We are still not back from our self-imposed exile in the sunshine state, so the regular posts will not return until tomorrow, but in the meantime, we heard some rumors that Andrew Friedman may have made a move or two this weekend to improve the Rays relief corps. We have reviewed the wires and consulted our abacus, and this was the final count…

Ty Wigginton traded to Astros for Dan Wheeler [Devil Rays]
In the biggest move from the weekend, Ty Wigginton was sent to the Astros for reliever Dan Wheeler, who will begin his second stint with the Rays after being a Rays a draft pick in 1996. Wheeler has struggled this year with a 5.07 ERA, but being reunited with his former pitching coach Jim Hickey may reignite the pitcher that posted strong numbers as a setup man the past two seasons.

If the Rays decide to move Al Reyes, Wheeler would conceivably step into the closers role and could fill the same capacity in 2008. The one drawback to the trade is that Wheeler is a free agent after the 2008 season. However, seeing the current value of relief pitchers in the trade deadline market, Andrew Friedman may already be looking at Wheeler as a commodity that would be sought after in July of next year. If Wheeler can rebound in the next 12 months and flourish in either a setup or a closer’s role, he could demand additional pieces that are missing from the Rays puzzle.

Seth McClung traded to the Brewers [Devil Rays]
Has anybody else noticed the irony the in the Devil Rays acquiring a relief pitcher with the name “Bal-four”? Seriously, there is no way this can end well. The enigma enema that is Seth McClung, the big red-headed right hander with a power fastball and an inability to throw it anywhere near the strikezone in crucial situations was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers for relief pitcher Grant Balfour.

Balfour, an Australian (we thought they only played Australian rules football?), played parts of three seasons with the Minnesota Twins, before getting a cup-of-coffee this year with the Brewers. He is mostly a journeyman right-hander that may eat innings in middle relief. He posted impressive numbers at AAA this season with 47 strikeouts and only 11 walks and 17 hits in 32 innings. He had a 1.69 ERA and a 0.88 WHIP. At 29, we will have to wait and see if the AAA numbers were an anomaly and he is just a AAAA pitcher or if he has turned the corner can can be an effective big league reliever.

The Brewers were forced to part with Balfour, who was out of Minor League options, because they needed roster space Friday for reliever Scott Linebrink, whom they acquired in a trade with San Diego on Wednesday…”He was a guy I was thinking about counting on for next year,” said Brewers general manager Doug Melvin. “You look at other teams’ bullpens, and that’s the kind of arm that teams get and, all of a sudden, they find it. It clicks.”

Jorge Cantu traded to the Reds [Devil Rays]
And in a move that only surprised us because a team actually gave up a little value, Jorge Cantu was shipped to the Reds for two pitchers and a player-to-be-named-later. Calvin Medlock is a minor league pitcher who dominated at AA but who has struggled in first 13 appearances at AAA. Brian Shackleford has spent parts of each of the last two seasons with the Reds, but is best known for THIS. Maybe the Rays picked him up to mentor Elijah Dukes. The Rays also sent minor leaguer Shaun Cumberland to the Reds to complete the trade. Cumberland is an outfielder with speed, who has struggled this season in his first year above A-ball.

Cantu was not happy being with the Devil Rays any longer, and with limited defensive skills (re: cement feet), and questionable offensive skills (.544 OPS in 2006, .484 OPS in 2007), he no longer had a future with the Rays. The Reds will ship Cantu to AAA and hope they catch lightning in a bottle. In return the Rays received yet another upgrade

Shawn Bleepin’ Camp demoted to the minors [Devil Rays]
This move was so obvious that we were actually surprised when we heard that Shawn Bleepin’ Camp was sent to Durham. We do wonder though who Andrew Friedman has been watching the first 3 months of the season.

Camp is a guy who’s obviously been struggling some recently. When his sinker’s really working, he can help out a major-league bullpen by getting groundballs and he’s extremely effective against right-handed hitters. He’s been in a little bit of a rut lately and we’re hoping that by sending him down and giving him a chance to pitch in Durham that he’ll start pitching a little bit more consistently.[TBO]

Recently? The guy has a 7.20 ERA. He has allowed 6,324 inherited runners to score. HE HAS STRUGGLED ALL FREACKIN’ SEASON. And he is 31, so he is not going to get much better.

Josh Paul activated from DL [Devil Rays]
Josh Paul as on the DL since May 20. Paul replaces Raul Casanova who was designated for assignment and removed from the 40-man roster. The team has 10 days to trade, release or ask waivers for Casanova. Most likely Casanova will not be traded and he will clear waivers and be optioned back to AAA Durham. Joe Maddon stated that Paul will see increased playing time with starting catcher Dioner Navarro continuing to struggle at the plate.

