Yesterday was a beautiful day to wear green for St. Patrick, and I began it that way, covered with grass from mowing the yard.  It doesn’t seem so long ago that my wife scattered plastic shamrocks which led to a gold coins – actually, chocolate coins, wrapped in gold – for the girls to find.

If you read Sarah’s post yesterday you know she celebrated March 17th at the mayor of Tampa’s inaugural River O’ Green Festival.  Hannah texted a picture of Green Eggs Benedict to us in the morning.  I know both of them had their corned beef last night.

The Rays wore green necklaces to celebrate the day, and then went out and downed Pittsburgh 2-1 behind James Shields’ pitching, a good effort by the ‘pen, and a Luke Scott home run.

As pitchers begin to extend their innings and lineups start to have names that are well-recognized, the trio of Evan Longoria, B.J. Upton, and Carlos Pena are a combined 3 for 41.  Their combined OPS is far below average as well.

Remember, patience is a virtue, and records and stats in March don’t carry much weight.  They can all  handle the bright lights and the big (hopefully) crowds.

Another three-pack of Rays who could/should play important roles for the team consists of Reid Brignac, Desmond Jennings, and Jeff Keppinger.  All have batting averages of .333 or better, and each has an OPS well above last year’s MLB average.

With Jennings penciled in the starting lineup for the season-opening series against the Yankees, and Keppinger potentially finding his way into the lineup against lefties, it will be interesting to see where the leather-flashing Brignac fits into the team’s plans in the next couple of weeks. » Continue reading “Daily Rays”

The Rays signed Fernando Rodney to a one-year contract Wednesday by signing righty Fernando Rodney to a one-year deal. The 5’11, 220 pound product from the Dominican Republic is known to have a mid-90s fastball and filthy changeup.

In reading Bill Chastain’s piece written for the Rays’ MLB site, it seems be and is willing to accept whatever role necessary to help the club. The following quotes come from Chastain’s article.

“The manager, Joe Maddon, allows the players to be themselves and play well, and all the players play hard for Maddon and I’m very excited to be playing for the ballclub,” Rodney said through a translator on a conference call. “And that motivated me to sign with Tampa Bay.”

“Physically and mentally, I am ready for any role that is handed to me,” Rodney said. “Whether it’s the sixth, seventh, eighth or ninth inning, it doesn’t matter. I’m going in with the attitude that whatever the manager wants me to do, that’s what I’m going to do.”

Andrew Friedman added:

“Fernando’s pure stuff is top-notch and can beat hitters both in and out of the strike zone.”

The Rays have now added three right-handers to the bullpen, as they have also acquired Josh Lueke from Seattle and Burke Badenhop from Miami. Yes, Miami. The Marlins are now heading back to the future as the Miami Marlins.

It may take a while to get used to the change, but I remember the old Miami Marlins who once played in the Florida State League. Along with the new arms added to the staff, Joel Peralta is back in the fold as well.

So how do you manage a staff???

» Continue reading “Pitchers: Your Arms Are In Good Hands With Tampa Bay”

Twitter can get a bit dull over the holidays (I’ll admit I’ve neglected my own account a bit) but David Price is still going strong.

Today, I’ll take you through some of his best tweets over the past week.

Yep, he still has a sense of humor.

I am not the proud owner of a David Price jersey, but this still gives me a sense of relief.

Consider “the real matty j” followed.

Words can’t express how happy it makes me to see Price refer to Friedman as his second father. » Continue reading “Tampa Bay Rays: The David Price Edition Of TWIRT”

One of my first thoughts regarding the news that skipper Joe Maddon and Executive VP of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman will be staying with the Rays was “Don’t ever leave me…cause I’d find you.”

I’m not sure what that says about me, but that feeling really applies to me during the Winter Meetings. For the most part, I love my Rays baseball men and I want them to stay with me forever and ever.

With Friedman remaining in Tampa Bay’s fold for at least the near future, he can focus on the Winter Meetings and I can feel confident that the Rays will come out of those meetings with the best results possible. In Friedman I trust.

Wedding Crashers quotes aside, I want Maddon and Friedman to be happy and do what’s best for them and all that mushy stuff, but I’m really glad that it still seems like the Rays are what makes them happy and are what’s best for them.

Maddon is heading into the last year of his contract but all signs point to him inking a new deal with Tampa Bay. He told MLB.com:

“This, for me, is the best place to work in Major League Baseball. Of course, everybody is looking for security. We all want security. But for me, it’s about having an open conversation. We would never negotiate in public or anything like that. It’s just about an ongoing conversation right now, and we’ll see how it all plays out. “

Click the previous link if you dare to see Maddon with brown hair. It’s, uh, interesting.

