The Hangover: A Day Off To Clear Our Heads

• We predicted a few days ago that Brendan Harris would start digging into Ben Zobrist’s playing time. That is starting to look like a reality.
• The question is whether the Brendan Harris we are seeing is the real Brendan Harris, or if we will soon see the player that was designated for assignment by the Reds.
• Where would the Rays be right now without the consistent dominance of Al Reyes?
• Buster Olney reports that there is nothing wrong with Brad Lidge’s arm or mechanics. His only problem right now is confidence. That could make acquiring him much more difficult.
• The White Sox are in the market for an outfielder….hmmmmm? Paging Mr. Williams.
• Season-ticket holder Dick Vitale is going to the mattresses with a local landlord over the closing of his favorite restaurant.
• An interview with Rays skipper Joe Maddon. The usual party-line commentary.

The Hangover: A Sweet Dream Indeed

We had a dream last night that the Rays blew a lead late (as usual) against the Blue Jays but actually rallied to score 3 in the bottom of the 9th off of one of the best closers in baseball including a game-tying 2-run home run by Delmon Young, to win the game 6-5. It was the 4th home of the game for the Rays, also getting round-trippers from Ty Wigginton, BJ Upton and Akinori Iwamura. It would have been Muu–Rah’s first major league home run And in the dream the win put the Rays alone in first place of the AL East. A very sweet dream indeed. Someday maybe it will actually happen.

• The rest of the Rays need to be careful with Akinori Iwamura, when they are mobbing him at home plate. He is just a little guy. He has reached base 9 times in 13 plate appearances so far. So much for his offensive struggle in the spring.
• Joe Maddon did not need a closer in the walk-off win last night, so it is yet to be seen if he will stick with Al Reyes closing out games. Most likely he will be the first choice but may be bypassed if he pitched the night before.
• Everybody seems happy with the renovations to the Trop and the much improved atmosphere. Of course the atmosphere is always better during sellouts, and those will only happen if the team keeps winning games.
• Getting off to a good start was important for this year’s team. The Rays play 9 of their first 12 on the road, and 4 series in the opening month against 2006 playoff teams. Joe Maddon says that the team is playing with a lot of confidence right now.
• BJ Upton is hitting .500 through the first 3 games. He has also played flawlessly at second base. It will be interesting to see if that keeps Papa Joe from moving him around as is the current plan. As a team, the Rays have yet to commit an error. A welcome surprise.
• A look at the behind-the-scenes preparations that took place before the home opener.
• Apparently the Herald-Tribune is only writing stories for Rays fans with ADD. They never have paragraphs with more than 2 sentences. And a lot of their”paragraphs” have less than 10 words. Maybe it is just us, but it is difficult to read.
• The Blue Jays have worn their new “alternate” caps for every game so far this season.

The Hangover: A Tale Of Two Devil Rays Springs

• How bad were the Rays first 15 spring games? After the Rays 12-4 win over Pittsburgh yesterday, their 7th in 10 games, they still have the worst record in baseball. Delmon Young picked up three more hits to raise his spring average to .345 and Jonny Gomes smacked his 4th spring home run. Jae Seo was stretched by Joe Maddon going 7 innings, giving up 2 runs on 5 hits and 2 walks. Seth McClung is doing his best to assure a return to Durham giving up2 more runs in 1 inning.
• Al Reyes will pitch today and tomorrow. Joe Maddon wants to see how his arm responds to pitching on back-to-back days. A strong outing on Tuesday could secure Reyes the closer’s job.
• However, Joe Maddon suggests that he may start the season with a closer-by-committee.
• Supposedly Jonny Gomes is competing for a spot on the roster. We find that hard to believe. Gomes represents the Rays only real power threat in a lineup that will not hit a lot of home runs.
• The new turf at the Trop may change the way the Rays approach games this season. We may see the Rays bunting more frequently in 2007 due to the slower speed of balls in the infield.
• On opening day the Yankees may send out Carl Pavano to face the Rays. Pavano hasn’t pitched in the majors since June 2005.

