The Hangover: Rocco Baldelli Set To Resume Playing

Indians 2, Devil Rays 1.

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• Stuart Sternberg spoke to reporters before the game last night, and he came down hard on the entire organization. He vowed to spend more money and improve the club. [USA Today]

“I know we’re going to be spending more money,” Sternberg said. “There’s a large pool of money. We don’t say we’re going to spend ‘X’ on major league payroll and ‘Y’ on signing bonuses. I’m comfortable that we’ve got the resources and we’re spending and using it in a very wise fashion.”

• Rocco Baldelli will begin a rehab assignment on Monday with Vero Beach. [TBO]
• Phil Rogers of The Chicago Tribune reports that ” The current feeling is that Joe Maddon will get a contract extension as the manager in Tampa Bay.” This is surprising given that the team still has a 2-year option on the current contract. The more likely move is for the team to pick up the option and either work out an extension or fire him following the 2008 season. The team will not enter the 2009 season with a lame-duck manager. [Chicago Tribune]
• You mean the Trop isn’t going to host an all-star game? weird. [Herald-Tribune]
• Want to take a guess at what the current odds are for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays winning the world series? 5000 to 1. Huh? So they are saying that if they played out the rest of this season 5000 times, the Devil Rays would overcome a 21 game deficit in the wild card and win the world series one of those times…They could play out the regular season another 10 million times and there is no way the Rays would ever make up a 21 game deficit and leapfrog 10 teams to make the playoffs. There are only 43 games left. Even if they went 43-0 it would be nearly impossible. [The Baseball Analysts]

[DOWN ON THE FARM] James Houser Suspended 50 Games

Turns out it was disciplinary and not a trade, with the discipline coming from Major League baseball and not the team. James Houser was suspended for 50 games for testing positive for a performance-enhancing drug.

Pitching prospect Houser suspended [tampabay.com]

Durham 3, Indianapolis 0. Jae Seo pitched 7.2 shutout innings. He struck out 4 and walked none. Elliot Johnson (10) and Wes Bankston (12) each homered for the Bulls. Johnson, who hit .281 with 46 extra-base hits last year for Montgomery, is only hitting .200 with 30 extra-base hits this season. Jay Witasick retired the final four batters to pick up the save. With the win, the Bulls remained 1 game behind in the division, but stretched their wild card lead to 2 games.

Jacksonville 11, Montgomery 4. Sure enough, we praise Reid Brignac for not committing an error in the month of August and one day later, he commits an error. His 21st on the year. He was 2-5 at the plate and is now hitting .251. Rhyne Hughes hit a 2-run home run, his second since being promoted to AA. The loss drops the Biscuits 2 games behind Jacksonville in the division.

Vero Beach 7, Brevard County 3 (game 1). Josh Butler worked only 3.2 innings before being pulled after giving up 2 runs on 2 walks and 5 hits.Jackson Brennan went 3-4 and drove in 3 while Garrett Groce was 2-3 including his 5th home run.

Brevard County 5, Vero Beach 3 (game 2). Garratt Groce and Christian Lopez both went 2-3. Groce had 1 RBI, while Lopez added 2 RBI, including a solo home run.

Asheville 3, Columbus 0. Will Kline struck out 4 and gave up 1 run in 4 innings. The Catfish managed only 3 hits on the night. The loss drops the Catfish division lead to a half game over Asheville.

Burlington 5, Princeton 4 (17 innings). Burlington first tied the game with a 2-out single in the top of the 9th. They then added 2 more in the top of the 16th only to have Princeton come back and tie the game in the bottom half of the frame with the second run coming on a Justin Reynolds RBI single. But a leadoff triple in the 17th followed by a sac fly proved to be the game-winner in the 17th. Omar Luna went 4-8 and Jeremy Hall gave up only 1 run in 8 innings.