So many happy thoughts thanks to Joe and Andrew. Leave it to the stadium to put a damper on those feelings. Marc Topkin had an article in today’s St. Petersburg Times entitled: Miami Marlins on spending spree fueled by the new ballpark Tampa Bay Rays wish they had.

This is the season for making wishes, right? Maybe I need to move “new Rays stadium” closer to the top of my list. Help me out, Santa.

Now that we are into December, it is officially the Christmas Season. Or Hannukah Season. Or Kwanzaa. Or, if you want to be politically correct, it’s the Holiday Season. No matter what , it is a time of celebration, and hopefully giving. Oh, I know receiving is always fun, but giving is what it’s all about. I’ll start with my Christmas wishes for the Tampa Bay Rays.

Please let Andrew Friedman stay with the club. He has the knowledge, insight, personality, and energy that any club could use. But being a small-market club, Tampa Bay needs him pulling the strings.

That being said, I wouldn’t want him to stay if there was something better out there for him. Ultimately, he will make the best decision for himself – I hope that bodes well for the Rays.
Health for Kyle Farnsworth’s elbow. I have read that he appears to be in good health, and hope that is the case. He had a great year for the Rays in 2011, and whether or not he is ever officially named the closer doesn’t matter. He brought a lot to the table for Tampa Bay last year. I like to see people like that do well. He certainly fits well with the club.

A continued upswing for B.J. Upton. Last September, his O.P.S. was 1.038, which is ridiculous. Team O.P.S. is usually around .725, give or take a little. B.J. More than carried his weight as the Rays made the stretch run, and if he could put that together over an extended period of time, the Rays would be well on their way to added offense. Without having to go outside the organization to get it.

A return to health for Evan Longoria. Even fighting multiple injuries, he had 99 ribbies in 133 games to go with 78 runs scored and 31 home runs. Although his average dipped to a career-low .244, his PRODUCTION was great! If healthy, I think expect the average to rebound greatly and the RBIs, runs scored, and home runs to improve. That would mean he could have a season of monster proportions.

Fill the DH and 1B slots with minimal shuffling of players. I know the Rays will make the moves necessary, and also make as few moves as possible. Johnny Damon and Casey Kotchman are still on the radar. Friedman and the Rays’ Brain Trust know that success means not only having the right players, but just as importantly, having the right people! Check out Mark Topkin at www.tampabay.com for his take on the Rays needs, especially his 12/1 and 12/3 posts.

Over the next couple of weeks, I will try to add a few more wishes for the Rays. Now, on to some reasons for the season…

Yesterday, I went to a fundraiser for Madison Hurdle, the daughter of Pittsburgh manager Clint Hurdle. Madison suffers from Prader-Willi Syndrome. Although there are numerous symptoms, possibly the most significant is an insatiable appetite that can lead to life-threatening obesity.

Madison is now nine years old, and Clint is the national spokesman for the condition. To see Madison, and her younger brother Christian, along with their mother Karla and Clint at a small-town benefit for PWS was moving. On a beautiful day in Cocoa Beach, Florida, friends, family, and softball teams came together to raise money for the study of Prader-Willi. Check out PWS at www.pwsausa.org. While the syndrome might not be well known, the need to find a cure is great, and we need to get the word out!

While in the mood of caring and sharing, check out several causes that the Rays stood up for last year:

Johnny Damon at www.uncorkforacause.com. Held last July, it was a wine and food tasting event, and proceeds went to the families of police officers who lost their lives in the line of duty in St. Pete.
Evan Longoria held a yoga fundraiser for the Moffitt Cancer Center. Click here for photos.

Last, and certainly not least, Joe’s Thanksmas has become a major event on the west coast of Florida. Joe Maddon, his staff and members of the Rays’ organization provide meals to the needy from the Tampa Bay area south to Fort Myers. The state of Florida had over 49,000 homeless students alone in 2010. With the economy as it is, Maddon and his lieges provide a tremendous service, not only in the shopping for, cooking and serving of meals, but also in leadership of caring for the community. Check out the cause at www.joesthanksmas.com.

Last year, Fan Fest at Tropicana Field drew 25,000 people – which included Sarah and me – and raised $100,000 for Rays’ charities.

So take a few minutes, look up your favorite players and the benefits they support, and make the season better for everyone. It’ll even make it better for you!

