Tampa Bay Sports Blog

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

According to Ken Rosenthal, via MLB Trade Rumors, the Rays are close to signing former Phillie outfielder Pat Burrell to a two year $16 million deal. This move makes way too much sense for all parties involved to not happen. Burrell is the right handed bat that the Rays are looking for to slot at DH on a regular basis and he comes fairly cheap. The contract that’s speculated on above is a perfect fit for the Rays and their budget. I really like this move for a few reasons.

Burrell can still hit and we won’t have to watch him stumble around in the outfield too often. He comes with no baggage and seems like he would fit right in to the clubhouse the Rays currently have.This move also allows the Rays to hopefully leave Fernando Perez in AAA Durham for at least another year of seasoning.

It also would allow the Rays to put the Abreu/Giambi fiasco to bed and focus on upgrading the bullpen. I was no fan of Abreu or Giambi so it makes me pretty happy there. With Burrell coming fairly cheap as well this may put Brandon Lyon and/or Joe Beimel into the picture as I’ve so desired. It would be a lovely thing to see if the Rays jumped on one of those guys.

This move doesn’t necessarily kill the idea of Rocco returning either, even though it most likely did. If Roc wants to come back for another year as a fourth outfielder it could easily make Ben Zobrist or Gabe Gross expendable and that would be no real tragedy either.

Even without all my speculation on what this could all lead to, this is about the most sensible and logical move the Rays could’ve made at this point. All in all, a good day for the Rays.

Technorati Tags: Ben Zobrist, Bobby Abreu, Brandon Lyon, Fernando Perez, Gabe Gross, Jason Giambi, Joe Beimel, Pat Burrell, Philadelphia Phillies, Rocco Baldelli, Tampa Bay Rays

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

   A couple of Rays notes for the day. The snagged reliever Chad Bradford off of waivers from the Orioles and will be sending the infamous “player to be named later”. Bradford is a capable reliever who I can’t stand watching, but is effective. He is one of the few submarine style pitchers left in the game and is a groundball machine. I would expect to see him in those situations that require a double play ball and against tough right handed hitters. He’s having a good season to the tune of a 3-3 record with a 2.45 ERA. We can only speculate on who’s going to be the odd man out and I would have to guess Al Reyes. Rays Index thinks Jason Hammel may be gone (who they don’t seem to be a big fan of) but I gotta think that Hammel serves more of a purpose than Reyes and there isn’t anyone to really take his long relief spot. After watching the 85 mph balloons Reyes has been throwing lately I gotta think he’s on the way to the DL at least. In other news The Heater is also reporting that Carl Crawford will be back in the lineup tonight. He’s been having some leg problems and has not been nearly as aggressive on the basepaths. This is probably something that will linger for the rest of the year so I’m not gonna get too excited either way. It’s not looking as good for Jason Bartlett tonight though as he’s out of the lineup. His finger is probably still too swollen to throw so it may be another day or two before he’s back. I would assume when he’s back in the lineup then Rocco will be activated and Zobrist will be optioned. Back to work again.

Scott Brannelly

Source: The Heater

Technorati Tags: Al Reyes, Baltimore Orioles, Ben Zobrist, Carl Crawford, Chad Bradford, Jason Bartlett, Jason Hammel, Rocco Baldelli, Tampa Bay Rays

   I know there are a lot of Jonny Gomes fans out there and I have been driving you all crazy with my rants and complete disgust of this guy. Well it’s all over. Gomes was optioned to AAA Durham today in a move that brings back Ben Zobrist to fill the backup SS need. I haven’t had much time to post over the last few days, but I think we all knew I would be excited about this. I now say farewell to the strikeout machine and good riddance. I have had no love for this guy and am still confused as to what made him so popular here with the fans. I will now stop cold calling today and do a little celebrating. Which reminds me, if you need some Insurance of any kind in any state, pop on over to www.insuranceoptionsdirect.com and I’d be happy to help.

