Archive for December, 2009

With a 694 and 923 record during the 00′s or the aughts or the 2000′s or whatever the hell you want to call this decade, one would think it would be pretty hard to put together an all decade team.   For a team that had some faces that stuck around through most of the lean years, and some true studs that are helping us into the future (including our run to the Series) there were easily enough spaces to fill out a mini roster.   I can’t lie, there were a few positions like CL and C that were [...]

The Rays had serious interest in former SP Kelvim Escobar of the Anaheim Angels. Today though, Escobar agreed to terms with Los Mets, the place many thought he would end up. I thought the ability to potentially run JP Howell, Kelvim Escobar and then Rafael Soriano at the end of games would have given the Rays one of the elite bullpens in the game, a far cry from their 2009 bullpen which was one of the worst. We still have plenty internal candidates to compete for that 8th inning role. The starting rotation of James Shields, Matt Garza, Jeff Niemann, [...]

Bill Chastain of MLB.com answered some questions about the Rays that were placed on the teams website yesterday.  With the Hot Stove cooling down to a more reasonable temperature, at least in regards to the Rays, there isn’t much to report to you guys.  Some of these are solid questions that any fan might have, so I’ll provide you with the link and a quick blurb. What do you think about the acquisition of Rafael Soriano? Is he the answer for improving the bullpen? – John S., Tampa Who knows if Soriano is the answer, but you’ve got to say [...]

Monday the Rays avoided arbitration with Grant Balfour by agreeing to a 1 year 2.1 million dollar contract with the right handed flame thrower. The Rays need all the bullpen arms we can muster up at this point, but bringing back Balfour at 2.1 million, making him the 7th highest paid player on a team that only has a 52 million dollar payroll as of this post is a little questionable to me.  The only players that make more money on the Rays are Carlos Pena, Carl Crawford, Pat Burell, Rafael Soriano, Dan Wheeler, James Shields and Dioner Navarro.   [...]

I didn’t see this until I got back from out of town this weekend, and caught up on some Rays reading, but Akinori Iwamura apparently took a full page ad out in the St Petersburg Times thanking the Rays fans.  A really nice gesture from a guy who will be missed in the Bay Area.

I have heard from a source within MLB, that the Rangers are considering moving the recently acquired RHP Chris Ray to the Tampa Bay Rays for C Dioner Navarro. There are a few verifications of this within some blogs and forums of Texas Rangers sites. This is a slam dunk move for the Rays in every way shape and form. Even after acquiring Rafael Soriano, the Rays need more help in the bullpen. Navarro makes over 2.5 million dollars, and Ray shouldn’t see more than 1-1.5 in arbitration. Ray is one of my real good friends! If we can get [...]

After two years of being highly competitive in the AL East, one of which saw the Rays go to a World Series despite not having a real option at the end of games, the Rays have acquired a bonafide closer.  The Rays acquired Rafael Soriano last night for pitcher Jesse Chavez, who was acquired in the Akinori Iwamura trade.  The Rays essentially flipped Aki for Rafael Soriano. Year Tm Lg W L W-L% ERA G GF IP H R ER HR BB IBB SO BF ERA+ WHIP H/9 HR/9 BB/9 SO/9 SO/BB Awards 2008 PIT NL 0 1 .000 6.60 [...]

I rarely gripe about the unfair balance in Major League Baseball that comes with having no salary cap, but upon hearing about the mega-swap between the Angels, Tigers and Yankees, I’m a little upset. It is being reported that the Yanks will acquire Curtis Granderson from the Tigers, The Tigers will acquire Max Scherzer and Daniel Schlereth from the Dbacks and Austin Jackson and Phil Coke from the Yankees and the Dbacks will acquire Ian Kennedy from the Yankees and Edwin Jackson from the Tigers. So basically by moving some average players  (and Yankee fans can not claim that the [...]

We hypothesized the other day that the Rays were going to bring back Greg Zaun for 2010, and platoon him with either Dioner Navarro or Kelley Shoppach.  That theory went down the drain as Zaun was signed by the Brewers to a 1 year deal with a club option for 2011. This puts the Rays in a bit of a pickle actually, because as I mentioned in our previous post, both guys struggle to hit RHP.  Even though he has only 208 career AB’s, I don’t think Shawn Riggans is really a viable secondary option at C and even if [...]

The Rays on Tuesday, made a trade to bolster arguably the weakest position on the team, catcher.  The Rays traded a player to be named later to the Cleveland Indians for Kelly Shoppach.  Shoppach had a real nice campain in 2008, but his numbers tailed off considerably last season. Year Tm G PA AB R H 2B HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS 2008 CLE 112 403 352 67 92 27 21 55 36 133 .261 .348 .517 .865 2009 CLE 89 327 271 33 58 14 12 40 33 98 .214 .335 .399 .734 Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: [...]