Tampa Bay Sports Blog

The Rays have had a fairly busy offseason and now look pretty well set for the upcoming 2009 season. They have signed a few minor league free agents over the last few weeks to fill things out, including Morgan Ensberg. Ensberg wil most likely end up playing 3B in Durham but is a very nice low risk acquisition. He looked like an up and coming power hitter 6 years ago and hit 94 homeruns from ‘03 to ‘06. He fell off after that and has hit 13 homeruns since with Houston, San Diego and the Yankees. He could win a bench job and could  be needed if injuries hit either Evan Longoria or Carlos Pena. I like the move with Ensberg.

All in all, it was a pretty good offseason for the Rays. I love the Matt Joyce/Edwin Jackson swap and I really think the Rays stole one there. Joyce will most likely start the season in the minors also as the Gabe platoon (Kapler/Gross) will hold down RF until the Rays feel he’s ready. When you look at how the Rays handle their organization they have seemingly set themselves up pretty nice. Joyce can stay in Durham and develop until either he’s ready or Gross/Kapler can’t handle the job. King David can also start in the minors and develop a little more while Jeff Niemann and Jason Hammel fight it out for the fifth starter/long reliever role. Make no mistake here as Price will take over for whoever wins this starter job, but it could work out to be a nice showcase for these guys. If someone goes down in the rotation these guys could be valuable, if not they could maybe bring a couple decent prospects back in a deal and stack up the farm system a little more. A nice situation here on the surface.

All the moves the Rays have made this offseason make sense and have seemingly improved an already good team. I also like the Brian Shouse move and think he’ll be an improvement over Trever Miller. There’s a lot of ex-Brewers on the roster, aren’t there? The Rays couldn’t be more lucky with the Bradford injury coming now either could they? Not that injuries are lucky, but it narrows down the bullpen battles in the short term and gives them another arm coming back in May or June that could step right in and be productive as we have already seen from him. I may pick on the Rays here and there for some moves, as any fan will, but it’s hard to argue with what they’ve done here and I have never gone into any prior season with more confidence and so little to bitch about as this one. It should be another great season and I am looking forward to seeing how the Sox and Yanks match up to our AL Champs.

Technorati Tags: Boston Red Sox, Brian Shouse, Carlos Pena, Chad Bradford, David Price, Durham Bulls, Evan Longoria, Gabe Gross, Gabe Kapler, Houston Astros, Jason Hammel, Jeff Niemann, Matt Joyce, Milwaukee Brewers, MLB, Morgan Ensberg, New York Yankees, San Diego Padres, Tampa Bay Rays

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

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

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

I can’t bring myself to say that the Yankees win, so I say we lose. Apparently the Devil Rays have suited up again and the Yankees have found the fountain of juice. There were a ton of broken bat bloopers, bad infield play and just all around bad luck. I don’t feel Jackson pitched awful, he was more a victim of circumstance tonight. I’m not saying he was good, just that the Yanks were catching all the breaks. As much as I hate the Yankees, I’m not going to overreact to all this though. We’re still down a couple players, the pitching is going to have some bad outings and the defense can’t be stellar every night. We all have to remember how things have gone for us this year. Most of the year, with guys like Gabe Gross batting .230ish, we got hits at all the right times in all the right places. I don’t like any slump coming now, but it happens. So let’s all just chill.

Note time…

• No one should ever throw a fastball low and inside to Gabe Gross. That was an absolute bomb he hit. You couldn’t draw up a better pitch for him to hit and he gets his props for demolishing that ball!
• Melvin should pretend the bases are empty with runners on. I’m sure someone will throw some stupid stat at me here but it’s too obvious not to point out. Upton looked like he was afraid to swing last night as he continuously came up with runners on. Tonight he had the bases empty the entire night and was stroking shots all over. I hope he can put it together for the playoffs.
• The gods have come to smack us. I admit that I got a little cocky towards the Yanks when they came to town (as did all of us), and we all have been smacked down by the baseball gods. It’s a reality check at the right time.
• The umpires still suck. The ball the stat padder hit was fair, but he shouldn’t have been able to hit it. The pitch before was a strike and the ass-kissing Yankee umpires were at it again. Look, we were gonna lose anyway, so I’m not making excuses, but why do the Yanks and Red Sox players get rewarded so much for not swinging the bat?
• Jason Giambi is the ugliest juiced up porn start I’ve ever seen. I would rather watch Ron Jeremy hit.

