The Hangover: Jorge Cantu’s Days As A Second Baseman Appear Over

• It is cold and rainy here in New York. We will see if we get this game off in time.
• It is still to be determined if Jorge Cantu will ever play for the Rays again, but we can be fairly certain that he will never play second base for the Rays again. When Cantu reports to Durham, he is expected to primarily play DH. Also, Cantu was scheduled to be arbitration eligible at the end of the season. Depending on how long he is in the minors this season, he may lose that eligibility until after the 2008 season.
• It’s not a good sign when the team’s just hopes the #2 starter will keep them in games. A good team would only say that about their #5 and possibly #4 starters.
• Apparently the Tampa Bay Business Journal decided they needed a poll to show that Devil Rays attendance will increase if the team wins more games. TBBJ calls it the “Business Pulse Survey”. We call it the “No Shit Sherlock Survey”. That was money and time well spent.
• Brendan Roberts of the Sporting News is a closet Devil Rays fan.
  
• The Hardball Times looks at Scott Kazmir and other good young lefties.
  
• There was more than one April Fool’s Day posts involving the Devil Rays, including one that said Carl Crawford was traded to the Braves, and had us do a double-take in our half asleep hangover state. However, that was not as entertaining as THIS one. We laugh because it is funny…we laugh because it is true.
• 2004 18th round pick Jimmy Scholzen, a short stop, has reported to his first minor league camp 2 years after signing a contract with the Devil Rays. The Rays allowed Scholzen to complete his two year Mormon mission despite signing a professional contract.
  

The Devil Rays Rotation Is Set And Edwin Jackson Appears To Be In

We are one week from opening day and based on the pitching assignments that manager Joe Maddon has utilized recently, we now know the order of the Rays starting pitching rotation and it hints at who the 5th starter is. First let’s look at the slots…

1. Scott Kazmir
2. Jae Seo
3. James Shields
4. Casey Fossum
5. Edwin Jackson/J. P. Howell
   

We already know that Scott Kazmir is going to be the opening day starter. Kaz made a start on Friday and will get the ball again on Wednesday, which will put him on normal rest for the opening day start in Yankee Stadium. Jae Seo pitched yesterday and will likely get the ball again on Friday. That will put him on a normal four days rest heading into the second game on Wednesday, after the off-day on Tuesday. James Shields is in the third slot, as he is on schedule to pitch the final game of the Yankees series, with Casey Fossum slotted to be the fourth starter. With Fossum pitching last Thursday and again this upcoming Tuesday, a normal four-days rest schedule would have him taking the mound in the Rays home opener against the Jays on Friday.

Kazmir and Seo as the first two starters is a surprise to nobody, but Maddon’s decision to go with Shields in game 3 is a telling one. This could be an indication that Papa Joe is leaning towards Edwin Jackson for the final spot in the rotation. If Maddon had gone with Fossum in the third slot, it would have given the Rays a lefty-righty-lefty-righty rotation at the top. However, given the current order of starting pitchers, if J. P. Howell were to earn the final spot, the Rays will send out lefties on three straight days (Fossum, Howell, Kazmir). That is a situation most managers would try to avoid. Jackson in the 5th spot would break up the two lefties.

Jackson and Howell two have very similar spring numbers. Howell has given up 13 hits, 5 walks and 1 hit batter with 9 strikeouts in 15 innings (1.80 ERA). In 14.2 innings, Jackson has allowed 10 hits, 8 walks and struck out 13 (1.84 ERA). With Jackson out of minor league options Howell probably would have needed to be markedly better than Jackson this spring to win the final spot. Maddon will probably make his decision official on Thursday. Whoever starts on Thursday will be on schedule to pitch the 5th game of the season.

With the off day the first week, the Rays may choose to skip the fifth spot in the rotation the first time through. If that is the case, the Rays will not need a fifth starter until the ninth game of the season, against the Rangers. However, last season Maddon chose to give Kazmir an extra day of rest the first week as he did use the teams 5th starter the first time through the order.

The Hangover: The Damnedest Spring Training Ever

• Remember when the Rays were 1-14? Another win last night on a walk-off single by Elijah Dukes in the 10th and the Rays have now won 5 of 7. B. J. Upton had two RBI and two more hits and now has his spring average up to .277. Casey Fossum might just fool us all and be healthy going four innings last night.
• Joe Maddon hopes that Rocco Baldelli and his sensitive hamstrings will be back in the lineup by Monday.
• Dioner Navarro was back behind the plate last night for three innings. He will have today off and resume full time duties tomorrow.
• Joe Maddon made official what Rays fans already knew. The battle for the 5th spot in the rotation is down to two, Edwin Jackson and J. P. Howell.
• Metsblog found an interesting quote from Jae Seo in a Korean publication. I really want to finish my career as a Met. But ’til then I’d like to stay in Tampa because I love the coaching staffs and trainers here.
• Hee-Seop Choi has been assigned to minor league camp. Choi was only 3-19 this spring, appearing in 12 games.
• Devil Rays poetry? Anybody know what is going on here?
• The thought of Jae Seo being a professional soccer or basketball player makes us giggle.
• That Jim Caple…he so funny. Tell us Jim. When was the last time the Rays traded a player before he was arbitration eligible?

