Nov 28
Keith Law offers his take on who won the John Jaso-Josh Lueke trade, stating “here’s why the Mariners win this deal” (via Twitter)…
It is hard to argue with this reasoning.
Archive for the 'John Jaso' Category
Nov 28
John Jaso is from northern California, so you can imagine he is pretty excited about being traded to the Seattle Mariners, telling Geoff Baker of The Seattle Times that he is “very excited about that.” He also explained why he struggled so much in 2011…
“I think it was a little bit of second year stuff…Defensively, I had a little bit of a groin issue and then my oblique injury. I definitely played through my oblique for a while and it kind of hurt my play…I ran into some pretty bad streaks there for a while. I was connecting with some balls and they weren’t falling.”
We don’t think the Rays were ever concerned that Jaso couldn’t hit. He is obviously a better hitter than he showed in 2011. But the difficulty with Jaso is that his defense is not good enough to justify his spot in the lineup when he is struggling or is not 100 percent healthy.
Nov 27
The Tampa Bay Rays announced tonight that they have traded John Jaso to the Seattle Mariners for Josh Lueke. In addition, the Rays will also receive a player to be named later or cash considerations.
In 2011, Lueke, a right-handed relief pitcher, split the season between triple-A and the majors. With Seattle, Lueke had a 6.06 ERA in 32.2 innings with 29 strikeouts and 13 walks. His 3.24 FIP indicates that he pitched much better than his ERA suggests.
Jaso struggled both offensively (.224 with 5 home runs) and defensively in 2011. He and Jose Lobaton are both out of minor league options. And with the Rays expected to sign Jose Molina, somebody had to be traded.
Oct 10
WATCH: Longest Home Runs Hit By The Rays This Season
BJ Upton, Evan Longoria, John Jaso, Justin Ruggiano, Sean Rodriguez 4 Comments »Here are the ten longest home runs hit by the Tampa Bay Rays this season…
10. John Jaso, 425 feet — Hit off of John Lackey of the Red Sox on September 9 at Tropicana Field.
9. Sean Rodriguez, 425 feet — Hit off of CJ Wilson of the Rangers on May 31 at Tropicana Field.
8. Evan Longoria, 425 feet — Hit off of Vinnie Pestano of the Indians on May 10 at Jacobs Field.
7. Evan Longoria, 429 feet — Hit off of Carlos Carrasco of the Indians on May 28 at Tropicana Field.
6. Sean Rodriguez, 434 feet — Hit off of Brandon Marrow of the Blue Jays on August 28 at Rogers Centre. Read the rest of this entry »
Sep 19
It is not often when Joe Maddon criticizes one of his players publicly. So when he spoke about the catching situation yesterday, it certainly raised our eyebrow an inch or six (via Marc Topkin)…
“We can not sacrifice behind the plate if we are not in fact picking it up at the plate…”
In other words, JoeMa can tolerate John Jaso’s defensive liabilities if he is hitting. But Jaso is hitting .223 (.291 wOBA) with only 5 home runs and a .299 OBP.
And defensively he may be even worse. He has thrown out only 10 of 60 would be base stealers (16.7%) and can’t block a pitch to save his life. The other night when Jaso caught a pop-up, my buddy said with a straight face, “at least he caught that one.” We wanted to laugh. But sadly, he was right.
This means we will probably see a lot of Kelly Shoppach in the last ten games. Maddon had said earlier this month that we would see a lot of Jose Lobaton behind the plate. But that was back when even Maddon didn’t think the Rays would be playing meaningful games right now.
Sep 14
Postgame Shot Of Joe: Playoff Urgency Was Lacking
Joe Maddon, John Jaso, Uncategorized, Wade Davis 2 Comments »
Yeah, Joe Maddon knows what he’s doing. The guy’s a miracle worker. But this game wasn’t played with the urgency it called for.
C’mon. The Rays get runners on first and second with nobody out in the seventh down 4-2 and Maddon isn’t going to have Casey Kotchman lay down a bunt to move the runners and pressure the infield and another crappy starter the Rays made look like Steve Carlton. (Jeremy Guthrie? Really?)
Was Maddon looking for a big inning out of John Jaso and Reid Brignac behind Kotch?
The Matt Moore sighting was exciting and depressing at the same time. Joe only hopes the kid’s confidence isn’t busted up. Especially since he’ll be put in even tougher spots (hopefully) against the Red Sox.
And how Jaso and Wade Davis don’t settle on an 0-2 pitch that can’t be taken out of the ballpark is another one of the great 2011 mysteries.
So here it is: four games back of the Sox and a four game series at Fenway starting tomorrow. Every Rays fan would have had wet dreams over such a fantasy entering the season. Try to forget about how the Rays got here and enjoy it.
Sep 01
[THE HANGOVER] The One Where We Discuss James’ Workload, Jaso’s Odd Split, And The Return Of Sonny
Andy Sonnanstine, Brandon Guyer, James Shields, John Jaso, Johnny Damon, Justin Ruggiano, Kyle Farnsworth, Mikie Mahtook 14 Comments »
- Rays 4, Rangers 1 (click image for boxscore)
The GBT – The Good, The Bad and The Telling sandwich, where The Bad is nice and lean and the The Telling is ripe.
