration eligible. Two of these players, Gabe Gross and Dioner Navarro are candidates to be non-tendered.
So don’t be surprised if the next Rays to be traded are Gross and Navi. The Rays won’t receive much in return (a mid-level prospect?), but it is better than just letting them walk as free agents.
Either way, we have probably seen the last of the Gabe-of-the-Day and The Fat Catcher eras.
DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…
- From Marc Topkin: “Executive VP Andrew Friedman said there’s no thought right now about trading All-Star LF Carl Crawford and the that the mutual goal remains a long-term deal.”…well, that was carefully worded. The right offer comes along and the Rays will start thinking about it real quick. [The Heater]
- In the same piece, Marc Topkin reports that Fernando Perez is “a little behind” in his rehab from shoulder surgery but should be ready for opening day. [The Heater]
- Around the Majors takes an in-depth look at what the Kelly Shoppach trade means for the Rays, Gregg Zaun and Dioner Navarro. [Around the Majors]
- The Hardball Times has a list of several teams that could be interested in Dioner Navarro. [The Hardball Times]
- Would the Mets be interested in Dioner Navarro? [Mets Today]
- We’re not sure we would call Kelly Shoppach a “huge upgrade,” but ok. [Center of the Sports Universe]
- Fangraphs tries to figure out if Jason Bartlett’s 2009 season was a fluke. [Fangraphs]
http://mvn.com/aroundthemajors/2009/12/kelly-shoppach-nice-pick-up-for-tampa-bay-rays.html
Oct 19
Just a few links today as we pop the bubbly to celebrate the one year anniversary of the Rays 3-1, game 7 victory over the Boston Red Sox and their first American League Championship
DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…
- Last week we told you that Gabe Gross was participating in a “celebrity” home run derby back at Auburn. Well, he won the contest. BUT, he used an aluminum bat. Legit? [Biscuit Crumbs]
- What is the toughest position the Tampa Bay Rays will try to fill this off-season? Season ticket salesperson of course. Good luck to ever takes that job. [Baseball Jobs]
- Jesse Spector of the New York Daily News interviewed Jason Collette from Dock of the Rays. [NY Daily News]
- From a sports perspective…Who “runs” the Bay Area? ESPN.com says it is Evan Longoria. Probably right, although we would have placed Derrick Brooks ahead of Martin St. Louis. [ESPN]
- Handing out the “Rays Golden Donut Awards.” [Rays Roundup]
Oct 16
Just a few links this morning as we celebrate the 3rd anniversary of Lou Piniella becoming the manager of the Chicago Cubs.
DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…
- In the quest for a new Rays stadium, we have seen The Good (original proposal by the Rays), The Bad (no new stadium in the near future) and as we get closer to the St. Pete mayoral election, we are now seeing The Ugly. Yesterday we read some comments from candidate Kathleen Ford. Today we get an editorial response in the St. Pete Times. [St. Pete Times]
- When you think of “celebrities” and “home runs,” the first name that comes to mind is Gabe Gross. Right? Well, he apparently qualifies for both at Auburn’s Baseball Celebrity Home Run Derby. [Columbus Ledger-Enquirer]
- The New York Post looks at how Rick Peterson helped Scott Kazmir rediscover his dominance. [New York Post]
- The Rays sister franchise, Florida Tuskers of the UFL, won their first game, giving them more wins than the Bucs. The Tuskers play a 6-game schedule. Any chance the Bucs will finish with more wins? We didn’t think so. [Orlando Sentinel]
- Rays the Stakes makes the case for Jeff Niemann as Rookie of the Year. [Rays the Stakes]
- They don’t give out MVP awards for the LDS but if they did Sully Baseball thinks Aki Iwamura would have won it for the Rays last year. [Sully Baseball]
Jul 23
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: Off He Goes. Pat Burrell was 2-4 with a home run. He just missed another later in the game. He just looks different at the plate right now. More confident. He is starting to zone in and we have a feeling he will be a big part of the offense over the next few weeks. Let’s just hope when it starts, it stays for a while…Strangest Tribe. Gabe Gross may be the strangest home run hitter we have ever seen. He doesn’t hit a lot of them, but when he connects they are always no-doubters. Sounds like a Jonny Gomes or a Dave Kingman, right? Except Gross is actually a very good hitter, so with that power, it is amazing he doesn’t hit more longballs…Glove Boat Captain. Carl Crawford has always been very good with the glove. Of course, much of that was just speed. But this season, CC has really stepped up his game defensively. He made a catch last night similar to the one that won him the All-Star game MVP. He has been making those all year and even his arm has been much more accurate this season.
