Rays of Light

Saturday morning linktopia

Just some links to get you through this Saturday morning. I’ve got a beautiful little angel to spend some time with.

• DRaysBay puts together a list of former Rays who are/were involved in coaching. And nary a snide remark to be found within. (DRaysBay)
• The Professor lectures us on what the Rays’ 25-man roster might look like on Opening Day. (Rays Index)
• Jayson Stark on the four-letter word has an interesting piece on what exactly is going on in this current market. He tosses around the word collusion without actually saying it’s collusion. (ESPN)
• Her Rays finally gives Jonny Gomes the proper send-off he deserves by tossing him “Overboard.” (Her Rays)
• The Rays Party (who I hear are going to nominate Marlon Anderson for President in 2012) calls Heath Rollins the Rays’ #15 prospect. Who am I to argue? (MVN)
• Tracy Ringolsby uses history more than facts to back up the claim that the Rays won’t repeat. (Rocky Mountain News)
• You know it’s almost baseball season when: CitiField gets its home run apple. (Yeah, I know that’s not Rays-related, but I thought it was kind of cool.) (MetsBlog)
• Baseball Musings wonders what Cliff Floyd’s VORL stat comes out to be. (Baseball Musings)

Alright, now go out and enjoy your Saturday!

Tags: Cliff Floyd, draysbay, heath rollins, her rays, jayson stark, Jonny Gomes, marlon anderson, mets, rays index
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Lunch Break – 2/5

A few links to get you through the rest of the day while you try to keep track of this Britney Spears-Miley Cyrus feud that’s going down.

In case you missed it, we did our initial projection of the Rays’ 25-man roster today. Not sure there are any surprises here.

36-year-old Cliff Floyd and his 87-year-old knees have found a new home in San Diego. I assume he’s just going to be a pinch-hitter, though if he stays healthy the Padres could be stashing him to deal to an AL team at the deadline. (ESPN)

Also on ESPN, Rob Neyer tells the Yankees to do the rest of the AL East a favor and leave Derek Jeter at shortstop. I wholeheartedly endorse this move as someone who wants to see the Rays return to the playoffs for years to come. (ESPN)

In Rays Index’s latest Confidence Graph, Rays fans remain eternally optimistic about the future of the franchise. For the record, I was one of those who voted “9″ to both questions. (Rays Index)

A couple of days old, but it looks like Morgan Ensberg is headed to Spring Training with the Rays. Expect him to get a few hundred PAs at Durham this year. (The Heater)

Tags: Cliff Floyd, derek jeter, Morgan Ensberg, Rob Neyer, roster projection
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Ask BA: Hall of Fame a “reasonable goal” for David Price

So, not to put any pressure on him or anything, but in his latest Ask BA piece, Jim Callis says that David Price should plan on taking a trip to Cooperstown in a few decades. (Baseball America)

Price’s career still has to unfold, but reaching the Hall of Fame seems like a reasonable goal.

So, no pressure or anything, David. All you have to do is reach the Hall of Fame or your career is a disappointment.

Tags: David Price
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Weekend Roundup

Here’s what you might have missed over the weekend while you were busy watching Puppy Bowl V on Animal Planet…

The Rays agreed to a deal with left-handed specialist – known around the blogosphere as a LOOGY – Brian Shouse. (ESPN)

Brian Shouse, a veteran left-handed reliever, has agreed to a two-year deal with the Tampa Bay Rays, according to baseball sources. The deal is pending a physical exam, which he will take on Thursday.

Shouse, 40, pitched in 69 games for the Brewers last season, mostly as a specialist against left-handed hitters. Lefties hit just .180 against him with a .192 on-base percentage and a .482 OPS. Shouse has pitched in more than 422 games in the big leagues over nine seasons with 216 strikeouts and 111 walks in 322.2 innings.

Conflicting reports on whether its a one- or a two-year deal, so let’s split the difference and say that the Rays have signed Shouse to a 243-game contract. For those keeping track, the Rays now have more relievers in the their bullpen than Todd Kalas has product in his haircare cabinet.

There also needs to be a corresponding 40-man roster move at some point to make room for Shouse. Derek Rodriguez, Elliot Johnson, and Juan Salas seem to be the most likely suspects, unless there’s some kind of trade coming down the pike.