Rays manager Joe Maddon has noted time and again that he thought Paul was playing at a high level when he got injured, and he now plans to play him three to four times a week rather than the normal one or two times a week reserved for most backup catchers.

In additional catcher news, Shawn Riggans had surgery on his elbow. The surgery is likely to be season-ending.

Durham 13, Indianapolis 1. Jae Seo struck out 7 and walked none in 8 shutout innings. Newly acquired Jon Weber hit his first home run with the Bulls and drove in 5.

Vero Beach 3, St. Lucie 2 (gm 1). Rhyne Hughes was 2-3 with 2 doubles, including a 2-run double in the first inning.

Vero Beach 5, St. Lucie 0 (gm 2). Rhyne Hugheswas 3-4 and added 2 more doubles and another RBI in the nightcap. He is now hitting .338 with 23 doubles and 55 RBI.

Kannanpolis 7, Columbus 1. Wade Townsend allowed 7 runs (6 earned) in 5 innings. He struck out 3 and walked 3.

Auburn 2, Hudson Valley 1.

Johnson City 5, Princeton 2.

NOTES FROM DOWN ON THE FARM…

• Josh Paul and Tim Corcoran will join the Montgomery Biscuits for rehab assignments. [Montgomery Advertiser]
• Shawn Riggans will continue his rehb assignment with the Durham Bulls after playing 4 games with Vero Beach. [The Raw Feed]
• On Friday night,Jason Pridie was a single shy of hitting for the cycle. [MiLB]
• On Saturday night, Ben Zobrist hit a solo home run in the top of the 10th inning to give the Bulls a 2-1 win. [MiLB]
• On Friday night Evan Longoria hit his 19th home run. [MiLB]
• On Saturday, second round pick Will Kline pitched two innings for Columbus, allowing 2 runs on 4 hits. [MiLB]

Devil Rays 4, Royals 2.
Carlos Pena was 3-3 and hit his 12th home run and his 56th catwalk. How good has Pena been this season?

• Of the 12 players in the AL with at least 11 home runs, Pena’s 131 at bats are at least 56 fewer than any other player.
• He also raised his batting average to .313 which is 70 points higher than his career average coming into this season.
• His .641 SLG and 1.017 OPS would each be good for 2nd in the AL if he had enough at bats to qualify (Maglio Ordonez leads with .681/1.117)
• If Pena had just 190 at bats (many players are already over 200), he projects to 45 RBI, which would be tied for 6th in the AL.

As a side note…Pena has played in the majors for parts of 7 seasons. However, we dusted off our abacus and it looks like his service time was only 4 years heading into 2007 since he has spent much of those seven seasons in the minors (a player is a free agent after 6 years of ML service). If we are reading this right, and we like to think we are, Pena is only arbitration eligible at the end of the year and will not be a free agent unless the Rays fail to offer arbitration. Has anybody heard any differently?

As for James Shields…Well, James the Greater justs keeps on truckin’. Shields moves to 5-0 on the year. Only Josh Beckett in the AL has more wins without a loss. Another outing in which he pitches into the 8th inning. Only 4 hits and 1 walks. He did allow 2 more home runs, which gives him 11 on the season. That is tied for 9th in the majors. However, 5 of those came in his first 3 starts of the season. James the Greater.

Of course the big news today is that Andy Sonnanstine will make his major league debut tonight in Toronto and Thursday the Rays may add a future ace to their already deep pitching pool in the MLB draft. We will have more on the draft later, but tonight all eyes will be on the tele. The rotation is finally starting to come around. We know it is still early for JP Howell, but after one start he has given us hope that the Rays can send out a pitcher with a good chance of winning 3 out of 5 days. Can Sonny make it 4 of 5? We might be able to tolerate another month or two of “Edwin Jackson Development” if he was the only hole in the donut.

Looks like we are going to have a busy day around this here internets, so come back early and often.

