Archive for the 'Reid Brignac' Category

Mar 20

Spring Playing Time: A Look At Who’s Playing Where And When

Brandon Guyer, Chris Gimenez, Jose Lobaton, Reid Brignac, Sean Rodriguez No Comments »

It is time to update our look at who is playing where and when during spring training. In short, we can gain some insight into what Joe Maddon and Andrew Friedman have in mind for the regular season by looking at how they are using the players during the spring.

For a more complete explanation of this table, check out the original post

The first column (“1-5″) represents the number of innings each player has played at that position in the first five innings of spring games. Playing in the first five innings typically means the team wants to see how a player does against big leaguers. And the second column (“6+”) represents playing time in the sixth inning or later. The exception is for DHs. For these players, the first column represents the number of at bats as the starting DH. The second column is the number of at bats as a substitute DH.

Players in bold are on the 40-man roster. Players in grey have been cut or were never officially in big league camp…

A few notes on the table…

  • CATCHER: It seems pretty clear at this point that Jose Lobaton will be the second catcher. Chris Gimenez can play more positions, but he is not as good defensively and has not distinguished himself with the bat.
  • SHORTSTOP: Yes, Joe Maddon wants the players to think they are competing for a starting position. But in reality, Reid Brignac and Sean Rodriguez will be sharing the position with a platoon.
  • FOURTH OUTFIELDER: Any thought of Brandon Guyer sneaking into the picture went out the window when he was cut this week. This spot belongs to Sam Fuld.
  • BULLPEN: The names to watch here are Josh Lueke and Burke Badenhop. Both are getting long looks. And if they can impress, one could sneak onto the opening day roster. Of course, this all gets muddled if Wade Davis is moved to the bullpen.
Mar 12

Spring Playing Time: A Look At Who’s Playing Where And When

Brandon Guyer, Chris Gimenez, Jose Lobaton, Reid Brignac 1 Comment »

It is time to update our look at who is playing where and when during spring training. In short, we can gain some insight into what Joe Maddon and Andrew Friedman have in mind for the opening day roster by looking at how they are using the players during the spring.

For a more complete explanation of this table, check out the original post

The first column (“1-5″) represents the number of innings each player has played at that position in the first five innings of spring games. Typically teams use their top players for the first five innings of each game. And the second column (“6+”) represents playing time in the sixth inning or later. The exception is for DHs. For these players, the first column represents the number of at bats as the starting DH. The second column is the number of at bats as a substitute DH. Players in bold are on the 40-man roster…

A few notes on the table…

  • CATCHER: The backup spot is clearly down to Jose Lobaton and Chris Gimenez, even if Joe Maddon says publicly that Robinson Chirinos and Stephen Vogt have a shot. Vogt has received very little time behind the plate, and Chirinos is only playing against minor leaguers late in games.
  • SHORTSTOP: We are heading to a platoon here even if Maddon says nothing is set. And the playing time between Reid Brignac and Sean Rodriguez (~2-to-1) is about what would happen in the regular season with a platoon.
  • FOURTH OUTFIELDER: We think everybody assumed this was going to Sam Fuld. And granted, his spring got off to a slot start because of an injury. But Brandon Guyer is getting a LOT of playing time. In fact, only Jeff Keppinger has played more in the first five innings of games.
  • BULLPEN: We still need another week or so before we can get a sense of motives here, but keep in mind that five or six spots are spoken for. And that becomes even more complicated if Wade Davis joins the group.
Mar 12

[THE HANGOVER] The One Where We Discuss Longo’s Return, The Lineup, And The Final Spot In The Rotation

Carlos Pena, Evan Longoria, James Shields, Joe Maddon, Reid Brignac No Comments »

The GBT – The Good, The Bad and The Telling sandwich, where The Bad is nice and lean and the The Telling is ripe.

