Tampa Bay Sports Blog

The Rays looked awful last night and it really came as no surprise after we saw the first pitched. Kaz sailed one and it just wasn’t pretty from there. I do believe it’s time that we start worrying about Kazmir and his erratic pitching. He hasn’t looked right for a while now and he doesn’t seem to be turning the corner at all. More concerning to me than the lack of fastball control is the lack of bite that the slider has these days. It just doesn’t move like it used to. Hope Kaz can get himself correct, but I’m not very optimistic at this point.

BJ still looks like crap and there is no excuse good enough for how horrible he looks. What I can’t understand is how he can look so nonchalant about being so bad. I keep laughing at all the so called experts out there that continue to defend this guy saying that he will shake this and have a good season. What is it that you’re seeing? Melvin looks terrible and even worse he looks like he doesn’t care. Even worse than that is the fact that Maddon looks like he doesn’t care either.

Joe Maddon is the most optimistic person I’ve ever heard speak. This is good I suppose to a point, but I can only hope that he does see a problem with his team and stops blowing smoke up everyone’s ass at some point. Maddon said Kaz pitched well after the first. What?! Were you watching the same game we were? He also made a point of saying that the fat catcher would start on Tuesday and not Hernandez. Why would you put that out there so early? Why are you defending your decision before it’s even questioned unless you know there is a problem?

I realize that I’m a cynical fan, but how can you not question what is going on out there right now?

Technorati Tags: BJ Upton, Dioner Navarro, Joe Maddon, Matt Garza, Scott Kazmir, Tampa Bay Rays

It was a busy week in the AL East and I had to sit down and look at it tonight. I’ve been listening to the radio and reading about the moves being made and I came up with this. The Rays are much smarter than the Yankees.  There are a few good things about being a small market team and they’re showing during the winter baseball season. Let’s break it down.

• The Yankees signed CC Sabathia to a $161 million deal and brought one of the best pitchers in baseball to New York. But how much did this improve them? I honestly don’t think it improved them much at all. Think about it like this. They signed a guy that won 17 games last year to replace a guy that won 20. Now I’ll say that Sabathia is better than Mussina and he would’ve probably won 22 or 23 games with the Yankees last year with the same run support Mussina got, but that’s still only a 3 game improvement. Not enough for that kind of money. They also signed AJ Burnett to fill in the rotation but they haven’t re-signed Andy Pettitte yet. That’s a 4 game improvement if Andy doesn’t come back. Not enough either. If Pettitte comes back and teams with Wang and Sabathia that should be a decent three man rotation. Then they’re counting on Joba Chamberlain and Phil Hughes to handle the rest of the load. I’ll take my chances. Burnett will get hurt, Wang and Sabathia will probably be ok, but I don’t think Chamberlain and Hughes will do what they’re expecting. The Yanks also are going to lose Bobby Abreu and Jason Giambi, Jeter is another year older and slower and A-Rod will be useless when needed as he always is. I’m not writing the Yankees off before the season starts, but how many of these store bought teams have done what they’re supposed to do? Even Sabathia realizes that the pressure in NY is so silly that he got an opt-out clause after three years. How much you wanna bet that that gets exercised?
• In comparison, the Rays traded their fifth starter for a young RF prospect who is already an upgrade over anything they put out there last year in Matt Joyce. Replacing Jackson will be the best pitching prospect in baseball who already proved himself at the Major League level at the end of last season, including the playoffs. This move also puts a guy on the bench, Gabe Gross, who contributed in a major way throughout a championship season.  
• If we look at who’s not coming back and who is it’s a big difference as well. The Yankees may not have lost all these guys yet but have Andy Pettitte, Bobby Abreu, Mike Mussina and Wilson Betemit. Kyle Farnsworth is gone and so is Carl Pavano (useless) . I personally think Abreu will end up in Chicago and Pettite with the Dodgers. Mussina is retired and that tells me something right there. This is a guy, who at the age of 40 and just came off his first 20 win season, has decided to retire rather than come back to NY or anywhere else. How big a toll did playing in NY take on him? I can’t think of any other reason that he wouldn’t come back to play somewhere for a couple years and try to get his 300th win other than the pressure of playing in NY completely beat him down. There’s no telling what the same pressure will do to Sabathia, who has an awful postseason record, and Burnett. Burnett comes in with an injury history similar to Carl Pavano’s and don’t think that the NY media won’t be harping on that either. The Rays lost Jonny Gomes (finally), who was phased out anyway, Trever Miller and possibly Rocco Baldelli. Miller can be replaced without damage and Baldelli wasn’t counted on anyway.