Technorati Tags: Alex Rodriguez, BJ Upton, Edwin Jackson, Gabe Gross, Jason Giambi, New York Yankees, Tampa Bay Rays

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

   The Rays activated reliever Gary Glover today and immediately designated him for assignment. Bye bye Glover, it’s been fun, uh not really. That’s all I’ve got to say about Mr. Glover. Anyway, I had a slow day today so I decided to look at some of the past games this year with Justin Ruggiano to try and get a better hold of what type of player he is. I have come away with the same impression I had before, why no shot for this guy yet? He has decent pop in his bat, is a good fielder, has a decent arm in RF and has basestealing ability. I keep seeing other sites call him a tweener and that is a stupid statement. You can’t call someone a tweener when they haven’t played much at the next level. He’s done enough to earn a shot here and there is no real reason to keep him down at AAA. The thing that is getting to me is that Gomes (I know and I’m not letting it go either) continues to get limited playing time and complains about it. He says that he needs consistent playing time to get himself going. How bout the time you’ve gotten before this Jonny? And if a guy can’t perform well in limited playing time, bring up the guy who has. Ruggiano has performed well enough in his limited time at this level this year to at least be considered. What’s the harm in all this? Why don’t the Rays let Gomes go? He doesn’t factor in here anymore, it’s obvious. Ruggiano might and should. If the Rays don’t make a deal for a legit right fielder, Ruggiano should be considered for the job. We’re all impressed with what Gabe Gross has done in the clutch, but he’s still sporting .224 avg, and Eric Hinske has been in a downward spiral for a while now. There should be more of a pressing attitude toward this from the Rays as there isn’t much left to be had trade wise. Unless somebody like Holliday, Magglio Ordonez or Hunter Pence become available, then Ruggiano should be looked at as the next best option. I’ve enjoyed this season more than I ever thought I would have and want the Rays to make a better effort towards staying near the top. It should scare everyone knowing that the Red Sucks are what they are and now the Yankees are steamrolling towards the top. I just want to remain excited all year.

Technorati Tags: Eric Hinske, Gabe Gross, Gary Glover, Hunter Pence, Jonny Gomes, Justin Ruggiano, Magglio Ordonez, Matt Holliday, Tampa Bay Rays

   Yes I am as excited as anyone out there that the Rays are in first. Now this means a few things to me and my few readers out there. First thing is that this series will be intense on the field and in the stands. Going to these games means I will be dealing with all these annoying Sox fans and if the shit goes down on the field, we could be brawling in the stands as well. Anyone ready to post bail for me? My son going to his mother’s for the week doesn’t help either, more free time more to drink is bad news! It should be fun though and I’ll try to keep my cool here. Now all that leads to the fact that my posts will be few and far between over the next few days. I’ll be taking my camera with me to these games so I’ll try to have some cool pics when the series is done. Good times. Now, on to my bitch fest. First thing is regarding something I saw over at DRays Bay. In a quick reference on Saturday’s game I saw something about B.J. Upton being moved into the leadoff spot, which I like by the way, and then there was this statement. “But he’s not a team leader or anything like that, nope.” Are they inferring that this guy IS a team leader? God I hope not. I try not to dog Upton too much because he is young and still developing, but if he’s a team leader there is a problem. I’ve got a friend who’s a coach in the area and is in close with some coaches and scouts for the Rays and he tells me that Upton is a straight up punk. You can see it in his game too. He lacks hustle and just has that look about him. Like I said, I’m not going after him too much because he’s young and has a lot of growing up to do, hell I was a punk too so I get it. I’ll let that go now as it’s not a big deal, it just rubbed me the wrong way. Now on to the real problem. Jonny Gomes. I know I’m about to rip this guy on the heels of him hitting a pinch hit homer last night but I don’t give a shit. He is the most useless player on this team and needs to be gone. I’ve heard fans saying that they like him because he’s an “enforcer” on the roster. What?! It’s not freakin Hockey, it’s Baseball. I don’t see any Red Sox or Yankees players shivering in fear over the fact that Gomes is sitting in the dugout, do you? I also don’t see a need to keep this guy on the team when a guy like Justin Ruggiano has performed better at this level this year and should be sharing time with Gross and Hinske in RF. Gomes is not helping this team and it’s about time the fans started to see that. I know the first thing out of everyone’s mouth is, hey he hit a homer last night that HELPED. True, but what about all the other at bats he’s had where he strikes out or pops out weakly. I actually get queasy when I hear the fans cheering for this guy at the games. What is it about him that you’re cheering? The music? The Pro Wrestler look? The ugly swing? What is it? I don’t get this at all. Please Rays, remove Mr. Gomes from our sight, he serves no purpose at ALL!

