D-Rays vs. Detroit Tigers Tidbits

• The Devil Rays are 43-62, 20 games behind Boston in the AL East, and are 4-12 since the All-Star break. In the 4 wins, the Rays have scored 52 runs. In the 12 losses, the Rays have scored 31 runs.
• The Tigers have the best record in baseball at 70-34 and have opened up an 8.5 game lead over the White Sox in the AL Central. They even have a better road record (37-17) versus home record (33-17).
• At the beginning of June, the Rays lost 3 of 4 to Les Tigres in Dertoit. Three of those games were started by Mark Hendrickson, Casey Fossum and Seth McClung. Not exactly Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale and Johnny Podres. Hell, its not even Tim Corcoran, James Shields, and J. P. Howell.
• Speaking of J. P. Howell, he will be making his Devil Rays debut on Tuesday night. Howell who was acquired from the Royals for Joey Gathright was a 2004 1st round draft pick that may have been rushed to the majors last season as he struggled with the Royals. He has been lights out at AAA Durham and may have the rest of the season to audition for a spot in the 2007 rotation. He faces Justin Verlander who has won 3 straight since the All-Star game.
• The Tigers just picked up Sean Casey from Pittsburgh for a minor leaguer. Casey should make his debut tonight or tomorrow.
• Still no word on who will replace Ty Wiggington on the roster. The leasding candidate is still B. J. Upton although management may not be ready to call him after his latest incident.
• Tonight, Kenny Rogers faces Fossum. Rogers has struggled since being the starter for the AL in the All-Star game. He has given up 27 runs in his last 26 innings. Fossum sucks has struggled.

Monday, 7:15 et
Detroit Kenny Rogers, RHP (11-4, 4.45)
Devil Rays Casey Fossum, LHP (4-4, 5.22)

Tuesday, 7:15 et
Detroit Justin Verlander, RHP (13-4, 2.69)
Devil Rays J. P. Howell, LHP (0-0, 0.00)

Wednesday, 7:15 et
Detroit Zach Miller, RHP (6-2, 3.95)
Devil Rays Tim Corcoran, LHP (4-2, 3.57)

Thursday, 7:15 et
Detroit Nate Robertson, LHP (10-6, 3.87)
Devil Rays Jae Seo, RHP (3-9, 5.84)

The Irresponsible Reporting Of The Tampa Tribune And The St. Pete Times

We have actually been trying to avoid this story, becuase quite frankly (did we just quote Steven A. Smith? crap) the story about the “troubled” prospects bores us. However, the story has garnered much more reaction than we would have liked and the responses from the team seem to be a little too politically correct, and the coverage in the local media has been nothing short of inflammatory for the sole purposes of making this into a bigger story than it should have been…On July 28, USA Today ran a cover story about the talented trio of Devil Rays prospects, B. J. Upton, Delmon Young and Elijah Dukes. The article covered the recent troubles experienced by all three and their frustration at still being in AAA and not in Tampa. When we first read the article, all we saw was three kids in the minors that are anxious to get to the big leagues. Since the article came out, much has been made of the story among Devil Rays fans and in the local media. The Tampa Tribune ran an article entitled “Prospects blast organization”. The St. Pete Times ran an equally inflammatory article entitled “Maddon rips disgruntled Rays prospects”. Carter Gaddis of the Tribune and Damian Christadero of the Times both seized upon several apparently inflammatory remarks in the USA Today article, while ignoring or minimizing other quotes that left the story in a better light…

I still can’t believe I’m here. The three of us all thought we’d be all up in Tampa by now. –B. J. Upton.

I don’t know what they’re waiting for…They’re what, 30 games out of first place? They think we’re going to mess up their clubhouse chemistry. B.J. should be up there. What are they waiting for? They always have excuses. – Delmon Young

Delmon’s comments probably should not have been made, however he was simply sticking up for his teammate. Is it that terrible that Delmon believes Upton is ready for the major leagues? The Tribune article barely mentions, and the Times article completely ignores that Young immediately backtracked from the comments…stating that he “said too much” and wanted it to be known that he was “just venting” and to not “take him seriously”…

I just want to show up for work and go about my business…That’s all. – Delmon Young

We still aren’t sure what was wrong with Upton’s comment. There is no animosity in the quote. He simply thought they would all be in Tampa by now. Show me a minor leaguer that doesn’t think he will be in the majors sooner rather than later. If an 18 year old prospect doesn’t believe he will be in the majors by 22 than he needs to find a new profession. Not all will make it and not all that do will by such an age, but that should be the goal and that should be their own expectation.