The Professor over at Rays Index made a very astute observation. (Rays Index)

And with Gabe Kapler, Gabe Gross and Grant Balfour already in place, The Trop is becoming the place where Brewers go to win.

Meanwhile, Milwaukee remains the place where… well… no one goes willingly.

Marc Topkin is reporting that the Rays are in negotiations with both Dioner Navarro and Willy Aybar on multi-year contracts (St. Pete Times)

The Rays are exploring multiyear deals with C Dioner Navarro and INF Willy Aybar, which would allow them to avoid arbitration hearings.

If John Jaso is the first baseman of the future and not the catcher, this makes plenty of sense. Tons ‘o’ Fun is an above-average backstop in a league full of junk at the position. Aybar, on the other hand, is perhaps the best utility player in the game. He’d be starting on a lot of other teams. He will retain his spot as the Evan Longoria Insurance Policy™. People keep suggesting that he should learn to play right field a little bit on this team, but I think he’ll be just fine staying in the infield.

Big League Stew ran into Evan Longoria at some football game in Tampa over the weekend. I had no idea that was going on. (Yahoo!)

BLS: Why don’t you think more players are interested in the WBC?

EL: I think because the game of baseball on the worldwide scale isn’t as big a game as say soccer or rugby even for the European countries. I just think baseball is not as widely publicized worldwide, and [the WBC] just doesn’t get as pumped up, as say, the Super Bowl or whatever.

As long as the WBC is seen as nothing more as a way for players to refine their excuses as to why they can’t/shouldn’t play, it will never be taken seriously. Simple as that.

Bleacher Report calls David Price (and Matt Wieters) the future face of the American League. In other news, the sky is blue. (Bleacher Report)

Price is the future of the Rays pitching-wise. Tampa  Bay has plenty of talented young pitchers on the team, but Price is beneficial to the Rays success. The Vanderbilt alum is the most talented fifth starter in the league, hands down. Price’s mid 90’s fastball is intimidating and his work ethic and poise is undeniable. He has expectations for himself that are unmatched by any other. “Every time I step on the mound, I expect to throw a perfect game.” Price has the speed (95-97 MPH fastball), a great mix of breaking pitches and a very deceptive delivery. Rays scouting director Brad Matthews calls him the “best amateur pitcher I’ve ever seen.”

Eric Hinske who, despite all of the great things he did last season I will always remember flailing miserably at the final pitch of the ’08 World Series, inked a deal with the Pirates on Friday. Weren’t they talking about him playing in Japan or something? Well, if he plays well, he should find himself a new home around the trade deadline. (MLB.com)

And on that note, I’m going to go try to figure out how I’m going to squeeze 24, Heroes, and House in tonight while still taking care of the baby and getting chores done around the house. You stay classy, Tampa Bay.

Tags: Brian Shouse, David Price, Derek Rodriguez, Dioner Navarro, Elliot Johnson, Eric Hinske, Evan Longoria, John Jaso, Juan Salas, Milwaukee Brewers, Weekend Roundup, Willy Aybar
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Reasons To Root, Root, Root for The Rays

 Nice article…love the props for the Rays dusting things up in spring training! Lots of good stuff!

http://blueworkhorse.com/mlb/reasons-to-root-for-the-rays/

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No surgery for Percy; tomorrow still iffy

Marc Lancaster does the deed:

Greetings from the Trop, where the early returns already are positive for the Rays. It was determined this morning that Troy Percival did not need to undergo arthroscopic surgery to correct the cartilage problem in his right knee.

The Rays had scheduled an appointment for him to have the procedure earlier today if necessary, but it wasn’t. For once, everyone agreed with the headstrong pitcher that enough progress had been made the previous few days to avoid the scope.

Based on what we were told when Percival went on the disabled list Friday, the recovery time should be about the same without surgery as with—two to four weeks. But any time you can avoid being opened up, that’s probably a good thing.

As for the status of tomorrow’s game, nothing has been determined yet. The powers that be apparently are scheduled to meet again around 5 p.m. today and the hope is a decision will be made then. Stay tuned for updates.

