Dec 30
Might Grant Balfour be pitching in Baltimore next season? According to Roch Kubatko of MASN.com, that is a definite possibility.
Kubatko says the Orioles have “definite interest” and notes that the compensation price must not be a deterrent. The Mad Australian is a Type A free agent, but since the Orioles have one of the top 15 picks in the draft, their first round pick is protected. Therefore, if Balfour signs with the O’s, the Rays would receive a sandwhich pick between the first and second round and the O’s second round pick (approximately #55).
THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA…
- The Rays could receive another draft pick if Chad Qualls signs with another team. And according to Qualls’ agent, there are six teams interested in the reliever. [MLB Trade Rumors]
Nov 24
The Rays offered arbitration to free agents Grant Balfour, Carl Crawford, Rafael Soriano, Randy Choate, Brad Hawpe, Joaquin Benoit and Chad Qualls. The Rays declined to offer arbitration to Dan Wheeler or Carlos Pena.
Offering a free agent arbitration is necessary if the Rays want to receive draft pick compensation if those free agents sign with another team. The risk is that the player could decide they will get more in arbitration than on the free agent market. If the player accepts the offer, the Rays could be stuck with a player they don’t want or at a price they don’t want to pay.
In the cases of Wheeler and Pena, both would have almost certainly accepted. The Rays may want both players back, but they don’t want to pay what either could have gotten in arbitration.
Balfour and Qualls could choose to accept arbitration and the Rays may be more than happy to have both back on one-year deals at a salary similar to what they made last year.
Crawford, Soriano and Choate will decline arbitration knowing they will get more money and years on the free agent market. And Benoit has already signed with the Tigers. Offering him arbitration is just a formality to make sure the Rays receive a compensation draft pick.
THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA…
Aug 20
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: Hellboy IV. Tonight, the immovable object meets the unstoppable force. The Rays are 2-13 in their last 15 Friday games. But the Rays will send Jeremy Hellickson will take his 3-0 record to the mound. Great pitchers prevent losing streaks. It’s time for Hellboy to be great…Evan Longoria. Dirtbag continues to rake, picking up 2 more hits and his 17th home run. He now has 8 hits in the last 3 games and 17 in the last 10.
THE BAD: CooCoo Crisp. Damn we hate that guy. With 1 run already in and the Rays holding a 3-1 lead. Crisp robbed Matt Joyce of a 2-run home run that would have likely put the game out of reach…Going Cold. This offense sure picks some terrible times to go cold. After Oakland took the lead in the bottom of the 6th, BJ Upton led off the 7th with a single. Reid Brignac then swung at the first pitch without giving Upton a chance to steal second, and grounded into a double-play. Upton would end up being the Rays last baserunner…Dan Wheeler. We’re not going to rag on the guy too hard because usually he gets the job done. But you have to kinda expect the occasional implosion. You just hope those don’t cost the Rays wins. Last night it did…Dan Johnson. In 12 games, Johnson is now 4-35 (.114). He does have 14 walks which is nice. But we warned you not to get too excited.
THE TELLING: BJ Upton’s 10-game hitting streak matches a career-high…Jeff Niemann and Wade Davis will pitch in a simulated game today…Chad Qualls is absent from the team due to a death in the family…The Pepsi Refresh Project awarded the Rays a $5,000 grant for the Moffitt Cancer Center. The Twins won the big prize.
WHERE THEY STAND: The Rays are 74-47, 1 game behind the Yankees and 5.5 games ahead of the Red Sox. After 121 games in 2008, the Rays were 74-47.
THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA…
- Brad Hawpe, a 2009 All-Star, will become a free agent on Monday. Ken Rosenthal lists the Rays as a potential landing spot. [Twitter]
- The Rays are not the only local team with attendance issues. [Joe Bucs Fan]
- Grant Balfour says he is Read the rest of this entry »
Aug 11
The Rays have nine potential free agents at the end of the year. The Elias rankings will determine whether the Rays will receive any compensation should these players sign with another team (see below for a detailed explanation of free agency compensation).
MLB Trade Rumors has determined the formula used in the Elias rankings. Let’s take a look at where the Rays free agents-to-be would fall if the season ended today…
The Rays have three potential Type A free agents. They also have four potential Type B free agents with Joaquin Benoit jumping up into Type B status. With only 49 games to go, this classifications are not likely to change much unless Grant Balfour comes back strong in September.