Of course Gaddis and Christodero don’t mention a couple of other telling quotes in the USA Today article…

The only thing holding me back is me. – Elijah Dukes

They want to see whether I can stay away from trouble…If I can just do that, if I can just keep my cool, I’ll be fine. Because when there is trouble…I’m the one who’s got to pay the consequences. – Elijah Dukes

We are not really sure how those quotes “blast the organization”. In fact Christodero begins his column with the inaccurate statement “Dukes, Upton and Young – who else? – trash organization in USA Today over their lack of promotions to parent club.” At no point does Upton “trash” the organization or make any comments at all directed at the organization. Dukes does make some comments about the conditions in Durham as compared to the major league level, but is it any mystery that minor league ballclubs don’t have the same budget as a major league club and hence the amenities are not the same? As for Young’s comments. Yes, they were inflammatory in nature, and should not have been made, but he quickly retracted them and indicated they were made out of frustration, a distinction barely mentioned in the Tribune article and not mentioned at all in the Times article.

Personally, we love the desire…We love the apparent fire in their bellys…We love the intensity that these guys clearly take out to the field and have in their everyday life. Not only do they want to be in the big leagues, they want to be great. They expect to be great. This is an element that is clearly lacking at the major league level. It is worth mentioning that Lou Piniella would havde been more successful and likely still coaching the Rays if he had more players like Upton, Dukes and Young, and it has nothing to do with talent. It has everything to do with intensity. What drove Piniella nuts was that his team did not have the same intensity that he had. He would have had it in these three.

These kids, and they are just kids in baseball years, ust want to be playing in the big leagues. They are frustrated and quite frankly we are glad that they frustrated. If they were content with where they were, we would worry. We agree that being quoted in such a way in a prominent national publication was not the best way to express those desires and frustrations, but how many minor leaguers are thrust into the spotlight at such an age.

D-Rays’ kids set for major promotions. [USA Today]
Prospects blast organization. [Tampa Tribune]
Maddon rips disgruntled Rays prospects. [St. Pete Times]

The Hangover: In The AL East

New York 4, D-Rays 2. Judas Damon betrayed Jesus and then hit 2 home runs. The Rays apparently cashed in all of their hit chips on Saturday as they could only manage 2 runs and 6 hits, one day after scoring a team record-tying 19 runs on 17 hits. Tampa is now 4-12 since the All-Star break. In the 4 wins, the Rays have scored 52 runs. In the 12 losses, the Rays have scored 31 runs. ouch. Of a more urgent matter is the pending roster changes. Ty Wiggington and Scott Kazmir were both placed on the Disabled List. As speculated, J. P. Howell will be called up to replace Kazmir and is slated to start Tuesday night’s game against the Tigers at the Pit. This will be Howell’s first appearance for the Devil Rays since being acquired for Joey Gathright earlier this season. The 2004 1st round draft pick made 15 starts for the Royals last season going 3-5 with a 6.19 ERA. In 7 starts at Durham, Howell is 3-2 with a 2.11 ERA. There has been no official word on the replacement for Ty Wiggington, although it is expected to be B. J. Upton.

Los Angeles Angels 10, Boston 4. The Red Sox loss, coupled with the win by the Evil Empire and Boston’s lead is down to a half game. Big Papi failed to hit a 7-run home run in the 9th inning, although we fully expected him to.

Oakland 6, Toronto 5. The Blue Jays blew a late game rally as B. J. Ryan (no relation to B. J. Upton) surrenderd a 3-run home run to Milton Bradley in the 9th inning. Not only did they blow the game, but the Jays blew an opportunity to gain a game on the first place Red Sox and remain 6 games back.

Baltimore 8, Chicago 7. We’re certain that Peter Angelos was not happy with this win. Baltimores victory moved the Yankees into first place in the wild card chase and the Twinkies moved to within 1.5 games. This could explain why Angelos has turned down the Angels offer for Miguel Tejada that included Ervin Santana and shortstop prospect Eric Aybar. Then again, Angelos has never been able to figure out that pitching wins championships. Which just means that the Devil Rays no longer have the mot incompetent owner in the division.