In wrapping this up I come up with this. The Rays got better already while making one move, the Yankees may or may not have depending on who comes back. The Yankees could still get Abreu, Giambi and Pettite back and that would make them a better team. The main component there would be Pettitte. Even if all these guys came back, who do the Yankees have to fill in if someone goes down? The rotation could end up being a high priced nightmare if one or more of their pitchers get hurt. Who do they have to replace any one of those guys if someone goes down, Darrell Rasner? Again, I’ll take my chances. Their bullpen has already been weakened as well with the loss of Farnsworth and Chamberlain. They could sign Derek Lowe, but I think he’ll end up in Boston. On the Rays end, they have replaced Jackson with Price, Gross with Joyce and still may sign some guys to fill out the DH and bullpen needs. If one or more of the Rays pitchers gets hurt there’s guys like Wade Davis, Jason Hammel, Mitch Talbot, Jeremy Hellickson and Jeff Niemann to fill in. It shows that being small market forces a team to think about the future. Remember when George Steinbrenner was forced out and the team finally had to develop players? They got Bernie Williams, Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera out of that deal, among others. They got role players then like Scott Brosius, Chuck Knoblauch and Jim Leyritz to fill out the roster and that’s how they won all those Series rings. That’s the path the Rays are on now with pieces like Longoria, Price and Upton as they sign guys like Iwamura, Pena and Percival to fill things out. It’s the smart baseball people that win, not the big money teams. We’ve seen it over and over again with teams that try to outspend everyone and don’t succeed and it amazes me that more teams don’t do it better. The Red Soxhave the best combination of both sides right now unfortunately as they have great development and lots of money. They can sign anyone if they want and are developing guys like Papelbon, Pedroia and Youklis. That’s a hard mix to beat but the Rays have the core to compete with them right now, maybe not forever, but right now. The entire perception of these things make me laugh because people are too caught up in the money aspect to see what’s real. The Yankees are supposed to win because they have the most money, they won’t because they don’t have good baseball people. The Red Soxwin because they have both money and good baseball people. They can afford to pay Ortiz, Beckett and Matsuzaka but they don’t win if they don’t develop Pedroia, Youklis and Papelbon. We all hope the Rays can spend the money to keep all these guys but the realistic fact is that, 2 or 3 years from now, they will have to trade a Kazmir, Crawford or Upton to help reload with younger, cheaper players. I hate the thought of that but it’s the reality we live in as a small market team. The great part of it though is that we don’t have distorted thoughts about our teams here and appreciate the winning much more because of it. I can’t wait to see what happens during the rest of this off-season and the regular season next year.

Technorati Tags: AJ Burnett, Akinori Iwamura, Alex Rodriguez, Andy Pettitte, Bernie Williams, BJ Upton, Bobby Abreu, Boston Red Sox, Carl Crawford, Carl Pavano, Carlos Pena, CC Sabathia, Chien-Min Wang, Chuck Knoblauch, Darrell Rasner, David Ortiz, David Price, Derek Jeter, Derek Lowe, Dustin Pedroia, Edwin Jackson, Evan Longoria, Gabe Gross, George Steinbrenner, Jason Giambi, Jason Hammel, Jeff Niemann, Jeremy Hellickson, Jim Leyritz, Joba Chamberlain, Johnathan Papelbon, Jonny Gomes, Kevin Youkilis, Kyle Farnsworth, Los Angeles Dodgers, Mariano Rivera, Matt Joyce, Mike Mussina, Mitch Talbot, New York Yankees, Phil Hughes, Rocco Baldelli, Scott Brosius, Scott Kazmir, Tampa Bay Rays, Trever Miller, Troy Percival, Wade Davis, Wilson Betemit

Technorati Tags: Akinori Iwamura, Andrew Friedman, Andy Sonnanstine, Ben Zobrist, BJ Upton, Boston Red Sox, Brandon Lyon, Brian Fuentes, Carl Crawford, Carlos Guillen, Carlos Pena, Chad Bradford, Dan Wheeler, David Price, Dioner Navarro, Edwin Jackson, Elijah Dukes, Evan Longoria, Francisco Rodriguez, Gabe Gross, Gary Sheffield, Grant Balfour, J.P. Howell, James Shields, Jason Bartlett, Jason Hammel, Jeff Niemann, Joe Beimel, Joe Maddon, Jonny Gomes, Los Angeles Dodgers, Magglio Ordonez, Matt Garza, Miguel Cabrera, Mitch Talbot, Pat Burrell, Philadelphia Phillies, Reid Brignac, Rocco Baldelli, Scott Kazmir, Shawn Riggans, Tampa Bay Rays, Trever Miller, Willy Aybar

   Time to wrap up the Rays season. What a season we had here, never saw this coming. I thought, the same as everyone else, the Rays would improve but not to this extent. Let’s wrap it up…