I have no insider information, but I can’t imagine that they are going to play the game tomorrow. Wednesday might be okay, though (do you really think the Rays want to miss out on a National TV game?!).

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Monday link roundup: Plate Collision-gate Continues

Just the links for you this morning because I’m a dummy and overslept. I’m going to blame my alarm clock. Maybe I should get one of these to fix the problem.

• Eric, you got some ‘splainin’ to do. What began as my predictably pro-hustle post yesterday about how Elliot Johnson was playing the game the right way when he made a Yankees backup catcher eat his lunch in the 9th inning of Saturday’s game has erupted into a firestorm. Okay, so maybe not a firestorm, but Sports Indeed takes Rays Anatomy’s Eric to task for defending Joe Girardi and his comments that the hustle was uncalled for. Sit back, relax, and watch the gloves come off. (Sports Indeed)
• Speaking of Sports Indeed, they’re looking for a new name. May I suggest “Ghost of Brian Stokes” – who, by the way, has an ERA of 0.00 for the Mets so far this spring.
• So, remember all of those articles you read about how Edwin Jackson has been looking good this spring? Well, you should probably take those and throw those out the window, because he was bad on Sunday. Now, to be fair, the defense behind him looked like B.J. Upton trying to field a routine ground ball, but still -not a good day for Edloss. (Recap/Box)
• Since I’m a big believer in paying it forward, here’s a link to Baseball Musings since they were kind enough to link to me over the weekend. Make sure you go visit when you get a chance.
• Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. A headline from MLB.com: “Notes: No return imminent for Baldelli.” Hmmm… where have I heard that before? (MLB.com)

On Saturday, Maddon said the Rays need to know something about Baldelli’s availability later this week.

“I don’t feel any pressure,” Baldelli said. “I’ll do what I feel I can. I guess you could say it’s precautionary.”

Baldelli said he can’t categorize the problem that’s preventing him from coming back full bore after missing most of the 2007 season with hamstring problems.

“Categorize it? I haven’t been able to do it to this point,” Baldelli said. “It is difficult to categorize it.”

Baldelli said he has not talked to anybody about when he might be back on the field.

“[We're] just kind of waiting right now,” Baldelli said.

• The Anti-Rocco continues his quick march back from his arm problems: Kid K will throw a bullpen session, and if all goes well, could make his Spring Training debut this weekend. (MLB.com)
• David Price will pitch again Tuesday, Carl Crawford is probably going to be playing less in the coming days, and first cuts are on the way. (St. Pete Times)
• I’m going to be honest, there was WAY too much here to read, so I didn’t do it. All I know is that some website called 411mania that I had never heard of before is the 16,361st on the bandwagon that thinks the Rays could compete for third place this year. Are they really a surprise team if EVERYONE – including the sports maven that is 411mania.com – predicts them to be a surprise team? (411mania.com)
• Jeff Niemann… a lefty? The Canadian Press thinks so! (Canadian Press)
• USA Today needs to fire whoever is writing their headlines. “Rays, Blue Jays have rays of hope” — seriously? Rays have rays of hope? (USA Today)

Tags: Eric SanAntonio, Link Roundup
Posted in Links Galore | 12 Comments »

Weekend Links

No feature story today, but quite a few links from around these here internets! Have a great weekend, everyone!

• From Bill Chastain: Scott Kazmir showed up on the first day of camp and immediately laid down the law. “Play in October,” Kazmir said. “That’s possible. That’s what I got out of [Rays manager] Joe [Maddon] talking to us and all of my teammates. It’s not something that’s impossible. We have what it takes to win here.” Kaz really sounds like a pitcher who thinks this team can win. Either that or he’s drinking the company Kool-aid. Either way, it’s nice to hear.
• Things are never easy for Dioner Navarro. He’s been excused from camp to be back in Venezuela with his sick mother. We hope all the best for him and his family.
• From The Heater: Cliff Floyd showed up to camp early this morning. No truth to the rumor that he sat down too hard and strained his buttocks.

Veteran Cliff Floyd reported to camp early Saturday and said as much as the team was looking for him to provide veteran leadership, he was looking forward to success on the field. “I hope everyone is looking forward to winning,” Floyd said.