A Look At The Future…Yesterday On The Farm

Durham 3, Rochester 2. First off, we are not sure how we missed this little bit of news, but surprise, surprise…Elijah Dukes has been suspended again. This time it is 5 games and the suspension was handed down by the International League. Dukes was ejected for arguing balls and strikes the past Thursday. Apparently his actions during the argument were enough to warrant a suspension. Dukes’ previous run-ins with authority figures probably did not help his cause. He is set to return to the field on Wednesday. Last night, Ben Zobrist went 2-4 with a double. B. J. Upton who may have played his last game in Durham went 1-3 with 2 runs scored and his 46th stolen base. Delmon Young went 0-2 and stole his 19th base. Doug Waechter had his strongest outing since being sent back down to Durham. He struck out 8 in 6 innings allowing 2 runs on 4 hits and 2 walks. The big 3 relievers Juan Salas, Chad Orvella and Seth McClung combined to pitch 3 scoreless innings.

Montgomery 3, Birmingham 0. Andy Sonnanstine continues his dominating run in AA. Last night he won his 9th straight start. And while he did not pitch a complete game shutout (he has 4 over that span), he did pitch 7 scoreless innings. He gave up 4 hits, and struck out 7 with no walks.

Visalia 6, San Jose 2. Big night for the Cajun God of Baseball. Reid Brignac went 4-4 with his 25th double and 20th home run of the season. He drove in 6. He also stole his 11th base of the season. Evan Longoria went 0-5.

Fort Wayne 5, SW Michigan 4. Jacob McGee gave up 2 runs in 5 innings.

Julio Lugo Sweepstakes Are Heating Up

Late last week word came down that the Devil Rays front office would offer Julio Lugo a contract extension. This was announced only after negotiations between the Blue Jays and the Devil Rays appeared to reach an impasse. At the time we believed that the offer was merely a negotiating ploy by the Rays to loosen up the Blue Jays. Without any other apparent suitors for Lugo, there was no reason for Toronto to offer up the prospects that the Devil Rays were seeking. The negotiations between Lugo’s agent and Andrew Friedman appear to be no closer than those with the Blue Jays, strengthening our belief that the contract offer was a “token” offer on behalf of the team. We were beginning to believe that the Rays were going to be content to let Lugo remain with the team for the rest of the season and let him leave this winter via free agency. In doing so, Tampa would be awarded an extra draft pick at the end of the first round in 2007.

Now word is coming down the wire that other teams are getting involved in the pursuit of Julio Lugo. We still don’t believe that the Mets are seriously considering Lugo (although they may be interested in one or two of the Rays pitchers). Now the frontrunner may be the Boston Red Sox, but not to play shortstop. Rather the Red Sox want Lugo to play second base and it is believed that the only thing holding up the deal is getting Lugo to agree to play second base.

The wild card team may be the Houston Astros. Apparently, the ‘Stros have their sights set on Miguel Tejada, but if that falls through, they may change their attention to Lugo. The two teams have already shown that they can work out a deal as evidenced by the Aubrey Huff deal just recently. Also, because of the Huff deal, the Rays already know the Houston farm system a little better than some other teams and may have their sights set on one or two players.

Yesterday we would have bet that Lugo was staying in Tampa and leaving as a free agent. Now the odds are more likely that a deal will get done before 4 pm tomorrow and Lugo will playing for somebody else on Tuesday.

Julio Lugo to second at Fenway. [El Guapo’s Ghost]
Its that time of year again. [Baseball Prospectus]

Those Crazy Kids Just Can’t Keep Their Mouths Shut

We just got finished writing up a post over the most recent comments to come from B. J. Upton, Delmon Young and Elijah Dukes that were printed in a USA Today article last week (we will have that post for you tomorrow). But no sooner had we finished writing the post, and we hear that B. J. Upton has gone and screwed up again…

We want to make it clear that this is just a rumor at this point and we have been unable to confirm the story yet.

Apparently, during the Bulls game against Rochester last night, the Durham Bulls public address announcer was refusing to play the requested music of the “Big 3” as a protest against the article that appeared in USA Today. In the top of the 4th inning, after a close play at the plate, catcher Shawn Riggans and manager John Tamargo were ejected for arguing with the home plate umpire. In the bottom of the 5th B. J. Upton was called out on strikes for the 2nd time in the game. Afterwards, Upton alledgedly called up to the press box from the clubhouse to protest the decision to not play his song before his at-bats. Apparently Tamargo was in the press box looking for a replay of the close play at home plate when Upton called and overheard Upton’s complaints. As expected, Tamargo was livid pissed off friggin’ insane extremely upset and after the game gave Upton a spanking had a one-on-one meeting with Upton concerning the incident.

With Ty Wiggington on the DL and an open roster spot, Upton was the leading candidate to be called up to replace Wiggy. While there was no certainty in this move, it seems to be less likely now after the USA Today article and this latest incident of immaturity.

