On Sept. 23, 2007, Delmon Young hit a 2-run home run against the Red Sox in the 2nd inning. After being traded to the Minnesota Twins for Matt Garza and Jason Bartlett this past off-season, little did anybody know that 8 months later, Young would yet to have hit another. The Twins and their fans were certainly hoping for a little more production from the young “slugger”.

We have already made our feelings known about Young’s performance in Minnesota (it’s not good). However, in light of Garza’s 4th win of the season (5th since Sept. 23, 2007) we feel like we should start tracking how long Young can go before Dishin’ Out A Delmon to an opposing team. For his sake and their fans, let’s hope this will jinx an opposing pitcher sooner, rather than later.

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• Last day with a reduced schedule…Things should return back to normal tomorrow. Sue us.
  
• Tampa Bay Sports Blog takes a closer look at the Rays defense and sees lots of improvement even if the team does miss Delmon Young in right field…Gotta admit, Young’s arm is the only thing we miss about that guy. [Tampa Bay Sports Blog]
• The Sporting News believes that the improved defense is why the Rays are winning…We love the new defense, and it is certainly helping the pitching, but the Rays are winning because the entire pitching staff believes they can win. Their is a new confidence we have never seen before. [The Sporting News]
• Bleacher Report thinks Jason Hammel’s control issues on Tuesday night may have cost the team the game and himself a spot in the rotation. [Bleacher Report]
• Stuart Sternberg was in attendance in Baltimore and spoke about the new-look Rays. [MLB]
• Bugs & Cranks suggests a new slogan for the 2008 Tampa Bay Rays based on recent comments by Stuart Sternberg. “Two pounds of bologna in a one pound bag”. We like it. [Bugs & Cranks]
• Carlos Pena called the accusations that he was trying to steal signs “Totally ridiculous”. [The Heater]
• 15-12 marks the best opening month in Rays history (actually one win was in March) besting the previous best April of 12-12. [AP]
  

Tampa Bay Rays (13 days until pitchers and catchers report)
A college newspaper in Minnesota got a hold of Delmon Young for a quick little Q&A following the Minnesota Twins FanFest. And boy, what a difference 1,600 miles makes.

When asked about his experience with Tampa Bay…

Tampa was fun. They were the first organization I played with and I appreciate everything they did for me to get to the big leagues and let me play for just over a year … I had great teammates down there …, a talented team and everything, they are going to do well but they are in a tough division.

When asked about having to move from right field to left field with the Twins…

I will do whatever the team wants asks me. That’s what spring training is for, I have all the time in the world to get comfortable in left field. There is only a slight difference with the ball going the opposite way. It’s just a position, you know, just get a glove and let your instincts take over.

Twins fans have no idea what they have gotten themselves into. We cannot wait until the first time Ron Gardenhire asks DY to hit a ball to the right side with a runner on second and no outs, to get the runner to third. Or the first time he insists that Young take a pitch until the pitcher throws a strike after he has walked two straight batters (This is essentially why David Ortiz never posted big numbers with the Twins). We think it is just a matter of time before Gardenhire is Gettin’ a Delmon.

Q&A with Delmon Young [The Record]

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• Rob Neyer ranks the 10 best left fielders for the next 5 years. He has Carl Crawford on top of the list. Still, it is not the most flattering evaluation ever. [ESPN]

You have to like Crawford, but it’s worth mentioning that he has not showed a normal growth curve. At 22, he was roughly six wins better than a replacement player … and was roughly six wins better than a replacement player at 23, 24, and 25. I’m not sure what to make of that, except there’s no obvious reason to think he’s suddenly going to become a great player (though I do believe he’ll have a few great seasons).