NOTES FROM DOWN ON THE FARM…

• David Price will report to Columbus for workouts only. He is still not expected to see any live action until the fall instructional league. [TBO]

Devil Rays May Be Set To Announce A Trade

The Devil Rays’ 2003 second round pick, James Houser, was scratched from his scheduled start for the Montgomery Biscuits on Friday night. This comes one night after he was involved in a lengthy closed-door meeting with Biscuit’s manager Billy Gardner, pitching coach Neil Allen and field coordinator Jim Hoff. The meeting occurred after the Biscuit’s game Thursday night during which Houser tracked pitches from the stands.

Gardner stated that the Devil Rays would release a statement regarding the situation on Saturday.

Houser was in uniform and in the dugout on Friday night.

At first this sounded like a disciplinary action, but when we heard that Houser was in the dugout, it now sounds like the Devil Rays are working on the final details of a trade that would involve Houser.

Starter change for BirdZerk! Friday [Stacy Long’s Riverwalk Talk]

The Hangover: Edwin Jackson Tries To Build On Last Start

Edwin Jackson takes the mound tonight in the first game of a three-game set with the Indians and we have no idea what to expect. Jackson could throw a 2-hit shutout, striking out 10 or he might get knocked out in the third inning. Therein lies the enigma that is Edwin Jackson, Jr. Much has been made of Nuke and his recent improved pitching. With David Price at least a year away, some are starting to believe that Jackson may become the third starter that the Rays desperately need.

Here at RI we have been very hard on Jackson at times, while we have been more forgiving of others, such as Andy Sonnanstine. The difference is consistency. Everybody pretty much knows what they get in Sonnanstine. He is going to be good enough to be either a #5 or a #6 starter (AAA) in the rotation and will likely never be much better (or worse) than that. When Duke first came up, we were very skeptical, noting that it would be much more difficult to get major league hitters to swing and miss. But despite the numbers, we have seen a level of consistency and room for improvement, that leads us to believe that Sonny can be a dependable starter. While he is not likely to ever be a dominant starter, it looks like Duke can be an inning eater and will keep the Rays in most games. That is all you ever ask for in a back-of-the-rotation guy.

Jackson is a much different story. Even at his worst, we predicted that Jackson would someday put it all together, get on a roll and win 20 games, we just speculated that it would happen with another organization. While Sonnanstine will most likely be a back-of-the-rotation guy his entire career, Jackson has a much bigger upside…and downside. He has the “stuff” to be an ace as evident by his last start in which he was touching 99 on the radar gun in the ninth inning. He also has the ability to go out and throw a stinker like his June 13th start against the Padres in which he allowed 5 runs and recorded only 1 out before being pulled from the game.

Has Jackson magically turned the corner? In his last five starts he has only allowed more than two runs once. That stretch includes his first complete game shutout. But it also includes a start in Baltimore in which he couldn’t finish the fourth inning and gave up six runs.

Nuke has the stuff to be the Rays third starter and he could be great. But until we see a prolonged stretch of consistency, we will continue to be skeptical as to whether or not he is up to the task. When Jackson takes the mound tonight we won’t feel safe until he is pulled from the game. Even if he has thrown six shutout innings, we know that Jackson is only a couple of pitches away from a Nuclear meltdown.

Jackson wants to be Rays’ No. 3 [TBO]

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• John Romano praises the Devil Rays for spending the money to get the pitcher. [tampabay.com]

Ain’t it great?

It is a rare day when the Rays overwhelm anyone with their spending, so why not enjoy it. You could argue they had no choice but to get Price signed, but how long has it been since this club followed the crowd into fiscal irresponsibility?

No, this was a banner week for the Rays. Maybe the best week of the year. For, in one signed deal, the Rays spent at least $8.5-million to buy a good deal of faith and potentially a pocketful of victories.

• Not surprising, Joe Maddon will have a tighter leash on James Shields and Scott Kazmir for the remainder of the season.

Kazmir and Shields might be pulled early because the organization wants to make sure they don’t exceed organizational season pitch limits, which Maddon said might lead to skipping starts as the season winds down.

Generally speaking, Maddon said, the Rays wouldn’t want someone to exceed more than 20 percent of the pitches he threw the season before.

