We’re Going To Paint Trees. Yes, Happy Little Trees

We have been introducing you to each of the Devil Rays minor league affiliates and highlighting a few of the players that we will be tracking over the course of the season. Today: The Visalia Oaks

Visalia Oaks

Apparently Visalia is in California, and NOT in Spain, like we thought. Who knew? We began the first two minor league posts (Durham Bulls and Montgomery Biscuits) with introductions to the team’s mascots, and problems we had with both. Today we introduce you to Chatter the Squirrel. And quite frankly, we can’t come up with anything we don’t like about it. Its cute, its cuddly, its got big eyes, and they may carry “plague and animal-borne diseases”. Oh. Our bad. We are glad they decided to go with a squirrel and not a tree. Apparently Tree mascots don’t know how to behave. Let’s get to the team.

The Visalia Oaks are the “Advanced-A” minor league team for the D-Rays. In the past, teams had B-teams, C-teams and even D-teams. Now there are “Advanced-A”, “A”, “Short-Season-A” and “Rookie League”. Our report cards would have looked a lot better if schools followed the same sytem. The Oaks are managed by Stu Cole, who played nine games with the Kansas City Royals as a middle infielder.

Key players we will be keeping tabs on throughout the season

Reid Brignac, 20 years old, SS. Brignac was the second round pick of the D-Rays in the 2004 amateur draft. After a promising debut season in 2004, he struggled last season at Southwest Michigan (.264-15-61-5). Hopefully it was just a sophomore slump and Brignac begins to show everyone why he was worthy of a high draft pick, and his nickname, “The Cajun God of Baseball.” Umm? Ok.

Christopher Mason, 21, RHP. Mason was the second pick of the D-Rays in the 2005 amateur draft, out of UNC-Greensboro, and possesses a 95 mph fastball. Used sparingly out of the bullpen last season, he posted strong numbers and will try to build on those in his first full professional season. Look for Mason to be in Montgomery midway through this season.

Francisco Leandro, 25, OF. Leandro has only two years of professional ball under his belt and his numbers have been impressive. He spent the second half of 2005 in Visalia and batted .355, with a .449 OBP and .569 SLG. Overall, he has batted .320 in his career. Look for Leandro to receive a quick promotion to Montgomery and possibly Durham before the season is over.

Fernando Perez, 22, OF. Perez is considered one of the fastest players in all of baseball. He led the Midwest League last season with 58 stolen bases in 134 games and batted .289 with a .361 OBP.

Tomorrow: Southwest Michigan Devil Rays

I’m The One That Said, "Just Grab ‘Em In The Biscuit"

Over the next few days, we will be introducing you to each of the Devil Rays minor league affiliates and highlighting a few of the players that we will be tracking over the course of the season. Today: The Montgomery Biscuits

Montgomery Biscuits
The Biscuits begin their third year in Montgomery since being moved from Orlando following the 2003 season. Let us start today’s post with an apology to Wool E. Bull. In yesterday’s post on the Durham Bulls, we were fairly harsh. Compared to the Biscuits mascot Big Mo, Wool E. Bull is Angelina Jolie. We aren’t even sure what Big Mo is. Is he a biscuit? Is he an orange elephant? Is he Snuffleupagus?

With managements new found patience with minor leaguers, we don’t expect to see more than one or two Biscuits make it to the show this season. The most likely candidates would be from the pitching staff as the Devil Rays look for arms to fill out the bullpen.

Key players we will be keeping tabs on throughout the season

Jason Pridie (#33), 22 years old, OF. Add Pridie to the organizations gluttony of promising young outfielders. Pridie was the Devil Rays second round pick in the 2002 amateur draft. This was the same year the team drafted B. J. Upton in the first round (#2 overall). His minor league career has been up and down so far. He was finally moved up to AA Montgomery last season where he battled injuries and only played 28 games. Still, the team does still have high hopes for this young player, giving him two games in spring training this season in which he went 4-7, with 3 runs scored. Look for Pridie to get a quick bump up to Durham if he stays healthy and gets off to a good start. ETA 2008

Wes Bankston (#16), 22, 1B. Bankston is another member of the 2002 draft class with major league potential (4th round). Minor league career has mirrored Pridie’s. Made the jump to AA Montgomery mid-season last year and produced a solid, workman-like statline (.292-12-47 in 82 games). Like Pridie, a quick start at Montgomery should earn Bankston a promotion to Durham this season. ETA 2008