• The defense: The most dramatically improved thing on this team was the defense. The arrival of Jason Bartlett and Evan Longoria made this into the best left side defense in baseball. I was skeptical of Bartlett in the beginning (no need to bring my stupidity there again) as he had some unexplained throwing errors early but recovered to have a great season (should’ve got the gold glove over Young in my opinion). Longo was great defensively from day one and that’s that. Aki transitioned nicely over to second and Pena (won gold glove) was phenomenal. Having Pena at the corner saved Barty and Longo at least 5 errors a piece. Navarro’s improvement behind the plate was far and away the most amazing difference I saw. He was such a different player all around this year that I want to compare images from last season to see if this is the same guy. Unreal! Crawford and Upton were very good and have the speed to make up for other mistakes they might make. Right field was our problem child but Gabe Gross, Eric Hinske, Nathan Haynes (remember him?), Jonny Gomes (worst of all), Rocco and Fernando Perez did good enough to stay out of the conversation. Riggans did fine as a backup and Ben Zobrist was also good enough in learning new positions that he warranted to complaints. Willy Aybar was a godsend. He started the year at third and gave up his spot to Evan after getting injured. When he returned he helped fill the voids left by Pena and Longoria while they were injured (separately of course).
• The starting pitching: The pitchers improvement was made by maturation and the defense if you ask me. James Shields continued his development into an innings eating machine who we can count on every fifth day to give us a quality start. Kazmir started great after his injury and reverted back to the 5 inning 100 pitch nightmare we’ve gotten too used to. I still think he was pitching through injuries as his slider was gone and we saw hitters make better contact off of him than ever before. Matt Garza was better than advertised and he should improve as he gets his emotions under control. Sonny ate innings as we expected and showed the mental toughness of an ace. Edwin Jackson pitched better than anyone expected. I would like to see more strikeouts from a power arm like his, but it’s hard to complain about 14 wins. We also saw the arrival of David Price. Not much to say there except, hello king David! Now either Sonny or EJax has to give way to Price, one of those nice problems we’ve heard about but rarely seen here. We also saw Jeff Niemann, Mitch Talbot and Jason Hammel make starts. Hammel should be a starter, just not here. Niemann and Talbot could be swingmen or trade bait. We also were lucky here in that there were no major injuries and we basically saw the same five guys all year. That’s a great accomplishment for that reason and for the fact that all five guys performed well enough to stay in the rotation.
• The bullpen: The second most surprising turnaround to me. JP Howell went from prospect on the bubble to a dominating short inning reliever who has become invaluable to this team. I gotta admit, I didn’t see that one coming. Howell not only dominated lefty’s but he shut down righty’s as well. Dan Wheeler rebounded from his bad showing after getting him back from Houston last season and was very good at the setup and closer roles. Grant Balfour was unhittable after his early season demotion and Trevor Miller did enough to get by. Troy Percival was very good until his age and weight caught up with him and his career should be over now. Jason Hammel played the villain role as the mop up/long relief guy and was doing decent until the meltdown against the Yanks. Chad Braford was a nice late season acquisition who performed well in his first round with the team. We saw Juan Salas, Mitch Talbot, Scott Dohman and Kurt Birkins make appearances and we said goodbye to Gary Glover and Al Reyes (yay!). Again this historical improvement I attribute to maturing and the defense.
• The offense: The offense was average for the most part all year and did enough to win. Longoria should be rookie of the year, Pena performed as expected and Aki continued his transition into the leadoff role. We saw down seasons from Upton (until the playoffs) and Crawford, mostly due to injuries. We saw marked improvement from Navarro who finished with the highest batting average at .295 (not .300 though, sorry Cork) and Jason Bartlett. Both of these guys shut me up with authority and became two guys I really like having now. Aybar was awesome off the bench filling in when needed. Gross had some big hits that we didn’t count on out of him. Zobrist and Hinske were good for some bombs at the right times. Floyd was decent at the DH role. Gomes played his way back to the minors (hopefully out of town) and Riggans did what a backup catcher should do. This is the area of the team you could say disappointed and needs to be improved on in the off-season.

   Overall it was the best season we’ve had and looks to be the start of something very special here. These guys are young for the most part and are still learning. Much of the way Her Rays thinks now, maybe there’s something to the fact that this was my first year blogging, it was the first winning season in Rays history. I only hope that I can improve as much as these guys did. It was a season that was great for me as I said it was my first year doing this site, it was the first year my son really got into baseball and it has given us all a sense of excitement that we’ve never had here before. I’ve heard people telling me that they can’t wait for next year already, that’s never been said to me before! Thanks to everyone out there who supported me, especially Rays Index.  Great season guys!

Technorati Tags: Akinori Iwamura, Al Reyes, Andy Sonnanstine, Ben Zobrist, BJ Upton, Carl Crawford, Carlos Pena, Chad Bradford, Cliff Floyd, Dan Wheeler, David Price, Eric Hinske, Evan Longoria, Fernando Perez, Gabe Gross, Gary Glover, Grant Balfour, J.P. Howell, James Shields, Jason Bartlett, Jason Hammel, Jeff Niemann, Jonny Gomes, Juan Salas, Kurt Birkins, Matt Garza, Mitch Talbot, Nathan Haynes, Rocco Baldelli, Scott Dohman, Scott Kazmir, Shawn Riggans, Tampa Bay Rays, Trevor Miller, Troy Percival, Willy Aybar

   I realize what an awful time this is for my first post back but I had to write something. I want to say a couple quick things about the Rays in the series and the playoffs in general. They showed tremendous heart and fortitude throughout and played way above their heads. I have been in awe of this team all year and I’m more proud of them than I ever thought I would be at this moment. Whether they get back to the series or not, they have made me proud of their accomplishments this year and that’s something I’ll always remember this as a dream season. Now, to preface my second point I’m gonna sound like a homer whiner but, this looked like an impossible series for the Rays to win. They had to beat the Phillies and the UMPIRES! The shoebox strike zone that Kaz and Garza had to pitch to wasn’t questionable, it was disgustingly biased. Screw the missed calls on the bases and the other crap, no one could’ve pitched well enough to win with that strike zone and they still kept the games close. That was amazing to me! Now I would like to congratulate the Phillie TEAM and PLAYERS. Hats off to the TEAM that won, they deserve it, they earned it and I’m happy for THEM. I would now like to say, FUCK THE PHILLIE FANS! You are the worst people to walk the earth. I apologize to anyone with class who reads this site for the language that I have used to speak to the idiot fans from Filthadelphia, but it’s the only thing these jackasses understand. It’s one thing to root for your team and to give another team’s fans a hard time, hell I could understand a fight or two. But to call players wives whores and to throw things at children, you are pussy ass bitches! Fuck all you useless bags of shit, I will not cry if you burn yourselves up in the riot you’re about to have. Congrats on a great season Rays! I’ll be back on track tomorrow for some more rhetoric, but for now it’s time to get drunk and wallow in pity!