THE BAD: All or None. The relievers won’t be here too often, but they blew chunks all over the mound last night. Both Randy Choate and Dan Wheeler failed to retire a batter as it took 5 different pitchers to get through the 7th inning. And no, we are not going to lay any blame on BJ Upton for misplaying the ball over his head. A ball hit right at a centerfielder on a line is one of the toughest plays in baseball…Fatal. This didn’t cost the Rays last night, but we noticed a glaring weakness with this roster as it is currently constructed. With Dioner Navarro on first base with no outs and down by 1, Joe Maddon did not have a pinch-running option. Willy Aybar, Joe Dillon and Michel Hernandez were on the bench and none are a marked improvement over Navi. Of course, the irony is that the Rays may be one of the fastest teams in history but were stuck with a 5’9″ 250lb catcher on first base who wouldn’t have been able to score on a double.
THE TELLING: Chad Bradford entered the game in the 7th but was pulled with a back injury before facing a batter. Seems awfully convenient that the Rays shakiest relief pitcher of late has an injury with Brian Shouse set to come off the DL tomorrow. Coincidence? Just sayin’…The Rays have scored 3 or 4 runs in 5 straight games.
DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…
- Ok, Ok. We will bring back the Sunburst Player of the Game Pick ‘Em for the second-half starting next week.
- Joe Posnanski has put together a list of the Top 100 baseball players. Four Rays are in the top 52 and 5 are in the top 100. And yes, Ben Zobrist is on the list (thanks Tyler). [SI.com]
- Carl Crawford is featured in this week’s Sports Illustrated. Jonah Keri has a PDF of the article. [JonahKeri.com]
- The Rays will be giving away All-Star t-shirts featuring each of the Rays’ all-star representatives, during the next homestand. Rays Revolutionary has images of the t-shirts. [Rays Revolutionary]
- Joe Henderson writes about the great trade the Rays didn’t make. That was their decision to keep Jeff Niemann. [Tampa Tribune]
- The Marlins new stadium is not being built in an area that is most convenient for the fans. This same issue is at the center of where to build the next Rays stadium. [Tampa Tribune]
- For the “Freakonomics” blog, Buster Olney addresses some of the economic issues in MLB, a couple of which have a direct impact on the Rays (thanks Laura). [New York Times]
- It doesn’t matter what Joe Maddon says, Trop It Like It’s Hot says the Rays have a closer. [Trop It Like It's Hot]
- Former Devil Rays pitcher Jim Parque opens up about using HGH prior to his comeback attempt with the Devil Rays in 2003. [Chicago Sun-Times]
Jun 15
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: The Trop. Gabe Kapler’s home run barely cleared the short wall in the left-field corner for 2 runs that tied the game in the 6th. Then Willy Aybar hit a routine ground ball down the third base line that hit the bag and caromed into left field to drive in the go ahead run in the 8th. Aybar probably beats the play anyway, but Carlos Pena would have stayed at second had the ball not been deflected…JP Howell. Outside of the 1 hit batter, Howell struck out the side in the 9th for his 3rd save and now looks like Joe Maddon’s go-to guy in critical 9th inning situations.
THE BAD: James Shields. Usually when James Shields is off his game it is 3-4 walks or a couple of home runs. Yesterday, he was doubled to death. But, in true Shieldsy fashion, he still managed to work into the 7th inning…Elijah Dukes. Dukes? Why did it have to be Dukes? Elijah, very dangerous.
THE TELLING: Pat Burrell batted second in what can only be described as Dusty Baker’s worst base-clogging nightmare…Gabe Gross started in right field despite the lefty on the mound for the Nationals. In fact, Gross has now started 6 in a row. Gabe Kapler got the start in left as Carl Crawford was given the day off…With Reid Brignac heading back to Durham and Joe Dillon remaining with the Rays, it looks like Ben Zobrist is now an everyday player and a lot of those days will be at second base…Prior to his 0-3 on Sunday, Brignac had hit safely in 5 straight and was 8-17 in that stretch.