THE GOOD: James the Greater. James Shields worked into the 8th inning for the 6th straight start and for the 17th time this season. That ties Justin Verlander for tops in baseball. Nobody else has more than 14. He is also on pace to throw more than 240 innings this season. His previous high is 219.2 (2009). Only 4 pitchers in the AL have thrown 240+ innings in the last 7 years. You might have heard of them: CC Sabathia, Justin Verlander, Doc Halladay, Felix Hernandez. Those 4 will have 6 combined Cy Young Awards after this season…Hitting 8th. In one of the weirder splits we have ever seen, John Jaso is now hitting .282 with a .913 OPS and 4 home runs when he is batting 8th (88 plate appearances). When he is not hitting 8th (147 plate appearances), he is hitting .190 with a .523 OPS and no home runs. That’s weird.
THE BAD: Farnsville Is Burning. In his first appearance in 8 days, and his first appearance since suffering from “elbow tenderness” Farnsworth struggled giving up 3 hits and a run in the 9th inning. If the Rays are going to bring Farnsworth back next season, they may need to start thinking about shutting him down for the rest of this season.
THE TELLING: Brandon Guyer and Justin Ruggiano will be added to the roster today. Andy Sonnanstine will join them *head hits desk*…There will be a rally to support the Rays and (we’re still calling them) the Rowdies in downtown St. Pete on Friday.
THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA…
- Johnny Damon wants to return to the Rays next season. [TampaBay.com]
- This chart makes you wonder why anybody would pick football or basketball over baseball. “The biggest contracts in North American sports history.” [Business Insider]
- “I honestly had all the time in the world to throw [Johnny Damon] out, but I didn’t want to embarrass him in front of everybody.” [Onion Sports Network]
- Here is a tribute video Read the rest of this entry »
Aug 19
[THE HANGOVER] The One Where We Discuss Foster’s Secret Plan, No More Honey Not Chirinos, And Shoppach’s Expedition
Alex Torres, John Jaso, Kelly Shoppach, New Stadium, Robinson Chirinos 6 Comments »
- Off-day (click image for random Wikipedia page)
The St. Pete Mayor claims to have a detailed plan for a new Rays stadium.
“St. Petersburg Mayor Bill Foster threw a curveball into the debate over the Tampa Bay Rays’ stadium Thursday, suggesting he had a “detailed plan” to keep the team in St. Petersburg.”
We were unable to confirm the rumor that the plan involves Texas tax dollars and a piece of land in San Antonio.
Oh, and our favorite part in the column is when Michael Sasso writes, “If there is such a plan…” Ouch.
Foster did add that he will no longer comment on stadium negotiations, saying only that it is the team’s responsibility to ask for something other than their current deal.
THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA…
- Robinson Chirinos has been sent back to triple-A to make room for John Jaso. “The Deadliest Catchers” live!
- How much does market size influence payroll in Major League Baseball? You might be surprised. [Business Insider]
- Be sure to check in with the guys at JoeBucsFan for everything you need to know about last night’s preseason game. [Joe Bucs Fan]
- This must be code for something because we have no idea what a “Miranda Cosgrove” is: “Miranda Cosgrove has cancelled her postgame concert”
- Kelly Shoppach went fishing yesterday on his day off (above), and then this happened. Coincidence? [TampaBay.com]
- Jonah Keri wrote that the Rays “have to spend more money if they want to knock off the Yanks and Sox.” Ohhh, so that’s the “Extra 2%.” We had no idea. [The Ray Area]
- John Sickels takes a look at Read the rest of this entry »
Jul 13
David Price On Cover Of Sports Illustrated Again…Congrats?
Ben Zobrist, Casey Kotchman, David Price, John Jaso, Sean Rodriguez 5 Comments »The Rays young pitching studmuffin, David Price, graces the cover of Sports Illustrated* this week for the second time in less than a year. However, unlike King David’s last appearance (2010 Playoffs Preview), this one celebrates a moment he may not want to remember (click on image for a larger version)…
*Ben Zobrist, John Jaso, Sean Rodriguez and Casey Kotchman are also on the cover if you are scoring at hom.
Jun 22
Postgame Shot Of Joe: Merlot Joe’s Magic Wand
Elliot Johnson, Joe Maddon, John Jaso, Justin Ruggiano, Kelly Shoppach, Reid Brignac, Sam Fuld 3 Comments »
Sometimes Merlot Joe’s mixing and matching works perfect. Sometimes it blows up in his face. Today was a little of both but more so the juggling of lineups like shuffling a deck of cards worked for the Rays skipper.
John Jaso sits for Kelly Shoppach. Boom! Two-run homer.
The immortal Elliot Johnson plays short for Briggy. Boom! Three-run homer.
The Legend of Sam Fuld pinch-hits for Justin Ruggiano and the Legend of Sam Fuld gets a hit and scores a run.
That was the good. Then there was the bad that almost looked like it might sink the Rays.
Fleet-footed Prince Fielder embarrassed the Rays and Merlot Joe after a Williams shift was staged with one out. Instead of pulling the ball, Fielder tapped it down the third base line for a single and the Brewers later loaded the bases on Goggles before scoring a run.
What’s the point of a shift with a four-run lead with only two outs to go to win the game? Even without the shift, Fielder is not much of a candidate to beat out an infield single. Strange call and it appeared was the opening to an awful comeback.
Overall, the mixing and matching worked. Today. This time.
This was a nice series win by the Rays. Beating a division-leading squad two out of three on the enemies’ home turf is a damn good thing.
