Dyer hopes to recapture the glory that he found in Low-A Bowling Green and High-A Charlotte in 2010. (Credit: Flickr user John Setzler)

In the middle rounds of the MLB Draft, the Rays have selected players like Jeremy Hellickson and Alex Cobb who did not stand out for great fastball velocity but impressed for their pitchability and secondary pitches and was worth a chance. As we know, Hellickson and Cobb blossomed into excellent major league pitchers. For a while, it looked like Shane Dyer might join them. Dyer was the Rays’ 6th round pick in the 2008 MLB Draft after hitting 92 MPH in community college with a solid breaking ball, but his two professional seasons were mediocre. In 2010 between Low-A and High-A, though, Dyer finally broke through, going 7-11 with a 2.72 ERA, a 7.2 K/9, a 1.9 BB/9, and a 0.3 HR/9 in 23 starts, a relief appearance, and 135.2 IP. He tossed  3 complete games, the most among all Rays minor leaguers–no one else had more than one–and only Matt Garza matched his totals among the Rays’ MLB totals. Dyer had added a cutter to his arsenal to go along with his fastball and curveball, and suddenly low minors hitters couldn’t handle him. But that was the peak of Dyer’s career and it was all downhill from there.

Dyer managed just a 4.47 ERA at Double-A in 2011, and although he managed a 2.85 mark in his return there in 2012, he got destroyed once coming up to Triple-A, managing just a 7.34 ERA in 9 appearances. The issue was that Dyer’s cutter was his only real plus pitch. Dyer threw an assortment of pitches, mixing in fastballs, cutters, curveballs, and changeups, but his cutter was the only offering he could trust. His fastball was too straight and he couldn’t locate his secondary pitches consistently enough to be effective. Joe Maddon has talked before about how a young pitcher adding a cutter to his arsenal can take away from his other pitches. Dyer was unfortunately the perfect example His cutter  was great and that was enough to beat hitters at A-ball, but his focus on his cutter took his focus off his curveball and changeup and made him unable to miss bats against more advanced hitters. Dyer wasn’t like Hellickson with his changeup or Cobb with his split-change–attacking hitters with a fastball and a cutter with just a 2 MPH difference in velocity wasn’t going to cut it. If Dyer wants to get his career back together, he has to made major strides on his curveball and change and make up for the time he lost on them developing his cutter to become a more complete pitcher and a better one. Dyer is only 25 years old and was talented enough to get a look from the Tigers in their minor league camp before they cut him loose. His career is at its nadir right now, but with enough work he has the ability to get himself back together.

The year before Dyer made his name pitching for High-A Charlotte, 2009, lefty David Newmann began his professional career with the Stone Crabs and did so quite well. A 4th round pick by the Rays in the 2007 MLB Draft, Newmann didn’t make his pro debut until 2009 thanks to signing late and a knee injury. But when he got his career started, Newmann dominated hitters as expected, going 9-6 with a 3.44 ERA, an 8.8 K/9, a 3.2 BB/9, a 0.8 HR/9 in 24 starts and 131 innings pitched. Armed with an excellent sinker, Newmann forced an outstanding 58.6% groundball rate, and combining that with a good curveball and decent changeup gave him the ability to be a number three starter in the major leagues. Unfortunately, Newmann’s career has never looked as optimistic since. Newmann struggled at Double-A Montgomery in 2010, going 3-9 with a 4.50 ERA and an 80-45 strikeout to walk ratio in 114 innings pitched, and that has been his last healthy season.

Injuries limited Nwemann to 4.2 innings in 2011 and not a single one in 2012, and the Rays had finally seen enough, releasing him. For Newmann, now 27 years old, his task is simple: if he proves that he is healthy and has at least a fraction of the stuff that got him on the map as a prospect, he will get another chance. But after the way he has struggled the last three years, Newmann will be forced to do that way down at Independent ball, and it’s going to take all of Newmann’s willpower to keep going, especially if the injuries cause him to struggle early on. After two years spent almost entirely away from the mound didn’t dishearten Newmann, though, finally heading back to the mound, even in unaffiliated ball, will be not a further fall from grace but a step in the right direction as he hopes to pick up the pieces of a once-promising career that hasn’t lost all of its luster yet.

