He’s Baaaaaaaaaaack.

OK, he is 15 months later than we expected, but we still can’t help but get excited to have Rocco Baldelli back a week earlier than expected. The best news from last night’s drubbing at the hands of the Angels? After the game, Joey Gathright was sent down to Durham to make room for the return of Rocco. Originally the club had planned to have Baldelli in AAA for three weeks, feeling it would take some time to get his stroke back. Well, the powers that be decided 12 games was sufficient. And it is hard to argue against. In those 12 games, Rocco was 19-47 (.407) with 5 doubles and 4 RBI. Barring any unforeseen travel problems, look for Rocco to make his first start tonight since 2004. No word yet if he will DH or play RF.

Baldelli up, Gathright down [mlb.com]

Frustrating

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim near Disney Land 12, D-Rays 2. Look, it’s not in our nature to be mysterious. But we can’t talk about it and we can’t talk about why.

The Future: Last Night On The Farm

Rochester 9, Durham 7. Edwin Jackson got shelled again and Rocco Baldelli took the night off. There is something terribly wrong with Jackson. He gets pounded everytime out. Last night he gave up 10 hits, 3 walks and 8 runs (3 earned) in 5 innings. Yes, only 3 runs were earned but he still gave up 13 hits and walks in only 5 innings. This just in…That’s not good. Another big night for Elijah Dukes and Kevin Witt. Dukes went 2-5 with a double and his 8th homerun. He drove in 2. Of course, that was overshadowed by Witt, who went 4-4 with a double and 2 home runs. He now leads the International League with 16, and is making a strong case for the Rays to trade Travis Lee to a contender that would like a late inning defensive substitution at first base. Witt drove in 4 and is now hitting .312. B. J. Upton went 0-4.

Chattanooga 3, Montgomery 1. The Biscuits could have used a bit more time in the oven as they managed only three hits. One of those hits was the 6th home run for RF Jeremy Owens.

Visalia 3, Rancho Cucamonga 0. Shaun Cumberland hit his 13th home run. That puts him 2nd in the California League. Janathan Barratt making just his 6th start of the season pitched a 2-hit shutout. He walked only one and struck out 9.

SW Michigan 9, South Bend 4. Strong outing by Jacob McGee (5-5) who went 6 innings, allowing 5 hits, 2 walks and 1 unearned run. He struck out 5. RF Garrett Groce went 3-5 hitting his 2nd and 3rd home runs of the season. DH David Cardona added his first home.

The Hangover: Last Night In The AL East

New York 2, Boston 1. David Pauley was making only his 2nd big league start and held his own in Yankee Stadium. He worked into the 7th having allowed only a solo home run to Bernie Williams in the 5th. He left with the bases loaded in the 7th with 2 outs and Rudy Seanez came in and promptly walked Jason Giambi to force in the tying run. David Ortiz hit his 17th home run. The Spankees now have a 1.5 game lead and lower their magic number to 105.

Toronto 6, Baltimore 4. One day after getting shut out, the Jays finally got their offense delivered from Toronto, and remained 3 games behind the Evil Empire. The O’s are now 9 back as you can start to see the wheels come loose.

In The Second Round, The Devil Rays Select Alyssa Milano

First of all, there is something very wrong with the MLB entry draft when the Boston Red Sox have already made five selections and the Devil Rays have yet to make their third. We understand compesation for lost free agents, but this is ridiculous. The draft should be the one place where the small-market teams are on equal ground with the big market clubs. However, teams like the Red Sox that overhaul their roster each season in the free agent market lose free agents by design. They lose players they don’t want anymore and they get an extra 2 or 3 draft picks between the 1st and 2nd rounds to ease their “suffering.” It also favors big teams like Boston when they sign an expensive free agent to a 1-year contract and then “lose” that player the following off-season, when in fact they had no intention of re-signing that player. Unbelievable…Teams like the Devil Rays will never be compensated because the current system does not favor small-market teams retaining potential free agents, the Devil Rays trade those players away for markedly less than 1st round talent.

After taking Eva Longoria…damn it…we wish they had taken Eva…After taking Evan Longoria, the Rays chose University of San Diego right handed pitcher Josh Butler. Butler is 6’5″ 200 lbs junior. He is 21 years old. This past season, Butler went 8-5 with a 3.06 ERA in 15 starts. in 108.2 innings, he gave up 112 hits and 34 walks with 99 strikeouts. Here is the scouting report on Butler from MLB.com…

He followed up a decent sophomore season with a very good one as the Toros’ Saturday starter, beginning by shutting down Texas. With a projectable frame, his fastball touches 94 and he throws a plus slider and an improving changeup.

