Tampa Bay Sports Blog

Over the last couple years the Rays have made tremendous strides. They have gone from the perrenial loser to a contender. They have gone from a laughing stock to a respected organization. They are looked upon to contend against the big boys in the AL East. They have been praised for smart trades and drafting. I get all of this. Some of us disagree with some of the decisions (Kapler,Burell), but these are things that could be proven wrong still. I have now been completely lost by one decision and need an explanation.

What was the thought process behind the Adam Kennedy/Joe Dillon deal? What the hell happened here? It’s easy to question a move like this after Iwamura got hurt, I know, but how does this happen? What about this deal was so appealing to the Rays? Follow what I see and tell me what I see wrong.

Adam Kennedy is in the minor leagues under team control with no pressure to move him. He is a 32 year old proven 10 year major league second baseman that could provide quality depth and experience at both the minor and major league level. He is traded. A player of this caliber would bring back at least one decent lower level prospect, right?

He gets traded for the infamous player to be named later. That player becomes Joe Dillon. Dillon is a player who is older, less experienced, a worse fielder and goes against what the Rays supposedly are. I thought the Rays were a team that played good defense, manufactured runs and didn’t live by the long-ball. Not according to this move. I don’t get it.

How do you move a guy with proven major league ability for an older guy with none? In what universe is Adam Kennedy worth Joe Dillon? I have to question management’s moves still because of these things. I know that Friedman, Maddon and company go by the new stat crap, but how does this make sense even by those standards? We all know that I hate the new stat wave of scouting and what not, but I don’t get this at all. Can someone help me find what I’m missing here?

Technorati Tags: Adam Kennedy, Akinori Iwamura, AL, Andrew Friedman, Gabe Kapler, Joe Dillon, Joe Maddon, Tampa Bay Rays

In my confusion of wondering why Ben Zobrist hasn’t been handed the RF position I must critique Joe Maddon and Gabe Kapler. The charade should’ve already ended by now and Ben Zobrist should be the everyday rightfielder and beyond that I continue to wonder what the hell is keeping him from being out there. The original plan was to platoon Kapler and Gross in RF until Matt Joyce was ready to take over and Zorilla (Rays Index) was to be the super sub. In the process it appears that Zobrist has done enough to win the job in RF, but no dice.

This is the most aggravating thing to me about Joe Maddon. I don’t agree with a lot of what he does, but he’s the man and I’m not so who really cares. I just keep getting frustrated by his refusal to alter anything, even when it is completely sensible to do it.

Just to review some of this in bullets…

• Refused to move Upton from the three hole for the first part of last season.
• Has refused to move Upton from the leadoff spot this season despite Bartlett clearly being the better candidate at this point.
• Refuses to play Michel Hernandez more despite his superior play over Navarro this season.
• Refused to remove the closer tag from Troy Percival despite him blowing up in the second half of last season.
• Refuses to acknowledge that there is something wrong with Kazmir and continues to leave him in games too long.

There is a lot more, but these are just examples of his stubborn behavior. I could go on and on ( i usually do anyway) about these moves, but I’ll just focus on Kapler right now. Why does this guy continue to get so much playing time? I don’t understand the need Maddon has to stick this guy out there when Zobrist is playing so well. I was never impressed with what little I saw of Kapler before he got here (I’m sure the DRaysBay readers remember and will somehow bitch about me again) and I’m even less impressed now. He is one of the most mechanical athletes I’ve ever laid eyes on. His hitting mechanics are awful and his defense is average at best. Can he get some new cleats by the way, how many plays has he slid and nearly fell on so far this year?

I’m not going to reference any stats or charts or anything because there is no need. Zobrist alone is better than Kapler/Gross. I do realize that because of the makeup of the roster that you can’t run Zobrist out there 7 days a week, he is needed to backup at short when Bartlett needs one of his many Maddon off days, but there is no reason for him not to be starting out there in right 4 days a week at least.

Looking at the way Papa Joe is playing these guys it appears that he is trying to be slick by starting Gross/Kapler and slotting Zobrist in later. I would assume he is doing this in the hope that these guys will start hitting and if they (when) they don’t he tosses Zobrist out there. Common sense tells me that you run the guy who’s hitting better out there first and if you’re running away with the game you toss the guys that are struggling out there then, but Maddon didn’t go to the same school of common sense that I did so we disagree.

I will wrap this post up by saying this. Kapler sucks. He is a below average baseball player who deserves to ride the pine pony express until it’s absolutely necessary to use him. Now I know it’s time for me to get ripped by the stat freaks who blasted me before when I questioned the Kapler signing, but if they still want to defend the phenominal Gabe Kapler then maybe they are the ones who shouldn’t be writing about baseball anymore.

It’s been a while, but who cares. As I sit and watch my favorite teams in the time that I get in the middle of my hectic weeks, I have decided to finally post something and it will be directed at Joe Maddon. The Rays are struggling in the early part of the season and that’s not really shocking, but I find something about the lineups that get run out everyday extremely troubling. What does it take to lose or win a job on this team? Seriously, what does it take?

The constant days off for regulars has always troubled me, but I get it. What puzzles me is constantly running guys out who are clearly struggling. Let’s start with the fat catcher. Navarro looks bad in every sense of the word right now. He is not the same guy we saw last year, this is the mope we saw the year before. Weak stick, bad at bats and lazy catching. There is a problem with Navarro and we don’t know what it is. Now I’m not saying TFC needs to lose his job to Michel Hernandez, but wouldn’t it send a nice message to TFC and the rest of the team if you gave Hernandez another start after his performance on Thursday? It would be a nice reward for a guy that has clearly busted his butt for a long time and may be the wake up call that Navarro needs. Leave him in til TFC proves he wants it back.

This same thing goes for Upton. Why do we need to watch these at bats that look as if he’s allergic to swinging? Why do we need to see him argue over CALLED third stikes at least once a night? Why not toss Zobrist out there for a couple days and let Upton prove he wants to be out there? Again, I’m not saying he loses his job, just let him know that this crap won’t be tolerated.

Speaking of Zobrist, what does this guy have to do to prove that he should be manning RF on a daily basis before you take action? The Gabe platoon has looked as bad as I anticipated and Zobrist continues to go out and hit. He is no worse in right than Gross or Kapler (especially with the genius defensive alignments) and continues to prove he belongs with the stick.

Look Joe, I’m trying to be objective and I’m trying to be more patient with you than I have been in the past, but please help me figure this out. What kind of message does this send to the young guys trying to fight and claw their way to the show? On a team that is relying on developing youth to remain competitive wouldn’t it send a great message to guys like Matt Joyce, John Jaso, Fernando Perez, Desmond Jennings, Tim Beckham and so on that you have to show and prove to get and KEEP a job?! If there is something that I’m missing here I need to know. I realize that you think you are the smartest person to ever be around baseball now so it should be pretty easy to explain.

I’m waiting.

Technorati Tags: Ben Zobrist, BJ Upton, Dioner Navarro, Fernando Perez, Joe Maddon, John Jaso, Matt Joyce, Michel Hernandez, Tampa Bay Rays, Tim Beckham