Even Bulls Need Viagra Sometimes

Earlier this season, while previewing the Devil Rays’ farm system, we might have poked a bit of fun at the Durham Bulls’ mascot Wool E. Bull. Well it turns out, Wool E. got a makeover. He apparently went and saw DR. 90210 and had a few “adjustments”. Wool E. used to look like this, and now he looks like this. Now we aren’t saying that Wool E. Bull was ugly before, but it is a marked improvement. Afterall, he is really for the kids and the old version might have seemed a bit scary to the little ones. Wool E. just seems happier. Then again, one look at his new horns and we have to wonder if there is another reason Wool E. is smiling.

Welcome To Wool E’s World [durhambulls.com]

A Look At The Future…Yesterday On The Farm

AAA
Syracuse 5, Durham 0. Those youngins are so impressionable. The Bulls decided to take after their counterparts at the big league level and threw 9 goose eggs up on the board. B. J. Upton went 0-3 with a walk and no errors. He is now batting .277. Jason Hammel was unable to work with all the run-support he received as he worked into the 7th and gave up 7 hits, 1 walk and 4 runs.

A-advanced
San Jose 5, Visalia 3. SS Reid Brignac, went 2-5, but had 3 strikeouts, and is now hitting .358. He also committed his 9th error of the season. James Houser got roughed up a bit as he gave up 5 runs in 4+ innings.

A
Peoria 3, SW Michigan 1…SW Michigan 2, Peoria 0. RF Garrett Groce went 2-5 yesterday with 2 doubles and is now hitting .338. In the first game Gregory Reinhard pitched well but dropped his record to 0-3. He worked 5 innings, giving up 3 hits, 2 walks and 2 earned runs while striking out 9. In the second game, Jeff Kamrath went 5 innings and surrendered only baserunners, both singles. He allowed no runs and struck out 3.

The Hangover: Last Night In The AL East

Texas 3, D-Rays 0. On the surface it looked like a good offensive month for the Devil Rays. They set a team record for home runs (34). They have two offensive players, Jonny Gomes and Ty Wiggington, among the league leaders in home runs and RBI. However, last night in a 3-0 loss to the Rangers, they might have shown their true offensive numbers… and they are offensive. The team is next to last in the AL in batting average (.242), tenth in OBP (.317) and tenth in runs scored (120). This team desperately needs their injured starters back. Tampa Bay is now 4 games back of division leading Boston.

Boston 7, New York 3. 2006’s first installment of the greatest rivalry in sports, saw the Red Sox spoil the return of Judas Johnny Damon. Damon did manage to thank the crowd for all booing. Maybe he thought they were chanting his nickname, Juuuuuuuuu-das. O wait…nevermind. The big blow was a 3-run home run by Big Papi David Ortiz in the 8th inning. Boston now has a 1-game lead on both the Yankees and the Blue Jays.

Toronto 9, Baltimore 7. Troy Glaus broke out of a slump and hit 2 home runs and drove in 4 for the Blue Jays. Glaus had been 6-39 which is…ok, 39 goes into 60 how many times? carry the 3, subtract the 8, multiply by pi…oh screw it…it wasn’t a good average.

Rangers @ Devil Rays Tidbits

The D-Rays continue their homestand with a 2-game quickie with the Rangers. The Rays played three in Texas last week. We don’t want to talk about what happened. Seth McClung will make the start for the Rays tonight, and we can only hope that he finally figures out where the strike zone is. His last time out against the Yankees, he only allowed 1 hit until giving up a 2-run home run to Gary Sheffield, but more importantly he walked a career-high 7. In his lone start this season against the Rangers he did not make it out of the third. He gave up 8 hits, 3 walks and 9 runs (6 earned). Tomorrow night, Mark Hendrickson will go for the Rays and look to continue add to continue his string of strong starts to begin the season. In his last start, he gave up 3 unearned run in 6 innings and took the loss.

Probable Pitchers
Monday, 7:15
Rangers, Kameron Loe, (0-2, 5.20)
Devil Rays, Seth McClung, (1-3, 9.27)

Tuesday
Rangers, Robinson Tejada, (0-0, 0.00)
Devil Rays, Mark Hendrickson, (1-1, 0.00)

Devil Rays Notes

Does anybody remember what Rocco Baldelli looks like? Baldelli, who was suposed to start a rehab assignment this week, is still not ready. His hamstring is still sore and now he and Joe Maddon are hoping he can make it back before the All-Star break. In other injury-related news, Julio Lugo and Aubrey Huff are both expected to rejoin the team during the next road trip which begins on Friday. [Bradenton Herald]

Jonny Gomes set the team record for most home runs in any month with his 11th home run. The previous record was held by Fred McGriff who hit 10 in April of 1999.