Andy Sonnanstine (#12), 22, SP. Sonnanstine is a member of Tampa’s 2004 draft class (13th round) and appears to be on the fast track through the organization. Last season he split the season between low-A, Southwest Michigan, and high-A, Visalia, going 14-5 in 28 starts. He is not a power pitcher, but he did average a strikeout an inning (178 ks in 180.2 inn). The most impressive stat is his control. In 180.2 innings, he walked only 18 batters or less than one every 9 innings. If Sonnanstine was drafted out of high school we would expect him to spend the entire year in Montgomery. However, as a college draftee, look for him to move a little more quickly and don’t be surprised to see him in Durham later this year. ETA 2007

Chuck Tiffany (#34), 21, SP. Tiffany was the “other” guy in the trade that sent Danys Baez and Lance Carter to the Dodgers for Edwin Jackson. Tiffany, a second round pick in the 2003 draft, has two full seasons at the A-level, posting a record of 16-9. The lefthander is a strikeout artist, with a staggering 11.86 strikeouts per 9 innings. Could end up being the biggest piece in that trade. ETA September 2007

Elliot Johnson (#8), 22, 2B. Johnson, yet another member of the 2002 class (he was an undrafted free agent). His offensive numbers to date have been modest for a low level minor league player. However, Johnson is a great defen
sive secondbaseman and has very good speed. He has 43 stolen bases each of the past two season. And while his career batting average is only .258, his OBP is consistently near .350. Could be the second baseman of the future if Jorge Cantu ever makes the move to thirdbase. ETA 2008

Jim Magrane (#21), 27, SP. Magrane might not be much of a major league prospect. We only mention him because he is the cousin of former major league pitcher and current Rays announcer Joe Magrane. Originally drafted in 1996 by the New York Mets, he has been in the Rays organization since 2000, spending parts of each of the past four seasons with the Durham Bulls.

Tomorrow: Visalia Oaks

Don’t Fake The Funk On A Nasty Dunk

To paraphrase one of the Oriole’s announcers…Good pitching makes you look like a good baseball team. There has never been truer words spoken in the history of baseball. The Yankees have an all-star at every fielding position on the diamond except secondbase. When was the last time the Yankees won a world series? 2000. Back then, the team was GOOD offensively, but not nearly as potent as they have been in recent years. The difference? PITCHING. Plain and simple. Just when we were beginning to wonder if there was a major league pitcher on the Devil Rays staff, Mark Hendrickson, went to the mound tonight and thought he was back playing with the New Jersey Nets in 2000 as the D-Rays beat the Orioles 2-0. At least his line score tonight looked very similar to most of his line scores during his basketball career. 9 min, 3 fga, 0 fgm, 0 reb, 1 ast, 5 fouls, 0 pts. Oops. Our bad. That was 9 inn, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 5 Ks, 0 HR. There was one other stat that stood out tonight for Hendrickson. His pitchcount (106 pitches, 69 strikes) was nearly identical in 9 innings as Scott Kazmir’s (104/66) was on opening day in 4+ innings. We hope Kazmir was paying attention tonight.

We were also pleased to see Joe Maddon stick with Hendrickson in 9th innning. Maddon has made it known that he does not like to depend on pitch counts. He would rather let a pitcher go as long as he is throwing well and not laboring on the mound. Hendrickson now has as many complete games as the entire team had in 2005, and more shutouts than the 2004 and 2005 squads combined.

Tomas Perez, who was signed earlier in the day, made his debut as a pinch runner for Aubrey Huff, in the 8th inning. Perez then stayed in the game to play thirdbase as a defensive substitution. Perez, who didn’t make a single error in 95 games, in 2005, made a throwing error on his first attempt of 2006. In his defense, Huff would not have even made the play and the Travis Lee appeared to make the tag on the high throw, even though the runner was ruled safe. Perez made up for the botched throw on the very next play, diving to his left and throwing out the lead runner at secondbase and keeping the tying run off base.

Speaking of Travis Lee. Excellent defensive firstbaseman, but there is a reason he has never lived up to his potential as a hitter. During the bottom of the 8th, Tim Byrdack of the Orioles walked three of the first four batters he faced to bring Lee up to bat with the bases loaded and nobody out in a 2-0 ballgame. Lee, facing a pitcher with obvious control problems, with the bases loaded in a close ballgame, proceeds to swing at the first pitch out of the strike zone. We are at a loss as to why Lee would be swinging at all at the first pitch against a left handed pitcher with control problems. He then swings at the second pitch and hits a weak groundball to the secondbaseman, leading to an inning ending 4-6-3 double play. For anyone that has ever played baseball, that is usually what happens when you try to pull an outside pitch, and that is exactly what happened to Lee. Maddon has stressed that he wants the team to play with better fundamentals, a lesson that apparently was lost on Travis Lee.