As for Evan Longoria, he is listed as 6’2″ 213 lbs. He is 20 years old. This past season at Long Beach State he batted .353 in 56 games with 11 HR and 43 RBI. He had an OPS of 1.070. Here is the scouting report on Longoria from MLB.com.

The best college bat in the draft, Longoria can play all over the infield. He doesn’t have one tool that jumps out for scouts, but can hit for average and power.

In the third round, the Rays selected their first high school player, Nicholas Fuller, with the 79th pick overall. Fuller is from Kell high school in Georgia. He is an 18 year old right handed pitcher (6′ 1″, 195 lbs). Below is the scouting report from MLB.com.

He’s got a live mid-90s fastball and a slider that has the chance to be a plus offering. He’s got a maximum effort delivery that concerns some, but has the makings of a future closer.

We Are Underway…With The First Pick The Kansas City Royals Take…

Luke Hochevar as was predicted shortly before the start of the draft. Now we clearly see the good and the bad of the MLB Entry Draft. The Bad? No trades. And we have no idea who any of these guys are. The Good? About 2 minutes between each pick. I always hate the amount of time between picks in the NFL draft, but this is almost too quick. We are following along on MLB.com and the announcers barely have time to give any analysis on the players. Before we even had a chance to start writing this post, the Rockies had already picked Greg Reynolds, followed very quickly by the Devil Rays selection of Evan Longoria, the first position player taken in the draft. Andrew Miller who was originally projected as the top pick was just selected with the 6th selection.

Here is the player profile of Longoria from the Long Beach State Athletics website. Interestingly, they are called the Dirtbags. Of special note is that Longoria was named the Cape Cod League’s MVP last fall. For those of you that aren’t familiar with the Cape Cod League. It is a fall league for amateur baseball players that give players a chance to compete against other players with Major League potential. Of special interest to the scouts is among other things, how well hitters do with wood bats. Many players struggle in the transition from metal to wood. Longoria appears as though he will not be one of those players. He batted .299 and led the league with 8 home runs and 35 RBI, over a 45 game schedule.

Draft Day 2006 Update

In our attempts to pretend like we don’t have real jobs, word is now coming down that says the Kansas City Royals will not take Andrew Miller, and the Colorado Rockies will also pass on Miller as well as Evan Longoria. With little more than 30 minutes remaining til draft time, the Royals are said to be leaning towards Luke Hochevar, while Colorado is likely to take Greg Reynolds from Stanford. Interestingly, neither of these players are on the Devil Rays radar. Therefore, all five of the players that Tampa has targeted should still be available with the 3rd pick. If that is the case and Andrew Friedman is true to his word of selecting the “best player available”, look for the Rays to pass on the four college pitchers and select Long Beach State 3B Evan Longoria. While several teams have Longoria projected as a second baseman, look for the Rays to give Longoria a shot at 3B.

Draft Day 2006

A few days ago we ran a post on the 2006 Major League Baseball amateur draft. Needless to say the baseball draft receives far less attention than than say the NFL draft. As a result, their are very few mock drafts to be found. Quite frankly we are not big fans of mock drafts, especially if your team is picking #23 (as the Bucs did recently). Too many things can happen in the first 22 picks. In all the mock NFL drafts, I don’t think a single one got the Bucs pick correct and only a couple said the they would pick an offensive lineman. Well, with the Devil Rays picking third, the predictions are likely to be a bit more accurate.

The consensus seems to indicate that the Rays will take a pitcher. More specifically, they are leaning towards a college pitcher, which the “experts” say is the deepest part of the draft. The Rays’ brass have indicated that they will not draft for need at the Major League level, but rather, they will take the “best player available”. Every mock we have been able to locate has Tampa taking University of Houston right hander Brad Lincoln. This includes SI.com, milb.com, and Prospect Insider. Word on the street (by street we mean the information superhighway) is that Lincoln is not ideal size for a righty, but that he has the best stuff in the draft. There are a couple of other pitchers that have more potential, but the belief is that Lincoln has already filled out his frame and won’t get any bigger or stronger. An interesting side note on Lincoln is that he would probably be a high draft pick as a first baseman if he wasn’t such a good pitcher. Some have suggested that he could DH on days he does not pitch.