• After Devil Rays acquired Dan Wheeler before the trading deadline, there was speculation that they may try to spin him off in another deal. Nothing happened before the non-waiver deadline, but the Rays may have attempted to trade Wheeler since then. The Rays tried placed Wheeler on waivers. He was claimed by at least one team and the Rays then pulled him back off of waivers. If he had cleared waivers, he would have been eligible to be traded. [ESPN]

Down On The Farm: Seven Rays To Appear In Arizona Fall League

Indianapolis 9, Durham 1. JP Howell was roughed up for 9 runs (7 earned) in only 4 innings. Calvin Medlock pitched 3 shutout innings, with no hits, but did walk 2 and struck out none. Evan Longoria hit his third home run since being promoted to AAA to account for the Bulls only run. He also committed his second error.

Montgomery 3, Jacksonville 2 (11 innings). Chris Nowak walked with the bases loaded in the 11 inning to give the Biscuits the victory. The win pulls Montgomery within 1 game of the South division leader Jacksonville (anybody else find it strange that the Southern League has North and South divisions? No? Just us. Ok.). Nowak finished 3-4 and hit his 5th home run.

Vero Beach 8, Palm Beach 6. Mike Wlodarczyk gave up 5 runs in 6 innings, but got enough run support to improve to 8-5 on the year. He struck out 2 and walked 1 while giving up 7 hits. Patrick Cottrell was 3-5 with 2 doubles and 2 RBI.

Columbus 5, Asheville 3. Woods Fines pitched 5 shutout innings, allowing only 2 hits. He struck out 2. Ryan Royster was 0-3.

Brooklyn 7, Hudson Valley 1. Maiko Loyola and Stephen Vogt each collected 2 hits, the only hits for the ‘Gades on the evening. Vogt hit his 4th home run.

Burlington 6, Princeton 3 (game 1). Tyree Hayes gave up 5 runs (3 earned) in 5 innings to drop to 3-6. He struck out 4. Dustin Biell, the 5th round selection in this year’s draft, was 2-2 with an RBI.

Burlington 6, Princeton 3 (game 2). Matt Moore, the Rays 8th round pick, struck out 6 and allowed only 2 hits and a run in 2.2 innings, but walked 4. Dustin Biell, went 2-2 and was 4-4 in the double-header.

NOTES FROM DOWN ON THE FARM…

• Seven of the Devil Rays’ minor leaguers will participate in the Arizona Fall League, including Reid Brignac, John Jaso, Evan Longoria, Jon Barratt, Nick DeBarr, James Houser and Evan Meek. [Stacy Long’s Riverwalk Talk]
  
• Reid Brignac has improved his defense considerably. Despite 20 errors in 2007, Brignac has played error-free in 14 August games. [Montgomery Advertiser]
  

Entering Thursday, Brignac led Southern League shortstops in total chances, assists and errors.

“He’s really established himself as a quality shortstop,” manager Billy Gardner said. “He’s really, to me, improved a great deal at shortstop.”

The Hangover: David Price Is Now A Very Rich Man

Devil Rays 6, Red Sox 5.
Anybody else worried that the Rays closer next year will be 38 years old, with a history of Tommy John surgeries (emphasis plural) and throws 86 mph? Guess it could be worse.

With only a few hours to go before the league’s new early deadline for signing draft picks, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays signed David Price for a kazillion million dollars.

The left-hander from Vanderbilt University agreed to a six-year major-league contract that guarantees him $8.5 million and could rise to a total value of $11.25 million depending on how quickly Price reaches the majors.

What amazes us is that people are making such a big deal out of how much the Rays paid. Kudos to the front office for getting the deal done (we never had any doubt). All we have heard for the past 6-7 years is that the Devil Rays are not willing to pay the price to compete. The young power lefty is the rarest of commodities in baseball and the Rays did what it took to get the deal done.

Price will be assigned to Hudson Valley but Andrew Friedman stated that he is not likely to pitch for the organization in 2007.

