Jul 12
- (off-day)
The GBT – The Good, The Bad and The Telling sandwich, where The Bad is nice and lean and the The Telling is ripe.
NO GBT TODAY
THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA…
- CHART: Now that the game means something, nobody wants to play in the All-Star game. [Business Insider]
- For a little while yesterday, Tim Beckham’s name was removed from the roster of Montgomery Biscuits. We were told this was because he was inactive for the Futures Game. However, typically inactive players still have their name listed on the roster and the Biscuits still had Matt Moore listed and the Stone Crabs still had Hak-Ju Lee listed.
- Jon Paul Morosi previews the Rays second half for Fox Sports (video). [Fox Sports Florida]
- Matt Joyce may be the only player that is genuinely excited to be at the game. [Big League Stew]
- Three Rays minor leaguers took home player-of-the-week honors. [Rays Prospects]
- How Matt Joyce made a fan for life. [Rays Colored Glasses]
- David Price’s nephew enjoying the high-life at the home run derby last night. [LOCKERZ]
- It used to be that we waited until a player retired and then again until the player was eligible for the Hall-of-Fame. But apparently we are now in full-fledged Is-Johnny-Damon-a-Hall-of-Famer mode. [Fangraphs]
DOWN ON THE FARM…
- DURHAM: no games scheduled
- MONTGOMERY Jacksonville 2: Frank de los Santos allowed just 1 hits and 1 unearned run in 4 innings. He struck out 2 and walked 2…DH Stephen Vogt hit his 11th home run and went 2-4…1B Henry Wrigley homered for the second straight game.
- Daytona 5, CHARLOTTE 2 (gm 1): Jake Thompson allowed 5 runs (4 earned) in 5 innings…C Mark Thomas went 2-3.
- Daytona 2, CHARLOTTE 1 (gm 2): Kyle Lobstein allowed 2 runs in 6 innings, striking out 6 and walking none…2B Tyler Bortnick went 1-5 with a walk in the double-header.
- West Michigan 4, BOWLING GREEN 2: Braulio Lara allowed 3 runs in 5 innings. He struck out 5…SS Derek Dietrich was 2-5 and is hitting .283.
- HUDSON VALLEY 6, Lowell 5:
- PRINCETON: no games scheduled
Jun 30
- Reds 4, Rays 3 (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: Evan Longoria. Longo continues to emerge from his funk as his 2-run double in the 6th made it interesting…BJ’s Blast. Upton’s home run in the 7th would have meant a lot more if not for Shields walking two batters to start the top half of the frame.
THE BAD: James the Lesser. James Shields is going to give up home runs. But he can’t give up a home run to Ryan Hanigan. And he definitely can’t give up a home run to Hanigan with 2 runners on base. But even worse than the 3-run home run was the back-to-back walks to start the 7th after the offense had pulled the Rays within 1 run. Shields absolutely has to shut the Reds down at that spot, but the walks led to a run and the game was over.
THE TELLING: Johnny Damon’s 6th inning single tied him with Ted Williams for 71st on the all-time hits list…Tim Beckham has been added to the US squad for the Futures Game at during the All-Star festivities. He will join Hak-Ju Lee and Matt Moore.
THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA…
May 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
NO GBT today. Straight to the links…
THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA…
May 09
Stack magazine (“For the Athlete by the Athlete”), recently interviewed Rays prospect, and former top pick, Tim Beckham, and watched him workout. They broke the interview down into five 1-2 minute videos. In the first one, Beckham talks about what he would do differently in high school to prepare for professional baseball.
Stack has set the videos to autoplay, so click here for the first video. And then there is a link after that video to see the remaining videos… Read the rest of this entry »
May 02
Hak-Ju Lee, the shortstop prospect picked up in the Matt Garza trade, is off to a blazing start. It is just 14 games, but even if he continues to pound the ball, he may remain in single-A all season.
After starting the season on the DL with the Chicken Pox, Lee has 25 hits, including 9 multi-hit outings in his 14 starts. He has also shown a little power despite his wiry 170-pound frame. Seven of his 25 hits have gone for extra-bases.
All this and Lee is still just 20 years old. And while the Rays are notoriously patient with their prospects, one wonders if a promotion is in line if he continues to dominate the Florida State League pitching.
But even if the Rays did want to promote Lee, it is not clear if they can. In front of Lee, playing shortstop in double-A, is former top pick Tim Beckham.
Here is a statistical look at how the two have performed so far this year:
If the Rays do reach a point where they believe Lee is no longer being challenged in single-A, they can either Read the rest of this entry »
Apr 21
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: John Jaso. It has been a rough season for Jaso, who only had 5 hits coming into this game. But one missed pitch by Phillip Humber later and Jaso just about put a hole in the back wall at the Trop with his 2-run home run in the second. AJ Pierzynski wanted the pitch about 6 inches off the plate away, but Humber threw it inside. Good hitters punish mistakes. And sometimes that is all it takes to get a hitter going. Let’s hope that is the case with Jaso…Wade Davis. Typical Big Dub. Nothing about this performance screamed “wow.” And yet, when he was pulled, he had allowed only 1 run in 7 innings. It took him 27 pitches to get through the first. He only struck out 2, but did have 7 swinging strikes after getting just 12 whiffs in his first 3 starts combined…Bullpen. Six up, six down. And now, the unit that was supposed to be this team’s weakness has the second-best ERA in the AL (2.57)…Matty Joyce. Two more hits, a walk and an RBI. That’s his sixth multi-hit game in his last 8 starts. All of the sudden, Joyce is hitting a cool .321.