If the season ended today Read the rest of this entry »
Aug 09
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. Despite yesterday’s performance, the Rays still rank 3rd in the AL with 555 runs scored. Of course that is also 3rd in the AL East, but that’s just crummy luck.
THE BAD: The Offense. That being said, something needs to change. The Rays were struck out 17 times on Sunday and did not get their only hit until 2 outs in the 9th. This was the 4th time this season the Rays had no hits in the first 8 innings. This was also the 5th time this season the Rays failed to get more than 1 hit in a game. No other team has 2 such games. In the first 12 seasons of this franchise, the (Devil) Rays were only no-hit or 1-hit 5 times. And yet it has happened 5 times this season! But what can be done? Is firing Derek Shelton the answer? We don’t know. We have never thought hitting coaches made much of a difference anyway. But maybe this group needs a fresh voice. If Shelton is let go, it probably wouldn’t happen until after the season. What about hiring Cliff Floyd as a special assistant just to have his presence in the clubhouse on a daily basis? Many gave Floyd a lot of credit for the day-in and day-out effort by the position players. We don’t know what needs to be changed, but something needs to be done, and it needs to be done now.
THE TELLING: Jeremy Hellickson missed his scheduled start on Sunday in case he is needed to start for the Rays on Tuesday…On Saturday, James Shields tied a MLB record by allowing 6 home runs. He now leads all MLB with 28 home runs allowed this season…On Friday, Carlos Pena was placed on the DL (a week too late, but hey who needs a full bullpen?) and replaced by Dale Thayer. Thayer was then demoted on Sunday and replaced by Andy Sonnastine who is coming off the DL and made his first start of the year…Former top pick Matt Bush is back on the DL.
WHERE THEY STAND: The Rays are 67-44, 2.5 games behind the Yankees (3 in the loss column) and 4.5 games ahead of the Red Sox in the Wild Card (5 in the loss column). After 111 games in 2008, the Rays were 66-45.
THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA…
- Both Jeff Niemann and Wade Davis were sent home from Toronto to see a doctor due to “shoulder sourness.” Joe Maddon called it “a precautionary thing.” [The Heater]
- Jeremy Hellickson, who could start Tuesday for the Rays, will be limited to 3 innings and 45 pitches in any remaining minor league starts this season. [St. Pete Times]
- James Shields blamed John Jaso for at least part of his performance on Saturday. [St. Pete Times]
- In reference to our story last week about the possibility of cups being re-used at Tropicana Field, SB Nation Tampa Bay explains why this may have happened. [SB Nation Tampa Bay]
- Rays prospect Andrew Bellatti will stand trial for his involvement in a car accident that left another driver dead. [Rays Prospects]
- JB Long spoke with John Romano and Gary Shelton about The Trop’s catwalks, Joe Maddon and the wild card race (VIDEO). [Bright House Sports]
- MLB Trade Rumors looks at the teams that may go after Carl Crawford this winter. [MLB Trade Rumors]
- Prior to this season, Chad Qualls was considered part of a very elite group: Consistent relief pitchers. [Baseball Prospectus]
- The Rays are still #2 in the latest ESPN.com Power Rankings. [ESPN]
- Former Devil Ray Joey Gathright has signed with the Independent Long Island Ducks. [Twitter]
DOWN ON THE FARM…
- Check out Rays Prospects for boxscores and more detailed recaps. [Rays Prospects]
- DURHAM: Aneury Rodriguez threw 4.1 shutout innings with 6 strikeouts and 4 walks. He allowed just 1 hit…Jake McGee (2004-5) pitched 2 innings of relief. He did not allow a baserunner and struck out 5 of the 6 batters he faced…Desmond Jennings (2006-10) was 1-3 and stole his 28th base…Leslie Anderson went 2-4 in his 2nd game at triple-A.
- MONTGOMERY: Justin Garcia (2007-25) made his first start of the season and gave up 5 runs in 7 innings…Henry Wrigley (2005-14) went 2-4 with a home run, his 7th of the year. He drove in 3.
- CHARLOTTE: (no game scheduled)
- BOWLING GREEN: Albert Suarez gave up just 1 hit in 4 shutout innings, striking out 4 and walking none…Ty Morrison (2008-4) was 0-5 with 3 strikeouts.Brett Nommensen (2009-8) stole his 25th base.
