A Look At The Future: Yesterday On The Farm

Durham 5, Norfolk 3. Kevin Witt went 2-4 with 2 runs scored in what was probably his last game for the Bulls. Witt was promoted after the Rays traded Russell Branyan to the Padres (more on that later). Shawn Riggans another player who is likely to be called up next week, also had 2 hits with a double and an RBI. Chris Seddon was shaky but survived to pick up his 9th win. He gave up 5 hits, 3 walks, and 3 runs (1 earned) in 6 innings. After Edwin Jackson blew the save on Wednesday night, Juan Salas was called upon to close the door last night and picked up his 3rd save of the season, allowing just one hit in the 9th inning.

Montgomery 10, Jacksonville 0. Elliot Johsnon went 2-4 with 4 runs scored, but the big story was The Cajun God of Baseball Reid Brignac. Brignac entered the game hitting .265 since his promotion to AA, but last night he went 5-5 with a 2-run home run in the 4th, his second dinger for the Biscuits. All of the sudden the California League MVP is hitting .315 in 19 games with Montgomery. Evan Longoria, who is in a 2-21 slide, was given the night off. Justin Ruggiano went 0-3 with 2 walks and left 6 runners on base. Jason Cromer survived 4 hits and 4 walks to pitch 6 scoreless innings, to pick up his 3rd win.

The Hangover: What The Hell Is Going On Out There?

D-Rays 7, Texas 3. Something strange is happening and we can’t quite put our finger on it. Here at RI we have been hesitant to give Joe Maddon a hard time. Sure we have poked fun at his glasses from time to time, but we have held back criticism of his managerial decisions and chalked up the horrible moves to being a rookie, and all rookies suffer growing pains. OK, we haven’t always held back. But we have muffled our criticisms of his obviously poor decisions at times. This is the manager that decided to pitch to Manny Ramirez with 2 outs in the 7th inning of a tied game and first base open and Jason Varitek on deck. Yes, he really did that. In actuality Joe Maddon has done everything wrong short of giving the umpire a wedgie during an argument. Of course Joe would actually have to argue something in order to be close enough to give the umpire a wedgie. In actuality, we at times think it is more likely that after a bad call against the Rays, that Joe Maddon will go give the umpire a hug and then explain in the press conference after the game that the ump’s dog was sick and should be forgiven. Still, others have not been so kind, and quite frankly we are surprised that FireJoeMaddon.com hasn’t popped up someplace. But like we have said before and will say again, it is just Maddon being Maddon.

So we think it is fitting that Joe Maddon finally made a good managerial decision and that decision paid dividends on the same day that Madden ’07 was released. Maddon decided to give Jorge Cantu a couple of days off to clear his head. It has been a trying year for Cantu. After hitting .286-28-117 last season, he was poised for another big year this season. An early foot injury knocked Cantu out of action for more than a month and he hasn’t been the same since then. He only had 1 home run before the injury, but he was batting .291. Since returning from the DL, his average had fallen to .236 and his power numbers are way off last years pace, leading some to speculate that ’06 was a fluke. Well, last night Cantu returned from his Maddon-enduced exile with a vengeance. He went 3-4 with 2 doubles and 2-run home run in the 5th that gave the Rays a 3-0 lead. Starter Casey Fossum quickly surrendered that lead in the top of the 6th, but an RBI double by Cantu in the bottom of the 6th gave the Rays the lead for good. B. J. Upton struggled mightily for most of the game, in which he struck out looking the first three times up to the plate, but he came through when it was needed. After a Rocco Baldelli triple (who is suddenly red hot) Upton hit a bouncing ball through the drawn-in infield for an RBI. That was followed by a 2-run home run by Carl Crawford that just cleared the left field wall.

So we must give credit where credit is due and Joe Maddon deserves credit for giving Cantu a breather for a couple of days. He also deserves credit for sticking with Rudy Lugo in the 9th inning. Lugo worked through the 8th in only 8 pitches. He also deserves credit for sticking with Lugo after he gave up a leadoff single in the 9th. Lugo settled down and struck out the next three batters.