• The Stat Pack takes a close look at Rob Neyer’s list of the top left fielders. [The Stat Pack]
• Drays Bay takes a look at Keith Law and Kevin Goldstein’s list of the top 100 prospects and where the Rays prospects fall on those lists. The most surprising is that both have Desmond Jennings in the top 20 (11 and 18 respectively). [DRays Bay]
• Rays Anatomy breaks down Baseball America’s Prospect Handbook list of the Top 30 Tampa Bay Rays prospects. [Rays Anatomy]
  
• The Tampa Tribune has more details about that 35-person task force being formed by the St. Pete Chamber of Commerce to review the Rays proposal for a new stadium. [TBO]
• The Rays Hot Stove Radio Show will make its 2008 debut on Monday at 7:00 pm on 620AM. Andrew Friedman and BJ Upton will appear on the show and will be available for autographs. [DevilRays.com]
  
• Anthony DiComo takes a look at 10 rookies that could be dominant in 2008, including Evan Longoria. [MLB.com]

Down in Tampa Bay, Longoria is set to start at third base a year after slugging 26 homers between two levels of the Minor Leagues. And oh, yes, he’s only 22 years old.

The last part of that biography seems most impressive. On a team loaded with young talent, Longoria has a chance to be the star. He’s not two years removed from flying off the Draft board third overall, yet the Rays believe he’s ready for the big leagues — both on and off the field.

• UmpBump thinks everybody will be pulling for the Rays this year and that they will be a trendy playoff pick. [Ump Bump]
• Mitch Talbot was honored at his high school by having his jersey retired. When interviewed, hr stated that he expects to start the year in Durham, but he expects to be ready for the majors by mid-season. [Cedar City Review]

Delmon Young and Elijah Dukes may be gone but that does not mean we can’t still make fun of them. In fact, they are more fair-game than ever as we no longer get that guilty feeling of “picking on one of our own”.

We must admit, nothing gets us more excited than seeing a new post pop-up in our feedreader from The Dugout (via AOL Fanhouse). The humor is sooo 9th grade, but it is usually short, sweet and to the point and is almost always good for at least one out loud laugh. Just the sort of thing to get us through the day.

Which is why we are kicking ourselves today for not having seen these earlier.

The Dugout visited with both Delmon Young and Elijah Dukes after their respective trades from the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. And by the way…If you ever wondered why we referred to Young throwing out baserunners as “Gettin’ A Delmon”, The Dugout is the answer.

Below are snippets from each “Chatroom”. Click on either image to be taken to the entire Chatroom session.

DELMON YOUNG GOES TO MINNESOTA…
ELIJAH DUKES GOES TO HEAVEN…

The Dugout: Delmon Young Goes to Minnesota [AOL Fanhouse]
The Dugout: Elijah Dukes Goes to Heaven [AOL Fanhouse]

Tampa Bay Rays (36 days until pitchers and catchers report)
Like any major redevelopment, the Tampa Bay Rays will have to win a lot of fights along the way as opposition will pop up everywhere. After removing their request for $60 million in state subsidies, the next fight that is starting to brew is the quest to protect the Manatee and how filling a portion of the St. Pete waterfront will affect the endangered species.

“The manatees need to be protected,” said Cathy Harrelson, chairwoman of the coastal task force for the Suncoast Sierra Club. “It is a very big concern.”

“The environment is just the tip of it,” said Lorraine Margeson, an environmental activist opposed to the ballpark. “To me, right now this gives every reason to take this plan right off the map, not even waste our time talking about desecrating the city’s waterfront when there is no need for the city to do this.”

Stadium plans call for dumping fill dirt over six-tenths of an acre of Tampa Bay to create about 26,000 square feet of new land, the equivalent of three house lots. The Rays would then reroute Bayshore Drive across the new land, making the road bow out into the bay.

For those that are not familiar with my daytime job, I work directly with endangered sea mammals. So I am very familiar with the plight of the Manatee and always err on the side of caution when it comes to endangered animals. BUT…this fight reeks of rich people suddenly giving a shit about an animal, only because it suits their needs. As soon as the stadium issue is resolved…either way…these people will be fighting for the Manatees as much as OJ Simpson is searching for the real killers.