The Hangover: Another Candidate For The Job Seth McClung Does Not Have

• Moral victory last night. The Rays were losing the entire game so the ‘pen did not blow the lead.
• We never gave Brian Stokes much of a chance to win the fifth spot in the rotation and…what? We had Stokes in the rotation’s 5th spot earlier this week? Never happened. Well Papa Joe Maddon made it official yesterday and Stokes is headed to the bullpen. What we didn’t expect was that Stokes is now a candidate to be the team’s closer. There are worse options. *cough, cough* Seth McClung *cough, cough*
• The second round of pink slips were handed out yesterday. No real big surprises on the list except possibly Jason Hammel. We knew Hammel was a long shot for the 5th spot in the rotation, but we thought he would be given more of a chance. In two appearances he allowed one run on four hits in three innings. The roster now stands at 42, with 17 more cuts to come.
• In theory, the fight for the final spot is now down to four, including Edwin Jackson, J. P. Howell, Jae-Kuk Ryu and Tim Corcoran. We still think the team has Corky pegged as a reliever and spot starter, so now we are down to three.
• The Peter Gammons love-fest continues here at RI. Gammons once again he throws some affection towards the Rays in his column “Ten spring questions left to answer“. Question #8 was to wonder aloud how all of the young talented players would eventually fit together. He states that the Rays could be the most fun team to watch of all the second-tier teams in baseball…He refers to the Rays outfield and says that Elijah Dukes may be the most talented of the group. Gammons also hints that the Rays are so impressed by the slimmed-down Joel Guzman that they may be reconsidering Akinori Iwamura’s roll with the team…We understand that Guzman is a good fielder, but so is Muu-Rah, and while Iwamura is struggling at the plate, Guzman is only hitting .150. Muu-Rah will be the opening day third baseman. But at some point, if Guzman can find consistency with the bat, Iwamura may be headed to second base. 2008?
• When we first heard that Joe Maddon was considering Al Reyes for the closer position, we were worried about putting that much pressure on his arm so soon after Tommy John surgery. Then we hear that Maddon is worried about pitching him on back-to-back nights. In that case, closer might be his best option on the Rays. Think about it, how often will the Rays being leading in the ninth on consecutive nights?
• The guys over at armchairgm have their Rays preview up.

Rays Roster And Lineup Projections Update

We are a few weeks, two intra-squad games and four official games into Spring Training. Now is a good time to take a look at our 2007 25-man roster projections. Over the course of the next month we will update these projections twice a week.

A couple of notes on these projections…

• We understand that a few of the players listed as “secure” are not guaranteed to be the opening day starter at their respective positions. For example, there is an outside shot that Akinori Iwamura could still be the opening day second baseman. Still, at this point there is no indication that a move will happen. The “secure” positions are based on what we believe would happen if Papa Joe Maddon had to name his opening day lineup and roster today.
• Several people have made the argument that our previous prediction of an 11-man pitching staff was unlikely. Their arguments must have been strong because we now tend to agree that Papa Joe is more likely to keep seven arms in the bullpen and only four bats on the bench.
• With those numbers in mind, it now looks as if there are four roster spots up for grabs, with two on the bench and two in the bullpen. We almost listed B. J. Upton as secure, but we still think there is a remote chance that the team will send him back to Durham for more work. Even though Al Reyes is not on the 40-man roster we give him the edge in the final two bullpen slots. As long as he is healthy (and every indication so far is that he is) it is his position to lose. The final bullpen spot is really just a guess at this point.
• We have long thought that the final spot in the rotation would go to J. P. Howell based on his performance towards the end of 2006. However, of the prospective pitchers vying for the final spot, Jae-Kuk Ryu is the only one that has been given a start so far and he pitched a solid two innings.
• Greg Norton has been the DH with the regulars, but we still think when the season starts Papa Joe will go with Jonny Gomes on a regular basis, if not every day.

The Hangover: The Rays Being The Rays

• Stop us if you have heard this before: The Rays bullpen blew a…Yeah…we thought you might have heard it before. Yeah, yeah, its the first Spring game, but when a guy who is supposed to be one of the only bright spots in the pen gives up a three-run home run to a guy wearing #93, thats not so good. On top of that between the intrasquad game and this game against the Yankees, it took the regulars 10 innings before they picked up their first base hit, a single by Rocco Baldelli to lead off the fourth. Back…is…starting…to…tense up.
• These new Spring Training uniforms are hideous.
  
• Al Reyes will take a major step today towards coming back from surgery.
  
• We have long held the belief here that the team would not be active in this year’s free agency but rather they would hold off, allow the young roster one more season of maturation and then become much more active in the market following the 2007 season. This year’s over-priced and under-talented free agent class made sticking to the plan much easier for the front office. Many have stated that the 2008 free agent class is much deeper which should bring the prices down a touch. Here is an early look at that class.
• Benny Boo Zobrist is starting to remind us more and more of “Jimmy” from Bull Durham. Jimmy was the very religious guy on the Durham Bulls that would never say a bad word, everybody made fun of him and then he married the hot chick.