All of the sudden the Rays have won three in a row from a team that was red hot entering the series and had their eyes on a playoff run. Now the Rangers are 7.5 games out and their playoff hopes are D-O-N-E. Rangers fans are having such a tough time coping with a potential sweep at the hands of the Rays, that they are actually making up words. It must be tough to root for a team managed by Buck Showalter.

A Look At The Future: Yesterday On The Farm

Durham 7, Norfolk 6. Darnell McDonald hit a lead-off walk-off home run in the bottom of the 9th to give the Bulls the win. Edwin Jackson picked up the win after blowing the save in the top half of the inning. A single and 2 wild pitches by Jackson was followed by a sacrifice fly to tie the game at 6. Five Bulls had at least 2 hits including Delmon Young who went 2-4 and lifted his average to .322. Luis Rivas and Rodney Nye had 5 hits and 6 RBI combined. Joe Magrane struggled once again, giving up 10 hits and 4 runs in 6 innings.

Montgomery 5, Jacksonville 3, 10 innings. Jeremy Owens hit a 2-run home run in the top of the 10th to give the Biscuits the lead for good. After a shaky start Mitch Talbot settled down and had a strong performance. After walking the first two batters he faced, Talbot gave up an RBI single and a sacrifice fly in the 1st to fall down 2-0. After a walk and a single in the 3rd, Talbot would retire the last 16 batters he faced. Overall he threw 8 innings, allowing 2 hits, 3 walks and just those 2 first inning runs. He struck out 5. DH Michael Coleman homered for the second straight day, a solo shot in the 8th that gave the Biscuits a 3-2 lead, and now has 16 on the season. Elliot Johnson added 2 hits in 5 at bats as he tries to fight his way out of a recent mini-slump that has seen his average fall to .279, after hovering near .300 most of the season. Justin Ruggiano, Evan Longoria and Reid Brignac went a combined 0-12.

Maybe B. J. Upton Should Make All His Throws While Sitting Down

Two videos below of B. J. Upton making spectacular, yet eerily similar plays last week in Oakland and earlier this season in the minors.

We are all familiar with B. J. Upton’s defensive struggles. Those struggle kept him in the minor leagues the past year and half. Of his defensive errors, most were of the throwing variety. Things did not seem to be improving, so after Aubrey Huff was traded, Upton was moved to third base to facilitate a quicker rise to the major leagues, despite the impending trade of shortstop Julio Lugo. He has played 16 games since being called up and has already committed 4 errors. However, he has also made some spectacular plays. None was more spectacular than his recent play in Oakland, throwing Nick Swisher out from the seat of his pants. While that was amazing, Upton does have some experience with that type of play.

The first video is from the recent Oakland game. The second video is a similar play made by Upton while playing shortstop for the Durham Bulls earlier this season. Simply amazing.

Devil Rays Blogtopia

• Before we get to the arcane, the humorous and the ridiculous, lets take a look at a rare bright spot in the 2006 season. As D-Rays fans, we are all quite familiar by now with Evan Longoria’s exploits, but it is nice to see that others are starting to notice also. Here is nice write-up on Longoria’s early success. [Mop Up Duty]
• Sometimes it is just too easy to make fun of the Devil Rays. Does the front office realize how silly and amateurish some of their ideas appear to be to outsiders? [Deadspin]
• One blogger blames the Devil Rays organization for Delmon Young’s bat throwing incident. [Minor League Ball]
• Who would you rather have? Carl Crawford or Jose Reyes? [Mike’s Mets]
• This one is great…A Yankees fan was bored and decided to be the D-Rays GM for a day. In essence this is what he would do to make the team better. Sign Mark Buerhle, Kerry Wood, Ryan Dempster…thats where we got bored and quit…Best we can tell, he would just up the payroll to about $200 million. Wow! Why didn’t Andrew Friedman think of that? [Canyon of Heroes]
• Scott Kazmir appears to be the exception, not the rule. [Da Sports Authority]
• Apparently the Devil Rays stunk it up at the trade deadline by getting rid of free agents-to-be and acquiring minor leaguers that nobody ever heard of. [Bonzai]
• Well, two of those nobodies, Joel Guzman and Ben Zobrist, joined Delmon Young on a recent list of the Top 50 minor league prospects. [The Raw Feed]
• Apparently the front office and coaching staffs don’t understand why the fans and media are so interested in Delmon Young. [MLB Rumors Clearinghouse]
• Damn Devil Rays? Doesn’t quite have the same ring to it as Damn Yankees! [Out of Leftfield]
• What exactly is The Ray Way? Oh and apparently Wade Boggs is Mr. Devil Ray and Aubrey Huff was Miss Devil Ray, whatever that means. [Bichette Happens]