Ty Wiggington is the first D-Ray to lead the AL in RBI at any point in the season.

Tomas Perez is one strikeout short of tying the Major League record for consecutive plate appearances with a strikeout. He has struck out in his last 8 plate appearances.

Monday Morning Hangover, Take 2: A Look Back At The Future. The Weekend In The Minors In Review

We continue to take a look back at the happenings of the past weekend. This time we will take a look at the Rays’ farm system. Hopefully we will get through this post without a bat being thrown at us.

Durham Bulls. The D-Rays’ other top prospect, SS B. J. Upton had an up and down weekend. He went 2-13 in four games. He did pick up his 13th stolen base but did commit his 10th error, yet another throwing error. The good news is, he ONLY committed one error in 4 games, which is indeed a good stretch for Upton. There does not appear to be any truth to the rumor that the Bulls used a shift on ALL batters in which the 3B and 2B moved closer together and Upton sat in the bullpen…Elijah Dukes had a solid game on Thursday going 2-3 with 2 RBI to continue what has been a torrid pace he has been on the last week or so. Unfortunately, Dukes has not been seen in the lineup since then. He has left the team for what was termed “personal reasons”, and is expected to rejoin the Bulls later this week…Chris Seddon and Jamie Shields each had rough outings over the weekend. Edwin Jackson had his first start back at Durham since being send back to AAA. He worked into the 7th inning giving up only 3 hits and 2 runs, but he did surrender 5 walks. His control continues to plague him and as soon as he can find the strikezone on a more consistent basis, he will be in the Bigs to stay.

Montgomery Biscuits. OF Jason Pridie also had a rough 4-day stretch, going 1-14, to lower his batting average to .234. 1B Gabriel Martinez, who started the season on a tear has cooled off considerably, going 4-15 and his average now sits at .303. 3B Wes Bankston who is attempting to make the switch from 1B was placed on the DL with a strained oblique muscle. We assume that must be what happens when too many ground balls go through your legs. SP Tony Peguero had a strong outing going 6 innings giving up 3 hits, 1 walk and 1 unearned run, striking out 3. Chuck Tiffany, the other pitcher the D-Rays received along with Edwin Jackson, got knocked out in the 4th inning of his start after surrendering 8 hits, 6 walks and 8 runs.

Visalia Oaks. SS Reid Brignac, went 4-13 and is now hitting a robust .356. More importantly, he did not commit an error in 4 games. So to sum up the defensive question marks in the Rays’ system. Three of their top prospects all have struggled mightily in the field. Upton, Brignac and Bankston. In the past 4 days they committed a total of 1 error. May not seem that impressive, but for those three it is. Of course, Bankston was on the DL, but whatever it takes. The only notable performance by a starting pitcher came from Brandon Mann. On Sunday, he went 5 innings and gave up 7 hits, 2 walks, 2 runs and struck out 8.

Southwest Michigan Devil Rays. The Devil Rays got three outstanding pitching performances from the past weekend. On Thursday, Michael Wlodarczyk picked up his first win going 7 innings, giving up 3 hits, 1 walk, 2 unearned runs and struck out 4. He lowered his ERA to 1.65…On Friday Jacob McGee worked into the 9th giving up 2 hits, 3 walks and 1 run. He struck out 10 and his ERA is now 2.30…On Sunday, our personal favorite, Wade Davis, improved his record to 3-0. Davis worked 6 innings surrendering 4 hits and 1 run. He also struck out 11 while only walking 1. We just get downright giddy every time we read his boxscore.

How Good Will Delmon Young And B. J. Upton Be?

note: This was a post we wrote about an hour before the news of Delmon Young came over the wire. As far as we are concerned it is still relevant, especially in regards to B. J. Upton. Obviously Young’s “value” has taken a significant hit since his incident, but exactly how much is difficult to determine. He is still an extremely talented player.