Scott Brannelly

Source: DRays Bay

Technorati Tags: BJ Upton, Eric Hinske, Gabe Gross, Jonny Gomes, Justin Ruggiano, Tampa Bay Rays

   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

   Who would’ve thought that as late as Memorial Day, your Tampa Bay Rays have the best record in baseball? Not just the A.L. East or even the A.L., but in all of Major League Baseball. This is crazy! I would’ve never thought it but its’ here. This has prompted me to start looking at certain scenarios for the Rays continuous contention throughout.

•    It might be time for the Rays to start targeting positions to improve on. First place to start for me would be RF. I think that the trio of Hinske, Gomes and Gross have done an adequate enough job but if the Rays want to compete for a playoff spot they are going to need to improve here. Depending on the asking prices of course, I would like them to start looking at guys like Jason Bay and Andre Ethier. The Rays looked at Ethier in the off season and seem to have a good working relationship with the Dodgers so maybe start there.
•    They are also going to need a couple more pitchers. If you wanna get crazy, let’s go ahead and do it, I would keep an eye on the Brewers situation, namely Ben Sheets. If the crew fall out of contention and Sheets could stay healthy it could be a beautiful thing. It would take a nice ransom to grab Sheets, even though he is in a walk year, so maybe look elsewhere. Joe Blanton will probably be available and, if you wanna really push it, a Matt Cain may be had as well. They will also need another arm in the pen. Gary Glover is soon going to be replaced by Juan Salas I would think so hopefully the Glover experiment is over. The rest of the pen has been pretty solid so any target here will have to be an upgrade and could prove costly. This will have to wait and see for sure, especially since most relievers that will be available are going to be either injury prone, old or overpaid. Tough call here. Hopefully Salas can pitch well when he returns and if Howell, Wheeler, Percival and Reyes can hold up they may be ok here.

   Any way you cut it, it’s looking like it’s going to be a fun summer here. Make sure you keep up with the regulars in the hot stove net to see what the Rays may do. MLB Trade Rumors, Rays Index, DRays Bay.

   Hat tip to DRays Bay by the way for the Jason Bay link.

Scott Brannelly

Technorati Tags: Al Reyes, Dan Wheeler, Eric Hinske, Gabe Gross, Gary Glover, J.P. Howell, Jonny Gomes, Juan Salas, Tampa Bay Rays, Troy Percival

   The Rays won again tonight in an extra inning thriller that ended with Jonny Gomes scoring on a Gabe Gross single. It seems all the stars have aligned for the Rays in this run. Ed “no decision” Jackson pitched lights out tonight and even though Percy blew this one the Rays came back and scored in the 11th off Mariano Rivera to bring their record to 23-16. They have won 11 straight at home, not that any of you are bothering to show up and watch, and 17 within one of the toughest divisions in baseball. This is getting beyond reality at this point. I had hoped for an improved team when the season started but good lord this is outstanding. They are not winning games against nobodies either. They have beaten the likes of Josh Beckett, Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettitte, Roy Halladay, Ervin Santana and many more big names. They are beating the Red Sox, Yankees and Angels. They are pitching great, playing great defense and the bats are doing enough to win. This is the most excitement we have ever had as Rays fans and things overall should only get better. Don’t get caught up thinking they’re invincible now. There will be hard times. There will be a losing streak. There will be bad pitching. The thing to get excited about is that they are winning and when the hard times come, they have built a little cushion for themselves to lean on. They are building confidence every minute of every game. I will now start ripping all of you so called fans.