The Hangover: We’re Going Streaking!

D-Rays 5, Texas 3. Scott Kazmir was betrayed by his defense and left last night’s game down 3-1, after 6 innings and 101 pitches. Kid K is now on a “innings count” and will most likely not see the 7th inning the rest of the season. Kazmir already has 144.2 innings in his arm this season and is approaching his total from last season when threw 186 innings. With about 5 more starts left for Kaz in 2006, it looks like Joe Maddon would like to keep this year’s total below last season’s with the hopes that he will come into ’07 fresh and strong. On a side note, with 8 strikeouts, Kid K surpassed Victor Zambrano as the team’s all-time strikeout leader. Now he is only 5336 behind Nolan Ryan. B. J. Upton was a late scratch from the lineup as he is still battling a sore shoulder. Russell Branyan replaced Upton at third base and as a third baseman, he sure makes a great DH. In the third inning Nelson Cruz reached when Branyan couldn’t field a grounder down the line cleanly. It was a tough error, but a play that he should have made. Jerry Hairston, Jr. then reached on a bunt single that Branyan could not get to in time. The very next batter grounded into the hole between Branyan and Ben Zobrist. Moving towards the second base base, Branyan decided to go to first base, allowing the runners to move to 2nd and 3rd. A Michael Young basehit scored two. After Kaz struck out Carlos Lee, Mark Teixeira grounded softly to the left of Tomas Perez, who fielded the ball cleanly but instead of turning and throwing to Travis Lee, he decided to backhand the ball from about 20 feet away, allowing Teixeira to reach first and the Rangers to score a third run. It was ruled a base hit. Three of the four hits that Kazmir allowed came in this inning and two of those were of the infield variety, and one of those should have been ruled an error. Kazmir was bailed out by the offense. The first blow came from he bat of Greg Norton who is doing his best Albert Pujols impersonation in August. Last night he went 2-3 and hit his 11th home run, a solo shot to lead off the 4th. In the month of August, Norton leads the Major Leagues in batting average at .446 and has 5 home runs. Three sacrifice flies in the sixth and seventh innings gave the Rays the lead and a Travis Lee
solo home run in the eighth was added as an insurance run. Seth McClung made things interesting in the ninth when he came on for his second save opportunity in as many nights. After loading the bases with one out, McClung was able to get Gary Matthews Jr. out on strikes and Michael Young to fly out to Damon Hollins to end the game.

This victory marked only the third time since the All-Star break that the Rays have managed to win back-to-back games. They have not won three in a row since taking 3 straight from the Red Sox just before the break. We don’t want to jinx Casey Fossum, tonight’s starter, but he has been pitching well of late *knocking on wood*.

A Look At The Future: Yesterday On The Farm

Indianapolis 6, Durham 1. First a quick note about yesterday’s post. We erroneously stated that Jason Hammel was pulled because of an “undisclosed injury”. It now appears that Hammel was on a very small and very strict pitch count, that saw him removed in the middle of an inning. This was done due to the possibility that he will be called up to spot start in place of Jae Seo who is nursing a sore hamstring. The minor league seasons are starting to enter the home stretch. With two weeks left in the season, this is the last chance for many of these players to make an impression on the Devil Rays front office. Last night the Bulls managed only an 8th inning sacrifice fly by Wes Bankston. The top three batters in the order each collected two hits, but only Delmon Young’s leadoff single in the 8th lead to a run. In four separate innings, the Bulls managed to get two runners on and failed to score. J. P. Howell was not much better on the mound, with his worst minor league performance since being acquired from the Royales With Cheese. He bailed himself out of trouble in the first and third by picking runners off base. However, it fell apart in the 5th inning, when 4 hits, 2 walks and a fielding error to all 6 runs.

