Sure, it might have taken about 7 weeks longer than it should have, but David Price will take to the hill on Monday night in Cleveland trying to right the one thing that has – on a number of occassions – gone so wrong for the Rays this season: the spot in the starting rotation recently vacated by Scott Kazmir.
It’s not a stretch to think that Price will easily be able to eclipse the 73.46 ERA that Kid K was pitching to this season, or the 67 pitches/inning he was averaging.* Nor is it a stretch to think that Price will remain firmly entrenched in this spot in the rotation for the foreseeable future (i.e. years and years and years). The Rays are about to get better quick, fast, and in a hurry.
And it’s hard not to feel bad for Dale Thayer. Dude got called up to take the place of old dust-and-bones**, nailed down a 3-inning save about 26 minutes after arriving to the ballpark, and what does he get for his effort? A quick trip back to Podunk*** to ride the bus with the Jon Weber’s and Winston Abreu’s of the world.
(And that was about 2 1/2 lines more than anyone else is going to write about Dale Thayer, so be thankful.)
King David’s reign is about to begin. The plebians in Cleveland are going to be the first to bow down before his heighness.
* – Stats exaggerated.
** – Troy Percival
*** – Podunk isn’t a real place. This is actually Durham.
Tags: David Price
May 25th, 2009 at 7:27 am
Glad to see you back Scott. I agree about Dale Thayer. He could be our closer. I would like to see them put Zob at second with Brig and bring up Joyce to play RF and dump Kap. I also think that Davis should be brought up. Just think about that. Sonny would fill in very well in the Pen with good control.
May 25th, 2009 at 8:16 pm
Welcome back Scott!
May 25th, 2009 at 11:08 pm
Welcome back, Scott. We missed you.
Price will not win any games by pitching 100 pitches in less than four innings. This sets up a bullpen to fail. And fail horribly it did. Starters need to go at least six innings, so stop playing the finesse game and go in aggressively to get a quick strikeout or a contact out. Lose a game after a 10-2 lead? Jeez, this pitching staff was horrible. Time to sort this out or end up fourth in the division and out after September.
Zorilla is amazing and should introduce his batting coach to the rest of the team this next off season.
Failing grades so far this season:
- Upton
- Navarro
- Percy
- Kapler
- Sonny
- Kaz
- Wheeler
- Burrell
Too many position players and several key pitchers…too many to have a winning season in this division unless some of them make a turnaround…BJ is in process…the rest are laggards so far.
May 26th, 2009 at 6:41 am
BillG, I agree but think Navi & Sonny are on the turn around. The first fix I would make would be to dump Kap and bring up Joyce. That would help with freeing up Zob to play more 2nd base. Brig is still unproven and sure helped to blow that game with his throw error.
May 26th, 2009 at 1:01 pm
I am also hoping a couple of them are in the turnaround phase of the season, but their body of work to date gives then a failing grade. I also do not see Kapler as part of the solution. Joyce showed last year with the Tigs that he can handle the majors and his current work at AAA shows he is pretty ready.
The bullpen really worries me as it is a jumble of people with no sense of stablized strategy playing out.
I also think – hindsight is great – that Jackson should have stayed in Tampa.
May 26th, 2009 at 2:02 pm
I would consider bringing up Davis and putting either him or Niemann in the Pen. They were toying with putting Niemann in pen in the begining
May 27th, 2009 at 7:01 am
CharlieRay-
I hve always liked the idea of Niemann in the pen. Picture him coming out in ninth…the height and velocity leading to a dominating closer. Not sure if it could be reality, but always looked forward to it.
Rotation:
Garza
Price
Shields
Davis
Sonny or Talbot
Pen:
Sonny or Talbot
Niemann (closer)
Balfour (possible closer)
Thayer
Lefty specialist
etc
etc
May 28th, 2009 at 5:18 pm
Poor Niemann pitches very well and the Rays STILL cannot win. 2-1 loss. Is it a Devil Ray or Tampa Ray that shows up tomorrow?
May 30th, 2009 at 9:51 am
Come on Scott Lets keep this site going.
June 1st, 2009 at 7:40 am
I guess this is it I’m finished coming to this site every day and nothing. You have my e-mail. Let me know when it is up and running. bye
June 1st, 2009 at 7:50 am
Scott…what is up? Too many problems to keep this up? Need some help from some of us?
June 2nd, 2009 at 7:08 am
I have taken on a new job, and will not be able to fill-in much at all. I’m also expecting another daughter to be born any minute. So, things for me are rather up in the air. I apologize for not giving a heads up earlier. I’ll do what I can when I can.
June 3rd, 2009 at 2:10 pm
Is this site dead?