Rays of Light

Former Ray Watch: Jesus Colome keeps getting work

Hat tip to MLBTradeRumors on this one:

MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy reports that the Brewers have signed reliever Jesus Colome to a minor league contract. The Nationals designated Colome for assignment earlier this month after he pitched to an 8.40 ERA in 15 innings out of the bullpen.

McCalvy says Colome will initially report to rookie level Helena to build back up arm strength.

It’s shocking to me that some people keep getting work.

Tags: brewers, jesus colome
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Pat Burrell Discussions

From Rotoworld:

According to Ken Davidoff of New York Newsday, the Mets had internal discussions about acquiring Pat Burrell from the Rays. With the amount of money Matt Holliday and Jason Bay are expected to make, the Mets are reportedly looking at a group of alternatives. Burrell, who has one year and $9 million left on his contract, could be one of them. Limited to just 122 games in 2009 due to a neck injury, Burrell hit .221/.315/.367 with 14 home runs and 64 RBI.

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Don’t call it a comeback

You might have noticed a few more posts going up over the past few days. That’s with good reason. I’m getting myself back in the swing of things to try and do a full reboot of this puppy over the course of the next week or two. Posts may be intermittent in the short-term, but I promise – Rays of Light will be better than ever before you know it!

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Rays shopping at V-Mart?

Hmm…

Among the sellers could be the Indians, who keep fielding offers for Victor Martinez from Boston, Tampa Bay, and San Francisco, but they aren’t inclined to deal unless a team’s best prospects are included.

Tags: Indians, rumors, victor martinez
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Kazmir to Angels?

Don’t believe what the folks at the O.C. Register are reporting…

If the Angels are interested in trading for Tampa Bay Rays left-hander Scott Kazmir — as Friday’s rumors indicated — it’s news to them.Kazmir’s name has not surfaced in their meetings.

Because the moment any team says that it is “not interested” in anything, it typically means that the team is definitely interested but isn’t willing to show its hand just yet. Does that mean that Kaz will be donning Angel red by this coming Friday? Certainly not; but would it really be that much of a stretch to think that Kazmir might be trading Disneyworld for Disneyland? Would you REALLY be shocked?

Now, I’m not going to pretend to be an expert on the Angels’ farm system or what the organizational needs are, but I do know that Andrew Friedman is a shrewd wheeler-and-dealer that is tremendously good at bringing back more value than he gives up, when all things are considered (including financial and contractual flexibility). He won’t just dump Kazmir for the sake of dumping him (though, with the way he’s thrown this year, it must be tempting for him to consider), and there’s definitely going to be teams out there that value Kid K a little bit more than he’s actually worth.

Tell us what you think: will Kid K have a new home by the time the deadline strikes on Friday?

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All Hail King David!

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
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Durham Update

The past two days have been nice for the Durham starting pitchers.  Our top two prized possessions down there have been very good.  David Price and Wade Davis have been nothing short of greatness in the last two days.

Sunday, Price decided to no-hit Rochester through 5 innings.  Through those 5 IP, there were no hits, obviously, 2 walks 0 runs, and 9 K’s.  Seems like he’s getting more comfortable down there.  One or two more outings like that, along with one or two more pitiful starts by Kazmir, Price could be up in a week or two.  His ERA in Durham is now under 4, and this was clearly a huge step in the right direction again for him.  The Rays and Price both needed that type of start out of him.

Last night, Wade Davis got pretty nasty against Rochester, too.  Davis went 6.2 innngs of shutout baseball, while only giving up 2 hits, 1 walk, and had 3 K’s.  While Davis isn’t wowing anybody with his K’s this season, he’s obviously spending his team on truly ‘pitching.’  This is good to see out of him because we all know his K’s will come, but learning how to ‘pitch’ can be tough for young guys.  He’s battled the walks thus far this season, but he’s getting himself out of those situations, and only allowing a .192 Opponents Batting Average.  He’s still going to be up later than Price because he’s not the fan favorite.  But he will be up after the All-Star break if Sonny doesn’t get his pitching right soon.

The position players are not doing too shabby, however, certain guys are slowing down now.  Matt Joyce is down to batting .284 and has struck out 32 times in 109 AB’s.  In his last 10 games, he’s hitting .216 with 1 HR, 1RBI, 3 2B, and 12 K’s.  So, when he is hitting the ball, he’s putting it in a gap or over a wall.  But the K’s are not good.  He should get back on track again, and I expect a good week out of him.