Technorati Tags: Matt Garza, Philadelphia Phillies, Scott Brannelly, Scott Kazmir, Tampa Bay Rays

The Rays ended the madness tonight and got away with a 7-5 win to avoid being swept by the retirement home bandits. They had a big inning in the second in which they scored 5 runs on hits by Gross, Aki and Aybar and things looked back to normal on the mound and in the field. The crowds picked up the last two nights also with 25,000 plus at both games. It got scary but it worked out. Anyway, let’s get to it.

• Kazmir still isn’t right. He is slowly improving but there still appears to be something wrong with him. He threw 6 innings of one hit ball with five walks. That’s right, 5 freakin walks! I don’t know how he got away with it against the Yanks but he did. I can only hope that there’s nothing seriously wrong with him and it all is corrected by the time the playoffs roll around.
• I have given credit to Jason Hammel in the past for having the toughest job on the team. No more. That was completely embarrassing tonight to have to bring in your closer to finish off a game that you were winning 7-0 in the ninth. The role that Hammel fills is a thankless role, but c’mon, 5 runs in 2/3 on an inning?! What are you doing?!
• A-Rod is still useless when he’s needed. Just thought I’d throw that out there.
• I guess I need to lay off Melvin for now. The St. Pete Times broke the story today where Upton said he needs surgery after the season and that’s why he hasn’t been hitting any homeruns. Interperet that any way you want but I have a couple questions. If he’s not driving in runs and he’s looking to get on base for others, why is he not batting leadoff? I’ve been puzzled by this for a while and it only goes to prove the point even more. He draws walks, steals bases and has been downgraded to having warning track power. He’s obviously our best leadoff hitter so……….. My other question is toward Melvin. Haven’t you had this problem for some years now? He has apparently battled this shoulder thing since the minor league days at least, so why hasn’t this been addressed sooner? I tore my rotator cuff in high school so I know how bad a shoulder injury can hurt and if I had the resources I would’ve had surgery but we couldn’t afford it. You could afford it Melvin so what’s the excuse here?
• Last thing is to Barty and Whiskers. I dogged these guys hard early in the year, and with the bet with Rays Index looming, I want to give both of these guys credit. I looked at the stats when the game started and these two guys have the highest avg. of all the regulars on the team. Outstanding! Gotta give credit when it’s due.

Technorati Tags: Akinori Iwamura, Alex Rodriguez, BJ Upton, Dioner Navarro, Gabe Gross, Jason Bartlett, Jason Hammel, New York Yankees, Scott Kazmir, Tampa Bay Rays, Willy Aybar

There are numerous reasons to think the Rays will or won’t make the playoffs. We know them all down here. I have watched and been a fan of this team since it’s inception and I, along with everyone else here, have been waiting for that breakout year like the Bucs or the Lightning had. The Rays compare more to the Bucs for me as I believe this is the first of many years of relevance. The Lightning had a more of a flash and dash type of thing and have struggled to remain a power since their Stanley Cup victory. The Bucs have been up and down since their Super Bowl run yet were “almost” there many times before. It’s hard to predict what the Rays will be. Here are some reasons to think they won’t make the playoffs.

• The Pink Sox will make a run as they’ve been there before and have the firepower to overcome mediocre pitching.
• The Rays have yet to really slump yet this year. Aside from the losing streak going into the all-star break, they haven’t stumbled over themselves too much.
• Injuries have started to hit at the wrong time. Crawford, Longoria and Percival are down and the only one of those three I would really count on contributing down the stretch would be Longo.
• They have the toughest schedule in baseball in September with a horrific 9 game road trip going to Toronto, Boston and New York. They follow that up with Boston and Minnesota at home. Pretty scary!

Now for some reasons to think they will make the big show.

• They seem to win games that make no sense. They win with timely hits, quality pitching and great defense. Not that that doesn’t make sense but there are no guys putting up superstar like numbers and it’s a different guy every night getting it done. We’ve had clutch hits from reserve players like Aybar, Gross and Riggans. How can you count on that?
• They are winning without Longoria, Crawford and Percival. In this same note they’re winning while not getting the production they thought they would from guys like Upton, Crawford and Pena. Pena and Upton have been better lately along with Floyd and Hinske and you could argue that they all might get hot down the stretch. It also appears that Kazmir may be shaking off his recent struggles so that helps.
• They have a large enough lead at this point that they should at least get a wild card.

Let’s throw all that crap aside now and point out the number one reason that we should know that the Rays will make it to the playoffs. Skip Bayless has jumped off the bandwagon. That’s right, with this genius finally jumping off the Rays train we can all rest comfortably. This is the guy who picks against everything sane and goes with the most outrageous predictions he can find. I find Bayless entertaining and I’m sure part of his agenda is meant to be over the top, but if he picks against you then you are destined for great things. I will now prematurely congratulate the Rays on their playoff birth based on this alone!

Technorati Tags: BJ Upton, Carl Crawford, Carlos Pena, Cliff Floyd, Eric Hinske, Evan Longoria, Gabe Gross, Scott Kazmir, Shawn Riggans, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Tampa Bay Lightning, Tampa Bay Rays, Troy Percival, Willy Aybar

   Pat yourself on the back Andrew Friedman, you stole a good hitter today. Friedman didn’t blink and nabbed the best right handed hitter available for two over rated prospects. I love this deal. I’m not sure how good an outfielder Bay is but his bat is what we wanted. This should mean two things for the Rays. They now have someone to throw out there every day who opposing pitchers have to respect. And it should mean the end of the line for Jonny Gomes! Two birds with one stone cliche inserted here. I would assume Bay takes over batting 3rd or 4th in some sort of Bay/Pena/Longoria sandwich. I don’t think I’ve been as excited about a trade since the raping of the Mets for Scott Kazmir. Awesome job Andy!