• According to Marc Lancaster, when Floyd showed up, all of his gear was in a black trash bag. He was reported to have said, “That’s how we roll.” I can tell I’m going to like having this guy around.
• Stacy Long on David Price’s first day of camp.

The Rays sent out quotes from their first workout Friday, including some from (possible Biscuit?) pitcher David Price.
On first day of workouts:
DP: It was fun and relaxed. You get your work in and get out of here. You wake up early get out early and get in a day of baseball.
On attending his first camp:
DP: I haven’t played baseball in seven months. There is definitely excitement, nervousness, there’s everything. I am looking forward to having a good time.
What is he expecting from himself going into camp:
DP: Just go in and play baseball, learn from it, and have fun. Spring Training for me is to just sit back and listen to guys like Troy Percival, Scott Kazmir, Dan Wheeler, and those type of guys. I want to listen to what they have to say and not really say too much; kind of be a mute.

• Baseball Prospectus has projected that the Rays will finish 82-80, certainly the best record in team history but also still in 4th place, 1 game behind Toronto. The Rays finish 14 games behind the Yankees for first place and 11 games behind Boston for the Wild Card. In his analysis of the standings, Nate Silver owes the franchise $1 for invoking the name “Devil Rays” again.
• Also on Baseball Prospectus, they had the projected Rays depth chart for 2008. Most interesting notes: Evan Longoria is being projected as the starter at third base, Edwin Jackson is projected for the starting rotation, and Evan Meek has been projected to get more innings pitched than Scott Dohmann, Juan Salas, or Grant Balfour even though he’s not on the team anymore. These do not include the Trever Miller signing, though.

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Really Marc? Really? Why even go there?

Marc Topkin’s Sunday piece for the St. Pete Times was pretty much the usual fare we’ve come to expect from him. All except one line in his “Rumblings” that was pretty much a throw-away but has some people all abuzz:

Could the Rays’ be opportunistic/buy low mind-set lead to an offer to still-unemployed Barry Bonds?

No Marc. No, it couldn’t. Barry Bonds is the last guy that this team needs right. Not only is the DH spot crowded enough, but he would serve as nothing more than a distraction to the Rays. Have you noticed how the media is all over Roger Clemens right now? Well, just wait, because Bonds is going to be in the cross-hairs soon enough, and that is definitely not something that this young team would need to have to deal with.

Look, I’m not saying dude can’t hit (he had a 170 OPS+ last year in what was a “down” year), but isn’t it time we quit this kind of unsubstantiated rumor-mongering? You’re a reporter for Pete’s sake, and unless you have a source that told you that the Rays were going to low-ball an offer to Bonds (which it doesn’t appear that you do, since you’d probably list it for this), why even start a rumor like that? Bonds is such a polarizing figure, all it’s going to do is get a number of people ticked off that the team would even consider something like that. And why? Because a reporter for the team said it was a possibility, so there’s obviously some truth to it!

That, and with the 25-man roster virtually set already, I think it’s REALLY safe to say that the Rays aren’t going to be spending any more significant money. Was it really worth trying to be the first one with the “scoop” if you had to make something up to do it?

• Other notes from Topkin’s Sunday piece: Troy Percival is ready to kick some ass, the Rays are going to start with an all-you-can-eat ticket plan this year, B.J. and Justin Upton are going to be on the cover of ESPN The Magazine, and Bill James has called Scott Kazmir the most-likely big leaguer to toss a no-hitter in 2008.
• Those RaysBB prospect rankings are being posted. Make sure you go and check them out to see who the Top 25 according to the Raysverse are.
• The Rays’ Spring Training preview is up at SpringTraining08.com. I don’t know who that writer is that put it together, but he sure has a sexy name.
• Joe Sheehan, in his AL East preview piece: “It’s not unreasonable to think that four of the seven best teams in the AL reside in this division.” The fourth team is talking about isn’t the Orioles, buddies. Good times.
• Baseball America isn’t convinced that the Rays are automatically going to take Pedro Alvarez with the first overall pick in the 2008 draft.