Rays’ No. 1 Pick Agrees To Lucrative Deal [TBO]

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• Wives of the Devil Rays’ players have adopted a platoon of soldiers stationed overseas. The wives are seeking donations to be sent to the troops. Collections will be set up at gates 1 and 5 at the Trop, this Saturday and Sunday. [Devil Rays]
• Yesterday’s victory was the Rays’ 20th on the road this season, matching last year’s total. The Rays have 19 road games left. [tampabay.com]
• RaysTalk is reporting that Fernando Cabrera has been signed by the Devil Rays with Brian Stokes being designated for assignment. They do not provide a source and we have been unable to confirm. As of the time of this writing, Stokes is still listed on the Rays official 40-man roster. Anybody see this in print elsewhere? [RaysTalk]
• Despite the concerns that the new deadline imposed by major league baseball could lead to a number of top picks going unsigned, every one of the top 30 picks inked deals with their respective teams. We hate to do this, but we may have to thank Scott Boras. Before the deadline, teams may have been feeling pressure to stick to the “slotted money” being recommended by the league office. For example, MLB was pushing for the Rays to only offer David Price a bonus in the $4 million range. One day before the deadline Boras was able to get Rick Porcello a guaranteed $7.2 million contract at the #27 slot. That may have eased the pressure on other teams as they could then point to that amount and “blame” Boras for the amount they would offer their picks. [Yahoo! Sports]
• The Rays signed 20 of their top 21 picks. Anybody know who the “one” is? It is not one of the top 9 picks. [TBO]
• Marc Topkin breaks down David Price’s contract and how much he will earn each season depending on whether he is on the 25-man major league roster. Pardon us for being daddy-downer this morning, but if Price is still in the minors in 2012 and the Rays are paying him $1.3 million, then the organization is in trouble. [tampabay.com]
• Scott Kazmir has been a victim of the Devil Rays defense but has been able to overcome that in part due to his decreased rate of walks, both over his career and during this season. [The Fantasy Baseball Generals]

The Devil Rays are at an astounding -124, more than 80 worse than any other team. That is, their defense allowed 124 more balls than average to turn into hits. Their infield is dead last in revised zone rating by a large margin. RZR is a measure of the percentage of balls hit into a fielder’s “zone” that are turned into outs.

Before this year, Kazmir made steady improvement in his walk rate…His control has clearly slipped this year, but not to Dalkowskian levels. He was terrible in June, but in July and August he has gotten his control a bit under control (forgive the pun), with rates of 3.7 and 2.8.

• The Hardball Times declares the Devil Rays as “the worst fielding team in baseball history,” and they provide data to back up their argument. Hard to believe when the team has potential or future gold glovers in left field (Carl Crawford), right field (Delmon Young), third base (Aki Iwamura) and first base (Carlos Pena). The problem is all those players play along the foul lines. More balls are hit up the middle and the Rays are awful up the middle. If Upton is not moved back to shortstop in the off-season, look for Andrew Friedman to look for an upgrade at that position defensively. There is enough offense in the rest of the lineup
  to allow for a no-hit, gold glove type at shortstop in 2008. [The Hardball Times]
• In the meantime, Joe Maddon will spend the rest of 2007 evaluating Ben Zobrist, Brendan Harris and Josh Wilson to see if any of them will tep up and earn the starting job in 2008 at shortstop. [Devil Rays]
• The Marlins are likely to trade Scott Olsen this off-season if he is convicted of DUI and resisting arrest. We are just spit-ballin’ here, but how about Rocco Baldelli-for-Olsen and…? [MLB Trade Rumors]

Down On The Farm: Jake McGee Starts His Domination Of AA

Durham 15, Charlotte 5. The Bulls scored 12 runs in the 5th inning to turn a 4-3 deficit into a 15-4 lead. The big blow was a 3-run double by Jason Pridie who finished 2-5 with a home run and 5 RBI. Justin Ruggiano had 3 hits in 4 at bats. Evan Longoria was 0-4 with a run scored. Brian Shackelford who came over from the Reds in the Jorge Cantu deal, pitched 2 innings, giving up 4 hits and a run. In 7 appearances with the Bulls, he has now thrown 8.1 innings, allowing 4 runs on 11 hits and 4 walks while striking out 5.