Scott Brannelly

Source: The Heater

Technorati Tags: Ben Zobrist, Jonny Gomes, Tampa Bay Rays

   Listening to Ron and Ian today they did an interview with Joe Maddon which was pretty good. The only thing Maddon said that I don’t agree with is that BJ Upton hustles “all the time” and that he never has mental lapses. Are you kidding me? Does he think we all listen to the games on the radio and never watch them? I’m glad he thinks we are so stupid. I don’t expect him to bash BJ or anything but don’t tell me that what I SEE isn’t true. Anyway, they reported on the radio that Maddon and Friedman had a 45 minute closed door session after the game. God I hope it’s discussing trad possibilities! I can’t watch Gomes anymore, I change the channel or look away at the games now when he hits. It is the ugliest spectacle I’ve ever seen. And Carlos Pena’s and Carl Crawford’s at-bats are almost as unbearable now too. It seems that everyone on the team is capable of at least one hideous at-bat every game and something needs to be done. I would love to see Nady here but I continue to hear that the asking price is too high. There isn’t alot out there to be had but I would like see the Rays take a chance and mortgage some of the future for it. The Yanks are down a little but that won’t last long. Boston is setup for a long run of success with a nice mix of young and veteran talent. This is our shot! Who knows how healthy this team will be next year? If a Holliday could be had for anything other than David price, do it! He could be a key in the middle that could put us over the top this year and maybe next before he walks. If, as reported, Jeff Niemann is holding up a Nady deal then someone should be shot in the Rays front office! I have to think that even Joe Maddon is rooting for an upgrade at this point. Team chemistry only goes so far before things need to change. Oh, to ramble a little more which is off the subject and something I never thought I would say, I MISS JASON BARTLETT! The rock that he’s become in the middle of this infield is astounding to me and I hate watching Benny Boo Boo (hat tip to Rays Index on that name)! Hopefully a deal gets done for a hitter or I think it will be the start of the downfall! By the way, what the hell is Crawford hitting third for now?! Hasn’t the Fat Catcher earned a shot in the three hole by now? Oh well, back to work.

Scott Brannelly

Technorati Tags: Andrew Friedman, Ben Zobrist, BJ Upton, Carl Crawford, Carlos Pena, David Price, Dioner Navarro, Jason Bartlett, Jeff Niemann, Joe Maddon, Jonny Gomes, Matt Holliday, Rays Index, Tampa Bay Rays, The Fat Catcher, Xavier Nady

   This is where I don’t understand the politics of baseball and what not. It appears that Ben Zobrist is still holding those pictures of someone making love to a sheep. Mr. Zobrist is a guy who I have always wondered how he made it. The Rays needed another infielder and now the big Z is here to fill that need. I’ll deal with that. My biggest question here is with Justin Ruggiano. Why send him down? Let’s be honest here, Jonny Gomes is the one who should be gone. Gomes is completely useless in the field and is almost as useless at the plate. I know they’re paying him and he doesn’t have options, but isn’t it time they just DFA’d the guy? I feel pretty confident he’ll get through waivers, and if he doesn’t, he can go somewhere else and strike out with the bases loaded. Justin has earned his shot and brings more to the table than the Pro Wrestler. He can actually play the field, he hits well enough and should be someone the Rays are looking at to platoon with Gabe Gross. Now we still have Gomes and the big Z is back. Outstanding!

Source: Rays Report

Technorati Tags: Ben Zobrist, Gabe Gross, Jonny Gomes, Justin Ruggiano, Tampa Bay Rays

   First thing to say here is that the players on the field are getting it done. All the credit in the world belongs to the guys on the field doing what needs to be done. No doubt about it. I am getting very frustrated with our idiot Manager now though. It seems at the moment that the players are winning in spite of what Mr. Maddon does. This creates a problem because Maddon isn’t going to try and correct what seems to be working even though it won’t continue to work. At the game today there a some things that stuck out to me.