Montgomery 8, Jacksonville 4. The newest Biscuits are still hot (sorry….that was really bad, and we will never let that happen again). Justin Ruggiano went 3-5 with 2 doubles and all 3 hits drove in a run. Ruggiano is now hitting .337 with 19 RBI in 24 games since coming over from the Dodgers. Ruggiano seems to be very similar to Ben Zobrist. He was struggling a bit in AA for an organization where advancement is slow. Once he came to the Devil Rays, he is aware that AA in this organization is a lot closer to the majors and has turned it up a notch…Evan Longoria hit his 5th AA home run (his 17th home run in 52 professional games), a 2-run shot in the 3rd. He also added a sacrifice fly in the 5th inning. Andrew Friedman has stated that Longoria will start 2007 in AA. We wonder if he still feels that way…Andy Sonnanstine picked up his 14th win, good for 3rd in all of minor league baseball. It was not Andy’s best performance, but it was good enough. In 7 innings, he struck out 8 and only allowed 5 hits and 1 walk, but 2 of those hits were home runs that produced 3 of the 4 runs he allowed.

The Hank Aaron Award Has No Legitimacy And Needs To Be Fixed

We present here four simple solutions to the Hank Aaron award that will bring it to the level of the MVP and the Cy Young Awards, as well as fix the fatal flaw of the MVP award.

There are many reasons to love baseball…too many to list. However, there are a few things baseball just can’t seem to get right. One of these is Major League Baseball’s postseason awards. The American League and the National League began naming MVPs in 1911. There has been an AL MVP every year since 1924 and in the NL every year since 1931. Starting in 1956, the Cy Young award was given to the best pitcher in baseball. It was not until 1967 that a Cy Young award was given in both the AL and the NL.

One of the longstanding arguments in baseball is the criteria for an MVP. Should the award be given to the player deemed Most Valuable to his team or should the MVP be the best player in his respective league? In 1987, Andre Dawson won the award by hitting .287-49-137. He clearly was the best player in the NL that season. However, the Hawk played for a last place team. How valuable could he have been? The Cubs would still have finished last without Dawson. The very next season, Kirk Gibson was named the NL MVP after what many considered an average offensive season (.290-25-76). Clearly Gibby was judged on a different set of criteria. It was widely accepted that the Dodgers would not have made it to the postseason without Gibson (the award is voted on before the playoffs). In that same season Darryl Strawberry finished second in the MVP voting with what appeared to be vastly superior numbers (.269-39-101). A new argument was presented just this past year as the debate raged in the media and among fans over who deserved to be the AL MVP, Alex Rodriguex or David Ortiz. Both players had comparable numbers, but Big Papi was considered the more valuable by some because of his clutch hitting. Yet many thought Ortiz lost value because he did not field a position as Boston’s DH. Ultimately, playing DH was too much to overcome and and the award went to A-Rod.

In 1999, Major League Baseball introduced the Hank Aaron Award. This award was designed to end the debate between Most Valuable Player and Best Player. The Hank Aaron award is given each year to the best hitter in each league. This was a noble effort by the league, but the award is flawed, and is not recognized as a legitimate award in the eyes of baseball fans. We see four significant problems with the award that need to be fixed immediately.

