Feb 06
Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe says the Nationals have “cooled on BJ Upton,” noting that they have other options.
There has been speculation in the past that the Nationals will just wait until the off-season when Upton is a free agent.
At this point, Upton could still be dealt at the trade deadline, but that will only happen if he is having a big season with the bat and a contender feels he can be a difference-maker down the stretch. That might be asking a lot.
THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA…
- Jose Lobaton’s shoulder is progressing nicely and is expected to be 100 percent by spring training. [@TBTimes_Rays]
- Josh Hamilton confirmed that he did indeed have a relapse from his recovery for alcohol addiction. [ESPN]
- A few weeks ago it looked like the Rays and Indians were competing for Carlos Pena and Casey Kotchman, with Kotch as the consolation prize. After Pena signed with the Rays, the Indians did indeed sign Kotchman to a 1-year, $3 million deal. [ESPN]
- Carl Crawford is accused of swindling a lot of money from Read the rest of this entry »
Jan 24
- Off-Season (click image for random Wikipedia page)
We are back from our little mini-vacation and find that John Sickels of Minor League Ball ranks the Rays farm system as just the seventh-best in baseball...
Impact depth behind Matt Moore has slipped but this is still a robust organization.
Although, we would point out that Moore is pretty damn good. And depending on who you talk to, is probably the best prospect in baseball.
THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA…
- The Tigers are interested in Johnny Damon. [MLBTR]
- But according to Joel Sherman, Johnny Damon “badly” wants to sign with the Yankees. Of course, Damon had zero interest in the Yankees two weeks ago when he thought he still had a shot with the Rays. [@Joelsherman1]
- The A’s are “very interested” in signing Manny Ramirez. But it is unclear if that interest has changed with the A’s signing another former Rays player, Johnny Gomes. [MLBTR]
- Joe Maddon donated Read the rest of this entry »
Dec 15
“Tampa Bay Rays one bat away from 2012 World Series”
That is the title of the latest column from John Romano of the St. Pete Times.
One bat. That’s all it will take.
One bat. And I like the Rays better than the Yankees or Red Sox.
One bat. And I think Tampa Bay is back in the World Series in 2012.
Romano does say that this is “overly simplified” and “probably overly optimistic.”
Actually, we think he is spot-on. But unfortunately, it is also all-too-familiar, and unlikely to be fixed.
The Rays were one bat away from returning to the World Series in 2009. The team realized this and added Pat Burrell.
The Rays were still one bat away in 2010 when they tried to trade Burrell for Milton Bradley and signed Hank Blalock to a minor league deal.
Both Burrell and Blalock were eventually released.
And last year of course, it was Read the rest of this entry »
Dec 05
The last we heard from Manny Ramirez, he was trying out for a Japanese team that “didn’t go well.” Prior to that he wanted to play baseball in the Dominican winter league, but Major League Baseball would not allow it when he was still facing his 100-game suspension.
But now Manny wants another shot at the big leagues, and Major League Baseball is accommodating him by reducing his suspension to 50 games. The reduced suspension is a compromise by MLB and the players’ union, who argued that Manny had effectively served his suspension last season after he retired from the Tampa Bay Rays.
But will anybody want Manny? He is strictly a DH these days, so that eliminates 16 teams. And it is highly unlikely that the Rays or Red Sox will want to knock on that door again.
One possibility is the Orioles, where Dan Duquette was recently named general manager. Duquette was the GM in Boston when Manny was signed. But the Orioles are not a contender. Would they be willing to sign Manny and then wait out his 50-game suspension?
If so, we might see Manny back at The Trop in 2012. And we have a feeling it won’t be a warm reception.
Oct 04
- Rangers 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: David Price. There were concerns about Price heading into this game and whether he could be counted on in a big game. As far as we’re concerned, Price came through big time. He held the lethal Rangers offense scoreless for six innings before finally yielding a home run in the 7th inning. Loss was not his fault…Desmond Jennings. Flash struggled in September. October seems to suit him much better. Two home runs for Jennings. Too bad nobody else showed up for the offense.
THE BAD: Joe Maddon. Hey, you want to stick with your guys on the postseason roster even if they struggled. That’s cool. But the Rays never show loyalty to relief pitchers. So Joe Maddon’s loyalty to JP Howell is perplexing. Did we really need to see Howell in a 1-run game with the bases loaded and Josh Hamilton at the plate? Maddon has now gone from walking Hamilton with the bases loaded during the regular season to giving him a BP pitcher in the playoffs…The Offense. No baserunners in the first 3 innings. Only 3 baserunners in the first 6 innings. Yeah. That’s not going to win too many playoff games. The Red Sox aren’t around now to help. The Rays gotta figure out a way to win this thing on their own…Evan Longoria. It is not too often that Longoria doesn’t show up. He didn’t show up last night. He went 0-3 with 3 strikeouts. And after the third strikeout, he even showed a bit of frustration, throwing the bat. And if BJ Upton is not caught stealing in the 8th, Longoria might have struck out again. Once Upton was off the bases, the Rangers pitched around Longo and gave him first base.