•   First thing is a glaring issue. What the hell was Jason Bartlett doing batting sixth? Is a guy swinging a rubber bat (who’s BA, SLG and OBP were all under .300 to start the day) really going to protect Evan Longoria? In the first inning they walked Longoria intentionally to get to Bartlett and JB grounded out. I hope this was just an attempt at something different and doesn’t become some sort of new wave crap Maddon wants to try.
•    We don’t bunt enough! This is the main thing that bothers me where the players are overcoming stupid decisions. In the 5th inning today there was a perfect example. Riggans singled to lead off. Hot shot Ben Zobrist should’ve been bunting then but didn’t and luckily walked. Next up was Aki and he should’ve been bunting but again wasn’t. Aki got a hit and everything turned out ok but it’s not the right thing to do. This team strikes out a lot and they hit into a lot of double plays too. They are not putting themselves in the best spot to win. That’s what a manager is supposed to do. We are getting away with it now but it won’t hold up.
•    Crawford and Bartlett should be switched. Carl, as much as I love him, is no number two hitter. He is hurting more than helping in the two spot. He is way too chaotic at the plate and his bat control is not good enough for this spot. For someone who is a slap hitter (and he shouldn’t be) he doesn’t bunt enough and K’s too much. Bartlett is much better suited for the two hole as he should be sacrificing at bats more than anyone else. He should be trained to bunt, bunt, bunt! Carl is pressing hard and should be moved down as the alternative leadoff man in the nine hole.
•    And finally I’ll question the decision to leave Garza in for the eighth. Garza pitched very well today but this made me nervous. It worried me because this is a guy who has been on the DL already this year with arm trouble and I don’t see a need to try to stretch him out over 100 pitches in a game like this when you have Wheeler for the eighth and a day off tomorrow.

   Maybe I’m being a little nit picky with everything but I want this team to compete all year. What do you think?

Scott Brannelly

Technorati Tags: Akinori Iwamura, Ben Zobrist, Carl Crawford, Evan Longoria, Jason Bartlett, Joe Maddon, Matt Garza, Shawn Riggans, Tampa Bay Rays

   Did Eric Hinske hurt himself? Isn’t Jonny Gomes appealing his suspension? Someone please tell me why in the name of everything holy would Joe Maddon start career minor leaguer Nathan Haynes over Eric Hinske and Jonny Gomes. I understand the lefty vs. righty thing managers do and I understand playing stat games sometimes but when a guy hits a bomb like Hinske did the other night and is supposed to be in a platoon playing against righthanded pitchers please tell me why he’s not in the lineup?!?!?!?! I’ve never liked Joe Maddon and this is the biggest reason why. He wants to appease bench players too much. There is a reason a guy is a bench player. He’s not good enough to play everyday. He should be used to coming off the bench in pinch-running and defensive replacement roles. I bet you right now as soon as Ben Zobrist comes off the DL he’ll be put in the starting lineup as soon as he’s back. There is no need for a day off for anyone right now, especially when they just had one yesterday! It’s the second game Joe, stick with a STARTING LINEUP!!!!! By the way the Rays just blew the lead, don’t even get me started on the Maddon Trio in the pen.

Technorati Tags: Ben Zobrist, Eric Hinske, Jonny Gomes, Nathan Haynes, Tampa Bay Rays

   The Rays won all their games over the weekend (including a ‘nice’ game with the yanks). I sincerely hope this trend continues into the regular season as the Rays aren’t stranding runners, getting decent pitching and playing great defense. Anyway there are some things to watch.

•    According to the Rays official site Scott Kazmir may start the season on the DL. This is very scary to me. As the injuries seem to come in bunches the team is capable of dealing with guys like Baldelli, Zobrist and Shawn Riggans but if Kaz goes down for an extended period, there is no answer for that. Kazmir is one of the best young pitchers in baseball and most of the expectations for this team ride on him and James Shields staying healthy. Shields is now slated to be the opening day starter and he seems to have one of those rubber arms, along with perfect mechanics, which makes us not worry about him. As I speculated here, arm injuries with guys like Kazmir are scary. This could be a two week rest or lead to Tommy John surgery, lets hope for the best!
•    DRaysBay has a post up about who the backup catcher should be starting the season. I’m half way inagreement as I do think Mike DeFelice should be on the roster, I just think he should start. This is continuing on with my opinion that Dioner Navarro should not be starting. Anyway nice job guys. The roster is beginning to round out and we’ll look into that later today.

Technorati Tags: Ben Zobrist, Dioner Navarro, James Shields, Mike DeFelice, Scott Kazmir, Shawn Riggans, Tampa Bay Rays