The Rays just kept waiting and waiting for Mike Sheridan to finally come around. A 5th round pick by the Rays in the 2008 MLB Draft, Sheridan, a first baseman, stood out for good bat speed, an immaculate ability to make contact, and decent power. Sheridan continues to show all those traits. He has struck out in just 11.1% of his plate appearances in his career as he continues to make contact as often as anyone and his power has surfaced to an extent as well as he slammed 14 home runs in 2009 and 10 in 2012. But Sheridan’s career has never come together. In 2079 professional plate appearances, his batting line is just .247/.294/.366 (.660 OPS), with his OPS ranging from .620 to .680 in each of his minor league seasons. He hasn’t been terrible, but he has never impressed. What happened?

Sheridan’s career BAbip has been just .264, and that isn’t a case of bad luck–if it should have been .290, the chances of it being that low are just 113 to 1 (.0089 probability). Sheridan just isn’t making enough high-quality contact to hit well. It’s great that he’s making contact in general, and that is what has given him a measure of consistency in his career. However, he’s not hitting for average or much power because his plate discipline hasn’t been up to par. According to Minor League Central, Sheridan swung at pitches outside the strike zone 13.3% of the time, exactly the league average–it’s not that he doesn’t know the strike zone. Instead, the issue is that Sheridan isn’t being patient enough within the zone, making too much contact and hitting the ball weakly way too often. He’s not getting the ball on the barrel enough, and as a hitter without much power, that has to change immediately. Sheridan, a lefty batter, also has struggled versus lefties, managing just a .208/.235/.308 line the last two years. But despite everything, Sheridan still has promise. He’s only 25 years old, plays great defense at first base, and still has quality the bat speed. The question is going to be whether he can change his approach at the plate to maximize his talent and give himself a chance, and after years of struggles, that will have to come at independent ball. The scouting report that caused Sheridan to stand out to the Rays in 2008 still holds entirely true. Now it’s up to him to fix the underlying parts of his game that have held him back, and if he can do that, maybe everything will change.

Shane Dyer, David Newmann, and Mike Sheridan are not players with little talent holding onto a major league dream that undeniably won’t happen. They are all players who still have something left, and while their chances look as bleak as ever, they are one each breakthrough away from turning their careers around and getting themselves one more opportunity in affiliated ball and just maybe in the major leagues someday. They are all competing separately, but nevertheless having former teammates next to them with the Laredo Lemurs will all help them significantly. It will allow them to retain a sense of familiarity as they enter a path the likes of which they have never seen before, and whenever they think about giving up, they can be inspired once more by looking out and seeing their former teammates in the same position as them still trying. The odds are that this is the last we’ve seen of Shane Dyer, David Newmann, and Michael Sheridan in baseball. But with untapped potential remaining, teammates in it with them for the long haul, and a determination not to let this be the way their careers end, Dyer, Newmann, and Sheridan are going to do everything they can hoping and dreaming that a promising future is still ahead.

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(Hat tip to the @RaysProspects Twitter account for reporting that Dyer, Newmann, and Sheridan were all with the Lemurs.)