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• How do you know when you spend too much time neck-deep in all things Devil Rays? When THIS title scares the hell out of you. Too make ammends we are now running to the bathroom with a Maxim magazine.
• No surprise here. Akinori Iwamura will not make the trip to Toronto but should be ready to join the team in Miami when the Rays face the Marlins.
• The Crime Dog played first base for the Devil Rays. Is Carlos Pena El Gato del Crimen…The Crime Cat?
• Shawn Riggans just can’t catch a break (Like what we did there? Aren’t we clever). Riggans was placed on the 15-day DL and the Rays with Josh Paul already on the 60-day DL, were forced to add Raul Casanova to the 40-man roster and promote him to the Rays. To make room, Chris Seddon of Montgomery was designated for assignment.
• Carl Crawford has now tied Aubrey Huff for the franchise record for most hits (870). Fittingly, he did it with a triple.
• Akinori Iwamura is back with the latest installment of his diary. Not often the sentimental types, but we think it is pretty cool that in his first year in the US, Aki’s wife is pregnant and the baby is due on July 4.

Royals 9, Devil Rays 4.
Only Edwin Jackson could throw up a stinker and make the Kansas City Royals look like the ’75 Reds.

After Saturday’s loss, Edwin Jackson is now 0-7 in 10 starts and has not won a game in 33 appearances since being acquired from the Dodgers. His last win came on Sept. 26, 2005, as a member of the Dodgers. How much longer can the Rays allow Jackson to go to the mound and give up 6 runs and not be able to complete 4 innings?

Promoting two minor leaguers and inserting them into a major league rotation at the same time is a major shake-up for any team. The major league experience of JP Howell helps ease the transition, but Andy Sonnanstine only has 11 starts above AA. At what point does the team give up on Jackson, move him to the bullpen and insert a third pitcher from Durham into the rotation? If the move is made sooner, rather than later, it will undoubtedly be Jason Hammel who has major league experience.

On Saturday Jackson could not even finish the 4th inning against one of the weakest hitting teams in baseball, who were also missing their only real offensive threat, Mike Sweeney. We can’t imagine Joe Maddon and the Rays will allow more than one or two more outings like that.

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• Akinori Iwamura who batted leadoff for the first time as a member of the Devil Rays, was removed from the game one inning after a foul ball bounced up and hit him in the eye. He is expected to miss 4-5 games.
• After Saturday’s loss, Edwin Jackson is now 0-7 in 11 starts since being acquired from the Dodgers. His last win came on Sept. 26, 2005.
• Josh Paul was moved to the 60-day DL. A player on the 60-day DL does not count towards the 40-man roster, so when Jon Switzer was activated from the 60-day DL, the move became necessary.
• Interleague play is back next weekend and the Rays pitchers will need to swing the lumber. James Shields is considered the Rays best hitting pitcher and went 3-8 last year.

Devil Rays 13, Mariners 12.
What is the over/under these days for runs needed by the Rays offense when Jae Seo is on the mound? 13 sounds about right. It is sad when your team has a 12-4 lead after 5 innings and you are still scared. Sure enough, Seo had another typical Jae Seo outing in which he allowed 7 runs in 5+ innings on 13…count ‘em…THIRTEEN hits. How did he only give up 7 runs? But hey, Seo did look good in that start against Toronto….which is of course what we will still be saying in October…”Jae Seo…he sure looked good in that start against Toronto.”

On a side note, remember when the Rays were one of the last two teams in the majors to commit an error this season? Neither do we. The Rays committed two more errors last night and now lead the majors with 45. Those 45 errors have led to a major league-leading 33 unearned runs. It is bad enough when your pitching staff has the highest ERA and allows the most earned runs all on their own. Add to that a shaky defense and the most unearned runs and all of the sudden the offense needs to score 13 runs to win ballgames.

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• Elijah Dukes sat again yesterday afternoon, but the Rays have stated that he will be in the lineup in the White Sox series this weekend.
• It is true, right now the Rays appear stuck with Rocco Baldelli and Elijah Dukes but eventually the injuries and the troubles will pass over enough that the Rays will be able to move one or both.
• The Rays finally made it official and placed Josh Paul on the DL with a sprained elbow. the team recalled Shawn Riggans from Durham. Paul could miss 6 weeks. At 26, Riggans needs to take advantage of the next month and a half and prove that he can be a major league catcher. In the Spring, Riggans hit well (.316), but base stealers were successful on 10 of 11 attempts.
• Ahhhh…hindsight. All of the sudden everybody wants to talk about how the Rays should have traded Rocco Baldelli. Yeah, and I should have bought Google at $85.
• You can just see Toby Hall biting his lip in this piece as the former Rays catcher prepares to play his former team for the first time. It is just a matter of time before he says something stupid.

Something smells…Let’s see if we can figure out what it is…

Yesterday, somebody in the comments section asked about the number of runners inherited that Shawn Camp had allowed to score this year. Of course, we really don’t need a statistics to tell us that the answer is somewhere between “too many” and “seriously? Shawn Camp?…again?”