Reid Brignac is holding his own for the Bulls.  His 8 errors are a little high for a solid defensive SS, but he’ll be fine with his glove, and we know that.  His bat is so-so.  His last 10 games are similar to Joyce, without as many K’s (just 5).  But he hasn’t homered in 9 games, and he’s only got 3 so far this season.  My take on him is that he’s going to be a good major league SS for someone, but not with the Rays.  We have Bartlett, who needs to be locked up soon, and Tim Beckham will be coming after him in a couple of years.  Brignac will never be ‘All-Star’ caliber, in my opinion, but he’ll be a solid shortstop that will play good defense with an average bat.  Someone like San Diego or Detroit should be interested around the All-Star break.

I’ll try to do this once a week for the site.  Tell me your thoughts, and any info you’d also like to see added with this.

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Game Recap 5/18/09: Indians 5 Rays 7

The Rays take the series in this one. Great job by the offense in this series! The starting pitching, besides Garza, was pitiful, but the bats prevailed. Even Andy Sonnanstine got in on the action. Lucky for us, he hits well for a pitcher because Maddon made a huge mistake as I noted earlier today.

Again, this was a good team win, and the last 3 games looked a lot like the 2008 Rays team. Not just because of the winning that took place, but because this team never felt like they were out of a game when they were down, and they made sure not to give up a lead when they had it.

The end of today’s game was exciting as Kerry Wood was brought into the game for the Tribe to do one job, which he failed to complete-even on the second attempt. He was supposed to hit B.J. Upton for stealing bases the 1st game of the series when we were down 9-0. Apparently, Eric Wedge expects teams to quit trying to score when they fall behind, like their’s does. It was a terrible baseball move for Wedge to do this, but the man is desperate for his team to respond to something.  The benches cleared, but no ejections were made by the umpires, which there should have been on the Indians’ side.  But the Rays didn’t let it bother them too much.  Troy Percival collected the save, and the Rays picked up a big win.

Overall, it was a fun offense to watch all series.  They did everything from steal bases to hitting clutch homeruns to doing a good job of situational hitting.  Nice job Rays!  Time to sweep Oakland next!

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Bonehead Managerial Move

Well, I’d love to see what the Maddon lovers have to say now.  Today, May 17, 2009, the Rays manager, Joe Maddon, decides to put 2 third basemen in the lineup.  One was supposed to be a DH.  That DH was to be Evan Longoria, who just happens to be hitting among the tops in the majors in many offensive categories, including leading the majors in RBI.  But Joe made a bonehead move on the lineup card, and the lineup had to be corrected.  Ben Zobrist was the starting third baseman on defense, so he had to stay in the lineup and couldn’t be replaced by Longoria.  Instead of having a normal-looking American League lineup with a DH, we had to use Andy Sonnanstine in the offensive lineup.  I know that it was probably an honest mistake, but it is a STUPID mistake to have happen in professional baseball.  Longoria will be available for substitution later in the game.  So, we have that going for us.  But having to hit Sonnanstine in the #3 spot in the order is a huge problem.  I’ve been critical of Maddon for a while now, and this just adds to it.  I’m not saying he should be fired or anything, but I wouldn’t be against it.  There is NO EXCUSE for something like this to happen!

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Bartlett or Brignac?

I know it’s a little early to talk about this, but it will be coming up this offseason.  Jason Bartlett is arbitration eligible again after the year, and the Rays should think about signing him long-term.  He’s proven himself to be quite valuable to the franchise, and he’s found his comfort zone at the plate.  The problem is that the Rays also need to cut payroll next year, and have a shortstop in waiting with Reid Brignac.

Brignac is having a so-so season so far in Durham, but is very nearly ready for the big time.  But with Bartlett playing at the level he is, it’s hard to take him off this team.  While Brignac might have more power, I feel that Bartlett is the far superior all-around shortstop.

Personally, I would like to see the Rays sign Bartlett to a 4-year deal this offseason for somewhere in the $24-28 million range.  I think he’s one of those guys that you want to keep in your organization for as long as you can.  He definitely has earned a big raise this year, and taking him off the team could prove costly.  Taking Brignac’s value as a solid shortstop that major league-ready, you could land a piece or two that you really need.  We all know that Tim Beckham is now the SS of the future, but Bartlett is the man right now, and he needs to stay put.

Who knows?  Maybe we can add a valuable young relief pitcher or two for Brignac.  When I say that, I mean that we trade for someone like Kevin Cameron from the A’s-a young, high-upside reliever who stays under team control for a while.  That’s just an example though.  The offseason will have a lot of tough decisions ahead, and we could see a reasonable amount of change.  But I think Friedman will be very wise, and decide to keep Bartlett.  He’s the sure thing, and Brignac is still just a question mark.

What do you guys think?

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