Officially leaving the Rays organization is their 6th round pick from back in 2008, Shane Dyer. Per ESPN’s MLB Transactions, Dyer signed has signed with the Detroit Tigers as a minor league free agent. Dyer, who will turn 25 in March, got his first taste of Triple-A in 2012 but got shelled to a 7.34 ERA in 43.1 innings pitched before being send back down to Double-A. The Rays released him three weeks ago. Dyer’s major problem is that he has been unable to miss any bats. The past two years between Double-A and Triple-A, Dyer has struck out just 4.2 batters per 9 innings. Dyer lives off a plus cutter in the high-80′s, but he is forced to use it way too much because the rest of his arsenal is unimpressive. His fastball in the 90-91 MPH range is straight, his low-80′s breaking ball is slurvy, and his changeup shows promise but Dyer can’t sell it as a strike often enough. His overall control is good but his command is just solid and he allows way too much hard contact. The Tigers are going to try to help Dyer get more movement on his fastball and tie together the rest of his arsenal, and he’s young enough and has shown enough promise in the past that they have a real chance of making that happen. Best of luck to Dyer in the Tigers organization.

It was very exciting yesterday when we heard that Evan Longoria had signed an extension with the Rays that will keep him in a Rays uniform until as late as 2023, and now we have some more details courtesy of Roger Mooney of the Tampa Tribune.

#Rays Longoria said his goal is to be first player to play entire career with Rays

— RMooneyTBO (@RMooneyTBO) November 26, 2012

#Rays Longoria said he doesn’t want his contract to ‘suck up payroll’ and prevent team from winning.

— RMooneyTBO (@RMooneyTBO) November 26, 2012

#Rays Longoria’s extension: $13 mm in 2017, $13.5 mm in ’18, $14.5 mm in ’19, $15 mm in ’20, $18.5 mm in ’21, $19.5 mm in ’22

— RMooneyTBO (@RMooneyTBO) November 26, 2012

2023 option year for #Rays Longoria is $13 mm plus incentives with $5 mm buyout. Contract does not include no trade clause

— RMooneyTBO (@RMooneyTBO) November 26, 2012

Longoria wants to spend the rest of his career with the Rays and was able to find the perfect contract to make that happen. The contract is backloaded, which is somewhat counterintuitive because Longoria should be much better in the first few years of the contract as opposed to the last, but the Rays will be raking in much more money from their next TV deal (and hopefully a new stadium) by then and it will not be nearly as much of a dent in their payroll. (For the next four years before the new extension kicks in, Longoria will make just 6 million dollars, 7.5 million dollars, 11 million dollars, and 12.1 million dollars, which is essentially the same he would have made before from the options in his previous extension.) Longoria isn’t just getting security for the foreseeable future- he’s giving the Rays payroll flexibility to build teams around him that will continue to contend and hopefully even more year after year. If Longoria can put his injury issues of the last two years behind him, this could end up as one of the best contracts in the history of baseball.

Dyer was one of the few highlights for Montgomery. (Credit: Flickr user John Setzler)

Double-A Southern League Playoffs Game 3: Mobile BayBears (ARI) 10, Montgomery Biscuits 2 (BayBears Lead Series 2-1)

When you get horrific pitching and no offense until the end of the game, you’re in control. The frustration only increases when that happens in the postseason. Jacob Thompson‘s frustrating year continued into the playoffs as he went just 4 innings allowing 5 runs on 8 hits, striking out just 1 while walking 2. D-Backs prospects Chris Owings and Matt Davidson tagged him for home runs. Nick Barnese came into the game in relief and was even worse, going 2.1 innings allowing 5 more runs on 6 hits, striking out 1 while walking 2. Shane Dyer finally gave the Biscuits some pitching in the 8th and 9th, going 2.2 innings allowing no runs on just 3 hits, striking out 2 while walking none and posting a 4-0 groundout to flyout ratio. Dyer’s performance was one of the game’s few highlights for the Biscuits. Mikie Mahtook did hit a garbage-time RBI double in the 8th while a Craig Alberaz RBI groundout made it 10-2 in the 9th. Mahtook had himself a nice game, going 2 for 4 with a double, an RBI, and an outfield assist on the defensive end, while Shawn O’Malley went 1 for 3 with a walk and a run scored. Bryan Hagens earned the win for Mobile, going 7 innings allowing no runs on just 6 hits, striking out 5 while walking 2, and Davidson had 4 RBI in the game.