On July 15, 2005, Hideo Nomo started his final game as a member of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. He went 2.2 innings, gave up seven runs, and was released the next day. That was also the last time a free agent starting pitcher started a game or the Rays. [...]
Joe Maddon revealed today that Roberto Hernandez will indeed be the fifth starter to start the season. However, in a bit of a wrinkle, Hernandez will pitch a simulated game on short rest tomorrow and move up to the third game of the season. Here is how the rotation will [...]
This is the time of spring when Joe Maddon starts to prepare the starting pitchers for the regular season by using them on normal 4-days rest. And by looking at when the starting pitchers are being used now, we can look forward and see who will likely start the first [...]
Below is a chart that looks at how often Rays starting pitchers throw sliders since Andrew Friedman took over the front office in 2006. In Friedman’s second season (2007), the Rays starting pitchers were third in the American League with sliders representing 15.4% of the pitches thrown. Since then, the [...]
One of the biggest concerns with young starting pitchers is their workload and easing them into a 200-innings pitched season. Whether or not you believe in “The Verducci Effect,” the Rays typically prefer to limit their starting pitchers to a 20% increase in innings from one season to the next. [...]
Even without James Shields, the Rays still have one of the best rotations in baseball. And while we all know these guys have high ceilings and think we know what they are capable of achieving, let’s see if we can come up with a realistic idea of what to expect, [...]
We’ve got chatty Joe Maddon, scruffy Barry LeBrock, the 6-man Bump-N- Jump. We’ve got the highlights you won’t see on SportsCenter…
Earlier today it became official when Jeff Niemann was named one of the Rays’ five starting pitchers. Shortly thereafter, he spoke with Justin Pawlowski of 1010 Sports. Here’s the audio…
According to Marc Topkin of TampaBay.com, the Rays have set their starting pitching rotation and as expected Wade Davis is the odd-man out. The exact order of the rotation is not yet known beyond James Shields on opening day and David Price in game two. The choice between Jeremy Hellickson [...]
The Rays announced today that Joe Maddon will use a 6-man rotation during spring training and David Price will start the spring opener on Saturday (via Marc Topkin of TampaBay.com). Of course, the 6-man rotation isn’t a surprise. Even if somebody is moved to the bullpen, Maddon will want all [...]