The Curse Of LaMar-Naimoli Rears Its Ugly Head

Devil Rays fans were not able to enjoy Saturday’s 19-6 win very long. During the game Ty Wiggington was hit on the hand by a pitch from Shawn Chacon. The pitch broke a bone in Wiggy’s hand and he was placed on the DL and will be out 4-6 weeks. In addition, Scott Kazmir, who had his Friday start bumped back to Tuesday because of shoulder soreness, also appears headed to the DL. This appears to be a precautionary move on the part of the Devil Rays. There is no sense taking any risks with Kid K’s arm at this point in the season, so it appears to be a good idea to shut him down for a couple of weeks and give him some rest. We expect J. P. Howell will be called up to replace Kaz in the rotation. He has major league experience and has dominated at AAA Durham since being acquired for Joey Gathright. As for Wiggy, this setback has a profound and immediate impact on the ballclub. First and foremost, Wiggington had been mentioned in trade talks the last few days. This injury eliminates any possibility of picking up a prospect for the infielder who was having a career year. In addition, this frees up yet another spot on the roster that management needs to fill. The obvious choice is B. J. Upton. Upton has continued to struggle defensively since being moved to thirdbase following the Aubrey Huff trade, but the team may want to see what he can do at the major league level. Another possibility is Kevin Witt, who leads the IL in home runs with 30, and has some experience at thirdbase at the major league level.

Rays place Wigington on DL [ESPN]
Notes: Kazmir headed to DL [mlb.com]

A Look At The Future…Yesterday On The Farm

Rochester 5, Durham 3. The Bulls managed only 4 hits, but one of them was Kevin Witt’s 30th home run of the season. At this point, it looks like Witt is trying to hit Andrew Friedman in the back of the head with every swing. This is starting to get ridiculous. We understand that their is politics involved and other factors that are keeping Witt in Durham right now, but what else does he need to do? Witt has 11 more home runs than anybody else in the International League. B. J. Upton stole his 45th base.

Birmingham 5, Montgomery 3. Yet another strong outing for Jeff Niemann who continues to work his arm back into shape. He pitched 5 scoreless innings, allowing 2 hits and 4 walks. He struck out 6. At this point Niemann is showing that he has not lost his electric “stuff”. The only thing holding him back now is arm strength and control. We could not have imagined that he would be this overpowering so quickly after being out so long.

Visalia 11, San Jose 7. Evan Longoria picked up two more hits and went 2-5 with a double and 2 RBI, but did strike out 3 times. He is now hitting .361 with the Oaks. Reid Brignac went 1-5 with an RBI and 3 strikeouts. He is now hitting .313, but also committed his 26th and 27th errors of the season.

SW Michigan 3, Ft. Wayne 2. The “other” pitching prospect for the SW Michigan D-Rays pitched a strong game. Matt Walker worked 6 innings, allowing 4 hits, 2 walks, 2 runs (1 earned) while striking out 6.

The Hangover: Last Night In The AL East

D-Rays 19, New York 6. Our Hangover feature takes on a new meaning today. Maybe you decided to play a little D-Rays drinking game yesterday as a way to warm-up for your Saturday night shenanigans, and decided to take a shot every time the Rays scored a run. Since the All-Star break, that is a game that would be safe for a recovering alcoholic. Well, if you did decide to play that game, you probably did not make it out Saturday night, you probably passed out in a pool of your drool and today you have tied for the worst hangover in the history of the D-Rays drinking game. As Rays fans, we can not help but feel snake-bitten since the break. The team entered the game 3-11 since the break and had the second worst batting average as well as the worst ERA in the major leagues over that span. They had just come off a game in which they were shutout 6-0 and managed only 2 hits. On Saturday they were playing their 2nd game of the series in Yankee stadium, a place the team has never fared well and were facing one of the great pitchers of all-time, in Randy Johnson. The game started off much the same way as every other game over the past few weeks. Randy Johnson retired the first 5 D-Rays he faced. In the midst of that stretch, the Derek Jeter and Jason Giambi hit back-to-back and belly-to-belly home runs, to give the Yankees a 2-0 lead. Then something strange happened…After the first 5 Rays were retired, the floodgates opened. Over the course of the next 7 innings, Devil Rays hitters went 17-31 (.548) and scored 19 runs. Tomas Perez tied the major league record, held by hundreds of people, by hitting 4 doubles in one game and was 5-5 overall. The 5 hits was more hits than Perez had in May (4) and more hits than he had in June (4).

