Archive for the 'Alex Torres' Category

Jan 10

The Rays Rotation Has Been Set Up To Dominate In 2012

Alex Cobb, Alex Torres, David Price, James Shields, Jeff Niemann, Jeremy Hellickson, Matt Moore, Wade Davis Cork Gaines 11 Comments »

One of the biggest concerns with young starting pitchers is their workload and easing them into a 200-ip season. The Rays typically prefer to limit their starters to a 20 percent increase in innings from one season to the next. If a pitcher exceeds that mark, they could be at a higher risk for injury or just a tired arm in the next season.

Last year, we saw the red flag with David Price, whose 221.1 innings pitches in 2010 was a 36.1 percent increase over the 2009 season. And while Price’s FIP improved from 3.42 in 2010 to 3.32 in 2011, his ERA ballooned from 2.72 in 2010 to 3.49 last year. Was he just unlucky? Maybe. But Price also showed that at times last year, he tired late in games.

So let’s take a look at how much the pitcher’s were used in 2011 and if there are any red flags…

Maybe the most important thing we see in this table is that the Rays big-6 starting pitchers (David Price, James Shields, Jeremy Hellickson, Wade Davis, Jeff Niemann, Matt Moore) are all free to throw Read the rest of this entry »

Nov 11

[THE HANGOVER] The One Where We Discuss Shields’ Book, Burrell’s Career, And Unis

Alex Torres, Joe Maddon, Pat Burrell Cork Gaines 3 Comments »
Click Here For Boxscore
Off-Season (click image for random Wikipedia page)

James Shields will be signing copies of his new book on Monday from 5:30-8:00 pm at Beef O’Brady’s on S. MacDill in Tampa.

September Nights is a behind the scenes look at the Rays and their playoff run at the end of the 2010 season.

THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA…

  • Pat Burrell says his baseball career is probably over. [SFGate]
  • Keith Law lists Wade Davis and Jeff Niemann as two of the four “intriguing names/trade targets” for this off-season (thanks Thad). [ESPN Insider]
  • Big League Stew calls the Devil Rays uniform transformation the best in baseball in the last 20 years, even though they seem to have forgotten that the Rays wore green in between the Rainbow Warriors and the current look. [Big League Stew]
  • Seedlings to Stars takes a closer look at Rays prospect Alex Torres. [Seedlings to Stars]
Sep 26

Rays Hold Pitching Advantage In Final Three (Or Four) Games

Alex Torres, David Price, James Shields, Jeff Niemann, Jeremy Hellickson, Matt Moore Cork Gaines 11 Comments »

It all comes down to this. The Rays have 88 wins. The Red Sox have 89 wins. The Rays have three games left, at home, against the Yankees. The Red Sox have three games left in Baltimore.

If the Rays win one more game than the Red Sox in these next three days, they will play a one-game playoff at The Trop on Thursday. Here are the pitching matchups for the Rays that could determine who goes on, and who goes home…

Monday: James Shields vs Hector Noesi — Shields has been one of the most dominant pitchers in the American League this season. Noesi will be making just his second start of the year after 28 relief appearances. His only other start was last week against the Rays, giving up 2 runs in 2.2 innings. And then consider that the Yankees played 23 innings yesterday and did not arrive in Tampa until early this morning…Advantage Rays

Tuesday: Jeremy Hellickson vs Bartolo Colon — Hellboy is still not the strikeout pitcher we have been expecting, but he has been great in the second half. In 12 starts since the break, he has a 2.50 ERA and the Rays are 7-5 in those starts. In his last start, he took a loss against the Yankees, but only allowed 2 runs in 7 innings. Colon’s season has taken the opposite road. After a strong first half (3.20 ERA) Colon has regressed, posting a 5.09 second-half ERA. And in his last two starts, he has allowed 11 runs in just 7 innings total…Advantage Rays

Wednesday: David Price vs Undecided — We are not sure what to expect from Price. In his last nine starts, he has held the opposition to two runs or less eight times. But after working five straight starts of 7 innings or more, Price has failed to finish 7 innings in any of his last four starts. The Yankees won’t start CC Sabathia, AJ Burnett, or Ivan Nova. And Phil Hughes is in the bullpen. We would be surprised if they used Freddy Garcia on the eve of the playoffs if he will be in the bullpen. And we don’t see anybody else on the active roster that has made a start this season. So no matter who the Yankees throw out there…Advantage Rays