What An Excellent Day For An Exorcism

Our heads are spinning over here at Rays Index. The following is an actual title of a press release from the Tampa Bay Devil Rays earlier today posted on MLB.com: “Rays DL Julio Lugo; Release RHP Jesus Colome; Sign veteran INF Tomas Perez; Recall RHP Scott Dunn; Acquire RHP Marcos Carvajal from Seattle.” We are still consulting our abacus to try and figure out exactly who will be playing for the D-Rays tonight and in the immediate future. If we are reading this right, and we would like to think we are, Julio Lugo, is the second shortstop to hit the DL in two days, following Luis Ordaz, who was switched from the 15-day DL to the 60-day DL, meaning his season is likely over. Joe Maddon made it clear that the team will not be recalling B.J. Upton from Durham to fill in for the disabled shortstops. Last night, utility man Nick Green played shortstop, going 0-3 with one walk and one run scored. To help fill the need up the middle, the D-Rays today signed Tomas Perez, who has played parts of 10 seasons with Toronto and Philadelphia. He is a career .244 hitter with 22 home runs and 5 stolen bases. He can play all four infield positions and did not commit an error in 95 games in 2005. To replace Colome, the team claimed Scott Dunn, off of waivers from the Dodgers. Colome was released after throwing just 5 pitches and injuring his shoulder. The interesting thing here is the players have talked a lot this spring about how relaxed the atmosphere was in the clubhouse with new manager Joe Maddon. Now all of the sudden Colome throws 5 pitches, retiring one batter and walking the other before leaving injured and the next day he is gone. Maybe this will shake up the team, especially the pitching staff.
Rays DL Julio Lugo; Release RHP Jesus Colome; Sign veteran INF Tomas Perez; Recall RHP Scott Dunn; Acquire RHP Marcos Carvajal from Seattle [MLB.com]

Stupid Is As Stupid Does

Last night’s game would have made Forest Gump sick, and I don’t mean “cough due to cold” type of sickness. For those of you that don’t remember, Forest didn’t like to walk anywhere. Maybe the D-Rays would pitch better if Forest was on the mound. Tampa Bay pitchers walked nine batters in eight innings of work during the 16-6 loss to the Baltimore Orioles. Starting pitcher, Seth McClung, walked seven in three innings, giving up seven runs. Newly acquired Brian Meadows, gave up seven runs in 1.2 innings of work. At least he didn’t walk any batters. While the loss of this game is not the fault of the offense, they are not without blame. We over here at Rays Index are glad there was a glitch in the TiVo tonight, and we were not subjected to this game. OH THE HUMANITY!

Look At That! He Hit The F-ing Bull! Guy Gets A Free Steak!

The next important day on the Devil Ray calendar is next Monday when the D-Rays have their home opener at the Trop against the Baltimore Orioles. However, four of the Rays six minor league teams will open their seasons tonight, with the Durham Bulls (@ Norfolk), the Montgomery Biscuits (v. Tennessee), the Visalia Oaks (@ San Jose) and the Southwest Michigan Devil Rays (@ Lansing) starting play. The low-A, Hudson Valley Renegades and the Rookie League Princeton Devil Rays both begin their seasons in late June. Over the next few days, we will be introducing you to each of these teams and highlighting a few of the players that we will be tracking over the course of the season. Today: The Durham Bulls.

Durham Bulls (AAA)
We will always have a soft spot in our heart for this team thanks to one of the great movies of all time, Bull Durham. Back then, the Bulls were the single A affiliate for the Atlanta Braves. A team with so well known deserves the higher profile of being a AAA team and we couldn’t be happier that they are part of the Devil Rays organization. On top of that, the Bulls possess some of the best uniforms in all of professional sports. You have to love the vests and chest logo with the snorting bull. On the other hand, the mascot, Wool E. Bull, leaves a little to be desired. The horns could use some viagra, but he does seem to have quite the appetite, and what other mascot has swimsuit calendar aspirations? The 2006 Durham Bulls, managed by, John Tamargo, have announced their opening day roster and there are plenty of familiar names. Joe Maddon and Rays management have already let it be known that they will be much more patient with their young players. If this group was in control we would never have seen B. J. Upton on the major league roster at age 19. That being said, we still expect to see several of these players on the big league roster at some point during 2006, even if it is just for a “cup of coffee”.