While most media outlets still list wins, losses, saves and ERA, a true measure of a relief pitchers effectiveness is their ability to come in and put out a fire. Strangely, IR (number of inherited runners) IRS (number of inherited runners scored) and IRS% (percentage of inherited runners that scored) are elusive numbers. None of the giant online media outlets list the numbers. But never fear, after some searching, the fine folks over at Baseball Prospectus have come through (as usual).

First let us take a look at the numbers for every pitcher that has pitched in relief this season for the Devil Rays. In all Major League games this season, relief pitchers have faced a total of 1906 IR. Of those runners, 589 have come around to score for a ML average of 30.9%.

Jae Kuk Ryu is the only pitcher that is yet to enter a game with a runner on base. As we can see from the numbers, Shawn Camp, as well as Brian Stokes and Ruddy Lugo (currently in AAA) have been atrocious. Gary Glover has been surprisingly effective.

Now let’s see how the Devil Rays rank as a team against the rest of Major League relief pitchers…

As a team the Devil Rays have allowed 34 of 87 IR (both Major League highs) to score or 39.1%. Sadly, the Rockies, as a team, have been nearly as bad as Shawn Camp, but they have faced 31 fewer IR than the Rays. The Yankees and Orioles actually have similar numbers to the Rays.

There have been 27 pitchers that have inherited at least 15 runners in 2007…

Shawn Camp has inherited more base runners than any other pitcher, with 29 and has allowed the most to score by a wide margin. His IRS% (44.8%) is the 3rd worst among pitchers with at least 15 IR. If Camp only allowed the league average, he would have only allowed 9 IRS, so Camp has allowed 4 more inherited runners to score than an average pitcher would have if placed in the same situations. Ruddy Lugo is tied for the 7th most IRS with 7 and Brian Stokes is tied for 10th with 6. On a brighter note, Glover has the 5th best IRS% of pitchers with at least 15 IR (18.8%).

Of the 74 pitchers that have faced at least 10 IR, Lugo is the league leader with 70% of those runners scoring.

We’re no brain surgeons here, but maybe Camp and Stokes shouldn’t be entering close games with runners on base. Just a hunch.

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• Andrew Friedman recently spent 5 days in Durham watching each of the Rays 5 AAA starting pitchers. It appears as though we are getting closer to seeing some changes in the Devil Rays rotation. In the meantime our Jae Seo and Casey Fossum voodoo dolls are taking a beating.

Each pitcher from the group – left-hander J.P. Howell and right-handers Andy Sonnanstine, Jason Hammel, Jeff Niemann and Mitch Talbot – is working on a few specific areas of interest. Friedman wouldn’t handicap who might get the first call to Tampa Bay, but said he could see a couple being ready “very soon” while others have some work to do.

• The Rays have a catching problem. Josh Paul, who was hit by a pitch spiked on a play at home plate on Sunday, needs to head to the DL. The problem is, his replacement, Shawn Riggans is on the DL at AAA Durham and not eligible to come off until Thursday. The Rays do not have any other catchers on the 40-man roster, so if they wanted to replace Paul with somebody else, they would need to designate somebody for assignment. Instead the Rays will keep Paul active as the emergency backup catcher and hope they don’t play any 16 inning games in the Mariners series.
• The Mariners come to the Trop for a 3-game set beginning tonight. Seattle is 19-21, 5.5 games behind the Angels in the AL West. They are coming off a loss to Cleveland that was a makeup game from earlier this season. They have lost 5 of 6. The Rays were 3-6 against the Mariners in 2006.

Thursday night’s game will now be known as “The Game We Do Not Speak Of.” Carl Crawford made up for it when left fielder Josh Rabe played CC’s single into an inside-the-park home run in the Rays 4-2 win over the Twins. Scott Kazmir did his part and out-dueled the two-time Cy Young winner Johan Santana. Kazmir was efficient working into the 8th inning and handing over the win to Al Reyes. Reyes worked a scoreless 9th inning for his 3rd save in 3 opportunities. A big win indeed, but can somebody please tell us why Carlos Pena was in the lineup last night. We understand he has been hitting well recently both in games (and batting practice apparently). But Pena is a left-handed hitter facing the best left-hander in the game. He is not the regular first baseman. We dopn’t second-guess Joe Maddon very often, but why on earth was Carlos Pena in the lineup?