Opponents say Rays, Manatees don’t mix [TampaBay.com]

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• The Sporting News ranks the AL starting rotations. The Rays quintet comes in at #10 (out of 14). We are torn here. Before we read the list, we were worried that this would be another writer that jumped on the Rays rotation bandwagon. We have seen some say that the Rays now have one of the best. And with Scott Kazmir, James Shields and Matt Garza, the Rays have one of the better trios. But those seem to ignore Edwin Jackson and Andy Sonnanstine. And while both have the potential to be much better, the truth is, the Rays will be an underdog in almost every single one of their starts. That is 40% of the schedule. Now saying that, #10 seems a bit low, but looking at the list, we are not sure who we would bump. So maybe #10 is about right. [Sporting News]
• The Hardball Times used some fancy math to calculate how many runs each outfielder prevented based on their arm in 2007. BJ Upton was rated as the best arm in center field. Delmon Young rated as the fourth best right fielder and Carl Crawford came in as the 20th “best” left fielder…Nobody has ever questioned Upton’s arm strength, but when Bossman Junior was playing shortstop, he often threw the ball as if he was trying to give a souvenir to every fan behind the first base dugout. In the outfield he has more room for error, and psychologically, he probably thrives with the freedom to just “let ‘er rip”. Crawford’s poor ranking is no surprise as he does have below-average arm strength and often has the accuracy of a blind man. Still. 20th? Among left fielders? The left fielder is generally the outfielder with the weakest arm and Crawford is one of the worst of the bunch, meaning CC ranks among the worst arms in baseball. Maybe he should try throwing right-handed. [The Hardball Times]
• And yet, one blogger lists Carl Crawford as the third best outfielder in baseball. [Dionne's Dugout]
• Rays Anatomy excerpted an interview with Jim Callis in which he covers the Rays farm system in depth. The most telling point is the prediction that David Price will be in the majors by September at the latest. [Rays Anatomy]

[Update: Delmon Young has finished second in the voting to Dustin Pedroia. Young received three first place votes out of 28]

Today, the winners of the Rookie of the Year awards for each league will be announced. The general belief is that Dustin Pedroia of the Boston Red Sox will take home the award with Delmon Young of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays finishing second. Two websites challenged each other to come up with 5 reasons why their candidate should win the award.

The Serious Tip presents “5 reasons why Delmon Young should win Rookie of the Year“.

In summary…

1. Consistency
2. Clutch Hitting
3. Versatility
4. Fielding Prowess
5. Overexposure

We have to take issue with #3 “Versatility” and #4 “Fielding Prowess”. One of the Top 5 arms in baseball? Probably. Gold Glove-caliber? No way. For those that have seen Young play on a regular basis, know that he often looks uncomfortable in right field, plays wayyyyy too deep (a sign that a player has trouble going back on balls) and takes terrible angles on balls all the time. We are not saying he will never be a good defensive outfielder. He just is not one yet. And while he was passable as a center fielder, he spent the entire time playing the position from the restaurant on the other side of the center field wall and complaining about the move to the press.

One More Dying Quail rebuts with “Five Reasons Why Dustin Pedroia Should Be Rookie Of The Year“. We have long thought that Pedroia should and would win the award. However, after reading the argument at OMDQ, we are now thinking that maybe Delmon Young does deserve the award.

To summarize the argument…

1. David Eckstein is also scrappy and never won the award
2. Pedroia made a great defensive play on Sept. 1
3. He sucked for the first month and never strikes out
4. He is as tough as Raul Rodarte of the Mexican League
5. The author is afraid of his wife

That is one hell of an argument. Let’s see if we can come up with some better reasoning one way or the other…