THE TELLING: In the 8 postseason matchups between these two teams, the home team is now 1-7…Kyle Farnsworth was available last night and even warmed up at one point. But he never got into the game.
THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA…
Sep 21
- Yankees 5, Rays 0 (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: Keeping Pace. The Orioles helped by beating the Red Sox for the second time in three game, rallying late. So the Rays remain 2 back (1 in the loss column). But the season is also getting late, real quick, with just nine games remaining for the Rays and seven for the Red Sox.
THE BAD: Yet Another Brutal Call. In the second inning with one run in already for the Yankees. Brett Gardner reached on a bunt single when the replay showed that he was clearly out. It wasn’t even really that close. That loaded the bases with no outs. Two batters later, Curtis Granderson unloaded the bases with a double making the score 4-0. Game over…Where’s Johnny? Oh boy, it happened again. The Rays made one final rally in the 7th inning, loading the bases with no outs. Desmond Jennings flied out to left field and was unable to bring a run home. And then BJ Upton came to the plate. Why? Because he’s been hot, Johnny Damon has been struggling, and that’s how Joe Maddon has been filling out the lineup card for two weeks. But as luck would have it (you know, the bad kind), Upton was up with the bases loaded. On the season, Upton is 2-11 (.182) with the bases loaded with a walk. He does have a grand slam. On the other hand, Damon is 6-14 (.429) with 2 walks with the bases loaded. And in his career, Damon is a .380 hitter with the sacks full. Of course Upton grounded into a double-play. We’re not blaming Upton or Maddon. We are just blaming sh*tty luck.
THE TELLING: Joe Maddon was fined for his ejection and rant in the Red Sox series…Ben Zobrist may also miss the first game of today’s double-header having left the team to attend the birth of his daughter…Kyle Farnsworth will throw off a mound today…David Price is OK to go Friday. Saturday’s starter will either be Matt Moore or Alex Torres…Andy Sonnanstine made his first appearance for the Rays since June.
THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA…
- Mark Simon lays out the keys to the Wild Card race for the Rays. [ESPN]
- Poor Red Sox. They are losing because they have owies. [SI.com]
- Joe Maddon made an appearance on “The Dan Patrick Show” yesterday. Here is that interview transcribed. [SportsRadioInterviews]
- Do you want to know what Matt Silverman’s favorite smart phone app is? Here you go (P.S. we gave up after the second question. So let us know if they actually discuss anything important). [ABC Action News]
- If you care what Curt Schilling thinks, he doesn’t see the Red Sox making the playoffs. [ESPN]
- Manny Ramirez wants to play winter ball in the Dominican Republic. [USA Today]
- College football’s most popular football teams. The Gators are lower than we thought they would be. [Business Insider]
Sep 19
Dirk Hayhurst, the best-selling author, and pitcher, who spent the season in the Rays organization, wrote a post on his blog recently in which he relayed a conversation he had with his wife. During that conversation, the topic of Manny Ramirez’ recent arrest came up…
“Did you see Manny got arrested?” I asked my dearest Bonnie, presently standing at my side with matching coffee cup and pajamas.
“Shocker,” she said
“Yeah,” I took a sip, “I guess. Though I was kinda surprised. He wasn’t the smartest guy I played with, but he didn’t seem like the violent type either, especially not with all those female fertility drugs in his system. I thought he’d be more inclined to cry during a fight than smack his wife around?”
“Nothing he does surprises me anymore,” said Bonnie.
Ouch.
Hayhurst was recently released by the Rays after posting a 4.12 ERA in 11 appearances with triple-A Durham. He spent the second-half of the season on the disabled list. Hayhurst is said to be considering an offer to pitch in Italy next year.
Sep 18
We have been arguing this for a while. But it is a bit surprising to hear of the Rays players plainly state that the Rays would be better with Manny Ramirez.
“We’d be better with Manny,” Rays infielder Sean Rodriguez said. “You’re talking about an experienced guy who can still hit. Everyone was giving him tough times because he was struggling at the beginning, but everyone goes through funks, and his just came at the beginning of the year. It’s hard to say his resume wouldn’t have helped us. Just look at what Johnny’s done for us.”