RAYS 4, Pirates 3 (boxscore)

THE GOOD: Evan Longoria. The kid was in the lineup for the first time this spring, and Raysheads everywhere breathed a sigh of relief. In his 3 plate appearances he walked, grounded out, and hit a sac fly…Jeff Niemann. The Giraffe faced 9 batters in 3 innings and retired all 9, including 2 strikeouts. Considering Wade Davis’ outing on Saturday, it is safe to say Niemann has cemented his position as the favorite for the final spot in the rotation…Bullpen. The first 5 pitchers out of the bullpen all figure to be part of the Rays opening day roster. That group combined to hold the Pirates to 2 runs (1 earned) in 5 innings on 3 hits and no walks. The one real blemish was a solo home run off of Joel Peralta…Reid Brignac. It’s early, but Briggy’s bat is off to a good start. Two more hits yesterday and he now has 5 hits in his first 12 at bats.

THE BAD: Wade Davis. We took yesterday off, but we would be remiss if we didn’t mention Big Dub’s outing on Saturday in which he allowed 4 runs (2 earned), 3 hits, and walked 4, including one with the bases loaded. Davis can’t afford too many bad outings, and this one was bad. Jeff Niemann’s performance on Sunday made it even worse.

THE TELLING: Carlos Pena batted second, which is apparently something Joe Maddon is considering for the regular season…Sean Rodriguez is expected back in the lineup today or tomorrow. And David Price will pitch tomorrow along with Matt Moore…Joe Maddon is going to get a buzz on Thursday for kids cancer research, but he’s not going completely bald…ESPN the Magazine will be running a story soon on Jame Shields’ pick-off move.

THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA…

  • We upgraded our server last night, the second in six months (way to go guys!). It looks like everything is in working condition, but as these things go, there might be something we haven’t noticed yet. Also, any comments that were made during the transition may have been lost. Sorry about that. Party on.
  • This shouldn’t come as a surprise, but the Rays are not interested in Ivan Rodriguez. [MLBTR]
  • Marc Topkin has a fun read on the childish nature of David Price. [TampaBay.com]
  • New Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine was very complimentary of Joe Maddon. [ESPN]
  • According to Fangraphs, the Rays have the third best rotation in baseball, which sounds about right. [Fangraphs]
  • Aaron Giddens of BRaysball Talk explains why he’s a Rays fan. [BRaysball Talk]
  • Reid Brignac and his playmate girlfriend Read the rest of this entry »
Feb 23

Reid Brignac Is Also Dating A Playmate

Evan Longoria, Reid Brignac 11 Comments »

Back in 2010 we learned that Reid Brignac was dating Playmate Lauren Anderson but that they may have broken up. And then last week a reader tipped us off that the two were back together and expecting a baby.

We let it go at the time because the info was only on Facebook and not for public consumption. But now comes word via The Big Lead that the two have a public baby registry. So yeah, it’s official. And yes, between Briggy and Evan Longoria, the wives and girlfriends box at The Trop this summer is going to look like the Playboy Mansion.

Feb 22

[THE HANGOVER] The One Where We Discuss Why Longo’s Girlfriend Matters, Briggy’s New Muscles, And Gomes’ New Back

Brandon Gomes, David Price, Evan Longoria, Jaime Edmondson, Jeff Niemann, JP Howell, Reid Brignac 11 Comments »

OK, it was more fun when we were just putting the pieces together, but somebody actually went and asked Evan Longoria if he is dating Jaime Edmondson. He said yes. And it sounds kinda serious.

On a “why does this flippin’ matter?” note, we have a couple of thoughts…

First of all, this seems like more of a national story than a local one. To us, he is just Longo, and if Dirtbag is happy, we’re happy, and it doesn’t matter who it is. But we need to remember that on a national level he is a bit more of a celebrity, and this is how the national media treats celebrities. And in a strange way, that is kinda cool.

If the national media is paying attention, that means the Rays are relevant. And let’s face it, there is a small part in all of us that hates being in the shadow of the Yankees and Red Sox when the Rays have been just as good in recent years.