• Akinori Iwamura’s hitting streak was snapped last night. Delmon Young extended his streak to all 10 games.
• Last night was the first loss at home for Johan Santana since August of 2005. He was 17-0 during the streak.
• It was the Rays first win in Minneapolis since June, 2004.
• Scott Kazmir was throwing harder in the 7th inning than he was in the 1st.
• Joe Maddon says the Rays are now at the point where they can score runs at any point in the lineup. Josh Paul’s rbi last night may have proved his point, although we are not overcome by confidence when Carlos Pena and Paul are in the lineup against Johan Santana.
• Was Carl Crawford’s base running error the worst ever? One Braves fan tries to compare it to Lonnie Smith’s gaff in the 1991 World Series. Thursday night was bad, but we are not sure how it is worse than costing your team a run late in game 7 with the score tied 0-0. A game and series that the Braves would go on to lose. That is a Braves fan in denial.

• Two big notes from yesterday’s 3-3 tie with the Pink Sox. Edwin Jackson worked six innings and yielded only a single walk while striking out 5. Jackson has only had one start this spring in which his control betrayed him. If this keeps up, Jackson could be in for a big season. The second item is that B. J. Upton started at second and Jorge Cantu was the DH. We touched on this yesterday, but it is now looking more and more as if Upton’s role as super-utility may actually turn into a regular gig at second base, while Cantu and Jonny Gomes are now battling for the DH spot,with the loser being sent to Durham.
• The final two spots in the pen will come down to Chad Orvella, Juan Salas, Seth McClung, and Jae Kuk Ryu. McClung has given up 25 baserunners in less than 10 IP this spring so he is a long shot at this point. With Brian Stokes and Gary Glover likely to make the team, there doesn’t appear to be a need for another long reliever, so Ryu is probably out. Ryu gave up two home runs yesterday. Orvella has been lights out this spring (o.87 ERA) and seems like a lock. Salas has also been strong.
• All three of the Rays walking wounded saw action yesterday. Of the three, Rocco Baldelli, Dioner Navarro and Josh Paul, only Paul sounded confident that he would be ready for opening day.
• Not Rays related, but Kenny Rogers was placed on the DL yesterday with a tired arm. Wouldn’t it be great if this worked in real life. Boss, I need to take 2 weeks off, with pay, because I have a tired head. Thanks.
• Manny Stiles makes a long-winded case for the greatness of Delmon Young.
• We have no idea how good Carl Crawford can be, but it sure is going to be fun finding out.
• On Tuesday against the Jays, Carl Crawford forgot his jersey, so he was forced to wear #98. Apparently #98 was not as lucky as his usual #13. He went 0-3.
• Lou Piniella is not the only former Rays manager in Chi-town. Remember Larry Rothschild? Seems forever ago.

• The Phillies beat the Rays 9-2 in Scott Kazmir’s final appearance before opening day. Damn, we hate losing to Philadelphia team in anything. So then we just go back and watch our tape of THIS game and we feel soooo much better.
• It appears as though we will need to adjust our roster projections after all as Dan Micelli appears to be on the verge of being released. The thought is that Micelli would be released to make room for Gary Glover on the 40-man roster. It also appears that Cantu could be sent to the minors in favor of Brendan Harris who is out of options. That move would allow Harris to be the backup infielder and make B. J. Upton the most days second baseman.
• Both Rocco Baldelli, Josh Paul and Dioner Navarro played in minor league games yesterday. Baldelli was a DH.
• After the three cuts yesterday, the Rays are now down to 34 players on the roster. Several of the cuts have already been decided but won’t occur until Rocco Baldelli, Dioner Navarro and Josh Paul return from their injuries.
• Jonny Gomes and Jorge Cantu seem to be feeling the pressure.
• Season ticket sales are up 10% and sponsorship deals are up 20%. Good news indeed, but keep in mind that 10% of very little is very little.

• The Rays optioned Joel Guzman to AAA Durham on Monday. Guzman, who showed up to Spring Training slimmed down, impressed the coaches with his defensive ability at third base, but struggled with the bat. He was 4-29 with 2 doubles and a home run. Guzman has a long ways to go to prove he can hit at the Major League level. If he can be successful at Durham, the Rays could have a logjam at third base in 2008 with Guzman, Akinori Iwamura and Evan Longoria.
• Josh Hamilton hasn’t cooled off yet. He is hitting .487 with 19 hits in 14 games.
• Joe Maddon says it is time for the regulars to step up. The regular season is two weeks away and it is starting to gt close to that time when slumps will carry over.
• Papa Joe Maddon will also experiment with a new lineup today.
• Josh Paul just really likes wearing masks. Was he burned by acid or something?
• Stuart Sternberg and Co. have made a concerted effort to be more involved in the community.