Now consider that the Rays are just three games back in the Wild Card. Is Rodriguez saying the Rays would be leading the Wild Card if Manny had accepted his suspension and not retired?
And the last line is curious, because Rodriguez lauds Johnny Damon, but doesn’t consider that Damon’s playing time would have taken the biggest hit if Manny came back on July 31. Something that wouldn’t have been a bad thing.
Sep 14
- Orioles 4, 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: Evan Longoria. For a while there the Rays looked overmatched as they trailed 1-0 for most of the game. But then Longoria seemed to save the night with a 2-run bomb in the 6th that temporarily gave the Rays the lead. That seemed to be the spark the Rays needed. But it wasn’t enough.
THE BAD: David Price. After a little bit of a rocky start, giving up a run in the first, Price was cruising by the time the 4th inning rolled around. He needed only 37 pitches to get through the 2nd, 3rd and 4th innings, with 28 of those strikes. But while 84% (11 of 13) of his pitches were strikes in the 4th, he slowly deteriorated from there. In the 5th, it was 60% (9 of 15) strikes. In the 6th it fell to 54% (7 of 13). And finally, in the 7th, only 12 of his 25 (48%) pitches were in the strikezone. The velocity was still there, with 7 pitches hitting at least 96 mph in his final frame. But he just lost the strikezone and the O’s tied the game…Sean Rodriguez. In the 1st inning with a runner on second base, Sean Rodriguez, at shortstop, played a ball to his left as if he were playing second base. He drifted back into the outfield, waited for the ball to come to him, and thus was forced to rush his throw. The throw was in the dirt and got past Casey Kotchman, allowing the O’s first run to score…JP Howell. Just when it looked like The Dude was back to his old self, Matt Wieters came up and took JP deep breaking a 2-2 tie in the 8th.
THE TELLING: The Rays have had 5-game winning streaks 5 times this season. They are now 0-5 going for win number 6 in a row…Kyle Farnsworth’s return “won’t be anytime soon.” Roger Mooney speculates he might not return until the Yankees series next week.
THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA…
- Forgot to mention this earlier, but here are the letterman sweaters the Rays wore on this roadtrip. [@SPTimesRays]
- Marc Topkin has an update on Manny Ramirez. [TampaBay.com]
- James Shields has been nominated for the Roberto Clemente award. [The Heater]
- In addition to the Nationals, BJ Upton also mentioned the Mets as a team he wouldn’t mind playing for. [CBS Sports]
- Here is another writer offering reasons why the Rays will win the Wild Card (obviously written prior to last night’s game). [Yahoo Sports]
- Looks like local sports fans are in panic mode all over the place. [Joe Bucs Fan]
- Here is a look at Bowling Green’s ballpark. [Stadium Journey]
Sep 13
- Rays 5, Orioles 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: Keeping Pace. The story of the Orioles series should just be about keeping pace. The Rays just have to make sure they don’t lose any ground in the loss column to the Red Sox. And after last night’s win, the Rays have now made up 5 games on the Sox in the last 6 days and now trail by just 3…Joel Peralta. With Kyle Farnsworth out, Joel Peralta will be the unofficial replacement closer for the unofficial closer. And last night he looked great striking out the side in the 9th…The Giraffe. The keys for the Rays in the last 16 games will be Jeff Niemann and Wade Davis. At this point, we have to assume the other 3 starting pitchers will just do what they do. But what the Rays really need are for Niemann and Davis to step and make sure there are no off-nights. Last night wasn’t the prettiest night ever, but Niemann did work into the 8th inning and held the O’s to just 2 runs. The big outs came in the 5th inning after Niemann gave up 1 run and had a runner on 2nd with just 1 out. He escaped without any further damage and kept the O’s from getting back in the game.
THE BAD: Manny’s Karma? If you missed it last night, Manny Ramirez was arrested after an altercation with his wife. This is bad because if Manny had just taken his suspension, he would have been in Baltimore last night, helping the Rays and not beating his wife (allegedly). And yes, Manny would be a headache. But Rays DHs hit .234 with a .283 OBP in August. Manny couldn’t have been worse than that.
THE TELLING: Rob Delaney was designated for assignment to make room for Matt Moore on the 40-man roster…Matt Moore will likely be used to start innings in relief, and won’t be called in the middle of an inning. At least to start…BJ Upton set a team record reaching base 9 straight times…Bullpen coach Bobby Ramos is not expected to rejoin the Rays this season as he recovers from a throat infection.
THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA…
Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe says the Nationals have “cooled on BJ Upton,” noting that they have other options.