First, they spent the No. 3 overall pick two years ago on Longoria. Tampa Bay could move Alvarez to left field or first base, where it has productive players in Carl Crawford and Carlos Pena, but it has more pressing needs on the mound. The Rays do have a number of talented arms rising through their farm system, but attrition always strikes pitchers and teams never have enough.

Second, while Alvarez is the No. 1 prospect right now, San Diego lefthander Brian Matusz, Missouri righthander Aaron Crow and Georgia high school shortstop Tim Beckham are close behind him. If Alvarez has clearly separated himself from the pack in June, Tampa Bay could be tempted to take him. But if he hasn’t, taking Matusz, Crow or Beckham would make more sense.

• Bad news for all of you Columbus Catfish fans: it looks like the team is moving to Bowling Green, Kentucky, after the 2008 season.
• Jason Bartlett has a hot fiancé.
• DRG over at RI thinks that Carlos Pena is going to be just as good in 2008. He makes a pretty compelling argument.
• Marc Lancaster previews Spring Training for us.
• Jae Seo is likely to miss his Opening Day start for the Kia Tigers! Oh no!!

Alright, go enjoy your Monday everyone. Check back throughout the day for a couple of updates.

Posted in Links Galore | 3 Comments »

BREAKING NEWS: Rays have a really good farm system

Okay, maybe that’s not breaking news at all. But it got your attention for a second, didn’t it?

Keith Law, whose work I quite like, released his Top 100 prospects on ESPN.com and, not surprisingly, it is littered with Rays.  Let’s take a look, shall we?

1) Evan Longoria

11) Desmond Jennings

15) Wade Davis

16) David Price

26) Jake McGee

49) Reid Brignac

72) Fernando Perez

75) Jeremy Hellickson

78) John Jaso

That’s 9 players in the Top 100. Out of 30 teams. That’s right, the Rays have 9% of all of the best prospects in baseball in their organization. The next closest team (Texas) has six. If you’re the one Rays fan who hasn’t yet professed his undying excitement for the 2008 season, are you ready yet?

The most interesting part I got out of reading the list was actually right up top in the Evan Longoria discussion:

If the player I’ve just described sounds more than a little like David Wright, you’ve got the idea. Longoria is three years younger than Wright today, and while he’ll debut a year later than Wright did, he has a similar skill set and upside to the Mets’ third baseman, who would have been my choice for National League MVP in 2007. Longoria is the favorite to start at third base on Opening Day for Tampa Bay, making him the favorite to win the AL’s Rookie of the Year award in 2008.

Law didn’t really mention that there’s, what seems to us, a better-than-average chance that Longoria will start the year in Triple A. This could mean one of two things: Law simply doesn’t believe that (or doesn’t know it) or Law has knowledge that the rest of us don’t. I mean, of course he has knowledge that we don’t, but I mean about Longoria’s future status. This is still the one big open-ended storyline to watch for going forward.

Even though my order of the top Rays prospects differs a bit, I can’t really quibble with Law’s choices. This team sure is stacked, isn’t it? If you get a chance, I recommend giving his blurbs on all of the players a read; he does a fantastic job of researching the players and laying out for you their strengths and weaknesses in a way that I would never be able to do for you guys.

While we’re here, let’s see what else we’ve got going on:

• Not many of you have signed up for diaries yet. Get cracking!
• A few days old, we’ve got Delmon settling in in Minnesota
• The Marlins signed Dallas McPherson to compete with Jorge Cantu and Jose Castillo at third base. Miguel Cabrera they ain’t.
• “Countdown to Opening Day” will air for the first time this year on Monday. Rocco Baldelli and Andrew Friedman will be on the air.
• Cork has a good one to read: he notes that there are strange things going on at Marc Topkin’s blog.
• 365 Days… buys into the Wes Helms rumors and says the Rays should go after him. My response? Absolutely not. There’s no reason to add him or his $2.3 million contract when the Rays have plenty of internal options to fill those spots. Teams like the Rays do not spend that kind of money on role players. That’s Yankee stuff right there.
• Eric got his “Prospect Bible” yesterday! Aren’t you excited for him?!? (Just bustin’ your balls, buddy.)

That’s it for now. Go enjoy your Friday.

Tags: does anyone notice what I write down here?
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