Rays of Light

My take: Rays should announce pitcher roles sooner, not later

They say that competition breeds success. They say that it brings out the best in everyone involved, making them all better at their jobs. It separates the men from the boys.

Well, I’m here to tell you that I don’t care about any of that. The Rays should name their 5th starter, long-reliever, and #1 and #2 starters at Durham now rather than jerking the 4 pitchers vying for those spots around for a couple of weeks waiting on a decision that has likely already been made. Jeff Niemann, Jason Hammel, David Price, and Wade Davis could spend the next 4 weeks killing themselves and pulling out all the stops to prove that they are worthy for a spot in the rotation, or the Rays can take the guesswork out of it and allow the pitchers to focus on what needs to be done to get ready for the season. This is especially important for whichever pitcher is going to start the season in the Rays’ bullpen; working from the pen is a completely different beast, and whichever pitcher is thrust into that role is going to have very little time to switch his preparation frm one to the next.

Moreover, is there really any proof – any hard data – that indicates that a dragged-out position battle really makes any of the four any better? Is there really any proof that you can use 15 innings of work each over the course of Spring Training to judge which one is best suited for any of the roles? I don’t think so. I think all it does is put undue stress on each pitcher’s arm, as each one knows that he needs to do a little something extra to prove that he should be the guy starting a game the first weekend of the season. And that’s how arms get blown out and careers get altered forever.

Based on what we’ve seen – and Niemann’s own admission that he could see himself as a reliever – I’d say the best course of action would be to name Jason Hammel the #5 starter, moving David Price and Wade Davis to Durham to refine their pitches and more effectively limit their workloads. Both would, of course, be available at a moment’s notice should the Rays require their services, but – to me – this seems to be the best course of action.

What do you think? Would you want the Rays to make this decision already, or is it best left to a Spring-long position battle? Let me hear from you.

Tags: David Price, Jason Hammel, Jeff Niemann, Wade Davis
Posted in General | 6 Comments »

Your take: Does Wade Davis REALLY have a shot to crack this team?

Rumors abound that Wade Davis has thrust himself into contention for a spot in the Rays’ starting rotation this year thanks to his whopping 5 innings of work in the Grapefruit League.

Ignoring the fact that – technically – anyone in camp has a CHANCE of making the roster (for instance, if 5 other shortstops end up dying in a plane crash, Tim Beckham might start the year at short), do you really think there’s anything to this, or is it merely an attempt to give a young guy some confidence?

I go for the latter, myself. I can’t imagine that David Price, Jeff Niemann, and Jason Hammel will all pitch poorly enough (or get hurt) to make it so that Davis makes the roster. Right now, that’s his only chance. Still, I think its safe to say that he WILL see some innings for the big club at some point this year.

Tags: Wade Davis
Posted in Discussion | 2 Comments »

[SPRING] Yankees 5, RAYS 1: The Wade Davis Show

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Tampa Bay	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0		1	5	0
NY Yankees	0	0	1	0	1	0	3	0	X		5	7	0

There’s no point getting worked up over Spring Training results – especially when it’s still February – but it was hard not to be impressed with Wade Davis yesterday. 2 dominating innings against the Yankees’  “A” lineup had to open some eyes.

The Professor over at Rays Index makes a good observation that this is very similar to what happened with David Price last year, and he could easily see Wade Davis providing a shot to the bullpen arm in August and September.

The offense is disappointing, but I’m really not even the slightest bit worried. And you shouldn’t be either.

Tags: Wade Davis, Yankees
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Why I Won’t Do a Top Prospects List This Year

Last year, you might remember that I begrudgingly put together a Top 13 Rays prospects list if for no other reason than everyone else in the world was putting together one. This year, I outright refuse to do so. Why is that? For the exact same reason that I used as a disclaimer to last year’s list.

What do you have against doing the list, then?
Because most of us aren’t experts. Most of us haven’t seen any of these guys play, and if we have, it’s been in videos or in a very brief game or two. It’s best to leave these lists to the experts, especially since most of these lists are very much based on what experts tell us about these players anyway.

Go on.
Sometimes, we as bloggers take ourselves way too seriously. I prefer to just try to have fun with it and give you my own analysis of the news stories of the day. Occasionally, something like this comes about and it’s my turn to do one. I’m sorry if I sound pessimistic to you, but I just think some of us pretend to be “experts” when we really aren’t. At the end of the day, though, the best way to promote the site will be through this prospect list which will eventually get posted on another site in the future.

I’ll tell you what I do like, though. I like the Rays Top Prospect Meta-Analysis that The Professor over at Rays Index puts together. He combines the best of the best prospects list into an easy-to-read chart so you can see the general consensus about the Rays’ prospects.

David Price is the unanimous choice as the Rays’ top prospect. Heck, Jim Callis is saying that he should set a goal of the Hall of Fame for himself. And who are we to argue? The dude is a stud with a capital S. Though I think there’s a 50/50 chance he starts the year in Durham, there’s no doubt that he’ll be pitching meaningful innings down the stretch for the Rays. Anyone who wouldn’t rank him number one is crazy.

After that, Tim Beckham and Wade Davis are 2/3 in some form or another most everywhere else. Most interestingly to me, though, is how Jake McGee has dropped to 9th because of his recent injury problems. Remember back when you couldn’t talk about Davis without bringing up McGee? We took to calling them Jade McDavis, if I’m not mistaken.

Anyways, long story short: top prospect lists are awesome. They’re even more awesome when they are done by the experts. I’ll just sit here and talk about them instead.

Tags: David Price, Jake McGee, rays index, tim beckham, Wade Davis
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Lunch Break – 3/3/08

I’m sure you’ve all tried to play EA GameShow, right?

What’s that, you haven’t? Well dammit man, get on that! You know you want to prove that your brain is bigger than everyone else’s at sports. Download it here. It goes live at 7PM tonight.

On to the topic at hand: I need to come up with a nickname for the Wade Davis – Jake McGee combo. Lots of times, I want to refer to them as a collective unit rather than singularly, and I can’t come up with a good name for it. I could just call them Wade McGee or Jake Davis, but that’s kind of boring. What do you suggest I call the duo?

This is where I would normally throw out some ideas that I’ve already got, but I literally don’t have a single one. HELP!

Tags: Jake Davis, Jake McGee, Wade Davis, Wade McGee
Posted in Discussion | 6 Comments »