Key players we will be keeping tabs on throughout the season
Delmon Young (#26), 20 years old, RF. In 2005, Young became the second Devil Ray minor leaguer to be names Baseball America‘s Minor League Player of the Year (Rocco Baldelli, 2002). He was also named the Southern League MVP, despite not playing in that league after July 15. In addition, he was tabbed Baseball America‘s top prospect for 2006. Young has all the tools. He was one of only four players in the minors to hit 25 homers and steal 25 bases, despite being the youngest player in the AAA International League last season. He also possesses a strong arm and has the ability to hit .300+ at the major league level. The one thing he needs to work on is his plate discipline. While the team can live with the strike out totals, he rarely walks. Usually a poor strikeout-to-walk ratio (33:4 in 52 games last season at Durham) is an indication the player will have difficulty adjusting to major league pitching. If Young gets off to a good start with Durham, it will be difficult for the Devil Rays to be patient with him. Not only is Young the type of player that can win games all by himself, he also the type of player that can put fannies in the seats. ETA July 2006

B. J. Upton (#2), 21, SS. Melvin Emanuel Upton, has already received a taste of the big leagues as a 19 year old rookie in 2004, in which he played in 45 games (.258-4-12-4sb). His offense has never been a concern for the team (.303-18-74-44, last season at Durham), but his defense is holding him back and may be a reason why Julio Lugo has yet to be traded. While speculation persists that Upton‘s future may be at 3B, the team will give him every chance to succeed at SS, despite 53 errors last season at Durham. The team, and Upton, seem to have taken the right approach and the right attitude. The team hired Ozzie Smith this off-season to tutor the young shortstop, and Upton has said he would rather work as a shortstop in Durham than play thirdbase in Tampa. ETA September 2006

Elijah Dukes (#35), 21, OF. Dukes, a native of Tampa, is a BIG boy. At 6’2″, 244 pounds, he might be more suited to play linebacker for the Buccaneers. He has displayed a consistent bat and great speed, but little power so far. We have to expect that eventually his power stroke will develop. Otherwise, his minor league numbers have been solid and he has progressed through the system quickly. Dukes did hit 18 homes last season at Montgomery, and had a very solid spring numbers this year. We would probably hear much more about Dukes if not for the logjam that is beginning to develop in the Devil Rays’ outfield. ETA September 2007

Chad Orvella (#12), 25, RP. Orvella, originally drafted as a shortstop, has been nothing short of amazing in the minor leagues. In three seasons, he has a 1.22 ERA in 111.0 innings, with only 63 hits and 17 walks, while striking out 160. Not bad numbers for a righthander built more like a lefthander (5’11, 190). Orvella did spend the second half of 2005 with the big club and showed signs of brilliance,
but seemed to have lost the pinpoint control that was displayed in the minors (23 bb in 50.0 inn). There was early speculation that Orvella was the closer in waiting after the trade of Danys Baez, but that plan has been put on hold as Orvella struggled in spring training and will begin the year on the farm. ETA May 2006

Chris Seddon (#13), 22, SP. Seddon, a tall, lanky lefthander (6’3″, 170), made the jump to AAA, Durham midway through the 2005 season. His numbers weren’t spectacular, but we have to believe the organization believes he has major league potential as an end of the rotation starter. On the other hand, Joe Maddon has no lefthanded relievers on the major league roster, and Seddon could get a look as a lefty specialist some point this season. ETA July 2006

Jason Hammel (#17), 23, SP. Hammel was named the 2005 Devil Rays Minor League Pitcher of the Year (11-4, 3.24 ERA, combined AA/AAA), and has been tabbed by Baseball America as the D-Rays third best prospect (D. Young, J. Niemann). About all we know about Hammell, is that his hat doesn’t look like it fits him too well. ETA 2007

Tomorrow: Montgomery Biscuits

Making Fun Of The Devil Rays Is Too Easy Sometimes

We here at Rays Index are big fans of the folks over at Deadspin.com. As part of a baseball preview, they have a regular post called “Four Tiny Tidbits On:”. They love our D-Rays so, much they have actually have run two posts, “Four Tiny Tidbits On: The Devil Rays” and “Four More Tiny Tidbits On: The Devil Rays“. Most sequels never live up to the hype nor the substance of the original. Usually the budget is better, so the explosions are bigger and the special effects are more spectacular, but the story is lacking (ie. Mission Impossible 2). In fact, only three sequels have won the Academy Award for Best Picture. Can You name them? (answer at the end of this post) Well, in this case the sequel has outdone the original. Maybe it is just too easy to find funny tidbits about the Devil Ray players and organization. At least the Rays aren’t as boring as the Twins, who only garnered “Three Tiny Tidbits On: The Twins“.