   I have been discussing things here and there with people on what it would take to get them to a baseball game. The biggest complaints I hear about are the concession prices and the lack of parking. Listen whiners, whether you were aware of it or not, the parking situation is not that bad. You can find parking close if you look. If you don’t want to waste time then ride with three other people and the parking is free. If you don’t want to do that then pay the damn $10! Now on to the concessions. The Rays are the only team in Major League Baseball that let you bring YOUR OWN FOOD into the stadium. Go to subway and get a $5 foot long sub (you know you’ve seen the annoying commercials) bring it into the game. You can bring bottled water. If you need to drink that bad every night then you need to go to AA and you shouldn’t be reading this anyway. Bring a sub, buy an upper deck ticket for $14 and pay $10 for parking. That’s $29 for a night out to see your first place Rays. Go to two games a week and you’re still spending less than you do going to a damn Bucs game. Stop making excuses, they’re gone! Go to the damn games!

Source: ESPN

Technorati Tags: Edwin Jackson, Gabe Gross, Jonny Gomes, Tampa Bay Rays, Troy Percival

   James Shields took the hill and looked bad from the first pitch tonight. These things happen. Shields is a good pitcher and this is just something that happens to all pitchers from time to time. The bullpen is starting to come down to earth as Howell and Dohman both gave up runs. Anyone who thought this team would finish the season with the best bullpen was crazy anyway. It was a bad night all around and there does need to be some changes made soon. I’m sick of watching Dioner Navarro act like he’s sitting on a bar stool behind the plate and not even attempting to move sideways or even drop down to block wild pitches. You can visually see each and every pitcher on the staff working to keep the ball down and in doing so they are ALL bouncing more pitches to the plate than normal. When you are having your pitchers do this the catcher must be aware and REACT accordingly. The fat catcher is a statue behind the plate and it’s getting worse. He will no longer be referred to by his given name on this site as the fat catcher has earned his new name and will not lose it. The fat catcher is definitely swinging the bat better but it’s not helping the pitching staff when he can’t move out of his squat! There are other problems that must be addressed soon. First we need a leadoff hitter now! I like Aki and he did hit a homer tonight but he is no leadoff hitter. This is killing the offense. Something must be done to fix this. The other problem is the Gabe Gross project. Defensively he looks adequate but his bat is not going to cut it. Gross hit a homer tonight but he is now batting .143. He came into the game batting .105 and someone like Jonny Gomes or even Justin Ruggiano must be thinking, ‘am I that bad against righty’s that a guy batting .105 is starting ahead of me?’. I’m not a huge fan of Gomes but c’mon here, why is he benched in favor of Gabe Gross? Even put Nathan Haynes out there and bat him leadoff and I could swallow that better than Gabe Gross. I appreciate the patience these guys have sometimes but we need a little better sense of urgency and competition now. I hope the Rays are looking to go after a guy like Willy Tavares or someone like that who could fill both the RF and leadoff problem. I’m happ with the progress the Rays have made but with the progress comes a new sense of urgency to stop running guys out there and ‘waiting’ for them to get going.