Scott

Source: MLB Trade Rumors

Technorati Tags: Andrew Friedman, Carlos Pena, Evan Longoria, Jason Bay, Jeff Niemann, Jonny Gomes, Reid Brignac, Scott Kazmir, Tampa Bay Rays

   As I sit and watch this game tonight there appears to be something glaringly wrong with C.C. and Kaz. First off, Crawford has been on first twice tonight without even an bluff at taking second. I know he had a sore knee and had said he was “rejuvenated” when he came off his suspension. He isn’t looking so tonight. It really stuck out to me when I saw the homer that Freddy Sanchez hit. That looked like a ball Carl could’ve gotten to and he looked Uptonesque as he went after that ball. We’ll see there. I’m very concerned watching Kaz tonight though. He is looking very uncomfortable as he throws very timidly tonight. His slider is looking like a curveball and his fastball looks very average. He appears to be moving around gingerly as well. I’m very nervous watching this game. I hope my eyes are deceiving me and these guys aren’t hurt. We’ll see.

Scott Brannelly

Technorati Tags: Carl Crawford, Scott Brannelly, Scott Kazmir, Tampa Bay Rays

   The series in Boston is pretty much going the way I thought it would. I’m not silly enough to think the Rays can go to Boston and sneak out with another series win. I figured they would drop the first two and grab the third behind James Shields. This isn’t being brought up because of the two losses, I’ve been meaning to bring this up for a while now. The Rays bats are not very good right now. Aki has picked it up over the last month, TFC and Bartlett are doing better. The problem is the middle of the order. Upton is still taking too many strikes and isn’t hitting for any power. Watching him at this point he looks to be a better leadoff hitter than number three hitter. Pena has struggled and is now hurt. Longoria hasn’t burst on the scene like we all anticipated. Looking at the lineup from top to bottom there is absolutely no one that would scare any pitcher out there. The Rays need to make a move to get a legit middle of the order hitter. To take it a step further in my little fantasy here, I want an elite type hitter. I saw a ridiculous rumor a week or two ago that had the Rays trading David Price among others to the Cards for Albert Pujols. I would do that in a heartbeat. I’m all about developing from within, maintaining a strong farm system and all that but why chase potential when a front line hitter like that may be available. I’m sure that rumor was bogus so don’t take it as me saying the Rays should get Pujols, I’m just saying it’s time to start looking at things a little different. If guys like Matt Holliday, Albert Pujols or Magglio Ordonez become available at a steep price I personally would rather see the Rays go for a more “win now” approach. Now understand, I’m not saying they should try to be the Yankees, they should try to be the Red Sox. Look at it like this, the Sox are a great team because the have Ramirez/Ortiz in the middle. They won without Beckett, Lowell, etc… (although Varitek aint hurtin’ them either). I think Longoria will eventually develop into a great middle order guy, Upton should hopefully find his power stroke again but what else is coming in the way of hitters, Ryan Royster? The Rays lack power throughout the organization and should move some of this pitching depth to get a feared hitter. The Rays originally had a plan to win more toward the ‘09 or ‘10 seasons but things have changed fellas. There should be more of a rush now because pitching is so volatile. Will Shields and Kaz be healthy next year? This seems to be the year that you want to start planning on. With Kazmir and Shields pitching well, Garza improving, a solid bullpen and David Price storming towards the bigs it’s time to start hunting. Here’s my logic. If you trade some guys like Wade Davis, Jake McGee, Jeff Niemann and Fernando Perez it would definitely hurt your minor league system, but you would get a big time bat or two back and that makes you Major League club better right now and for the next year or two after. During that time you can replenish your farm system through the draft and what not. You also still have guys like Mitch Talbot, Jeremy Hellickson, Desmond Jennings, Heath Rollins and Chris Mason down there. You have depth and it’s time to use it! We can’t continue to put this much pressure on the pitching staff and defense. This is why I was for Bonds over Floyd. Say what you want about Bonds, he is feared as a hitter every day he walks and that makes everyone better. Floyd is no Bonds and will probably not stay healthy for half of the teams games this year. Make a move for the sake of winning now please!

Scott Brannelly

Technorati Tags: Akinori Iwamura, Barry Bonds, BJ Upton, Carlos Pena, Chris Mason, Cliff Floyd, David Price, Desmond Jennings, Evan Longoria, Fernando Perez, Heath Rollins, Jake McGee, James Shields, Jason Bartlett, Jeff Niemann, Jeremy Hellickson, Matt Garza, Mitch Talbot, Ryan Royster, Scott Kazmir, Tampa Bay Rays, TFC, Wade Davis