1. The Hank Aaron award is voted on by the fans as well as broadcasters. The fan vote counts 30% towards the final tally. Unfortunately Major League Baseball has not learned their lesson from the All-Star game. Any award based in part or wholly on fan voting will never have any legitimacy among those same fans. A ‘fan vote’ is and always will be a popularity contest. Over the years, the number of players that have been voted to start an All-Star game without merit is too many to count.
2. Only one player is on the ballot from each team. We first became concerned about this award when we noticed Carl Crawford was on the ballot for the award. We love C. C. and he has had a great season, but he is not deserving of the title Best Hitter in the American League. Just like the All-Star game in which each team must be represented, this too takes away from the legitimacy of the award. As Devil Rays fans we will be the first tell you there have been years that no player from Tampa Bay deserved to be on the AL All-Star squad (Lance Carter in 2003). Because of this rule, the Royal’s David DeJesus is on the ballot and Manny Ramirez is not. As with the All-Star game vote, there is a place for write-in votes, but we all know how well that works.
3. The Hank Aaron award is driven by sponsorship. The fan vote appears to be driven by Century 21, the sole sponsor of the award. The vote is a mechanism to drive baseball fans to the Century 21 website. We understand the need for corporate sponsorship in sports despite our hatred of it. However, corporations should have no say in how Major League Baseball’s awards are distributed. The MVP and the Cy Young award are a key to the history of baseball. Major League Baseball would never tarnish the legacy of those awards with fan voting and corporate sponsorship that gets to make the rules.
4. The Hank Aaron award has no history. The history of the game is at the core of many fan’s love of the game…the stats…the debates…the winners…the losers. We can tell you the Yankees have won 26 World Series titles. We would argue Babe Ruth’s best season was in 1921 (.378-59-171). We know Joe Nuxhall made his debut for the Reds at the age of 15 in 1944…For an award in baseball to have legitimacy, it needs to have history. It means nothing to true baseball fans that Alex Rodriguez has won three Hank Aaron awards, unless we can place that in some historical context. How many would Babe Ruth have won? Barry Bonds has won three, but how many would he have won had the award been around his entire career?

So is the Hank Aaron award destined to just become another glorified corporate advertisement disguised as a legitimate award? Is it destined to be an after thought or a just slightly more significant version of the Silver Slugger Award (given to the best hitter at each position)? Maybe the more important question is…

Can the award be saved and reach the same level as the MVP or the Cy Young Award in terms of legitimacy among the fans?

We have presented four significant flaws with the award. Each of these faults is fixable.

1. Take the vote away from the fans. All-Star game rosters are not taken seriously and neither will the Hank Aaron award as long as fans are voting. The Hank Aaron award should not be a popularity contest.
2. Make all players eligible. This is an easy fix and will be repaired instantly once the fan voting is removed from the award.
3. Remove corporate sponsorship. Sure it bugs the hell out of us that every stadium has a corporate name and certain American sports institutions such as the Rose Bowl are now presented by somebody. Still, we understand the need for sponsorship. However, baseball has always been ahead of the curve in regards to keeping their game pure. Logos are limited on baseball uniforms and on the baseball field. The MVP and Cy Young ar
   e still sacred. The league needs to make the Hank Aaron award sacred. There should be NO sponsorship of the award. When a corporation spends top dollar, they want to be able to exert influence. Even if this influence which is clearly present now is eliminated, the hint of influence will always remain if the award is presented by somebody. Major League Baseball is a money machine. There are other avenues for sponsorship. If the league wants the Hank Aaron award to achieve some level of legitimacy, it needs to make the award sacred and clean.
4. The Hank Aaron Award needs to be awarded posthumously. Take a selection of respected baseball writers, broadcasters, historians and former players. Find a weekend during the off-season and have this group of people get together and debate the merits of players from every season from 1900 to 1998. In seasons for which an MVP award was given, limit the voting to position players that finished in the top 10 of the voting. This will be the toughest to implement but also the most important. The award needs a historical context or it will forever be doomed. While they are at it, have them decide the league MVPs and Cy Young Award winners for ever season since 1900 in which one or both awards were not presented. Babe Ruth only won a single MVP award in 1923. The award was not given between 1914 and 1922 and in 1929. The Bambino would have been a leading candidate for the MVP in 1919, 1920, 1921 and 1929. It would be easier to compare Barry Bonds seven MVPs to a Babe Ruth that won five as opposed to a Babe Ruth that only won a single MVP.

These changes are simplistic. the first three changes could be made by the wave of Bud Selig’s magic wand. Only the last change would take some effort, but is clearly feasible. Inevitably, there would be some stigma placed on any award given in hindsight, but debate is one of those reasons baseball is so great. Ultimately, the Hank Aaron award will never be taken seriously in its current form. There is a need in baseball for this award, but until it is fixed, it is just another example of baseball screwing up a good idea.