Hidden amongst the stellar hitting performance by the D-Rays, was another shaky performance by Jae Seo, who despite picking up his first win with the Rays, is in danger of losing his spot in the rotation. With J. P. Howell continuing to pitch well at AAA Durham, and Andrew Friedman on record as stating that he would like to see Howell pitching for the Rays this season, Seo looks like he would be the odd-man out at this point. Seo worked into the 6th inning and gave up 9 hits, 2 walks and 5 runs. He allowed 2 home runs in the 1st inning and struck out only 1. Not including his 2 inning relief appearance against the Marlins immediately after the Rays acquired Seo, he is now 1-5 in 6 starts with a 6.29 ERA. In 34.1 innings, he has surrendered 45 hits and 14 walks to only 10 strikeouts. Seo clearly does not have the same stuff he had last season with the New York Mets and it may be time to take him out of the rotation for the rest of this season. Give him the off-season to get his mechanics back in order and give him a shot at the 5th spot in the 2007 rotation.

The game dropped the Yankees 1.5 games behind the Red Sox in the AL East and a half game behind the White Sox in the wild card race. So what could possibly be worse than taking a brutal beating by the lowly Devil Rays in your home park and losing ground in the playoff race? How about having to sit through all 9 innings of the blow out while sitting directly behind a group of greased-up, sober, Long Island guys at the Stadium for a bachelor party…ouch.

Boston 7, Los Angeles Angels 6. For the love all things good and holy, WHY? Why do managers continue to pitch to Big Papi with the game on the line? We understand that there is an idiot savant batting behind Ortiz that knows only one thing…hitting baseballs very hard, but this is BIG PAPI! A manager could put all 25 players out in the field and a few in the stands and Ortiz would still find a way to win an important game. With the Spankees getting spanked all over Yankee stadium, the Red Sox won an important game to give themselves a bit of breathing room in the AL East. Surviving Grady summed it up the best. “Two words: Big Papi”. Of course, the Soxaholix suggest their is a “bigger” reason for the heroics.

Oakland 7, Toronto 4. The Jays lost to fall 6 games back as their playoff hopes are beginning to fade as well as their desire to add a bat to the lineup such as Julio Lugo.

Chicago White Sox 13, Baltimore 11. The O’s did not do the Yankees any favors. In fact we wouldn’t put it past Peter Angelos and his disdain for the Yankees to…nah.

A Look At The Future…Yesterday On The Farm

Durham 6, Columbus 2. The Devil Rays sure can’t beat the Yankees…but hey! our AAA team can beat up your AAA team. Delmon Young drove in 2 with a double and added a solo home run in the 7th, his 6th home run of the season. Ben Zobrist went 0-3 but had 2 walks and his 4th stolen base. B. J. Upton went 1-3 with 2 runs scored, an RBI and his 43rd and 44th stolen bases. Chris Seddon was very hittable. He gave up 5 hits and 2 runs in the first two innings, but settled down, working into the 8th inning without allowing any more runs to pick up his 8th win.

Jacksonville 3, Montgomery 2. Second base prospect Elliot Johnson is an extra-base machine. Last night he went 2-4 with his 14th home run. He is now 4th in the Southern League in home runs. He also has 15 doubles and leads the league with 10 triples. His .301 batting average is good for 5th and his .508 slugging is 2nd in the league.

San Jose 3, Visalia 0. The California League is known as a hitter’s league. That distinction did not help the Oaks last night as they only managed 2 hits. Really nothing worth mentioning here, so let’s move on.

SW Michigan 3, Fort Wayne 1. Right fielder James Hall hit a 2-run double in the top of the 10th inning. Greg Reinhard pitched a strong game, working 6.2 innings. The only hit he allowed was a 4th inning solo home run. He walked 2 and struck out 6.

Aberdeen 2, Hudson Valley 1. Jeremy Helickson was the Devil Rays 4th round pick in 2005. Hellickson is not a typical pitcher, which was one reason he fell to the 4th round in the draft. Hellickson is a right-handed pitcher that is only 5-11. The other reason was that in the state of Iowa, the high school baseball season is only a couple of weeks old when the amateur draft takes place, so scouts did not get a good sense of how Jeremy had progressed from his junior to his senior seasons. Last season, he struggled a bit in 4 late season relief appearances with Princeton. This season Hellickson is showing that good things can come in small packages. Yesterday, he made his 8th start with Hudson Valley. In 7 innings, he gave up 3 hits, no walks and 2 runs. He struck out 8. On the season, he has worked 41 innings, and allowed 24 hits and 9 walks. He has struck out 46 and has a 2.20 ERA. Jeremy Hellickson is very young and is still a long ways from pitching at the Pit, but he is off to a promising start.