SUNBURST PLAYER OF THE GAME: Gabe Kapler.
DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…
- Jason Isringhausen went on the 60-day DL to make room for Winston Abreu on the 40-man roster (players on 60-day DL do not count towards the 40-man roster) even though Izzy will not have an MRI on his elbow until today. [Rays Report]
- Jason Bartlett was activated and Reid Brignac was sent back to Durham. [The Heater]
- Scott Kazmir will start for the Charlotte Stone Crabs on Wednesday as part of a rehab assignment. At this point there is no word how long Kazmir’s rehab assignment will last.
- Sporting News has a Q&A with Carl Crawford in which he discusses his chances at stealing 100 and the toughest pitcher to steal against. [Sporting News]
- Around the Majors wrote a piece on their personal experiences with Ben Zobrist. [Around the Majors]
Jun 12
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: The Offense. Scoring runs is not a problem for this team, and it won’t be. 11 more runs, 4 more home runs. How many times this season have you been watching the game and you look up and you are surprised to see that the Rays have 7 or 8 on the board already?…Carlos Pena. El Gato is heating up and it is only going to get better with Pat Burrell due back tonight…Speaking of Which. Have you seen Pat Burrell’s new goatee? It is trashtastic, but maybe that is the cure to get him out of his season-long funk.
THE BAD: David Price. 6 strikeouts is nice, but 6 walks in 4.1 innings is horrible. As are the 105 pitches…BJ Upton. 0-5 with 3 Ks, and 2 for his last 20 with 8 strikeouts and 1 walk. That’s not good…Matt Joyce. In his first 2 games after being recalled, Joyce was 5-7 with 2 home runs and 5 RBI. Since then he was 0-15. Hence the demotion…Interleague play. We are generally fans of interleague play, but for every chance you get to see the Rays play in Coors Field, we are going to have to deal with the Nats at home.
THE TELLING: The Rays continue to lead all of MLB in scoring (5.6 r/g). They are also second in OPS (.810), behind only the Yankees (.832). However, the Rays 42 errors are the 3rd most in the AL and they are on pace for 110. Last year the Rays committed only 90.
SUNBURST PLAYER OF THE GAME: Gabe Gross. Navarro left 6 men on base. Pena’s home run came when the game was over. Gross was on base 4 times and drove in 2.
DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…
- Marc Lancaster on Pedro Martinez: “Probably not”. Marc Topkin on Pedro: “Unlikely”. And yet, nobody has explained why the Rays have scheduled a second workout. So far, everything else in the original report was true, so there is no reason to believe there isn’t a second workout scheduled. And if you missed our post last night, Nick Cafardo is reporting that the Rays and Pedro have already been discussing dollar amounts. The Rays may not sign Pedro, but there is more to this than just somebody watching a friend workout.
- To add a strange twist to the Pedro Martinez story. Keep in mind that Don Zimmer is a senior adviser for the Rays. Michael Weber of Rays Revolutionary spoke with Zim’s grandson who says the two have patched up their differences and now consider each other friends.
- Pat Burrell has been activated and we suspect he will be in the lineup tonight. To make room, Matt Joyce was demoted back to Durham. [The Heater]
- Jason Bartlett will begin a rehab assignment tonight as the DH for Charlotte. He will play shortstop on Saturday and Sunday and should be back with the Rays on Monday.
- Joey Johnston has some quotes from Matt Joyce on his demotion. [Tampa Tribune]
- MLB Notebook says Pedro Martinez makes sense for the Rays. [MLB Notebook]
- Joe Smith writes about the Rays 4th round pick, a catcher who may have been a first-round pick before he had Tommy John surgery. [St. Pete Times]
- Everybody’s favorite interviewer of the Rays, David Brown, is back with a Q&A of Edwin Jackson. Ok, so it is a former Ray, but great read still. [Big League Stew]
- The Rays Party breaks down Jeff Niemann’s last start. [The Rays Party]
- Rays Prospects has the complete list of the Rays top 30 picks from the draft. [Rays Prospects]
- Trop Talk misses the old Dioner Navarro. [Trop Talk]
The GBT – The Good, The Bad and The Telling sandwich, where The Bad is nice and lean and the The Telling is ripe.