1. Offense (traditional stats): Delmon Young hit .288-13-93 while appearing in 162 games. Dustin Pedroia hit .317-8-50 in 139 games. Delmon loses points for not understanding the rules of baseball and knowing that he does not have to swing at every single god damned pitch. If Delmon Young would have shown any patience this season he could have hit .320. EDGE: Eck’s Clone Pedroia
2. Offense (newage stats): Pedroia had a VORP of 35.9 compared to 5.7 for Young (not a typo). Pedroia had an OPS of .822 compared to .724 for Young. Pedroia had an EqA of .276 while Young’s EqA was only .251. We are pretty sure that Pedroia got a 30 point boost in his VORP for being little and scrappy. EDGE: The Eck-esque Pedroia
3. Clutchiness: In close and late situations, Pedroia hit .299-2-2 in 67 at bats with a .780 OPS. Young was .264-3-13 with an OPS of .723. Of course Young had a huge walk-off home run in the Disney series against the Rangers. Young also seem to play the game with a chip on his shoulder and strong desire to be known, which means his concentration level seems to rise to a new level when it matters most. EDGE: Delmonator
4. Defense: Pedroia gets a slight nod right off the bat because he played second base on a team in a pennant-race, but lets look at the numbers. Pedroia had a Range Factor of 4.88, just below the league average of 4.98. Young had a RF of 2.13, higher than the league average for RF of 2.08. This tells us that Young’s speed helped him overcome his problems with the glove and may not have been as bad as we previously thought. On the other hand, Young was Dishin’ Out Delmon’s all season long to the tune of 16 outfield assists. Pedrioa did not have a single outfield assist! BUT…Pedroia looks like David Eckstein. EDGE: Split
5. Cockiness: We can only base this on 2007 so Delmon Young does not get credit for throwing a bat at an unpire, however, he does get bonus points for 1) bitching about having to play center field; 2) believing every pitch is his pitch; and 3) thinking that Joe Maddon singled him out for not hustling on the penultimate game of the season. Pedroia gets bonus points for being Major League Baseball’s poster-child for the Napolean Complex. EDGE: Delmonator

In the end, it was closer than we thought it would be, but the numbers don’t lie. VORP And EqA give Pedroia a huge edge and he did it all season long playing middle infield for a team in a pennant race under the scrutiny of the unforgiving Boston fans and the unforgiving Boston media.

We love Delmon Young and he will have the better career when all is said and done. But for 2007? The AL Rookie of the Year is Dustin Pedroia.

5 reasons why Delmon Young should win Rookie of the Year [The Serious Tip]
5 reasons why Dustin Pedroia should be Rookie of the Year[One More Dying Quail]

A short while ago we took exception when Bill James’ list of the top 25 major leaguers under the age of 30. While both Scott Kazmir (#6) and James Shields (#20) made the list, we were surprised that BJ Upton, Carl Crawford and Delmon Young were all left off the list. Well, it turns out that now the list is 50 names long and all three of the young stud hitters are in the second 25.

Upton just misses the top 25, coming in at #27, while Young (41) and Crawford (43) both fall closer tot he bottom. We still believe that Upton and Crawford should be in the top 25 and one can definitely make a case for Young. Upton may have been penalized for missing a month of the season. Had he gone 30-30 at the age of 22, it is hard to imagine that Upton would not be in the top 25.

As for Crawford, he was most likely penalized for being old. Even though the list is for players “under 30″, there is a strong bias towards players that are in their early 20s who have more years left until age 33. Still, CC is one of the most exciting players in the game today and clearly one of the top offensive threats in baseball regardless of age. And while his power numbers did not develop this past season as we had hoped, once they do, CC may propel himself to the top of everybody’s list.

Young is more of an enigma. Many had hoped for more power and better defense from the 21-year old. We were not surprised by the lack of pop, as he is truly a line-drive hitter. Once he becomes more comfortable at the major league level and if he ever learns to wait for his pitch, we will likely see more elevation from his swing. Still, his arm is as good as anybody. Name another right fielder that can throw out Ichiro trying to advance from first to third on a single. And hitting .290 with 90 ribbies on the Rays at age 21 is pretty darn impressive. A 2008 line of .310-25-110 (not out of the question) and Bill James will be Gettin’ a Delmon if Young is not in the top 25 next season.

Bill James Has Never Heard Of Carl Crawford, Delmon Young and BJ Upton [Rays Index]
Young Talent Inventory [SI.com]

White Sox 5, Devil Rays 3.
2008…2008…2008…We still don’t know what to think about this team. We braced ourselves for what we knew would be a trying season. The team was talented, but it was very young, which means we knew they would be inconsistent. The team still had enormous holes in the bullpen which means we knew they would struggle late in games. The rotation had several stop-gaps, just waiting for an influx of talent which means there would be many games in which the bullpen wouldn’t have a chance to blow the lead.

