[THE HANGOVER] Seo Long, Don’t Let The Door Hit You In The Ass

Royals 4, Devil Rays 1.
Only the Rays could throw up a stinker and make Brian Bannister look like Johan Santana.

The Devil Rays finally made changes to the rotation that we all have patiently waited for. OK, maybe we weren’t very patient at times. Jae Seo has been designated for assignment and Casey Fossum has been banished to the bullpen. Hey! The Rays have a lefty in the pen! Andy Sonnanstine and JP Howell were called up to take their places in the rotation. In addition, Jae Kuk Ryu was demoted to Durham where he will join the Bulls rotation.

So what does this mean for each of the players involved, what does it mean for the team and what does it mean for the fans?

The Rays have 10 days to try and work a trade for Seo. Will there be any takers? Hard to say. The Rays are still on the hook for about $850K of Seo’s $1.2 million salary for 2007. Therefore it is in the best interest of the team’s pocket books to try and find a trade partner. While the amount is small for most teams we can’t see anybody offering anything of substance and acquiring the contract. More likely teams will sit tight, and in ten days Seo will be released and signed to a minor league contract by somebody.

The Rays would also like to move Fossum and the rest of his contract. He is in the final year of his contract and is set to earn $2.2 million this season. There is a team option for $3 million next season. Moving Fossum to the bullpen gives the team some time to look for a trade partner. There is likely to be more suitors for Fossum’s services as he is a lefty and the move to the bullpen will give the Rays a chance to audition Fossum for other teams that may be in the market for a lefty bullpen arm for the stretch drive.

Howell will get the start on Sunday and Sonnanstine will throw on Tuesday in Toronto. For Howell, with Jeff Niemann, Jason Hammel and Mitch Talbot still lurking at Durham, this is likely his last chance to prove that he belongs in the Rays rotation. No telling how many starts he will get but look for 10-15 outings at the end of which the team will evaluate and either keep him in the rotation or make a move to Niemann or Hammel.

Sonannstine is the big mystery. In his last outing at Durham he gave up 10 hits and 6 innings. We mentioned that this should be a red flag for Rays fans because Sonny is not overpowering and he always in the strike zone which means if he doesn’t have his best stuff he is hittable. Well, now comes this scouting report from Shawn Riggans who caught Sonny for most of his starts. Riggans confirms exactly what we should all worry about.

Sonnie, he’s excellent. He pounds the zone. His game is either going to go one way or the other. He’s either going to dominate you or you’re going to pound him because he throws so many strikes. He uses three different arm angles, from up top, three quarters, and low three-quarters. Three pitches from each arm angle, excellent control, he doesn’t walk many guys. He’s working on coming inside a little more. Down and away is his money pitch, fastball down and away; slider in the same location. The one problem he has is coming inside, sometimes it leaks out over the plate. He can still throw fastballs by guys with his deception.

All he does is throw strikes and all he does is win. But that was the minor leagues. Lots of pitchers can get minor leaguers out. It will be much more difficult to fool major leaguers. We are pulling for Sonny but we have to admit that we are worried that he will be a classic AAAA pitcher. Hope we are wrong.

And for Rays fans? Well, the beer will go down a little easier tonight knowing that we never have to watch Jae Seo or Casey Fossum start a game in a Rays uniform…Ever.

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• Jae Seo was allowing hitters to hit .390 when they put the ball in play. That is an unheard of rate, and not good when you are not a strikeout pitcher.
• Jon Switzer returned from the 60-day DL and was optioned to Durham.
  

Down On The Farm: Josh Hamilton, Right Place, Wrong Team

Durham 5, Louisville 4 (10 inn). Mitch Talbot struck out 5 in 6 innings and allowed 3 runs on 5 hits and 3 walks. Ben Zobrist and Wes Bankston homered for the Bulls. Bankston’s 8th home run of the season came with 2 outs in the bottom of the 10th to give Durham the walk-off victory.

Huntsville 4, Montgomery 2. Reid Brignac and Evan Longoria were each 1-4. Brignac committed his 12th error. John Jaso was 2-3 to raise his average to .336. Mike Prochaska gave up 4 runs (3 earned) in 5.1 innings.

Charleston 5, Columbus 3. For only the 4th time in 11 starts, Heath Rollins allowed an earned run. Last night he allowed 1 run in 6 innings with 3 strikeouts and 2 walks.

NOTES FROM DOWN ON THE FARM…

• It took 8 years, but Josh Hamilton finally played in Durham. Hamilton is on a rehab assignment with the Louisville Bats. That sound you just heard was millions hundreds of Rays fans screaming out in pain.
  
• Jae Kuk Ryu, will join the rotation in Durham.

