Dominican Pacific League Postseason: Aguilas Cibaenas 5, Toros del Este 4

Cibaenas’ two ex-Rays in the middle of their lineup completely failed in this game, with Hector Luna and Manny Ramirez going a combined 1 for 7 with a walk. But Joaquin Arias came up big-time for the Aguilas, going 2 for 4 with 2 doubles and 4 RBI, and a third ex-Ray, Bobby Livingston, picked up the win for Cibaenas, going 1.1 innings allowing just 1 hit, striking out 1 and forcing a pair of groundballs.

Estrellas de Oriente 7, Leones de Escogido 6

Oriente very nearly blew a 5-0 lead in this game, but Ray Olmedo had a nice game out of the 9-hole to help insure that they didn’t, going 2 for 3 with a run scored. He’s hitting a solid .297 for Oriente so far in the DWL Postseason. Willy Aybar went 0 for 3 with a walk in the loss for Escogido.

Mexican Pacific League Playoffs: Yaquis de Obregon 6, Tomateros de Culiacan 5

Things got extremely dicey for Obregon at the end of this one as they led 5-0 after 6 innings, but all the great that starter Rolando Valdez did (6 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 5-3 K/BB ratio) was negated by a complete bullpen collapse. The Yaquis got lucky that Juan Miranda added an insurance run on a solo homer in the 6th when the game was still a blowout, his third of the MPL of the season, and Jesus Colome pitched well to escape a 7th inning jam, going 0.2 innings working around a hit, and Angel Ramirez did the same 0.2 innings trick in the 8th inning for Obregon as they managed to come away with an ugly but well-deserved win.

Aguilas de Mexicali 11, Algodoneros de Guasave 5

This one was a blowout, but the Aguilas did not get much from the ex-Rays hitting 3rd and 4th in their lineup. Jon Weber went 1 for 5 with an RBI and a run scored while Wes Bankston went 0 for 3 with a walk. Weber and Bankston have had their moments in the MPL playoffs, but the Aguilas are going to need more consistency from them as the games get closer and closer.

Roberto Clemente Professional Baseball League (Puerto Rico) Postseason: Criollos de Caguas 14, Gigantes de Carolina 2

Not hard to imagine what Jesus Feliciano is thinking right now. After getting his postseason off to a disastrous start, Feliciano finally broke out on Tuesday night, going 3 for 4 with a double- and the Gigantes lost by 12 runs. Hopefully Feliciano’s good game is a sign of things to come for him (and not for the rest of the team as they would like to pretend that this game never happened). Leslie Anderson went 0 for 5 for Carolina while Javier Vazquez, who is not far away from signing with a major league team, pitched well for Caguas, going 5 shutout innings allowing 6 hits and a walk while striking out 4.

Cangrejeros de Santurce 10, Indios de Mayaguez 3

This one turned into an easy win for Santurce, and the nail in the coffin was a 3-run homer by ex-Rays farmhand Jose Ruiz, who went 2 for 4 with a homer, a walk 3 RBI, and 2 runs scored in the game and is hitting .357 so far in the RCPBL playoffs (yes, that acronym reminds everyone else of Communist Russia too). Pretty good for a player who lasted just 36 games in the Rays system after they signed him out of Cuba.

Dominican Winter League: Tigres del Licey 7, Gigantes del Cibao 3

Cibao pitchers struck out 9 batters in this game- but that was canceled out and then some by six walks, and the Tigres took advantage. Juan Miranda helped set the tone for Licey, going just 0 for 1 out of the 5-hole but drawing 3 walks and scoring 2 runs. He now has managed an outstanding 11 walks versus just 9 walks. (If only Miranda had any power! His patience is great!) Also appearing for Licey was Jesus Colome, who struck out 1 in a shutout inning as he worked around a hit. Joel Peralta worked around a hit to pitch a shutout frame for Cibao, not striking out a batter after striking out 2 in his first two appearances for the Gigantes, while Rhyne Hughes went 0 for 4.

Venezuelan Winter League: Navegantes de Magallanes 3, Bravos de Margarita 2

In a Navegantes-Bravos game not that long ago, there might have been four or five current and former Rays. Now, as players like Sean Burroughs and Chris Nowak have gone home, just one appeared in this game, lefty Neil Schenk, who retired the one batter he faced. Schenk has now made VWL appearances across 6.2 innings and has not allowed an earned run.

Tigres de Aragua 12, Tiburones de La Guaira 4

The question is still out there: why hasn’t Joey Gathright attempted a stolen base for the Tigres? Demoted from the leadoff spot to the nine-hole for Aragua, he went 0 for 3 but did draw 2 walks and score a run. Two other ex-Rays got into this one for La Guaira, with Cesar Suarez having a rough game, going 0 for 4 and Ray Olmedo actually going 1 for 2 with a pinch-hit double and a run scored. His double was just his second extra-base hit in the VWL despite the fact that he’s been with the Tiburones since the start of the season.

Congrats to Astro (and of course David Price), and hopefully plenty more fun (and SportsCenter appearances) and are ahead for the Rays in 2013.

With no major league games going on right now, something tempting to do is to check the ESPN MLB Transactions Page vigorously to find out whenever your team makes a move. I have unfortunately fallen into that habit- and got completely duped. Here’s what I saw.

My first reaction was “Oh, the Rays must have signed another potential bullpen arm. Cool.” My second reaction was to look up his stats. Good thing I did. Who is Hector Lopez? He’s a 6’4″, 192 right-hander who is just 17 years old and pitched at the Rays’ complex league team in Venezuela last season. He managed just a 7.27 ERA and a 14-21 strikeout to walk ratio in 17.1 innings across 13 appearances before getting released in August. No, we will not be seeing him in the major leagues next season. He definitely has some projection remaining and may have some potential, but even in the best-case scenario, we’re not seeing him in the big leagues for four more years at the absolute bare minimum and there’s a negligible chance he actually reaches the major leagues. Congrats to Lopez that the Rays see enough ability in him to bring him back for another season, but the moral of the story here is don’t analyze transactions before looking at the stats.

(Side-note: if his career was taking place now, the Rays would have loved to sign the Hector Lopez who played with the Royals and Yankees from 1955-1966. That Lopez was a career .269/.330.415 hitter (103 OPS+) while seeing time at every position on the diamond other than pitcher. He had his best season in 1959 when he hit .283 with 22 homers and 93 RBI.)

In terms of actual moves that could make an impact on the big leagues next season, a pair of former Rays minor leaguers are heading to the Minnesota Twins: right-hander Bryan Augenstein and infielder Ray Olmedo. Both of them are Quad-A type players who have bounced from organization to organization the past few years with a spattering time in the big leagues, but Augenstein, 26, could have been a nice player for the Rays to bring back as bullpen depth thanks to a high-80′s sinker and a solid slider. Olmedo, 31, appeared in 20 games as a utility player for the White Sox this season, hitting .244. Good luck to both trying to get back to the big leagues as members of the Twins.