   I need to preface what I’m about to say by giving credit to anyone that has been a Rays fan before the bandwagon opened. I appreciate anyone who has gone to the games and suffered through everything that I have since our inception. That being said there are a couple fans at the games I would love to smack with a spiked bat! The first target of mine is the “heckler”. I don’t hear him too much at the games except when there are below 10,000 at the game. If you watch the games on TV, you know who he is. I don’t know his name but he is one of the most annoying people on earth. He usually picks on one player from the other team and every time they come to bat he yells in some sort of faggy drill instructor type voice. He never has anything good to say and is so loud that he disrupts Magrane and Staats while doing the play by play. I’m told he’s a lawyer but I’m not sure. He is the first idiot. The most annoying people you could ever see at a Rays game though are the second targets. If you’ve ever sat in the upper deck behind home plate, you know exactly who I’m talking about. There is an old couple that have been going to games for at least four years now (that’s the first time I noticed them) that have a stupid tradition. Every time one of our pitchers strikes out a batter they stand up and march the hitter back to the dugout. They each have a sign, one says left and one says right, and they scream ” left, right, left right” until the hitter reaches the dugout. I don’t know how or why they came up with this but it is the most annoying thing in the world! They do it whether we’re winning or losing, no matter how many people are there and no matter what you say to them. It appears they are only entertaining themselves and I’m embarrassed to be near them when they do this. I’ve told them to shut up (I would tell the heckler too but I’ve never sat near him) and every time I’ve been near them the other fans in the area do too. They don’t acknowledge anyone speaking to them and just keep going. Again, I appreciate anyone who goes to all the games these people do, but shut up! I love the Kazmir Krazies, the guys with the bells and wigs and anyone who tries to bring some life to these games. I just can’t stand the idiots who draw attention to themselves by trying to berate the other team. We just started winning. We still have a half empty stadium and we still haven’t earned our respect from everyone. This has gone on for years and it is something that makes people that don’t go much not want to come back. Be a fan and root for your team. Don’t be an obnoxious asshole (Philly fan of any kind) and talk shit just to draw attention to yourself. These people should be lined up on a Monday and publicly lashed like they do in Singapore!

Scott Brannelly

Technorati Tags: Scott Kazmir, Tampa Bay Rays

   I might be jumping the gun here but Scott Kazmir is off to a ridiculously good start. Since the early part of last year I have been arguing that James Shields was the ace and not Kazmir. I argue this not because I think that Shields has better stuff, he doesn’t, but because he has been more consistent in giving the team quality starts. Remember last year when Shields was robbed of at least 4 or 5 wins because of the Camp/Lugo circus that we had. I will now give the nod to Kaz. Scotty ‘K’ is off to a phenomenal start and this is all coming on the heels of starting the season on the D.L. He is also a traditionally slow starter and tends to throw alot of pitches early which leads to 5 inning outings. He started that way again tonight but recovered to end up going 7 innings of shutout ball picking up his fifth win. This is an outstanding thing to think see transpiring in front of us. This guy can be flat out unhittable when he’s on and he seems to be on all the time now. He has only pitched in six games this year and already has five wins. He is throwing the changeup more often and pitching to contact more often with confidence because of the defense. If he continues he will blow by everyone in the A.L. and should be the front runner for the Cy Young award by the All-Star break. This is my opinion only as I had to argue with my Dad tonight that he is pitching better than Cliff Lee. I realize Lee is pitching well and maybe I’m being a homer but I’d take Kaz over Lee in a heartbeat! He is not doing this against the weak either. In his first start coming off the D.L. he gave up 4 runs in his only loss to the Red Sox. The Sox do that to the best of them so no harm done. In his 5 outings since he has given up 2 runs in 35 innings to the White Sox, Rangers, Yankees, A’s and Angels. Not bad huh? I’m so excited about the potential season he could have and I can’t wait until his next start to see if he can keep it up. My only complaint about him tonight was he didn’t get us our free pizza, damn you Kaz!

Scott Brannelly

Source: Yahoo

Technorati Tags: James Shields, Scott Kazmir, Tampa Bay Rays

   I’m confused by the lack of attendance at the Rays games. The Rays have yet to start hitting yet they win. You could go watch Shields, Kazmir and Sonnanstine. You don’t have to see the crap that was continuously rotated out of the bullpen last year. You can see one of the best defense’s in baseball every night. Every game seems to be close and for the first time in our history they are winning more than they are losing. Where is everyone? I know it’s too much too ask for people to go every night, hell I can’t do that, but is it too much to ask for more than 12,000 people to come see our second place Rays? There are no more excuses for you right now. It’s still easy to find parking. It’s not a long drive for anyone from Tampa to Sarasota. What’s your excuse people? Every day I hear on the radio people calling in to the local shows and they say “when they win I’ll go”. They’re winning now so where are you? It’s time for the fans to stop making excuses. We can still bitch and moan about the dumb moves our retard of a manager makes and the stupid moves the ownership group makes but they’re winning in spite of it. I’m not saying we’re going to make the playoffs this year but it’s not out of the question either. Sternberg and his crew have assembled a quality team here. They seem to be poised for a good run as well also. Think about it for a second. The bullpen is pitching way above expectations and when they come down to earth the bats might come alive and save them. We have yet to see the real Carlos Pena, Carl Crawford, B.J. Upton and even the real Evan Longoria. It looks as if the Rays might get so lucky that when the arms start faltering the bats might save them. At this point you couldn’t ask for more from this over-achieving team right now so GO WATCH THEM!!!!

