Jul 26
If the Rays decide they need a new arm in the bullpen, they may not have to buy a relief pitcher on the trade market. They could choose to seek reinforcements on the Durham roster. Specifically, the Rays could turn to RJ Swindle as a dominating lefty specialist…
The Rays already have a solid lefty-specialist in Randy Choate, who is holding lefties to a .189 average this season. But if the Rays do add Swindle to the roster at some point, Joe Maddon would have the opportunity to go to a lefty-specialist more than once late in a game. That could be huge down the stretch.
Swindle does have limited big league experience, appearing in 3 games with the Phillies in 2008 and 6 games with the Brewers last year.
May 21
With the loss of JP Howell for the year, the Rays are left with Randy Choate as the only lefty in the bullpen. So the natural reaction is to think the Rays will go out and find a cheap lefty in the trade market. Maybe not…
Clubs that have spoken with the Rays say they don’t expect Tampa Bay to react to J.P. Howell’s season-ending shoulder surgery by running out and trading for bullpen help.
“They’re already past that,” said an executive of one club. “They’ve already got the [Randy] Choate factor going, and the [Lance] Cormier factor, and the [Andy] Sonnanstine factor. They’re like Minnesota getting past losing [Joe] Nathan. That team has so much character and it’s so focused, they just deal with it.”
Down the road, the Rays might hunt around for another left-handed reliever. And “They’d love to add a couple of power arms in the ‘pen,” the same executive said. But in the short term, they’re second in the league in bullpen ERA. And opponents are hitting .215 against that bullpen. So this is a team in no hurry to make a deal.
The Rays do have RJ Swindle and Heath Phillips at triple-A Durham. But Swindle just came off the DL and Phillips has never been particularly tough on lefties.
And of course there is a guy in double-A Montgomery named Jake McGee. He is still being used as a starter, but in his last four appearances he hasn’t been allowed to pitch past the fourth inning. This suggests that the Rays have already started the transition to relief pitcher.
So maybe the Rays are confident with what they have. But if they do need to make a change, there are options from within.
Apr 19
Chris from Watching Durham Bulls Baseball brought to our attention a glaring weakness in the Rays organizational depth. Not only is there only one active lefty in the Rays bullpen. There are very few lefty options in the minor leagues right now…
RAYS – Randy Choate, (JP Howell on DL)
AAA – (RJ Swindle on DL)
AA – Darin Downs
And that’s it. Two healthy lefty relievers in the majors or upper-level minor leagues.
At some point, the Rays may have to turn to one of their lefty starting pitchers such as Heath Phillips or Carlos Hernandez. Phillips career minor league splits don’t suggest that he is any tougher on lefties while Hernandez does have favorable splits against lefties. Also, both Jake McGee and Alex Torres in AA could be lefty options in the future. But neither figures to be available to the Rays anytime soon.
You can be certain that when Andrew Friedman talks to other GMs, he is asking about lefty relievers. But finding one of those this time of the year will not be easy.
Then again, there is always Brian Shouse.
Feb 24
Just a few links today. Let’s get to it.
DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…
- We already saw Baseball America’s list of the top 30 Rays prospects. Now we have their Top 100 overall and it includes 7 Rays prospects. [Baseball America]
- One writer thinks Joe Maddon’s recent comments on Willy Aybar shed some light on who has the inside track for the final bench spot. [DRays Bay]
- Marc Topkin writes about Ben Zobrist, his off-season whether he can repeat his 2009 performance. [St. Pete Times]
- Roger Mooney has 5 questions for RJ Swindle. [Rays Report]
- Marc Topkin has some thoughts from Evan Longoria following yesterday’s workout. [The Heater]
- After last season we noted that the Rays had set up the starting rotation so that entering 2010 there wouldn’t be any restrictions on the starters like there was with David Price last year. Joe Maddon reiterated that point by stating his goal for the rotation in 2010 is 1,000 innings. [Rays Report]
- Here is another Top 10 prospects list for the Rays. [Bleacher Report]
Nov 27
Just a few links to wet your tastebuds on this day after Turkey Day.
DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…
- The Rays continue their infatuation with side-arming relief pitchers by signing Joe Bateman and RJ Swindle to minor league deals.
- The Blue Jays are interested in trading for Reid Brignac, but feel the Rays are asking for too much. [MLB Trade Rumors]
- Jon Weber has signed a minor league deal with the Yankees. [Watching Durham Bulls Baseball]
- Bill Chastain writes about the different ways the Rays give back to the community. [MLB]
- Jeff Niemann was not named as part of the Topps MLB Rookie All-Star team. The roster includes just one right-handed pitcher with that spot going to Tommy Hanson of Atlanta. Niemann was 13-6 with a 3.94 ERA while Hanson was 11-4 with a 2.89 ERA. Niemann had a better WAR (3.2 vs 2.6) but Hanson had the better FIP (3.50 vs 4.07). Doesn’t seem like a huge oversight. [The Heater]
- Baseball Digest takes a look at the Rays off-season plans. [Baseball Digest]
- Bill Chastain writes about the work Mitch Talbot is getting in the Arizona Fall League. Mitch Lukevics says it is an opportunity to get Talbot some more innings since he only made 11 starts this season due to injury. Of course, Talbot will be out of minor league options in 2010, so the Rays may either be hoping Talbot can fill a bullpen role or they are showing other teams that Talbot is healthy should the Rays attempt to trade him. [MLB]
Aug 08
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: Jeff Niemann. He came a little unhinged in the 7th, but that was only after retiring 17 of 18 batters prior to the 7th. He struck out 5 and walked only 1 and was failed by the bullpen…Pat Burrell. He was only 1-5, but the 1 was a massive upper-deck home run and one of the other 4 was an RBI groundout…Red Sox Fail. A-Rod hit a walk-off HR in the 312th inning last night and the Yankees have now taken the first 2 games of that series. And while the Red Sox still lead the Wild Card, most in Red Sox Nation think their season is over.
THE BAD: The Bullpen. Grant Balfour faced 2 batters, giving up a single and hitting a batter. Brian Shouse faced 2 batters. 1 singled. And JP Howell. Well, Howell grooved a pitch. The Dude usually abides. But last night he did not.
THE TELLING: The chance of winning the division is almost all but gone with the Rays now 7 games behind the Yankees. The Rays remain 2.5 behind the Red Sox and 1.5 behind the Rangers in the Wild Card.
SUNBURST PLAYER OF THE GAME: Carl Crawford.
DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…
- Michel Hernandez was designated for assignment to make room for the addition of Gregg Zaun. [The Heater]
- If you haven’t seen Gregg Zaun’s website yet, please do so. This is going to be fun. [GreggZaun.com]
- Marc Topkin has some quotes from Andrew Friedman on the acquisition of Gregg Zaun, saying Zaun will play “a fair amount.” That is good, because it sounds like Zaun was an unhappy camper in Baltimore after Matt Weiters was called up and took most of Zaun’s playing time. [The Heater]
- Joe Maddon said that bringing in Gregg Zaun was not intended to “light a fire” under Dioner Navarro…Also, Pat Burrell will continue to be the most-days DH. [Tampa Tribune]
- Last year the Rays received Chad Bradford from the O’s for a Player to be Named Later. Well, the “player” turned out to just be $20K cash. Peter Schmuck says that this time the O’s will receive a prospect from the Rays. [Baltimore Sun]
- The Rays also picked up RJ Swindle off waivers from the Brewers. Best we can tell, he is the next coming of Casey Fossum, but he does have a minor league option. To make room, the Rays designated John Meloan for assignment. [St. Pete Times]
- Rays Revolutionary says 36 more wins for the Rays should get them to the playoffs. [Rays Revolutionary]
- Dock of the Rays takes a look at some of Andy Sonnanstine’s trends and what can be expected down the road. [Dock of the Rays]
- The On Deck Circle takes a closer look at Ben Zobrist’s breakout season and whether or not he can keep it up. [The On Deck Circle]