Montgomery 7, Jacksonville 2. Jake McGee, in only his second AA start, took a no-hitter into the 5th inning and finished with 6.1 innings, allowing only 1 hit and no runs. He struck out 7 while walking 2 and was consistently in the upper 90s. Nick DeBarr pitched the final 8 outs, giving up only 1 hit. while striking out 2. Reid Brinac was 1-4 and John Jaso was 2-4 with his 11th home run and 2 RBI. He is hitting .317.

Palm Beach 7, Vero Beach 1 (game 1). Patrick Cottrell had 2 of the Rays’ 4 hits and Aaron Sisk picked up the only RBI.

Palm Beach 5, Vero Beach 4 (game 2). Mike Kamrath was touched with a bit of bad luck as 4(!) errors and a single led to 5 unearned run in the first inning. He would only allow one more base runner in the next three innings before being pulled. Jackson Brennan was 3-3 with a double and a triple and 2 runs scored.

Columbus 4, Hickory 1. Jeremy Hellickson moved to 12-2 in just 19 starts, with 6 shutout innings, allowing only 2 base runners (both singles). He struck out 7. The 20-year old lowered his ERA to 2.69. Ryan Royster was 1-3 with a walk.

NOTES FROM DOWN ON THE FARM…

• The Montgomery Biscuits decided not to allow Chris Mason to dye his hair pink for breast cancer awareness, feeling it would be too much of a distraction. [Stacy Long’s Riverwalk Talk]

“I’ll go with dark blue or something,” Mason said. “Something not as drastic. I don’t know what blue stands for.”

The Hangover: Somebody Pissed In Our Wheaties

Red Sox 2, Devil Rays 1.
Let that be a lesson to you kids out there. Don’t anger the baseball gods.

Let’s all bow down and honor the best team of 2008. Let’s pay homage the greatest team in the history of baseball. Let’s sacrifice a decapitated cat to Ted Williams and pledge our allegiance to the Red Sox nation. For they are all-powerful.

Yes. The Red Sox have proven their greatness. They have proven that they cannot be stopped. They are a juggernaut. They might as well cancel the playoffs and the World Series, because when it is all said and done, the Red Sox will walk through October to the tune of Three-Fo-Fo. And when they are done licking their chops and scattering the bones, 612,000 drunk fans named “Sully” will scream the greatness that is two championships in the past 89 years.

Yes folks, the Red Sox have scored FIVE runs in two games against a team that has the worst record in baseball and a pitching staff that has an ERA of 5.78. Apparently that is the formula for “righting the ship”.

Does any of this make us feel better. No. No it doesn’t. Sometimes The Hangover truly is a hangover. And this morning? We can’t eat. Doonesbury is not even remotely funny. We yelled at our dog and our loved ones are wondering why we get so upset about a team that is on pace to lose 105 games.

I just shake my head and say “You wouldn’t understand,” when the reality is, I don’t understand.

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• Something happened last night in Boston and Marc Topkin tries to get to the bottom of it. We know there are limits to what a newspaper’s “Blog” can do. They have to work within the confines of a professional organization, while sites like ours rarely have to answer to anybody. But if the papers are going to try and jump on the information superhighway bandwagon (late as usual) then this post by Topkin is exactly what they should try to provide on a daily basis. A bunch of quick thoughts, facts and rumblings on the game and the team mixed in with the access that the rest of us don’t care to have. [tampabay.com]
• Want to know why Scott Kazmir has always pitched well against the Red Sox? After last night’s game Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz are a combined 10-72 (.139) against Kid K.
• The Yankees get their butts whooped by the Orioles 12-0, and apparently it is Al Reyes fault that they lost a game in the standings. [River Ave. Blues]
• Amazing how teams always seem to get healthy when they play the Rays. [Sully Baseball]
• Scott Kazmir now has the 10th most strikeouts all-time for a pitcher before the age of 24. [SI.com]
• Still no news to report on David Price. [TBO]
• Tonight’s starter Andy Sonnanstine is struggling for the first time in his professional career and has yet to show that he will be able to overcome it. Tonight’s crowd at Fenway is not going to make things any easier. [Devil Rays]

“He’s been successful everywhere he’s been,” Maddon said. “I think maybe this is the first time he’s really been challenged this way. And to have your first real challenge happen at the Major League level makes it a little more difficult to straighten yourself out. But he’s been successful everywhere he’s been, and I think he’s got very good makeup. And because of that, I think he’ll be able to work through it.”