But then along came James Shields and BJ Upton and Al Reyes and Carlos Pena and Brendan Harris. Out were Jae Seo and Casey Fossum and the headache named Elijah Dukes. And we saw the team playing well. We saw the team coming from behind late in games. We saw strong performances from the starting pitchers and we have seen lots of home runs and at times we have seen good defense. Our hopes are rising.

But as good as the Rays have looked this season, would you be surprised that after 76 games the Rays have the exact same record in 2007 that they had last year? They do.

We can see the greatness coming. But it is not here yet. And that folks is frustrating as hell.

We just need to keep reminding ourselves that this is not about 2007. This is about 2008. Right?

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• Anybody out there think the Rays still should have given Julio Lugo $8 million a year? Anybody?
• Julio Lugo ($9 million): .191/.256/.285 (4 HR, 20 SB, 9 errors)
• Brendan Harris ($386K): .311/.369/.483 (8 HR, 2 SB, 7 errors)
• Carl Crawford is bracing himself for another All-Star snub. However, it is different this year. In years past, Crawford was snubbed because he was a relative unknown on an unpopular and bad baseball team. Crawford is no longer an unknown. Rather, Crawford is well-known, but his stats are not living up to the hype this season.
• BJ Upton and Shawn Riggans are both close to returning. Upton could be back this weekend. The team has yet to give Riggans a timetable for a return.
• The Extrapolator extrapolates on Delmon Young. Just don’t watch the video clip.
• Before last night’s game, Delmon Young was hitting .331 in his last 38 games. He leads AL rookies in hits, extra-base hits and RBI.
• Don’t look now, but Josh Wilson has started four straight games. The Rays record in those four games? 1-3. We’re just sayin….

Devil Rays 8, Rangers 6.
Forgve us for getting all “scouty” on you, but we just want to take a moment to point out how smart a hitter Delmon Young is becoming. Here is the pitch sequence before his walk-off home run in the 10th inning.

1. Fastball up and in…Ball 1
2. Fastball up and in…Swing and miss
3. Slider low and away….foul tip (count: 1-2)
4. Hanging slider…fouled back (count: 1-2)
5. Fastball up…Ball 2 (count: 2-2)

We have a situation here where a young pitcher is pitching to Delmon by the book. Delmon doesn’t walk and loves to swing the bat. He is a first-ball fastball hitter in the classic sense. The young pitcher also knows that Delmon could end the game with one swing and already has one home run on the night. So, all Eyre is throwing Delmon are fastballs up and out of the strike zone and “safe” sliders low-and-away. He gets Delmon to chase one of the fastballs. After the 4th pitch, Delmon is locked in. He now knows that he won’t get a fastball in the strikezone so he adjusts his swing. He knows that the pitcher is either going to try to get him to chase a fastball out of the strike zone or he is going to try and paint the outside corner, where the worst scenario is a single to right and best case scenario is a swing-and-miss or a ground ball to the left side of the infield for a double-play (a batter that tries to pull an outside pitch will hit a weak groundball to the left 90% of the time). Delmon is not going to chase another fastball up. So now he is locked in on the slider away. Sure enough, he gets another slider away on pitch 6. It wasn’t a great slider, but it wasn’t a “hanger” either. Delmon went with the pitch and he is strong enough to get it over the fence down the right field line.

The Rays are now 18-22 and only 2 games behind The Charlie Hough Line. They have reached this point with very little contribution from Rocco Baldelli and Delmon Young, two players that were being counted on to carry this team at the beginning of the season. Rocco is on the DL now, but Young is 6-12 in the past three games. If Delmon can start cookin’, this team will start scoring in bunches.

Speaking of being on fire. Brendan Harris is now hitting 17-41 (.415) over the past 10 games and was 9-14 in the Rangers series. He has his average up to .358 with a .402 OBP. This is a guy that many thought wouldn’t even make the team out of spring training. When the Rays decided to keep Harris and send Jorge Cantu to Durham many thought that Rays management were over-thinking the situation. We don’t hear anybody complaining now.