- HUDSON VALLEY: Jake Thompson (2010-2) with yet another strong start, giving up just 1 unearned run on 3 hits and no walks in 5 innings. He struck out 2 and his ERA is now 0.29 in 26.0 innings…Steven Tinoco (2010-34) hit his first home run of the season.
- PRINCETON: Andrew Bellatti (2009-12) lowered his ERA to 2.55 after holding Bluefield to 1 run in 5 innings. He struck out 6 and walked 1…Cesar Guillen was 0-1 but did walk 4 times.
Aug 02
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: James Shields. Joe Maddon said it was the best performance he had ever seen from James Shields. Ever. Shields faced 28 batters on Sunday, retiring 22 of them. But none were bigger than striking out Alex Rodriguez to end the 7th inning. With only 1 runner on base, ARod couldn’t have tied the game, but if he had hit his 600th home run there, it would have made things a lot more interesting…Andrew Friedman. The only move Friedman made before the deadline was for a reliever with an ERA over 8.00. But that reliever can induce groundballs, and when the Rays needed a groundball in the 8th inning of a 3-run game, Chad Qualls delivered an inning-ending double-play. +1 for World B Friedman…Rodzilla. Sean Rodriguez once again proves that he is Ben Zobrist-Lite. With Pena leaving the game early on Saturday, Rodriguez moved to first base for the first time as a professional and then made his first start at first base on Sunday.
THE BAD: 53. With 57 games to go, the Rays magic number to clinch the Wild Card is 53. Why is that bad? The Rays are in a great position, but there is a lot of baseball left to play.
THE TELLING: With Jeremy Hellickson making his big league debut tonight, The Rays are the last team in baseball to use a starting pitcher that was not in the rotation to start the season…This marked the first time since 2006 that the Rays shut out the Yankees. And it was just the fifth time all season the Yankees failed to score…In July, Tim Beckham hit .340 with a .466 OBP in 94 at bats. He posted an outstanding 19-to-20 strikeout-to-walk ratio…The Durham Bulls tied a franchise record with their 11th straight win…CoolStandings.com gives the Rays an 85.9% chance at making the playoffs. The Yankees are at 89.3% and the Red Sox at 17.7%.
WHERE THEY STAND: The Rays are 66-39, 1 game behind the Yankees in the East and 5.5 games ahead of the Red Sox in the Wild Card. After 105 games in 2008, the Rays were 61-44.
THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA…
Jul 31
[UPDATE] The Rays have placed Grant Balfour on the DL with a rib strain. Qualls will take Balfour’s spot on the roster.
[UPDATE] The Rays just announced that Qualls will be in uniform tonight. They will announce a corresponding move prior to the game.
[6:27am] The Rays have picked up relief pitcher Chad Qualls from the Diamondbacks for a player to be named later. Qualls will be a free agent after the season and the Rays are responsible for the entire $1.5 million remaining on his contract.
Qualls has an 8.29 ERA in 38 innings this season with 34 strikeouts and 15 walks. His FIP is 4.30 which suggests he has been unlucky but even that number is not very good.
The key number might be that opponents have a .434 batting average on balls in play (BABIP). That number should be closer to .300. A horrible BABIP can sometimes be blamed on poor defense behind the pitcher, but in the case of Arizona, they are a good defensive team. So again, maybe he has just been unlucky. Very unlucky. Or maybe the Rays just picked up a new “down 9-2 guy.”
Jul 27
Here are the latest rumblings as we are now four days from the trade deadline…
- Ken Rosenthal and Jon Morosi report BJ Upton is unlikely to be traded. That is not surprising, but what is telling is that the Rays apparently don’t think Desmond Jennings is ready. They also cite the dropoff in defensive ability from Upton to Ben Zobrist and Sean Rodriguez. Rosenthal and Morosi also note that other teams have “heavy interest” in Rodriguez, Reid Brignac and Wade Davis, but that the Rays would prefer to trade prospects. [Fox Sports]
- Jon Morosi reports that the Rays are interested in Chad Qualls from the Diamondbacks. Qualls has an 8.49 ERA in 41 appearances this season. His FIP is a lot better at 4.14 and he has been the victim of an attrocious .452 batting average on balls in play (it varies, but average BABIP is about .300). [Twitter]
- Meanwhile, Andrew Friedman spoke about the upcoming trade deadline and pretty much said nothing (standard). For example, when asked if the Rays preferred to acquire players that will be free agents or players that would be around a while, World B. Friedman responded: “blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah either” (we’re paraphrasing). [Rays Report]