Just when I’m getting into the swing of the offseason, St. Petersburg Mayor Bill Foster and friends decide they’d like to see what it would look like if my head exploded.

Two months ago, Foster said he had a “detailed plan” for the Rays but he decided to keep those details to himself. I shook my fist. But, I still had Rays baseball to keep me going. That’s not the case anymore.

Yesterday, reports regarding the latest St. Pete City Council meeting surfaced. The article in the St. Petersburg Times about the meeting included so many lines about people speaking over one another or walking out of the meeting that you might believe you were reading about a reunion special for Bravo’s Real Housewives franchise.

Council member Leslie Curran was the person who pushed for the special meeting to discuss the Rays and Tropicana Field. Just a few paragraphs into the Times article, your eyes will fall upon this:

Curran had hoped that Thursday’s meeting would give council members a chance to press Foster about the city’s options and plans for keeping the Rays.

But it was not to be.

Somebody, help me.

At one point, council chairman James Kennedy said:

“I’m reluctant at this point to open it up for council questions to the mayor, because it might deteriorate and we won’t meet our objectives.”

Perfect. Council members couldn’t ask the mayor about his aforementioned detailed plan. And what objectives did they have for the meeting?

The meeting’s agenda had listed three discussion items: franchise history, the Trop contract and city marketing efforts.

Well, I’d certainly hope that council members knew about the history of the franchise, the stadium contract and marketing efforts before entering Thursday’s meeting.

But brace yourself. The worst part is coming.

MAYOR FOSTER DID NOT ATTEND THE MAJORITY OF THE MEETING.

» Continue reading “Tampa Bay Rays: Gaskets Blown”

By Ricardo André Frantz (User:Tetraktys) (taken by Ricardo André Frantz) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) via Wikimedia Commons

When I first heard that Matt Moore was starting the ALDS, I simply put my faith in the Rays’ organization. They do their homework, and when it comes time for the test, they seem to pass with flying colors more often than not.

Granted, I predicted they would win 83 games this year, and ultimately not make the playoffs. That doesn’t mean I didn’t have faith. It meant that I saw how much they had lost in the off-season.

I also said that if Joe Maddon and Jim Hickey could work their magic, especially with the bullpen, the Rays could go beyond that number of 83.

Well, add Andrew Friedman to the Maddon/Hickey equation and that’s how Moore got the start in Texas. And the kid more than held up is end of the deal.

When watching Moore, the first thing you notice is his composure. Then, you see a smooth, repeatable delivery. Along with that delivery comes a fastball of 95-97 MPH, a breaking ball that snaps toward the back foot of a right-handed hitter, leaving him defenseless, and then, the change-up of death.

It’s hard to call a fastball that is mid- to upper 90s sneaky, but with his quiet, fluid delivery, Moore’s fastball appears even more sudden. Out of 98 pitches, 76 he threw were fastballs. The key was how he mixed his change and breaking ball in. The change forced hitters to have to cover both sides of the plate at what I call “stretch” velocity – plus fastball, plus change = tough for the hitter to sit on anything.

Then, the breaking ball added tilt and stayed in the bottom of the zone, as opposed to the fastball, which was generally up – good up, in the PITCHER’S zone, not the hitter’s zone. That adds the North/South factor for hitters. In the end, the hitter ends up playing a shell game that he just can’t win. Moore has the stuff. He has the makeup. And against the Yankees and Rangers, he has shown he can truly execute with pressure on. Winner, winner, great steak dinner!

» Continue reading “From The Kid To Complete Game James, Rays Look To Take Two In Texas”

As a Rays fan, I’m used to preparing to bow down to Andrew Friedman’s genius during the draft each summer, after the winter meetings and at the trade deadline.  Tampa Bay’s GM deserves another nod after helping to ensure that Matt Moore would get the start last night. If you don’t know how Game 1 against the Rangers went, let me just say it was glorious if you were rooting for the Rays.  Tampa Bay came out on top 9-0. You can read my recap here.

Joe Maddon is still a genius, but we need to thank Friedman for making the case for Moore to Maddon.  Rays Index has an excerpt from Jeff Passan’s column for Yahoo! describing how Maddon and Friedman met with the rest of their “brain trust” before the game to discuss who would make the start.

Friedman, the man who worked from a hospital bed around this year’s trade deadline following an emergency appendectomy, wanted Moore to get the nod.