Technorati Tags: Akinori Iwamura, Dioner Navarro, Gabe Gross, J.P. Howell, James Shields, Jonny Gomes, Justin Ruggiano, Nathan Haynes, Scott Dohman, Tampa Bay Rays

   Let me give it to myself before I get shell shocked by Rays Index and the rest of them. Jason Bartlett is better than Brendan Harris. I judged Bartlett too quick and I have to retract my earlier statements. In the first few weeks of the season I was so unimpressed by the play of Jason Bartlett that I started speaking out of turn on some things. Bartlett still makes me miss Harris offensively at the moment but after seeing him play short the last few weeks, the defense is noticeably improved. At the moment Bartlett has seemed to put the throwing problems behind him but the range is there. He has made some great plays and I feel the need as a man to let everyone know that I have tasted my foot and have decided to remove it. I still have some complaints about some things on the defensive side but this is a much better team. We obviously miss Delmon Young is right field but Gross and Haynes seem to be fine out there. B.J. Upton still plays too shallow in center and whenever Hisnke or Gomes is in right is hold my breath. None of this is horrible though which leads me to Dioner Navarro. Navarro seems to be swinging the bat better so far this year but he is still a statue behind the plate. I have never understood the love affair with this guy. He stabs at too many balls instead of sliding his body, his arm is average at best and from what I can see he is still looking to the dugout to call a game. I think Shawn Riggans does a fine job behind the plate and would like to see him get more playing time but this is all minor. This team is light years ahead of last year as Longoria is as good if not better than Aki at third and Aki has translated nicely to second. Pena is one of the best I’ve seen at first and Crawford makes up for bad jumps with great speed. The right field platoon is working and Upton is slowly improving in center. The biggest difference is Bartlett. I’m not afraid to admit when I’m wrong and I’ll take my lumps for running my mouth. Bartlett has made a huge difference on defense and I’m glad he has. If Aki and Bartlett would start hitting I would be much happier but they are part of the solution right now and I’ll take whatever is given to me on this as I was WRONG!.

Technorati Tags: Akinori Iwamura, BJ Upton, Carl Crawford, Carlos Pena, Dioner Navarro, Eric Hinske, Evan Longoria, Gabe Gross, Jason Bartlett, Jonny Gomes, Nathan Haynes, Shawn Riggans, 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

   If the Rays keep this up the ownership group may look at a new ballpark in Orlando instead. Just kidding (hopefully). Shields pitched well, Longoria homered, Navarro made a nice return and Eric Hinske had a good time bashing his former team. I’m of course speaking literally here as Hinske darn near hit for the cycle against his former team. A nice game all around for the Rays and they have won four straight in Orlando now dating back to the last years sweep of the Rangers. The fun part of this win today was that earlier today DRaysBay interviewed Drunk Jays Fans and they seemed pretty happy not to have Eric Hinske anymore. How bout now? I’m not going to make too much of that because we can relate with Aubrey Huff. Huff kills us every time it seems but I don’t want him back, so believe me I can relate.

   In other Rays news today the Rays picked up another lefthanded outfielder from the Milwaukee Brewers in Gabe Gross for minor league pitcher Josh Butler. You can read about the trade in a brief mention over at MLBTR. I’m puzzled as to why the Rays need another LH outfielder. What exactly are they trying to do here? We now have Dan Johnson, Eric Hinske, Nathan Haynes and eventually Cliff Floyd. Hmmmmm…… Hinske has definitely earned more playing time and Jonny Gomes is hitting his way into an everyday spot soooooo…… OK, sorry. I’ve got to assume that Haynes is on the way out and don’t forget Justin Ruggiano is still on the roster, for now. I’ve never seen Gabe Gross play so I’m not knocking him, maybe he’s good. This is just strange though. I’m not a fan of Nathan Haynes but I think he’s done a good enough job to keep a roster spot and when Pena can play first again I’ve got to assume that Hinske will be the DH with Gomes receiving most of the playing time in right. This is why I like Haynes on the roster as with Hinske or Gomes in right we need someone to be a late inning defensive replacement. I guess this will all sort itself out and we need to see what Gross can do but this is still very questionable right now. I’ll leave it alone and see how it goes.

Technorati Tags: Carlos Pena, Cliff Floyd, Dan Johnson, Dioner Navarro, Eric Hinske, Evan Longoria, Gabe Gross, James Shields, Jonny Gomes, Justin Ruggiano, Nathan Haynes, Tampa Bay Rays