Thursday (if necessary): Undecided vs Undecided — The two options for the Rays are Jeff Niemann, who worked just 1 inning on Saturday and would be on normal rest, or Matt Moore. This is just a hunch, but the Rays may be leaning towards Moore, unless he is needed in relief the next three days. If Moore is used before Thursday, the one-game playoff would look like Saturday’s game. That is, Niemann will start and Alex Torres will be ready to go if Niemann gets into any trouble. The Red Sox will use Josh Beckett and Eric Bedard in the first two games of the Orioles series. Jon Lester would go on Wednesday if the Sox have not clinched yet. That leaves Tim Wakefield for a potential one-game playoff…Push

Sep 26

[THE HANGOVER] The One Where We Discuss Big Dub’s Big Game, Big Pop, And A Big Let Down

Alex Torres, Kyle Farnsworth, Wade Davis Cork Gaines 16 Comments »
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Rays 5, Blue Jays 2 (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: Big Dub. Who would have guessed Wade Davis would pitch 8 innings? Honestly, we would have been happy if he last 5 innings. Instead, he dominated the Jays, giving up just 2 runs on 3 hits and 2 walks. A big game when the Rays needed one from the back of their rotation…Big Pop. The Rays who have struggled with the bats recently scored all 5 of their runs via the home run. BJ Upton and Ben Zobrist got the Rays off to a good start with solo home runs in the first. Zobrist’s was of the inside-the-park variety as Jose Bautista hurt his knee going for the catch at the wall. Later Evan Longoria and Kelly Shoppach hit home runs off the catwalks.

THE BAD: Missed Opportunity. With the Rays trailing the Red Sox by just a half-game last night, the Yankees had several opportunities to win the second game of their double-header. A Yankees win would have left the Rays tied with the Red Sox with 3 to go. But Jacoby Ellsbury buried the Yankees in the 14th inning and the lead is back to 1 game.

THE TELLING: Joe Maddon chose to use Joel Peralta in the 9th inning rather than Kyle Farnsworth who had worked the night before…The Rays hit 4 home runs, but three of them never left the field of play. Weird…On September 2, the Rays had a 0.6 percent chance of making the playoffs. Prior to last night’s Red Sox-Yankees game, it was 21 percent. Now it is 11.5 percent…

RANDOM THOUGHTS: Why do people wear Yankees gear to Tropicana Field if the Yankees aren’t playing?…Let’s ignore Alex Cobb for a minute. Let’s assume one team has Jeff Niemann and Wade Davis and another team has Matt Moore and Alex Torres, and everything else is equal. Which team wins more games in 2012?

THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA…

  • “Every day is the biggest game of the year.” [The Heater]
  • Kyle Farnsworth said he felt good after his first appearance back. [TampaBay.com]
  • No “Hangover” yesterday, but we would be remiss if we didn’t give a shout-out to Alex Torres and his huge effort on Saturday night. Wow. [TampaBay.com]
  • If the Rays do make the playoffs, nobody in the mainstream media will care. The topic will only be how the Red Sox blew it. [TampaBay.com]
  • The Rays called the Mets in June asking about Jose Reyes, but were told he wasn’t available. [Newsday]
Sep 16

[THE HANGOVER] The One Where We Discuss A Big Win, Bossman’s Swing, And Torres’ Future

Alex Torres, BJ Upton, Evan Longoria, Kyle Farnsworth Cork Gaines 18 Comments »
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Rays 9, Red Sox 2 (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: One Down. Unlike last weekend, the Rays don’t have to sweep the Sox. Win 3 out of 4 and get within 2 with 10 to play is nice position to be in. By getting game 1, there is less pressure today. And in fact, there is a growing pressure on the Red Sox. The Rays have now won six in a row against the Sox, and they have done it in dominating fashion, outscoring the Sox 41-12 in those 6 games…Bossman. This is not even an exaggeration. We haven’t seen BJ Upton hit the ball as consistently hard as he is hitting the ball right now. His home run was a moon shot over the monster in the deep park of the field. And that might not have been hit as hard as the line drive he hit that was never more than 15 feet off the ground but still almost went over Carl Crawford’s head. Let’s just hope this lasts a couple of more weeks…Dirtbag. Evan Longoria is starting to gain a reputation as not just a big-time player, but as a guy that brings it when it matters the most. His 3-run home run in the 3rd inning was of the exhale variety. Everybody, fans and players, are a little uptight in a big series. And his jack allowed everybody to exhale and relax just a little…Alex Torres. Torres pitched the 9th inning giving up 1 run and striking out 2. He also walked a batter on 4 pitches which sums up Torres perfectly. Nasty stuff, occasional lapses in control. What is good is that this guy would be in the rotation for half the teams in baseball, but with the Rays he is #8 on the depth chart.