Technorati Tags: Andy Sonnanstine, BJ Upton, Carl Crawford, Carlos Pena, Evan Longoria, James Shields, Scott Kazmir, Tampa Bay Rays

   The Rays lost their third straight to the Sox 7-3 and things are looking down now. Kazmir made his ‘08 debut and looked rusty as we thought he would. Kazmir is the type that needs reps and innings before he gets his location and mechanics in tune. This is not unusual. The bats look terrible right now though. Pena homered and the rest looked average. The approach this team has at the plate is what kills me. There are way too many guys slapping at pitches early in the count and way too many guys are taking good pitches. I see Crwaford flailing at pitches he is fooled on early in the count. What good is that? If you can’t put a good swing on the ball with less than 2 strikes, let it go. When you have 2 strikes you must protect the plate, Crawford is protecting the plate with no strikes and Upton is looking at strike three way too much. There is no plan to what these guys are doing. I’m tired of hearing that the team is trying to draw more walks and work the pitchers more. This will all happen if you simply have an approach to HIT the ball. I think it was Mike Piazza that said ‘you get three strikes per at bat and three at bats a game, therefore there should be no excuse for you not to hit at least one ball hard every game’. This worked for him and it should be good enough for anyone else. These guys are either being taught wrong or are doing things wrong on their own. I have loved Crawford but I just see a guy up there swinging with no idea how to hit and it is a huge waste of talent. He should not be taught to just make contact, he is way too strong for that. Upton shouldn’t be looking for walks, they will come when you scare the pitcher by HITTING! I’m not trying to just single out these two guys as the whole team has problems right now but these are two guys we count on to be a force within the lineup and they are not doing their job. I want more out of them because they are more than capable of it. I hope the Rays are working to correct these problems and not just waiting for guys to come out of it.

Technorati Tags: BJ Upton, Carl Crawford, Scott Kazmir, Tampa Bay Rays

   Matt Garza made his bid to stay in the rotation today after pulling out a 4-2 in the series clincher against the Baltimore Oriole’s. Garza, who pitched 6 innings, looked a little shaky early but overcame it to put together a solid performance in which he walked two, struck out three and scattered three hits. We’re all still unsure of what the Rays will do when Kazmir comes back Sunday but Mr. Garza just made their decision a little tougher. This is the third straight series the Rays have won going 8-1 in the process and have temporarily put themselves back in first (depending on the Boston game later). The scary part of the game was when B.J. Upton apparently dislocated his shoulder swinging at a pitch in the top of the fifth. This is not the first time we’ve seen this with Upton. When he was called up back in August of 2006 he missed a few games with the same type of injury. Hopefully this is not serious and will only take a couple days to recover. This is horrible timing though as the Rays now head to Boston for a three game set. There is no word yet on what it actually is or how serious the injury seems but he will most likely miss the weekend series and that hurts. We’ll keep you posted on the injury as it’s updated. Congrats Rays!

Source: Marc Topkin, Yahoo MLB 

Technorati Tags: BJ Upton, Scott Kazmir, Tampa Bay Rays

   Andy Sonnanstine threw another gem tonight as the Rays beat the Oriole’s 8-1 to even the series at one. This is creating a nice problem for the Rays as Sonny has pitched very well so far to the tune of four wins in the first month. Jackson is still up and down and Hammel had a rough night last night but they seem to be locked into spots due to the lack of options. We have harped on this but what are the Rays going to do when Kaz comes back Sunday? I’ve been on board with shopping and moving Edwin Jackson (I still am) but that’s not likely to happen so I have thought of something and I would like some opinions on it. I’m not sure so I would like someone to tell me but I believe that Matt Garza has more options. If that is so I would love to see the Rays send him down when Kazmir returns. I like Garza and think he’ll do fine here and I understand the pressure on the organization to keep him up here because of the trade but it makes more sense to me to send him down if possible. He’s coming off an injury that we aren’t sure is fixed, he hasn’t pitched that great and I think it would be good for him to sort this out in AAA rather than in the bigs. I know Kirk Birkins is expendable but that doesn’t create a spot in the rotation. We’ve seen Hammel and Jackson in relief and it doesn’t seem to suit them. Sonnanstine has earned a spot so why not Garza? If there are no more options on him then this is irrelevant as Sonnanstine will be the odd man out, but if not then Garza should go. What do you think?

Technorati Tags: Andy Sonnanstine, Edwin Jackson, Jason Hammel, Kirk Birkins, Matt Garza, Scott Kazmir, Tampa Bay Rays

   Well no sooner than we were figuring out where everyone would fit with the new Gabe Gross acquisition the Rays designated Dan Johnson for assignment. This gives the Rays 10 days to trade, release or pass him through waivers. This puts me a little more at ease as Gross, even though I’ve yet to see him play, can help out in the outfield. The Heater had the story first and you can read about it here.

   In other Rays news Scott Kazmir made another rehab start this morning, yes at 10:30 am this morning and everything went well lining him up for one more rehab start and a May 3rd return to the bigs against Boston.

One more note on the Rays here. Credit is due to both DRaysBay and Rays Index who both do an outstanding job covering the Rays minor league affiliates. I used to keep up with that but with my job keeping me so busy and trying to keep up with all that’s going on in Tampa Bay and Orlando there’s no time for that anymore. I don’t feel like I’m missing much with the way these guys keep up with things though. Check out the above links and see.