It’s kind of surprising that Maddon wasn’t the guy campaigning for Moore in the beginning, but I think it says a lot about our manager that he was able to leave the meeting thinking the 22-year-old lefty was the man to put on the mound. The ability to adapt and “find another way” to win is the reason the Rays are in the postseason.

Originally Maddon wanted to go with Wade Davis.  Davis was used in relief instead and closed out the game with an inning of work in the ninth. Moore picked up the win by pitching seven innings of two hit, shutout ball.

Good call, gentleman.

Tonight’s game against the Tigers is still in progress as I type.  We’re currently knotted at two apiece heading to the top of the 10th.  If we’ve learned anything from the first two games of this series, it is that this game will cause Rays fans some anxiety.

Wade Davis stayed on the hill through the ninth, with Joel Peralta coming in to begin the bonus baseball. The Rays have turned into a complete game, or nearly complete game, machine.

Max Scherzer lasted five innings for the Tigers.  Daniel Schlereth pitched an inning and a third of relief before being replaced by Ryan Perry.

To be completely honest, I prefer Daniel’s father, former NFL star and current football analyst Mark Schlereth, when it comes to the looks department.  I choose to ignore the fact that the senior Schlereth’s nickname was Stink. But I’ve already said on this site that I like ‘em a little older. Ya know? Like Johnny Damon. But I digress.

I tried to distract myself from the tension of the game with a glass of wine over dinner, but I felt the need to address the Andrew Friedman situation.

We know, you (you being Cubs and Astros) want the Rays’ GM.

Because it’s hump day, the FOX Sports broadcast team is conducting another Website Wednesday so you can ask questions through Game Connect.  One fan asked a question about the rumors swirling regarding Andrew Friedman’s future.  Here’s what broadcaster Dewayne Staats and Brian Anderson had to say:

Staats: First, I think that is a compliment.

Anderson: I took it as one.

Then Staats elaborated:

“The Andrew Friedman story has been obviously the topic of conversation in a couple markets. the answer is that for one, he’s a loyal guy and they’ve had some great things Going here. obviously that’s  why you hear those stories and of why other clubs would naturally have an interest. I wouldn’t think every team in baseball would have an interest. other teams have an interest.

He doesn’t look for the limelight, really he’s uncomfortable hearing these things, but it’s hard to find a guy who has done a better job than Andrew Friedman.

Number one he’s a very bright guy and number two he’s willing to work hard. And I don’t care what you do, if you have those two combinations, you’ve got a pretty fair chance to succeed.”

Because of Friedman’s traits and the successful club he has built in Tampa Bay, most Rays fans love the guy.  He worked from a hospital room after having his appendix removed just prior to this year’s trade deadline.  The guy’s for real. » Continue reading “Pleeee-ease Don’t Leave Me”

I was prepared to hate this SB Nation article going into it because of the title alone: Tampa Bay Makes No Trades Before The Deadline.  Have the Rays Given Up?

VP of baseball Andrew Friedman does not give up.  On Sunday, he worked from his hospital bed after undergoing an emergency appendectomy. And the Rays?  They most certainly do not give up.  After the Manny debacle at the beginning of the season, so many people wrote this season off entirely.  But the Rays are still hanging in there, as best as they can with a lineup that features a good number of names that are more familiar to the folks in Durham, N.C. than residents of the Tampa bay area.

I’m glad that I didn’t let the title of Daniel Russell’s article didn’t stop me from reading it.  Not only did I learn that he appreciates Andrew Friedman as I do, I found out he’s a student at Florida State University.  I am proud to call FSU my alma mater.  But that has nothing to do with the Rays, so I’ll move on after I get this “Go Noles!” out of the way.

I trust in the now appendix-less Friedman, but it’s hard to feel fantastic about the trade deadline when your team’s only move involved a minor league player (infielder Felipe Lopez was traded to the Brewers for cash considerations last week).

Steve Slowinski wrote a piece for DRaysBay called “Why This Trade Deadline Kinda Stunk.”  The section about the projected 2012 roster is the main reason I can get on board with Slowinski:

This is a solid team, not doubt about it, and it’s good enough to compete if things go well. But for the most part, this roster is very similar to the team the Rays are fielding right now, and we all know how frustrating they can be to watch. Going into 2012, the Rays have multiple holes on offense — shortstop, first base, and DH — and they can’t fill them with top prospects; the Rays have no more top position prospects coming up until Tim Beckham and Hak-Ju Lee reach the majors.

It looks like we’ll just have to put our eggs in the off-season trades basket.