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• Jayson Stark is reporting that the Rays are entertaining the idea of promoting Evan Longoria and Reid Brignac before the trading deadline. This increases the likelihood of a position player being traded during the season.
• Rocco Baldelli is back on the DL and Greg Norton has been activated. After an MRI, the injury did not appear to be as severe as first thought. Still, no word on when Rocco may be able to return.
• the Rays current 4-game winning streak was the first of Joe Maddon’s career as manager. The Rays won 4-straight once in 2006, but Maddon was not present for two of those games.
• We agree. Rocco’s home address should 123 Disabled List.
• The third game for the series in Orlando drew the biggest crowd at 9,635 and the set averaged 8,806. Pretty safe to say the Rays will be back in 2008.
• Tonight is “Legends of Wrestling” night at the Trop. At first we hung our head in shame, but then we saw THIS picture. Ohhh Raymond.
• Let’s start the Mock Drafting!

Devil Rays 4, Twins 3.
Delmon Young likes to throw things very hard and very far and very accurately. We call it Gettin’ A Delmon…Jason Kubel Got A Delmon…In the 4th inning, Kubel rambled a little too far towards second base on a line drive to Delmon Young in right center. Despite catching the ball while moving away from first base, Young turned and fired a pea to Carlos Pena at first to double-up Kubel and get the Rays out of the inning…Justin Morneau Got A Delmon…In the 6th inning, Morneau hit a rocket off the right field wall that would be a double on any other night. But on this night Delmon Young was roaming the FieldTurf II of the Trop. He played the ball off the wall, spun and fired a rocket to Brendan Harris at second base. Both Kubel and Morneau should just be grateful that Young wasn’t throwing a bat.

As for the rest of the game, the Rays once again were able to get to Twins closer Joe Nathan, scoring 2 in the 9th to tie the game. In 3 appearances this season against the Rays (3 innings) Nathan has given up 9 hits and 4 runs. In his other 10 appearances (10.1 innings) he has allowed only 10 hits and 1 run. In the bottom of the 10th inning (the Rays first extra inning affair of the year) Ben Zobrist fell rounding third base on Harris’ double, but made up for the gaffe beating the throw home on Dioner Navarro’s ground ball to short.

The Rays are now in sole possession of third place in the AL East, 5.5 games behind the Red Sox and only 1 game behind the Jays for 2nd place. Even more intriguing is that the Rays are only 4 games back in the wild card. But that is the last time we will mention that number until the Rays reach a more important milestone, .500. In our minds there are three numbers the Rays are chasing. 6.5 games is the Rays “mark” in the AL East. 4 games in the Rays mark in the wild card race, but neither of those numbers mean anything until the Rays reach “The Charlie Hough Line”. For his career Hough was 216-216. The knuckleballer was the epitome of a .500 pitcher. The Rays cannot think of any other teams until they first surpass Hough’s career winning percentage. So from now on we will only speak in terms of “Games behind Charlie Hough”. Right now the Rays are 1.5 games behind Charlie Hough.

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• The Rays base stealing is greatly improved in the last 10 days. After only being successful on 14 of their first 27 attempts, the Rays have stolen 14 of their last 17.
• Josh Hamilton was named NL Rookie of the Month for April. During the month, Hamilton, who started the season as a reserve, hit .266 with 6 home runs, 16 RBI and a stolen base.
• Akinori Iwamura finished second in the AL Rookie of the Month voting to fellow Japanese rookie Hideki Okajima of the Red Sox.
• Greg Norton has been getting at bats in extended spring training, and will begin a rehab assignment in Montgomery on Friday, where he will get 27-30 at bats (6-7 games). Norton should be back with the Rays a week from Friday when the Rays begin a series in Toronto.
• Now that Benny Boo Boo is on the bench, he has more free time to visit local school children. The upsetting part is that apparently BenZo was accompanied by his wife and mlb.com could not provide us with any pictures. That’s ok, we still have Julianne’s MySpace page.
• FoxSports has their first power ranking of the season and the Rays come in at #22. Might be the highest we have ever seen the Devil Rays ranked in any power rankings. Of course they mention that Jeff Niemann is returning from Tommy John surgery. Must have him mixed up with Wade Townsend.