Vote For the Hank Aaron Award. [MLB]
Balloting, video game and consumer sweepstakes underway for the 2006 Hank Aaron Award presented by Century 21 [Century 21]

The Hangover: Just The Tip…To See How It Feels

D-Rays 4, Texas 3. B. J. Upton returned to the lineup and to the top of the order for the first time since leaving last Thursday’s game with a strained shoulder. He responded by going 2-5 with 2 opposite field singles, including a 2-out RBI single in the 4th to drive in Josh Paul. The rest of the offense came from some unlikely sources as Greg Norton, not the most ideal cleanup hitter in baseball, had a career-high 4 hits. The bottom three in the lineup, Damon Hollins, Josh Paul, and Tomas Perez went a combined 7-10 with 2 runs scored and 2 RBI.

James Shields struggled but pitched just well enough to pick up his second straight win and even his record at 6-6. He survived a 1-out bases loaded situation in the first inning by getting Hank Blalock and Mark DeRosa to strikeout. He twice surrendered leads. In the 3rd, Blalock hit a 2-run home run that tied the game and in the 5th Blalock singled with men on 1st and 2nd to tie the game at 3-3. The Rays answered in the bottom of the 5th on a Russell Branyan RBI single. The biggest news of the game was the strong showing by the bullpen. First up was Brian Meadows who had struggled recently, giving up 11 runs in his last 3 appearances. Last night Meadows pitched 2 perfect innings, striking out 2 before giving way to the Rays’ newest closer Seth McClung. received his first save opportunity since returning to the Rays after a stint in Durham. He retired the side in the 9McClungth allowing only an infield single to Rod Barajas.

It is just one victory, but with Scott Kazmir on the mound Tuesday night, the Rays have a chance to start a little winning streak and possibly build some momentum in the last 6 weeks. That being said, we are sure that Kid K will pitch well, but his pitch count will force Joe Maddon to pull him in the 6th inning and the bullpen will blow a 3-1 lead leading to an 8-4 loss. Just a prediction.

A Look At The Future: Yesterday On The Farm

Indianapolis 6, Durham 3. Wes Bankston continues to hit the ball well since being promoted to Durham. Nobody has ever questioned that Bankston could hit the ball. The question is whether his power will ever develop. Last night he went 2-4 and hit a solo home run in the 2nd inning. It was only Bankston’s 3rd home run in 149 at bats since being promoted to Durham, and 7th home run all season. At 6′ 4″ and 200 pounds, the former 4th round pick (2002) is projected to be a good hitter with some pop, but despite a .302 average in AAA, the ball doesn’t jump off his bat…Delmon Young also went 2-4 and added his 56th RBI. Jason Hammel, was removed with 2 outs in the 3rd, with an undisclosed injury. He had yet to allow a hit.

Montgomery 8, Jacksonville 0. We are starting to get downright giddy about Jeff Niemann. We had been trying not to be too excited about some of his early success, because we knew it would be a while before he was all the way back. Well he is starting to consistently dominate hitters and the team is starting to let him work deeper into games. Last night Niemann threw 7 shutout innings, giving up only 3 hits and 2 walks. He struck out 7. Jacksonville only threatened in the 5th when after a 1-out double, a walk and a ground out, the Sun had 2nd and 3rd with 2 outs. Niemann was able to get the final out on a fly ball to right. He is now 4-5 on the season with a 3.00 ERA…Justin Ruggiano continues to look impressive with his new organization, going 2-5, with a 2-run double in the 9th against his former team. It also says a lot that the team has Ruggiano hitting cleanup for a squad that features Reid Brignac, Evan Longoria, Patrick Breen and Eliot Johnson. Brignac went 1-3 with a double an RBI and 2 walks. Longoria, again batted 5th and went 1-5 with an RBI. The Biscuits beat Spike Lundberg in this game. Lundberg was 13-1 with a 2.03 ERA before last night’s start.