Technorati Tags: Dan Johnson, Gabe Gross, Scott Kazmir, Tampa Bay Rays

   There is a conundrum for the Rays they have never had to deal with before. They might have too much pitching. I’ll say it again, they just might have too much pitching. Crazy right? With Matt Garza due to come off the disable list and make a start on Friday and Scott Kazmir due back in early May the Rays have to make some tough decisions. The easiest choice I’m guessing would be to option Andy Sonnanstine to AAA Durham and stick with the rotation of Shields, Kazmir, Jackson, Garza and Hammel. What if Sonnanstine puts up another performance like he did Saturday? This is a good problem to have and we can only hope it works out for the Rays. Personally I think Jason Hammel is noticeably improved and from what I’ve seen from him mechanically and situational pitching he is for real and should be a good 4 or 5 starter in this league. The jury is still out on Matt Garza on whether the Twins pulled a fast one on us or not. I like his stuff but the rest leaves a lot to be desired. His mechanics are a little off and I’m not sure what to make of his poise on the hill yet. I would like to think the best is yet to come from him and the injury was the cause of his problems. Sonnanstine has smooth mechanics and is a strike throwing machine which is nice to see from our staff. His issue is his stuff. He doesn’t have one great pitch and can easily be lit up. I love his toughness and mound presence , he holds runners on well and history tells us that you don’t have to have great stuff to be productive. I like him for our rotation better than Jackson. It’s easy to fall in love with the high powered fastball Jackson throws but that is not going to get it done for him. I would love to see Sonny and Hammel remain in the back end of the rotation as both of these guys need major league innings to improve and Sonny especially can be a huge innings eater that will help out the bullpen dramatically. Obviously I’m getting to the point where I believe Jackson should be the odd man out. Part of me wants the Rays to try again to convert him into a reliever because of the stuff but he would be a nightmare one inning at a time. DRaysBay made a case for the Rays to trade Jackson a while back and I’m on board with them here. If there is some middle infield help or bullpen upgrades that could be had for this guy the Rays should jump on it. The most likely scenario is that Sonnanstine is optioned down but I don’t believe that helps him. He knows how to pitch in general, he needs to learn how to pitch at the Major League level. I know I’m not mentioning Jeff Niemann here but he still has a lot of work to do. I’ve stated before I think he’ll be a bust but we’ll have to wait and see there. It will be interesting to see what happens and the Rays are sure to take their time in making any major moves as they’re going to want to make sure Kaz and Garza are healthy before doing anything but it will be fun to speculate in the meantime.

Technorati Tags: Andy Sonnanstine, Edwin Jackson, Jason Hammel, Jeff Niemann, Matt Garza, Scott Kazmir, Tampa Bay Rays

   The Rays may have a good problem on their hands here. With Jason Hammel and Edwin Jackson seemingly improved and making consistently good starts the Rays are holding down the fort pretty well with Kazmir and Garza out. Then Jeff Niemann comes in and performs nicely in his first major league start adding to the promise. Now Matt Garza and Scott Kazmir are heading to Vero Beach for rehab and may be back soon. When they come back the Rays have a dilemma, what to do with all this pitching? This is a little exaggerated as we all know these guys could revert back to last years form at any time and there is no such thing as too much pitching. This is nice to see with the Rays after all these years of horrid pitching and bad draft picks. There is a ton of pitching on the farm on the way and with everyone doing fairly well there could be some interesting things to deal with. Andy Sonnanstine has seemed to pitch his way back to Durham so that should be an easy one. If Niemann performs well again today it’s going to be hard to send him back down. Jackson and Hammel have both proved to be good enough at this point and neither one seems to do well out of the bullpen, Hammel especially. This leads me to think a possible trade announcement is coming today. The Rays have been linked to the Cubs Matt Murton for some time now over at MLBTR and this could be possible. A lot could go down and it’s nice to see the Rays having some good problem’s, especially with the injuries we’ve seen so far.

Technorati Tags: Andy Sonnanstine, Edwin Jackson, Jason Hammel, Jeff Niemann, Matt Garza, Scott Kazmir, Tampa Bay Rays

   The Rays have experienced a multitude of injuries so far yet the newest could hurt badly. In last nights game Carlos Pena left with what is being called ‘hamstring tightness’ and this scares all Rays fans. Pena is off to a good start power-wise and is a great defensive first baseman. If he goes down for an extended period of time this could be trouble. Pena is struggling as far as his average goes but that’s a little deceptive as his presence is what matters. He is not the type of guy who is going to hit .300 but he will punish pitchers when they make mistakes. From what I’ve seen this year with Upton starting slow, but picking up lately, and no consistent protection established behind him yet Pena has not been getting much to hit and that is why his average is down. If he’s lost Eric Hinske can fill in and you won’t see a huge difference offensively but the defense will be sorely missed. Last night we saw a play where Evan Longoria had to rush a throw to first that went into the dirt and Hinske couldn’t dig it out. This is a play that’s becoming Pena’s trademark. He seems to dig most everything out of the dirt and with Longoria having already tossed a couple like this and Bartlett consistently having difficulty throwing to first this would translate into a huge problem for the team and the pitching staff. Hope it’s only tightness that a couple days off can mend. Keep your fingers crossed on this. In another quick note, The Heater is reporting there is a “major announcement” scheduled for 1pm today. With all the injuries we’ve seen so far with Kaz, Reyes, Garza, Floyd, Aybar, etc.. nothing would be shocking. No one seems to have any inclination what the announcement is so I guess we just have to wait and see.

Technorati Tags: Al Reyes, BJ Upton, Carlos Pena, Cliff Floyd, Dioner Navarro, Eric Hinske, Evan Longoria, James Shields, Jason Bartlett, Matt Garza, Scott Kazmir, Tampa Bay Rays, Willy Aybar