Now, we know a lot of you still don’t care and that’s fine. And you like to accuse us of being a “TMZ for the Rays” like we have a video camera camped out in front of Longoria’s condo and we are following him to restaurants. That’s fine. But a lot of people are curious and Longoria doesn’t seem to care. They are going out in public together and are clearly not hiding it. So it is not like anybody is invading their privacy.

THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA…

  • 14 of the 21 position players have already arrived at camp.
  • Jeff Niemann on the Battle Royale Rotation: “It’s going to be a tough deal, but at the end of the day, it’s for the betterment of the team, and we’ll all
    be on board for whatever decision that is.”
  • Brandon Gomes had his first bullpen session following back surgery. He still seems like a good candidate to start the year on the DL when the Rays are looking for a way to keep everybody in the system.
  • David Price on the 2012 Rays: Read the rest of this entry »
Dec 06

Danny Knobler Looks At Who The Rays Are Willing To Trade

BJ Upton, James Shields, Jeff Niemann, Reid Brignac, Wade Davis No Comments »

Will the Rays be willing to trade some of their players? Sure. But which ones. Danny Knobler of CBSSports.com weighs in…

  • Jeff Niemann? Yes
  • Wade Davis? Yes
  • James Shields? Rays will only listen to “overwhelming offers”
  • Reid Brignac? Would like to trade Briggy
  • BJ Upton? “Willing to talk about”

Not really anything we didn’t already know. But it is a nice scorecard moving foreward. So there’s that.

Dec 06

Joe Maddon Met With The Media, Said Things

Joe Maddon, Jose Lobaton, JP Howell, Matt Moore, Reid Brignac, Sean Rodriguez No Comments »

At the opening of the 2011 Winter Meetings, Joe Maddon met with the media and answered a number of questions. You can read the full transcript HERE. But if you want the Cliffs Notes version, you will find it below…

On who will play shortstop…

It’s an open competition is what it is [between Sean Rodriguez and Reid Brignac]. I thought Sean did really well at the end of last year.  Sean probably exceeded our expectations what he’s going to be able to do defensively.  Even as offense I think there’s a lot of room for improvement there, too.  But Sean is a wonderful baseball player and that’s why we love to have him on the field.  Reid one of the better young defenders, I think, at shortstop in the game.  Obviously did not have the offensive year that we were looking for, so he needs to really pick up there.  Again, talking to both of them, they’re both aware that they’ll be battling it out for that job in Spring Training.

On the bullpen…

You’ve got Kyle [Farnsworth] and Joel [Peralta] and then [Jake McGee and Brandon Gomes], I don’t know exactly where J.P. Read the rest of this entry »

Nov 16

PHOTOS: Several Rays Attended The Florida State-Miami Game

BJ Upton, David Price, Desmond Jennings, Reid Brignac 1 Comment »

How are the Rays spending their off-season? Well, if you are David Price, BJ Upton, Desmond Jennings, and Reid Brignac, you hang out with cheerleaders on the sideline for this past weekend’s Florida State-Miami football game.

Well played guys. Well played.

[Ed. note: No, we have not mistaken the guy on the right in the image below for BJ Upton. Upton was at the game. He can be seen in picture 2]

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Photos via Facebook

Aug 13

Thieves Claim To Have Stolen Marijuana From Longoria, Price, And Brignac

David Price, Evan Longoria, Reid Brignac 22 Comments »

There is a new twist in the burglary of the spring training home shared by Evan Longoria, David Price, and Reid Brignac. While we already knew that Longoria had an AK-47 stolen during the break-in, there is a new report that among the items stolen was a “Rubbermaid style container” containing marijuana (via TBO.com).

According to the police report, in addition to watches, computers and Longoria’s AK-47 gun, the suspects also took a “Rubbermaid style container” containing marijuana…When asked about that before Friday’s game with the Yankees, Longoria said, “We’ve decided, obviously the three of us as a group and the organization as a whole, to just let the police do their job and us to keep that to ourselves. … We’re just not going to make a comment.”

