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Benny Boy Returns

The Heater…

The Rays have recalled INF Ben Zobrist from Triple-A Durham, and optioned OF Jonny Gomes.

With SS Jason Bartlett out with a bruised right index finger and LF Carl Crawford hampered by a nagging left hamstring, the switch-hitting Zobrist offers an option at short, and he can also play in the outfield.

Gomes, who platooned in RF and also served as designated hitter at times against lefthanded pitchers, hit .182 in 69 games with the Rays this season.

This will be Zobrist’s fourth stint with the Rays this season; he’s hit .230 with five homers and eight RBI in 23 games in Tampa Bay this season.

In Monday’s game, Willy Aybar made his big league debut at shortstop, and was bothered by cramps in his right leg; he said he was fine after the game, but manager Joe Maddon admitted that it was not an “optimal” situation.

It’s about time. Gomes was KILLING the team and had virtually no utility at all. At least Zobrist can be used in a number of different spots. When does Rocco get the call?

Tags: Ben Zobrist, Jonny Gomes
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Much ado about Gomes

We all spent a good part of the afternoon debating what the Rays might be thinking in deciding to keep Jonny Gomes on the active roster by sending Justin Ruggiano down to Durham.  I wanted to use my forum here to give you my thoughts on Gomer specifically and generally what I think the Rays might do.

As it relates to Gomes specifically, I don’t want you to get me wrong. I love the guy. He plays the game hard and is an awful lot of fun to watch when he connects with one. The problem, of course, is that he goes through stretches where he looks like he’s swinging a wiffle bat at a ping-pong ball - kind of like the one he’s going through now. All we can truly judge him on is his performance - both individually and when compared to Justin Ruggiano.  He’s hitting just .241 against left-handed pitching this year (hence his .219 total), and is going 20 at bats between home runs. Neither of those are numbers that make Gomes a viable candidate for starts against his supposed “strength” against left-handed pitching. And defensively? Let’s just say there’s a reason Gomes is considered a DH.
Justin Ruggiano, on the other hand, has played well (albeit in limited at bats) against left-handed pitching, going 7-for-22. He’s also been a more than adequate outfielder, admirably filling in well at all three positions. There’s certainly no argument that he is a superb defensive player to Gomes.

Why, then, would the Rays decide to keep Gomes on the active roster and send Ruggiano back to the minors? The simplest explanation might simply be that it’s easiest move to make.  Gomes would need to pass through waivers to be sent to the minors, and the Rays might be reluctant to allow a player to go without making every effort to get something back for him.

Another more interesting theory was posed by A.J., who said:

Let’s face it, if he were to play regularly and struggle in Tampa, his value goes down the toilet. They obviously don’t want to take that chance right now. Although, I think he’s worth at least the opportunity. I do think they are planning on trading him in one of 2 deals that could occur-one for a pitcher, and one for a RF.

I’m not necessarily sure that a bad month or two in the big leagues kills Ruggiano, though. I totally agree, though, that he is included in lots of the team’s trade talks. He’s certainly talented enough to be tangled as part of a bigger package.  He wouldn’t MAKE a deal, per se, but he certainly helps to sweeten one.

Personally, I think he’ll be in the lineup most of the time versus lefties by the end of the season and Gomes won’t be around anymore. The need to put together th eest possible team for a playoff run will outweigh the Rays’ need to try to squeeze every last bit of value out of Gomes. Just my two cents, though.

Tags: Jonny Gomes
Posted in Discussion | 4 Comments »

Observations after ten games

We are now ten games into the season, and the Rays are playing .500 baseball, which is not a bad thing, but they should be better. The team admitted after the first road stand of the season that they were disappointed in the outcome. They finished that road stand at 3-3, which saw them split series with division opponents Baltimore and New York. I think the major reason for the disappointment was the fact that they took the first two games from the Yankees and lost the final two games of that series.

What are some of the good things that the Rays can take out of the first ten games? I think that I have to start with Edwin Jackson. He has already recorded two wins this season, and he did not record his second win last season until June. I know that it’s only two games, but could this be a sign of the future? Jackson pitched amazingly in his last start and pitched eight innings of shutout baseball. It would have been nice to see him finish out the game, but I do understand why Joe Maddon elected to take him out. The Rays may need Jackson to pitch like he is right now, especially if Matt Garza is out for any length of time at all. Speaking of Matt Garza, did the Rays acquire damaged goods when they got him from Minnesota?

The other positive observation I have is that Carlos Pena is showing that he can put up back to back power seasons. He was a great power-hitter last year, but the question at the beginning of this year was could he do it in back to back seasons? There are many times in professional sports when we see a player have a breakout season in a contract year and then watch the numbers drop after he gets the big contract. Pena blasted two home runs last night, and the second one tied the game in the seventh inning. That’s what I like to call some clutch hitting. His batting average should improve and, hopefully, he will keep his strikeouts down.

Of course, when there are good observations there are always some bad ones. The one fear I had with this team going into the season was the depth, especially the depth in right field. We all knew that Cliff Floyd would be the Rays DH and would never play the field. I love to watch and listen to Jonny Gomes, but he is not the answer in right field. So far this season, the Rays have played five different right fielders and we are only into the second week. Who should we blame for this situation? As of right now, we would have to look at the front office. However, they may look brilliant if Nathan Haynes ends up being a stand out player for this team.  Since Haynes was caught in a numbers game in Los Angeles, the Rays were able to get him.

