[THE HANGOVER] Curt Schilling Just Wants You To Talk About Him

Boston 8, Devil Rays 6.
Rays fans are abuzz after Curt Schilling announced during a radio interview in Boston that he would consider playing for the Devil Rays after his contract expires at the end of the year.

“It’s one of those situations you’d certainly have to look at. Knowing that I’m probably going to spend one more year playing, if circumstances happen and things happen and they made some moves that were positive, I’d love nothing more than to finish my career working on a pitching staff where I know that there are young guys that are going to be positively impacted by me being around [after] I was gone. I enjoy that. I love working and talking and being around young pitchers.”

If there is one thing Schilling loves, it is attention and headlines. This looks like nothing more than another attempt to say something so far out that writers will have no choice but to write about it and fans will have no choice but to talk about it.

It obviously made big headlines in Boston as well as in the Tampa area. But the story was also picked up in places like Atlanta as well as making the “notes” section of many other papers across the country.

The other angle that cannot be ignored here is that Schilling is a free agent after this season and he is probably looking to increase the number of bidders for his services. His first choice is probably to remain with the Red Sox, and Schill may be bluffing interests in other teams to increase the offer from Theo Epstein.

Still, we doubt the Devil Rays are the longest shot at acquiring Schilling’s services. We would still give them better odds than half of the teams in Japan.

Curt Answer [tampabay.com]
Schilling’s comments devilish [boston.com]
Schilling exclaims his love for Devil Rays [AJC.com]

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• Scott Kazmir is frustrated by being pulled with lower pitch counts in the second half. In his last ten starts, he has topped 100 pitches only six times. [Devil Rays]

“It just frustrates me,” Kazmir said. “It’s kind of in my head. You come to the late innings and you always have to look at the pitch count. It’s something where you just don’t need it. You’ve got enough stuff going on; you don’t need to be looking at the pitch count.”

• Fernando Cabrera, who turned down a waiver claim by the Devil Rays, signed a minor league contract with the Baltimore Orioles. [Baltimore Sun]
• Seth McClung was called up to the majors by the Milwaukee Brewers after winning the PCL pitcher of the week award. In his first appearance, he nearly blew a 3-run 9th inning lead, allowing two runs before being pulled. Seth being Seth. [WFRV]
• Could the last two months of the regular season be Joel Guzman’s last chance to become an impact player? Minor League Beat thinks it might be. Reality is, Guzman only seems like he has been a prospect forever…well, because he has been. He was signed by the Dodgers when he was 16. But he is still only 22, and he has something you cannot teach…size. He is 6 foot-friggin-6-inches tall. The dud is huge and wings a mean stick. If he fails with the Rays, somebody else will certainly give him a shot. Carlos Pena anyone? [Minor League Beat]

The Hangover: Upton Stolen Bases Down In 2007

Indians 8, Devil Rays 1.
BJ Upton is hitting .313 with a .397 OBP. By our count he has been on base 160 times, between Tampa Bay and his rehab stint earlier this season. Yet despite the number of the high number of times on base, he has only stolen 13 bases in 19 attempts. His season totals of stolen bases prior to this year were 40, 24, 44 and 57. And granted he missed considerable time with a leg injury.

Joe Maddon may be hesitant to send Upton following the injury, but he was not even running before the injury. 13 of the stolen bases came before the injury. Upton was on pace for approximately 30 stolen bases for the year before going to the DL. That is a paltry total for a player with Upton’s speed that is having such an outstanding offensive season.

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• Ben Zobrist was injured and had to be removed from the game. He is likely headed to the DL. [Devil Rays]
• Marc Topkin speculates that Joel Guzman could be called up to replace Ben Zobrist. [tampabay.com]
• Contrary to earlier reports, Fernando Cabrera has not signed with the Devil Rays. Rather, he turned down the Rays’ waiver claim and decided to become a free agent. [Devil Rays]
• A new Tampa Bay sports blog has started with an open letter to Stuart Sternberg. The author suggests that the Rays need to go after big names this off-season, listing several examples, such as Bartolo Colon. The problem with this is that if the money is equal, no big-name free agent is coming to Tampa Bay. Therefore, not only would the Rays need to open up the pocketbook, they will have to go above and beyond what other teams offer, by a considerable margin. [Tampa Bay Sports Report]

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]

The Hangover: Innings Start To Pile Up For James Shields And Scott Kazmir

Red Sox 3, Devil Rays 0.
Well, you saw that one coming. Not only did the Rays not get to their hotel until 6:30 in the morning, but Red Sox fans are so desperate these days that one panicked member of Pink Sox Nation felt that the Scarlett Ho’s needed help against the team with the worst record in baseball. That’s right, at 8:00 AM the fire alarm at the Rays’ hotel “mysteriously” went off.

We never thought we would do this…but we are openly rooting for the Yankees to overcome the last few games so that the 2007 Red Sox go down in history as the team that blew a 14.5 game lead.

With James Shields throwing 6 more innings last night and Scott Kazmir on the mound tonight, the biggest concern for the last few weeks of the season is the number of innings pitched by each pitcher. After tonight, if Joe Maddon sticks to his five-man rotation for the rest of the season, both pitchers will have eight more starts. Kazmir is averaging 6 innings per start which puts him on pace for 205 for the year. Shields is averaging 6.8 innings per start and is on pace for 225.1 innings.

Young pitchers are notorious for having off-years after seasons in which they throw considerably more innings than they are used to. Kazmir’s professional career high is 186 innings in 2005, and if he throws 205 this year, that would only be a 10.2% increase over his previous career high. However, Kazmir may have felt the effects of throwing all those innings in 2005 by experiencing a tired shoulder in the second half of 2006.