Answer: The Godfather 2 (1974), Silence of the Lambs (1991), Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003).

Four Tiny Tidbits On: The Devil Rays [Deadspin]
Four More Tiny Tidbits On: The Devil Rays [Deadspin]

Upon Further Review: Aaron Goldstein HAS Lost It

Earlier this week we reported on an article written by Aaron Goldstein for The American Daily, in which he predicts the Tampa Bay Devil Rays to win the World Series. We couldn’t help but notice the date of the article was April 1, 2006, and we decided to give Mr. Goldstein the benefit of the doubt that he was in fact NOT insane, and was merely pranking us on April Fool’s Day. There did seem to be some circumstantial evidence that it was not a joke, but we chose skepticism. Now, Mr. Goldstein’s article has been republished for the Intellectual Conservative. This time, the article is dated April 5, 2006. Fool me once, shame on…shame on you…Fool me…you can’t get fooled again. Therefore it appears as though we were wrong to think that Mr. Goldstein had conceived of a silly, albeit elaborate prank. It is now official, Mr. Goldstein is the first person in the history of the universe to predict the D-Rays to win the World Series. We are not sure who to contact first…The Guiness Book of World Records, The National Enquirer, or some men in white jackets.

Why the Tampa Bay Devil Rays Will Win the 2006 World Series [Intellectual Conservative]
Why the Tampa Bay Devil Rays Will Win the 2006 World Series [The American Daily]
Aaron Goldstein Has Lost It [Rays Index]

The Curse of LaMar-Naimoli

Opening day is supposed to bring a sense of optimism. The return of spring…the return of baseball…hot dogs…fresh cut grass…and everybody is tied for first place. Four Oriole long balls and 9 runs later, the air is slipping from the balloon a little bit. This is the one team in the division that we have a chance of leap-frogging out of the cellar this season. We can live with one ugly loss. Heck we are Devil Rays fans…we can live with a LOT of ugly losses. However, we don’t need the team to be struck with the injury bug this season. The talent is there, but the team is not deep, especially in the pitching department. That being said…for all the bad that happened on opening day, that which should concern us the most is loss of two players to injuries right off the bat. SS Julio Lugo went down with a strained oblique and backup SS Luis Ordaz aggravated a knee injury suffered during spring training. Lugo’s is not considered serious and is listed as Day-to-day. Ordaz, on the other hand has already been placed on the 15-day DL and is scheduled to have an MRI today.

Rays lose 2 SSs and opener [Herald-Tribune.com]

We now have a mathemtical definition for "No Chance in Hell"

The good people over at Replacement Level Yankees Weblog (and we use term “good” loosely, as how good can a Yankees fan really be?) have projected the final standings for the 2006 baseball season. While all the math is over our head, it appears as though they have used three different models and then averaged the three to predict division champions, wild card teams, league champions and World Series champions. Each of the models was simulated 1000 times. The Diamond Mind model and the Pecota models appear to be the most realistic. Diamond Mind, predicts that the D-Rays will win 70 games and Pecota 69. In 1000 seasons, Diamond Mind has the Rays winning one division title and six wild cards, while Pecota predicted zero for both. On the other hand, the final model, Zips, predicts 73 wins with 6 division titles and 4 wild card births. Averaging the three models gives the Rays a record of 71-91, and playoff appearances in 17 out of 3000 seasons or slightly more than 0.5% of the time. Sounds about right.

A few other notes…The Zips model is definitely flawed. This model predicts the Yankees to only have a 28% chance of making the playoffs, while the other two models give values of 77% and 80%. Even those seem a little low. Also, according to the models, the D-Rays should be better than Kansas City (which in two of the models does not make the playoffs at all in 1000 simulations), Florida and Colorado. Hey…its something.

The 2006 Diamond Mind Projection Blowout [The Replacement Level Yankees Weblog]