THE BAD: Livers. We have three more games of this?

THE TELLING: Don’t forget. This is not a 2-team race. The Angels are just 1 game behind the Rays…No doubt you guys have noticed, we don’t ever use the nickname “Big Game” for James Shields. But we will gladly use it tomorrow if he shows us something tonight.

THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA…

  • Apparently The Ripper from “Last Action Hero” was at Fenway Park last night. [IMAGE]
  • Pricey being Pricey. [VIDEO]
  • Kyle Farnsworth is the 12th “Meanest Player” in baseball according to SI.com. [SI.com]
  • The logo for this roofing company looks familiar. We can’t quite place it. Do you guys know? [TruRoof.net]
  • We think it is safe to say that LaGarrette Blount will see the ball more this Sunday. [JoeBucsFan]
Sep 15

[THE HANGOVER] The One Where We Discuss Moore’s Debut, Pumkin’s Return, And Losing To Bad Teams

Alex Torres, Dan Johnson, Matt Moore Cork Gaines 17 Comments »
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Orioles 6, Rays 2 (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: Matt Moore. No, he wasn’t good. The last 3 batters he faced got hits, including a death-inducing home run from Matt Wieters. But before that we got our first look at why this kid is special. He was consistently 96-98 with his fastball. And he does it with ease. Whatever the opposite of “max effort” is, that’s Matt Moore.

THE BAD: Not in the Cards. Playoff teams don’t lose 2 of 3 to the Orioles in September. And good teams don’t go 9-9 against the Orioles on the season. If the Rays are just 11-7 against the O’s this year, there would be a serious playoff push going on.

THE TELLING: Sam Fuld, who was starting in place of Desmond Jennings, left the game in the 5th with a wrist injury…The Rays have promoted Dan Johnson and Alex Torres. To make room on the 40-man roster, they have released Jay Buente.

THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA…

  • According to Alex Cobb, he is “a little ahead of schedule” on his rehab. [TCPalm]
  • The 2012 schedule has been released. [TBO.com]
  • For a team that has always said it is a priority to be strong up the middle (C, 2B, SS, CF), they sure have a problem finding a decent catcher or shortstop. [The King David Show]
  • All Joe Maddon does is win. [TampaBay.com]
  • MLB Trade Rumors calls the Casey Kotchman signing the second best minor league deal of this past off-season. He might have been first if had received stem cell treatments. [MLBTR]
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 Cork Gaines 6 Comments »
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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 19

[THE HANGOVER] The One Where We Discuss Dirtbag’s Foot, A AAA Lineup, And JoeMa Giving Up

Adam Russell, Alex Cobb, Alex Torres, Evan Longoria, Joe Maddon, Juan Cruz, Matt Moore Cork Gaines 50 Comments »
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Yankees 5, Rays 4 (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: We’re too effing tired to come up with anything good.

THE BAD: Joe Maddon. JoeMa went all-in in the 8th inning when he called on Kyle Farnsworth with 1 out in the 8th inning and a short bullpen thanks to Sunday’s 16 inning affair. But when Farnsworth blew the save in the 8th, Maddon turned to Alex Torres to make his big league debut in the 9th inning of a tie game against the Yankees with the heart of their order due up. It was a recipe for disaster, and disaster is exactly what Torres delivered. After a single and an intentional walk, Torres walked two straight batters with stuff that was too nasty (think Victor Zambrano, too much movement, can’t find the strikezone). The second walk brough home the go-ahead run…Evan Longoria’s Foot. His foot is hurting much more than an occasional discomfort. He is legitimately hurt, and either we will hear about needing surgery after the season, or he will need to be shut down during the season…AAA Lineup. In the 9th inning, the Rays had a meeting on the mound. Of the 6 players in the meeting, 4 had started the season in triple-A (Elliot Johnson, Casey Kotchman, Alex Torres, Robinson Chirinos). Not exactly the recipe for beating the Yankees.