The Hangover: ESPN Steps Out Of Their Tiny Little Universe

Devil Rays (off day)

Quick side note: You know what is great about yesterday’s off-day? At least one more day of people talking about how the Yankees are in last place tied with the Devil Rays. It is like informing a guy that his wife cheated on him with 5 guys at once. Really, it should be enough that she cheated…

Like many people, ESPN annoys the hell out of us on most days. Too much screaming, too much material that has nothing to do with sports (Who are the Sklar Brothers and why are they EVER on Sportscenter?) and way too much bias in their coverage. Seriously, ESPN didn’t even know NASCAR existed until they started broadcasting the races. Now it is wall-to-wall left-turns. Well, we are going to put aside our distaste and ask you guys to go visit their website today because they actually noticed there are baseball players that play for teams other than the Yankees and the Red Sox.

Today, ESPN.com has a poll asking readers who they believe were the top players for the month of May. It seems as if somebody actually does pay attention to Devil Rays players for their on-field accomplishments. James Shields is one of ten choices for pitcher-of-the-month. That’s nice. What is really impressive is that Shields is one of six choices for MVP for the month of May. So get your butts over there and start stuffing the virtual ballot box for James the Greater.

Carlos Pena is also mentioned as one of the candidates for “Biggest Surprise”. Anytime a guy has to be a spring training non-roster invitee for one of the worst teams in baseball and is among the league leaders in home runs…that qualifies as a “surprise”. (with thanks to Jim).

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• The Rays have trailed at some point in 19 of their 22 wins this season, which leads the majors. For some reason the team doesn’t wake up until the second half of the game. We are just spit-ballin’ here, but maybe Joe Maddon should have the team play 3-4 simulated innings before each game.
• It is no surprise that the Rays have looked into what the market would be for Elijah Dukes. It is also no surprise that no team is willing to part with any significant pieces and it is also no surprise that Jayson Stark reports that at least 20 teams would line up to sign Dukes if he is released.
• Bobby Abreu makes $15 million and can’t hit his way out of a paper bag these days. His problem? Apparently it is all Scott Kazmir’s fault. This is just like a Yankees fan. Always trying to one-up the Mets fans. It won’t work this time. Your Kid K-envy will never be as great as Mets fan’s.
• Seriously Mets fans just can’t let it go and it makes us giggle to no end. It has been three years since the trade and now Mets fans actually want you to believe their team is better because they traded Kazmir. (Excuse us for a second….) Ok, we are back. Very difficult to type while laughing…Just so we are all on the same page…because the Mets have Oliver Perez and he is pretty good, that justifies trading Scott Kazmir for a guy that won 10 games in 2+ years? Why do we get the feeling that Mets fans will continue to give us joy for years to come?

Down On The Farm: When Andy Sonnanstine Is Hittable, He is Very Hittable

Ottawa 4, Durham 3. Huh? Andy Sonnanstine lost? That’s weird. Sonny got knocked around for 10 hits and 4 runs in 6 innings. He surrendered 2 home runs. We don’t mean to pile on Sonnanstine after one bad outing, because it is rare, but this is what we need to worry about. Remember he does not have the best “stuff”. A lot of people think that is refreshing. And believe us we are rooting for Sonny. The problem is, when a pitcher is dependent on “tricking” the batter with every pitch he has to be on top of his game every night out. On nights when a pitcher like Sonnanstine is not on top of their game, he will be very hittable…Wes Bankston hit his 7th home run. Jonny Gomes played left field and batted clean up. He went 1-2 with 2 walks in his first game since being demoted.

Huntsville 11, Montgomery 4. Jonathon Barratt only gave up 2 hits in 4 innings, but he walked 6 and allowed 3 runs. Reid Brignac was 0-3 and Evan Longoria was 1-4. John Jaso went 3-4 and is now hitting .329.

Vero Beach 9, St. Lucie 7. Wade Davis struck out 9 in 6 innings, but gave up 4 runs (3 earned) on 7 hits and 2 walks. He had a wild pitch and surrendered a home run. Garrett Groce was 2-5 and now has multi-hit games in 3 of 4 starts since returning from the DL.

Charleston 6, Columbus 2. Ryan Morse also struck out 9 in 6 innings. And like Wade Davis, he gave up 4 runs (3 earned). Nevin Ashley was 2-4 to raise his average to .281.

NOTES FROM DOWN ON THE FARM…

• The Vero Beach Devil Rays have 5 players that were named to the FSL All-Star team. Starting pitchers Wade Davis and Jake McGee will be joined by relief pitcher Eduardo DeLaCruz, catcher Christian Lopez and first baseman Rhyne Hughes.
• When Evan Longoria makes his major league debut, he will become the first player in Major League history to go by the name “Evan”. Well, that’s what we were told and who are we to doubt. We would rather go to the fridge and grab another beer than go verify the info. Be right back.
• Evan Longoria was one of only four of the top 20 prospects to receive a letter grade of A for the first one-fourth of the season.