THE BAD: Unbalanced. Anybody else sick of seeing teams from the AL Central?
THE TELLING: Johnny Damon did not play, but was available to pinch-hit if needed…After starting 1-8, we would have been happy if the Rays were back at .500 by the All-Star break. Who knew it would only take 9 games?…The Rays face a righty (Gavin Floyd) tomorrow. But on Friday, the Blue Jays will send lefty JoJo Reyes to the mound. It will be interesting to see if Matt Joyce is in the lineup.
THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA…
- JP Howell will make the first of ten (scheduled) rehab appearances on Friday. [TampaBay.com]
- Michael Lortz makes his debut at MiLB.com. It’s about the Tampa Yankees, but we can forgive him for that. [MiLB]
- David Price and Read the rest of this entry »
Mar 15
The Rays made their latest, and biggest set of cuts so far this spring.
The only surprise on the list (via Marc Topkin) might be Dirk Hayhurst, who seemed like a legitimate candidate for one of the final bullpen spots. The other big names on the cut list today are Tim Beckham, Desmond Jennings, Chris Archer, and Robinson Chirinos. Jennings and Chirinos are likely to be back with the Rays at some point this season. Archer might still be a year away depending on whether the Rays keep him as a starting pitcher or move him to the bullpen.
Other cuts today were Alex Cobb, Dane De La Rosa, Brandon Gomes, Nevin Ashley, Leslie Anderson, Russ Canzler, JJ Furmaniak, Daniel Mayora and Stephen Vogt.
You can see an updated spring roster here.
Feb 21
Tim Bekcham speaking with George Hendrick
Joe Maddon offers some praise for Tim Beckham…
“[Beckham] cut down on his errors last year, he’s started swinging the bat better, he’s got a different body. He looks really good. He’s
growing up. … He’s getting rid of all that baby fat, he’s really leaning up. He just looks different. I’ve always loved his personality,
though. He definitely has an ingratiating personality. I could see him as he continues to get better as a player, the personality and the
skill level are going to match up.”
This is all promising to hear, but we can’t help but wonder if it is it too little, too late? This will mark his fourth professional season at the age of 21. And JoeMa makes it sound as if Beckham is starting from scratch. If true, Beckham still has a shot at being a contributing member of the Rays organization. But it also means we may not see him in the big leagues for another 3-4 years.
In other words, Reid Brignac’s job is safe for a while. At least until he starts making more money. And even then, the next shortstop of the Rays might be Hak-Ju Lee, who came the Rays in the Matt Garza deal.
THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA…
- Daniel Mayora and Joe Inglett are the only two players that have yet to report. Both are expected to be in camp today.
- Jeremy Hellickson still has a sore hamstring, but Read the rest of this entry »
Jan 14
Are you sitting down? You will want to sit down for this. Rafael Soriano has agreed to a contract with the *gulp* Yankees. For a lot of money: Three years, $35 million. And with that, Soriano’s new nickname will be MFIKTRTFEM (Mother F***** I’ll Kill The Rays Too For Enough Money, it is pronounced “Carl Crawford”).
So after saying he wouldn’t give up his first-round pick for Soriano, Brian Cashman just gave the Rays his first-round pick. And with that, the Rays now have three first-round picks and six “sandwich” picks between the first and second rounds, which will certainly please the crowd that likes potential over the product at the big league level.
THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA…
- Jon Heyman says the Rays are one of several teams showing interest in Jon Rauch. The reliever saved 21 games for the Twins last year, with a 3.12 ERA and 2.94 FIP. [Twitter]
- Scott Boras pumps up a few of his clients, all three of whom (Johnny Damon, Andruw Jones, Manny Ramirez) have been on the Rays radar. [MLB Trade Rumors]
- Marc Topkin writes about the struggles of Tim Beckham, who is quickly becoming an after-thought in the Rays organization. [TampaBay.com]
- Roger Mooney spoke with Read the rest of this entry »
Dec 15
A couple of interesting tidbits from Bruce Levine on the trade market for Matt Garza…
- Levine says the Yankees “will come after” Garza “with their good, young minor league prospects.”
- Levine confirms that the Cubs have an offer on the table for Garza that consists of “young prospects.”
- He adds that the Rays are looking for pitching prospects and are “insistent on getting back a shortstop of the future.”
Levine goes on to point out that the Rangers have two top shortstop prospects, Jurickson Profar and Luis Sardinas. The Cubs also have a couple of middle infield prospects, Hak-Ju Lee and Ryan Flaherty, that could be part of a deal.
We also heard yesterday that the Rays had targeted Ian Desmond from the Nationals in a potential Garza deal, but that the Nationals were unwilling to part with the shortstop.
The Rays typically don’t Read the rest of this entry »