THE TELLING: A bank of lights went out after the Trop was struck by lightning, causing a delay of 18 minutes. And of course it happened during a nationally televised game leading to the comments on the failures of the Trop as if no other stadium had ever experienced a power outage (Yankee Stadium had one in 2004)…Would Alex Torres have been called up if the Rays hadn’t played 16 innings on Sunday? And if not, that raises the question of whether Jose Cruz is actually injured or if this is just another Rays roster move using the DL…The Rays are now 6.5 games out of the Wild Card and have just an 8.5 percent shot at the playoffs. Game. Set. Ma….

THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA…

  • Before the game, the Rays designated Adam Russell for assignment and placed Juan Cruz on the DL with a strained groin. In addition to calling up Alex Cobb, the Rays also added Alex Torres as a long-man in the bullpen.
  • And after the game Alex Torres was optioned back to Durham.
  • Matt Moore has been promoted to Read the rest of this entry »
Apr 19

[THE HANGOVER] The One Where We Discuss Golden D, Flip Fourth, And Booing Crawford

Alex Torres, Felipe Lopez, Jeff Niemann, Johnny Damon, Reid Brignac, Sam Fuld Cork Gaines 5 Comments »

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: Defense. Reid Brignac made a spectacular play when he ranged towards the third base line in shallow left field, dove for a ball, got up and got the runner at first. Sam Fuld added two sliding/diving catches of his own…Felipe Lopez. When we first saw yesterday’s lineup and noticed Flip was back in the clean-up spot, we were noticeably scared. But then he singled home the Rays first run in the first inning. Then he followed that up with an RBI-double and a home run. We will gladly eat crow on this one…David Price. Price was dealing, tossing 8 shutout innings, striking out 9 and walking just 2. He started the White Sox with a steady dose of his fastball. In fact, his first 32 pitches were fastballs, not mixing in another pitch until the 3rd inning. But then 25 of his next 82 pitches were changeups getting 3 swinging strikes and 3 called strikes with that pitch.

THE BAD: Lineup. The lineup produced last night, but Evan Longoria can’t get back soon enough.

THE TELLING: Johnny Damon is still day-to-day with a sore finger, but is hoping to return on Thursday. He was also named the American League’s co-player of the week…BJ Upton was given the day off…Evan Longoria is still hoping to be back by April 29th…Alex Torres was named the International League’s (AAA) pitcher of the week.

THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA…

  • Carl Crawford was booed yesterday by the Red Sox fans, but then was given a (sarcastic?) standing ovation after hitting a double, just his 8th hit of the season (thanks Larry). [ESPN]
  • If you haven’t seen Read the rest of this entry »
Mar 12

[THE HANGOVER] The One Where We Discuss Hellboy’s Return, Big Red’s Struggles And Flip’s Playing Time

Adam Russell, Alex Torres, Felipe Lopez, Jeremy Hellickson, Matt Bush Cork Gaines 2 Comments »

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: Jeremy Hellickson. It’s about time. They said his hammy wasn’t serious. But you know how the Rays are when it comes to pitchers with injuries. Often, 2 weeks becomes 8. And next thing you know Andy Sonnanstine is starting against the White Sox on that 2nd Saturday of the season. But crisis averted. Hellboy made his spring debut yesterday. And it was a solid 1-2-3 5th inning.

THE BAD: Wade Davis. Big Dub just didn’t have it yesterday. He gave up 7 hits leading to 4 runs throwing more balls (29) than strikes (28)…Adam Russell. Big Red (too easy?) continues to get pounded. He got through the 8th giving up only a single. But he came back out in the 9th and gave up 3 straight hits to guys with the numbers 81, 76 and 51 on their backs, before being pulled. Those guys usually aren’t very good.

THE TELLING: Manny Ramirez led off to get his ABs in early…Felipe Lopez continues to get a lot of work at 3B, getting the start yesterday. If Flip makes the roster, we wonder if Joe Maddon is hoping to get Evan Longoria some more games at DH this year to keep him fresh…However, Felipe Lopez, will have to beat out Elliot Johnson who got the start at SS.

THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA…

  • The first “meeting” of the RI Baseball Book Club will be up later this morning. Nothing formal. Come and go as you please. We’ll let the discussion go all weekend.
  • Joe Maddon’s father-in-law passed away on Thursday. Our thoughts are with Joe and his wife, Jaye. At this time, Maddon has no plans to leave the team. [TampaBay.com]
  • The Rays made their first cuts Read the rest of this entry »
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