While predicting how good a player will be is anything but an exact science, Nate Silver over at Baseball Prospectus has developed a formula called the PECOTA system which is highly regarded. In short, the formula gauges the value of all professional baseball players based on how good they are NOW and how good they project to be in the FUTURE, taking into account certain factors such as age, ballpark, injury probability, past stats, scouting reports and a little bit of gut feel. Topping the list of current and future value are Albert Pujols, David Wright and Alex Rodriguez. Certainly, none of those guys are a surprise. Two D-Rays prospects cracked the top-25. In fact, B. J. Upton (#25) and Delmon Young (#16) are two of only three minor league players in the top-25, and the third is Upton’s younger brother Justin Upton. Very few minor leaguers make the list. As you would expect, it is very difficult to project future value for minor league players. In essence, Baseball Prospectus is calling them can’t-miss prospects. Interestingly, they make note of Upton’s 0.35 years of Major league experience. The D-Rays will be able to delay his arbitration eligibility an extra year if they wait to recall Upton until June. We are trying to be patient and agree with the team’s philosophy of waiting until these prospects are ready, but we have to admit, we are getting antsy. Feels a little bit like Christmas Eve and we can’t get to sleep.

Baseball’s Most Valuable Players [ESPN.com]

Monday Morning Hangover: Devil Rays Weekend In Review

After the Delmon Young incident and a mini-vacation, we will attempt to return to some sort of normalcy today…we will start with a quick review of this past weekend. Apparently there was other stuff going on in the world of sports besides the NFL draft. Personally we started getting nauseous about a week ago, every time somebody mentioned the NFL draft. We here at Rays Index, are Bucs season ticket holders and we love them dearly, but someone explain to me why everyone gets so worked up and suddenly have strong opinions on players they have NEVER seen play a single down. For the record, one quick review of all the “Mock Drafts” out there, showed that THEY AVERAGED 2.6 PICKS CORRECT OUT OF 32!!! We must have seen 30 mock drafts that had 28 different players going to the Bucs and NONE OF THEM picked the right player. I think only one had they correct position! Let’s hope others pick up on this and the NFL draft is reeled in a bit next year.

Friday
D-Rays 5, Boston 2. Tyler Walker arrived at the Trop just before game time and 3 hours later, Joe Maddon, handed him the ball to close out the 5-2 victory over the Boston Red Sox.
And just like that the Rays’ bullpen seemed to be taking shape. Bullpen-By-Committees rarely work in the major leagues (ie. 2003 Boston Red Sox). If Walker can show that he can be an effective closer, the rest of the bullpen will be slotted more appropriately and effectively, with Dan Micelli working the 8th inning and Chad Orvella and Shawn Camp bridging the gap between the starters and Micelli. Casey Fossum (1-1) pitched effectively, going 6 and giving up 3 hits and no runs, to earn his first win. However, he is still walking too many batter (5).

Saturday
Boston 9, D-Rays 6. And just like that the bullpen blows a lead and we all realize that there must have been a good reason that the first-place San Francisco Giants gave up on their set-up man. Walker came into the 9th with the Rays leading 6-5. He face 6 batters, retiring only one and giving up 2 hits and 3 walks, ultimately responsible walking in the tying run and surrendering the go-ahead run on a base hit. In all, 4 of the 6 batters he faced would score. Jonny Gomes continues to swing a hot bat with his 11th home run of the season. Toby Hall hit his second and looks like he may be finally maturing into a significant hitter as his batting average now sits at .364. Greg Norton, who was recently recalled from Durham and who has played parts of 10 different season in the major, hit his first home run for the Rays as he filled in at 1B. Norton is trying to show that his outstanding spring training, in which he led the team in hitting, was no fluke. Doug Waechter continues to struggle with his command. He did work into the 6th and gave up only 3 hits and 3 runs, but he walked 4 in 5.1 innings.

Sunday
D-rays 5, Boston 4. Watching this team’s bullpen is a testament in patience. They tried hard yesterday to blow it again. Scott Kazmir was outstanding once again, going 7 innings and giving up 5 hits and 2 runs (1 earned). His most impressive stat was 10:1. That was the ratio of strikeouts to walks. If a pitcher can do that consistently in the major leagues they will win a lot of ballgames. Then again, that assumes the bullpen doesn’t cough up a lung on the mound. Orvella, who looked solid in the 8th inning gave up back-to-back home runs to lead off the 9th to allow the Red Sox to pull within one run. Walker then relieved and walked the first and only batter he faced before giving way to Camp. Camp was able to stop the bleeding and retire the two batters he faced for his 3rd save. Hall and Carl Crawford each had two-run hoe runs for Tampa.