The Hangover: Devil Rays Set To Announce 2010 Opening Day Starter

Courtesy of Paul Lukas of Uniwatch here is a shot of Akinori Iwamura wearing Oakley Thumps, with built-in MP3 player during warm-ups.

• Don’t look now, but the Rays have all of a sudden won three of their last five. Yesterday’s 7-0 victory over Cleveland was their best all-around performance of the spring as the pitchers gave up only a single hit and the offense cranked out 14.
• Well, this can’t be good. Rocco Baldelli left yesterday’s game with a tight hamstring. Hamstring problems kept Rocco out of the lineup for the first two months of 2006.
• Jae Seo pitched six shutout innings, allowing only one hit in a AAA game.
• Joe Maddon unveiled his “new” lineup yesterday. By “new” we of course mean, “an awful lot like last year”, with Carl Crawford leading off, Ben Zobrist playing the role of Jay Bell as an “old-school” #2 hitter, Rocco Baldelli hitting third and Ty Wigginton hoping there are ducks on the pond when he gets up to bat in the #4 spot.
• Joe Maddon has been surprised by Akinori Iwamura’s speed. Maybe Muu-Rah was on to something when he said his goal for 2007 was to hit 20 home runs and steal 40 bases.
• We didn’t realize that a formal announcement was necessary, but Joe Maddon has named Scott Kazmir the opening day starter. Whew! Now we can sleep better at night. Maybe Papa Joe should go ahead and name Kid K the opening day starter for each of the next three seasons.
• 90 losses and the Rays would tie the all-time record for consecutive seasons of 90+ losses.

The Hangover: Jae Seo Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Gyroball

• Jae Seo looked strong with four shutout innings of 1-hit ball in the Rays loss. Seth McClung’s hopes for claiming the closer’s role took a big hit allowing five runs in one inning. The offense? Two hits! Both came in the seventh inning.
• Everyone in the organization has been saying the same thing. “We are not concerned with the record”. The latest was owner Stuart Sternberg. We agree that Spring records mean little, but when the team’s wins and losses are this extreme, you should be a little concerned. Players can easily begin to press and panic, when they should just be working on mechanics.
• Rays fans can take solace in the idea that so far the pitching hasn’t been that bad. We know this team can hit. and the offense should come around.
• Papa Joe Maddon would be less comfortable if the team was 14-1 and the players were feeling a little too good about their game.
• Jae Seo is throwing harder this Spring and he has added a new pitch.
• We are not gambling people, but there is one line that interests us. The over/under for team wins. The Rays number is 65. The only team with a smaller number is the Washington Nationals at 64. Remember, the line is considering that the Rays have to play the Red Sox, the Yankees, and the Jay 19 times each. Trying to be realistic about it, we think the number is a little low. We would probably put our own over/under number at 68.
• When the Rays sent Aubrey Huff to the Astros last year, many thought that Mitch Talbot was a throw-in. Andrew Friedman insisted he would not have made the deal without Talbot. Friedman is looking like a genius. He was optioned to AAA Durham on Tuesday but don’t be surprised if he is one fifth of the Rays rotation after the All-Star break.

The Hangover: Jae Seo Solid And Bullpen Still Sucks

We didn’t think it would be possible, but it looks like Casey Fossum has come up with a way to throw even slower than he did last season.

• Another game, and another solid performance by a Korean pitcher named Jae. Jae Seo made his first appearance of the Spring and pitched two perfect innings. Of course the bullpen turned in another horrid performance with Rudy Lugo, having his second consecutive poor performance and Chris Seddon combining to allow seven base runners and four runs in the final two innings.
• Some love for the Rays over at Sports Illustrated. In this preseason preview of the Rays, John Donovan refers to this group of Rays as the most talented assembly in the short history of the franchise. You gotta love this quote from our cuddly teddy bear Elijah Dukes…

We’re good. Now. We have a bunch of guys who are going to want to show up to play. I believe that, this year, we can play over .500 ball.

• Josh Hamilton’s appearance against the Rays today will not happen because he is suffering from shin splints. and not because he is afraid to hit two home runs and embarrass his former team.
• Casey Fossum is further along than Joe Maddon thought he would be. Fossum is particularly impressed with himself because he is not hitting batters (not that is would hurt anybody). We still have a feeling that Fossum will start the season on the DL. That means there is probably going to be two openings in the rotation for the five pitchers that are competing for a spot.
• For all of the Rays that are still here from the 2005 roster, do NOT let them read this article about Lou Piniella. They might start twitching. Is calling him “Sweet Lou” the same thing as calling a large person “Tiny”?