Apparently Tampa has narrowed their list to 5 potential picks. This list includes Lincoln, LHP Andrew Miller, 2B/3B Evan Longoria, RHP Tim Lincecum, and RHP Brandon Morrow.

One thing that could complicate the pick for the Devil Rays is a former draft pick. Andrew Miller who was the 3rd round pick of the Rays in 2003, but never signed, is expected to be the top by the Kansas City Royals. However, signability, which often effects status in the MLB draft could lead the Royals to take Lincoln as their second choice. If that is the case, the Rockies would likely take Miller with the 2nd pick who are said to be less worried about financial matters and that would leave the Devil Rays with Eva Longoria from Desperate Housewives. What was that? Ohhhhh. Our bad, it would be 2b/3b Evan Longoria from Long Beach State, the top rated hitter in the draft.

At this point we have to assume that Lincoln will be available and will be picked by the Rays. One nice thing about Lincoln and the belief that he has already reached potential, is that he would be the quickest player to the majors. When could we expect to see Lincoln in a Devil Rays uniform. Our guess would be 2007 Spring Training and then sometime late in 2007 for his regular season call-up assuming he doesn’t need shoulder surgery like the team’s last two first round picks.

Brad Lincoln profile [UHcougars.com]
MLB mock draft [SI.com]
First round full of possibilities [milb.com]
Mock Draft v1.0 [Prospect Insider]
The last 16 years of #1 picks [Rubber Arm]

James Shield’s, You Just Got Lesson #1, Don’t Think

D-Rays 4, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim Near Disney Land 0. There were a few questions about the Devil Rays entering the series opener against the Angels.

1. How would James Shields fare with the return of Casey Fossum looming and a spot in the rotation on the line? Answer: We hope Shields said good bye to all his Durham Bulls buddies, because he won’t see them for a while. Welcome to the big leagues, Mr. Shields, and welcome to the bullpen Mr. Waechter. Shields won his first major league game, by going 6 innings, scattering 7 hits and 2 walks, striking out 6.

2. Would manager Joe Maddon be emotional in his first game against his former team? Answer: Apparently, as Maddon was ejected arguing a strike call against Joey Gathright. In addition, we knew that Maddon had been a bench coach with the Angels for 10 seasons, but we had no idea of his relationship with his former players. As seen in the above photo, all the members of the Angels wore Joe Maddon replica glasses during warm-ups. Of course, maybe they should have left them on during the game, as they could not find home plate without them.

3. Could the Rays win their 2nd game in a row and set the tone for the series? Answer: The Angels left 12 runners on base, including at least one in every inning, as the Rays picked up their 2nd shutout of the season.

4. How was Carl Crawford’s knee? Answer: Just fine, thank you. Crawford went 1-3 and stole his 21st base of the season.

5. Would Jorge Cantu be back in the lineup? Not yet, but he did hit a home run in Montgomery last night, so look for our Jedi Knight to be back in the lineup tonight.

So…5 questions…5 good answers. Now we look to Kid K, Scott Kazmir to keep things going. Three wins in a row, and all of the sudden the team has a winning streak.

The Future: Last Night On The Farm

Rochester 5, Durham 4, 10 innings. The Bulls lost another extra inning game, this time giving up an RBI single with no outs in the 10th inning. B.J. Upton, Rocco Baldelli, and Elijah Dukes had 2 hits and an RBI apiece, but it wasn’t enough. Brian Stokes struck out 7 in 7 innings, but gave up 7 hits, 1 walk and 3 runs.

Montgomery 6, Chattanooga 5. The Biscuits held off a late rally by the Choo-Choos after taking a 6-1 lead into the bottom of the 8th. Jorge Cantu went 2-5, and hit the 2nd home run of his rehab assignment, a 2-run shot in the 5th. Juan Salas pitched 1.1 scoreless innings for his 13th save. He now has 30 innings and has given up only 9 hits and 0 earned runs (4 unearned). He has struck out 44.

Kane County 7, SW Michigan 6. Apparently 1-run games was the theme of the night. The Rays scored 3 in the top of the 9th but came up 1 short. Neil Walton went 3-4 with 2 RBI to raise his average to .208. Michael Wlodarczyk, got knocked around for the second straight outing, giving up 7 hits, 3 walks and 6 runs (5 earned) in just 3 innings.