Shields threw 186 innings last year which bested his previous career high by 43 innings. We may have seen the effects during a recent 8 start stretch in which he went 2-6, during which he may have been suffering from a “dead arm”. Still, Shields is on pace to top last years’ innings total by 21.1% which must be of concern for Joe Maddon, Andrew Friedman and Devil Rays fans everywhere.

It will be interesting to see how Maddon handles both pitchers down the stretch. We could see Maddon limit their pitch counts with both pitchers being pulled after 80-90 pitches in an effort to save their arms. The other option which may be more likely, is to see Friedman promote Jeff Niemann and go with a 6-man rotation for the final month of the season. Such a move would mean 1-2 fewer starts and 12-13 fewer innings in 2007.

Spring Training 2008 has already begun and several pitchers are auditioning for jobs. Such is not the case for Kid K and James Shields. Those two can already be penciled in at the top of the rotation so there is nothing left to prove in 2007 and no reason to push them too hard. Let them continue to work and continue to improve, but it is time to reel them back a little bit and ease up on their workload as a preventative measure for 2008.

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• Tim Wakefield had a no-hitter through 6 innings that was broken up by Carl Crawford. [TBO]
• Both David Price and Fernando Cabrera remain unsigned. Why is everybody all worked up about Cabrera, a pitcher with a 5.00+ ERA each of the last two seasons? We have no idea. Could he be good? Sure. But people are acting like this guy is a savior. Calm down folks. His numbers mirror Chad Orvella. [TBO]
• Remember the crazy Canadian that tortured himself by writing about (pronounced “A-BOOT” in Canadian) the history of the Devil Rays? Well he is back today with a look at how things are getting better. [Jack Jock’s Thought]
• According to The Pig Pen, the Devil Rays have the worst uniforms in the American League. Certainly they do not have the history of the Yankees or the Red Sox, but the Rays green and grey are not that bad. In fact, we are hesitant to see the change of colors to be presented this fall. [The Pig Pen]

The Hangover: Casey Fossum Tries Not To Let Door Hit Him In The Ass On The Way Out

Rangers 7, Devil Rays 4.
Remember that 2-game winning streak and series-split in Detroit? Seems like a distant memory after last night’s loss and knowing that Edwin Jackson is on the mound tonight.

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• Andy Sonnanstine is learning that what worked in the minors is not necessarily going to work in the majors and that he will need to take a different approach on the mound. The Duke is learning that he cannot get away with bad breaking pitches like he could at other levels. The breaking balls were so bad last night that even Joe Maddon was critical. [TBO]

“The breaking ball’s what’s getting him in trouble right now,” said Maddon. “He did a lot better job with his fastball today and he made some bad pitches with his breaking ball that they hurt us with. … We have to get beyond that with him. We have to make better pitches in those moments and he’s got to get his breaking pitches to better locations.”

• Did the Devil Rays cost the Red Sox a World Series title in 2005 and a shot at back-to-back championships? Gee we hope so. [Sully Baseball]
• Casey Fossum had to choose between being sent to AAA Durham and free agency. He opted for Free Agency and the Rays released the veteran on Friday. Fossum may choose to stay home for the rest of the season with his newborn as the Rays are still on the tab for the rest of Fossum’s 2007 salary as well as his 2008 buyout of $300,000. [Bradenton Herald]
• In the latest Baseball Prospectus Power Rankings (Devil Rays are 29th), they summed up the 2007 version of Casey Fossum better than we could have ever hoped. We would have chosen “vomit-inducing”. [Baseball Prospectus]

The Rays finally take mercy on their fans and demote Casey Fossum, whose VORP is so low we have to get special permission from Keith Woolner just to display it (if you’re looking at just the Rays staff, you’ll want to invest in appropriate protection). Fossum’s 7.70 ERA may be dreadful, but consider that it’s dressing up a major-league worst 9.21 Fair Run Average. Kudos to the Rays for taking only until the first week of August to figure out that wasn’t working.

• Carl Crawford was named the MVN “MLB Power Slugger of the Week”. [Power Rankings]
• There is a lot of talk that the Rays are interested in released relief pitcher Fernando Cabrera. We don’t mind taking a flyer on the kid, but we are weary. He has impressive minor league numbers but has been given several chances to succeed at the major league level. In 33.2 innings this season he has a 5.61 ERA and 39 strikeouts to go with 22 walks. Last season he posted a 5.19 ERA in 60.2 innings with 71 strikeouts and 32 walks. [tampabay.com]
• Rocco Baldelli is hoping to make a rehab appearance by the end of the month and be back with the parent club soon thereafter. But when he does return he will not resume his role of starting center fielder. BJ Upton will continue to be the regular center fielder and Baldelli will get spot starts there occasionally. He will also see time in right field and left field when Carl Crawford and Delmon Young need days off. [TBO]
• Marc Lancaster says that “all indications are the Devil Rays will be able to work out a deal with top overall draft pick David Price by Wednesday’s deadline…” yet he does not let the readers know what those indications are. No quotes. No hunches. No actions. If Price does sign there is no indication as to whether or not he will make his professional debut this season. The minor league seasons end in 2-3 weeks. [TBO]

“If he does sign with the Rays,” [Bo] McKinnis said (David Price’s representative), “then he is definitely in shape to pitch in games, if the Devil Rays choose for him to do so…David is extremely competitive,” McKinnis said. “He hasn’t been in competition since early June, so he’s anxious to pitch in any game – a Vanderbilt game, a Hudson Valley game, a Columbus game, etc.”