The last observation I have is about a player that I mentioned earlier: Cliff Floyd. Did everyone listen to or read his comments when he was placed on the DL? Sounds like he was not happy at all about being placed on the DL.

“You hope you can play through it, because it was painful. But I’ve dealt with worse pain than that,” Floyd said. “I’m pretty much speechless. I’m here in a great situation with a great team.”  

That quote speaks volumes to me, and if a player says he can play through the pain, then why not let him?

Tags: Carlos Pena, Cliff Floyd, Edwin Jackson, Jonny Gomes, Nathan Haynes
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Hinske to get plenty of at-bats early on

Good for the Rays. They’ve said all along that performance will outweigh most other things from now on, and there’s no doubt that Eric Hinske outplayed Jonny Gomes during Spring Training. Couple that with the fact that Hinske has been a bit more distinguished over the course of his brief big league career, and Joe Maddon has made the right choice in allowing Eric Hinske to both start on Opening Day and get a slew of at-bats against right-handed pitchers.

I know there’s lots of you out there that wanted to see what Jonny could do with 500 at-bats during the season, but I kind of suspect we already know what he would’ve done: .250, 25 home runs, and 170 strikeouts. His Spring Training was pretty bad. He went up there doing what Jonny Gomes does - flailed at pitches and walked slowly back to the dugout. I honestly believe that letting Hinske get the bulk of at-bats against right-handed pitchers early on is the best move for the club if it hopes to win ballgames.

I think this also might lend some truth to the rumors that the Rays are interested in Matt Murton. Murton is essentially Jonny Gomes with fewer strikeouts and slightly better defense (OPS+ is basically the same); it doesn’t make sense for the Rays to carry both of them. It does, however, make sense if the Rays plan on acquiring Murton IN LIEU of Gomes. Just something to keep in mind.

T-minus 18 hours fellas…

Tags: Eric Hinske, Jonny Gomes
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Look folks, Jonny Gomes isn’t THAT bad in right field

I’m still trying to figure out why everyone thinks that Jonny Gomes is awful in right field. No, he’s not the most graceful defensive player in the world, and he - like MANY other players, including B.J. Upton and Carl Crawford - occasionally misjudges balls. The latest to facilitate this myth is Erik Hahmann, who calls Gomes a “disaster” in a recent piece about Kenny Lofton.

As I’ve noted on this site before, fielding statistics can’t ever give you the WHOLE picture about a player’s defense, but they can at least give you a starting out point. Let’s begin with the most basic of those stats - the error. Is it an overrated number? You betcha. But at least it gives you an idea of what you can expect from a guy once he gets to the ball, and in 66 games in the outfield since his awful 4 error stint in 2005, he hasn’t committed a single one. That’s right, not one error in the field last season.

How about assists? Last season, he threw out 5 baserunners in 58 games; extend that out over the course of a full season and you’re looking at 14 assists for a 162 game season. That’s nearly as many as Delmon Young threw out last year - and he’s considered to have an elite arm while Gomes is considered to be a disaster. That’s no fluke, either; Gomer threw out 7 baserunners in 50 games in 2005.

Over the course of his career, Gomer’s RFg is a 1.93. Certainly not a great number, but the league average in the category is 1.78 over that same time period. His RF9, similarly, is 2.24, compared to a 2.11 league-wide. If anything, you could make the argument that Gomer is slightly ABOVE average in the field.

Yes, I’ve watched all the games you’ve watched. And he LOOKS like he gets lost out there sometimes - but he almost always makes the plays anyway. There’s only one time last year that I can remember where he really looked bad, and that was when he was going back on a ball and tried to time his jump at the wall and missed by about 5 feet to his left, but aside from that, most of his miscues come from losing the ball in the roof. You can’t really fault a guy for that.

So let’s tone down this “Jonny Gomes is a disaster in right field” talk. If your concern about him is that he can’t hit right-handed pitching, then you’ve got a very valid one, and that’s what you should REALLY be worried about as a Rays fan. But don’t worry about his defense - he’s better than John Rodriguez, Jon Weber, or Eric Hinske out there, that’s for sure. And don’t listen to other people who try to pass his defense off as “a disaster” because it’s a fun buzzword to use.

Tags: Jonny Gomes
Posted in General | 7 Comments »

Lunch Break - 2/18/08

Am I REALLY asking about the trading deadline in February? I sure am!

Which of the following players would YOU most expect to be traded on or before July 31st: Al Reyes, Dan Wheeler, Rocco Baldelli, or Jonny Gomes?

I’m going with Wheeler - I think the Rays have the least future use for him when you also consider the value he would bring to another team down the stretch.

Tags: Al Reyes, Dan Wheeler, Jonny Gomes, Rocco Baldelli
Posted in Discussion | 7 Comments »

Links, links, and more links

Nothing that I felt deserved its own story today, so I’m just going to send you all over the Raysverse to check out some things that are going on.