• Carl Crawford has an amazing ability to stay focused and continue to pile up enormous numbers despite the dire surroundings that he is usually faced with. [TheLedger.com]

This isn’t to feel sorry for Crawford. This is to admire him. Who in sports plays a better game with a worse hand?

• I don’t know what is more disturbing…that there is a blog called Pink Hat Nation or that the blog Pink Hat Nationis commenting on Raymond the Seadog. [Pink Hat Nation]

Down On The Farm: Durham Takes Lead In Wild Card Hunt

Durham 4, Charlotte 3. The Bulls now lead the wild card race by a game and pulled within 1.5 games of division leading Rochester with 20 games remaining. JK Ryu allowed only 2 hits and 1 run in 5 innings. He struck out 2 and walked 1. Jason Pridie was 2-5 and hit a solo home run in the Bulls’ 3-run 7th inning. Justin Ruggiano was 3-5 with a double and Evan Longoria was 1-3 with his 4th double, a walk and a strikeout. Ruggiano stole his 25th base. Jay Witasick only allowed one base runner to reach (via error) in his one inning rehab stint. Chad Orvella pitched a perfect 9th for his 18th save.

Jacksonville 7, Montgomery 2. Wade Davis dropped to 4-3 in 11 AA starts after allowing 5 runs (4 earned) in 4.1 innings. He struck out 3 and walked 3. John Jaso drove in both runs with a 2-run home run, his 10th.

Columbus 11, Hickory 5. Ryan Royster did not homer, but did go 2-4 with a walk and his 88th RBI. Nevin Ashley did hit 2 home runs and drove in 4, while going 4-5. He now has 9 home runs and is hitting .282. Quinn Steward was 3-3 and hit his 21st home run.

NOTES FROM DOWN ON THE FARM…

• Vero Beach was postponed due to rain while Hudson Valley and Princeton had the night off.
• The Hudson Valley Renegades hosted the New York-Penn league all-star game last night. Maiko Loyola, Emeel Salem, and Mike McCormick started for the AL squad. Loyola and Salem both went 1-2, and McCormick was 0-1. Jason Ragan pitched 1 inning of relief and gave up 1 hit. [MiLB]
• Mike McCormick finished second in the home run derby. [MiLB]

Scott Kazmir Will Be The Next Member Of The 300-Win Club

Last week Tom Glavine became the 300th member of the 23-win club 23rd member of the 300-win club. The mark prompted many to wonder if we will see another pitcher achieve the feat in the near future. With Randy Johnson’s (284 wins) career in jeopardy, there are no other pitchers that appear to have a legitimate shot at reaching the milestone. Of the active pitchers with 200 wins, only Mike Mussina (247 wins, age 38) and Pedro Martinez (206 wins, age 35) are under the age of 40.

With some even wondering if we would ever see another 300-game winner, we present Kid K. Scott Kazmir is currently sitting on 31 career victories. At the age of 23, he could conceivably pitch for another 18 years. If he averages 15 wins a season over the that time span, he will win 300 games. So barring any lost seasons due to injury, Kazmir has the talent, the head start and a team that should score plenty of runs in the next few years, to make a run at the mark.

How confident are we? We will now be tracking Kazmir’s progress in the side-panel for as long as Kid K wears a Devil Rays uniform.

While Mets fans can celebrate the 48 wins they have received from Glavine, they must take solace in the ZERO wins they got from Scott Kazmir. So tonight when Kazmir takes the hill against the Red Sox in search of career win number 32, we will raise our beer and toast The Next Member of the 300-win Club.

Mets’ Glavine part of a dying breed: 300-game winners [The Sporting News]
Glavine may be last to reach 300 [USA Today]