According to Marc Topkin’s report on TampaBay.com, these claims were not made by the players but are based on statements “from the suspects and others questioned in the investigation.” That sounds suspiciously like the suspects bragged to their friends about what they took.

Topkin adds that Major League Baseball is investigating, but Read the rest of this entry »

Aug 11

[THE HANGOVER] The One Where We Discuss A Shortstop Shuffle, Cobb’s Surgery, And A Comeback For The Ages

Alex Cobb, Bill Foster, Hak-Ju Lee, Justin Ruggiano, Reid Brignac, Tim Beckham 12 Comments »
Click Here For Boxscore
Rays 8, Royals 7 (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: Comeback For The Ages. Wow. Just wow. 9th innings don’t get anymore exciting than that. When the 9th inning started, the Rays had a 1.5% chance of winning the game. But like any great comeback from a big deficit, the players need to remember there are no 5-run home runs. And the Rays singled and doubled the Royals to death. When Evan Longoria doubled home the first run we sat up a little straighter. But then two infield groundballs scored the next two runs, the second by Casey Kotchman who hasn’t run that fast since he was 18, and all of a sudden we were getting exciting. Still only 1 out, we were skeptical with BJ Upton and Sam Fuld due up. Upton was either going to hit a walk-off home run or strikeout. He did the latter. That left Fuld and we’ll admit, we were just praying for a walk. With Elliot Johnson on first base, typically you would want the runner stealing second with 2 outs to get into scoring position. But with that canon behind the plate, Johnson might as well have been wearing cement shoes. So he was stuck at first. And that meant our best hope for Fuld was just to get Johnson into scoring position and prolong the inning. He went several steps further, driving a ball into the right-center gap which you knew would tie the game. What you didn’t know was that the throw to third would get by the bag, and Fuld, running slower than we have ever seen, found enough gas to scamper home and dive in ahead of the tag. That, that was fun.

THE BAD: Sam Fuld. Yes. Super Sammy. Before he won the game in the 9th, he represented the tying run on third base in the 8th and got picked off by the catcher. Sometimes these things happen, but it can’t happen then. And it can’t happen after the same catcher had already demonstrated his lethal arm several times in the game…Jake McGee. McGee faced three batters striking out 1, walking 1, and giving up a 3-run home run which seemed to seal the Rays fate. So, of course he would get the win.

THE TELLING: Justin Ruggiano was placed on the DL and Reid Brignac was recalled from Durham. Interesting. So a player who has made one start in 3 weeks and who is out of minor league options, suddenly goes on the DL with knee bursitis? Of course he does…Tim Beckham was promoted to triple-A and Hak-Ju Lee was promoted to double-A. Interestingly, Derek Dietrich was not promoted to Charlotte to replace Lee.

RANDOM THOUGHTS: If you get a chance to watch the replay of the pile at home plate, look for Robinson Chirinos. During the entire scrum he is circling the pile looking for a way in, the whole time doing it with a big ole smile on his face. It’s adorable. Like a little kid that wants to play with the big boys…If the Rays sweep the Yankees this weekend, things could start to get interesting. But anything less than a sweep will just be status quo…Look for Tim Beckham to get a nice long look in spring training next year. But we would still be surprised if we see him in the big leagues before August.

THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA…

  • If you missed it last night, there has been an arrest in the burglary of the spring home of Evan Longoria, David Price, and Reid Brignac. [RaysIndex]
  • Like we speculated, Alex Cobb will be shut down for the rest of the season. He is set to have surgery on his hand, but is expected to be ready for the start of the 2012 season. [TBO.com]
  • Mayor Bill Foster and Stuart Sternberg haven’t spoken since early May. [TampaBay.com]
  • The Rays failure to send a representative to the Read the rest of this entry »
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