[THE HANGOVER] Josh Paul Is Still Favorite To Be Backup Catcher

Tampa Bay Rays (42 days until Opening Day)

Joe Maddon stated that Shawn Riggans is the favorite to be the backup catcher on opening day. Papa Joe then commented on what his criteria is for a backup catcher.

“The backup guy should be pretty effective defensively,” Maddon said. “It’s not an easy position. The guys that do it well make it look easy, but it’s not easy. Part of their job really is to help the starting catcher. … It’s like a good backup quarterback in football.”

This only surprises us because Maddon actually commented on the situation, but it does not surprise us that he named Riggans even though we project Josh Paul to win the job. Keep in mind that Riggans is the only candidate that is actually on the 40-man roster at this point. Paul and Mike DiFelice are in essence getting “tryouts”. They are on minor league deals and have done nothing yet to earn a major league contract. If the team had absolute confidence in one or the other, they would not be on minor league deals.

The team has made it clear that they prefer a veteran backup catcher to help further the development of starter Dioner Navarro. Just don’t expect Papa Joe to admit that publicly because he would have to say that he prefers a player that is not on the team over a player that is on the team.

At the end of the day, we still feel Josh Paul will be the Rays backup catcher and it is Riggans that needs to “win” the job. Paul has the edge in experience, better defensive abilities and a strong familiarity with the pitching staff and Navarro. Riggans would have to outperform Paul defensively in Spring Training to make the roster and we are not convinced he can.

Notes: Iwamura ready for second base [Tampa Bay Rays]

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• Marc Topkin takes a look at the Rays trio of young talented starting pitchers. Jim Hickey feels that 26 teams in the league would prefer to have Scott Kazmir, James Shields and Matt Garza as their top 3 pitchers. [St. Pete Times]

As Rays officials went back over the last several decades, they came up with only a few teams that had three starters who were so young with the chance to be so good. There were the A’s of the early 2000s with Tim Hudson, Mark Mulder and Barry Zito. The Marlins of the same era with Josh Beckett, Brad Penny and Dontrelle Willis. The Braves of the early 1990s with Steve Avery, Tom Glavine and John Smoltz. And not too many others…”It’s certainly a rare commodity,” senior vice president Gerry Hunsicker said, “to have three young pitchers with the talent level that we’re going to run out there.”

• A quick video interview with David Price as well as a look at him throwing off a mound. (Link will open a video player) [Tampa Bays 10]
• Rays of Light begins a series in which they will spotlight certain Rays. First up is Akinori Iwamura. [Rays of Light]
• Beyond the Boxscore makes an argument for Fred McGriff to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. We think the Crime dog was a very good and very consistent player, but he was what Mike Francessa would call a “compiler”. His numbers look good because he played for a long time, not because he was a great player. We witnessed most of McGriff’s career and never once did we watch McGriff and think “There goes one of the greatest baseball player’s ever”. Sorry. Great guy, very good player, but when the voting comes, we would be surprised if he cracks 25%. [Beyond the Boxscore]
• We were in Austin this weekend. Apparently so was Matt Silverman. He was running in the Austin half-marathon. We were sitting in the front yard drinking Mimosas watching the half-marathoners and marathoners run by. [Rays Report]
• Baseball Prospectus projects the Rays to finish 82-80. The biggest change will be in the pitching. They project that the Rays will increase their scoring from 782 to 788 runs in 2008 and will decrease their runs allowed from 944 to 776. [Baseball Prospectus]
• Sean Deveney of The Sporting News feels the Rays and the Nationals have a special kinship because they have both sucked recently. The similarities are a stretch and include small fanbase (usually goes hand-in-hand with sucking), long odds to win the 2008 World Series (again, sucking), good young third basemen (1 spot out of 25 is similar), and both teams want to improve their image (as do most sucky teams). [The Sporting News]

[THE HANGOVER] New Deals For Shields And Pena May Keep Both From Being Traded During Arbitration Years

Tampa Bay Rays (18 days until pitchers and catchers report)
Just the links today as we mourn the 15th anniversary of the passing of one of our childhood faves, Andre the Giant, and wish a happy birthday to another one of our childhood faves, Keith Olbermann. What better way to celebrate then to bake a chocolate cake on National Chocolate Cake Day!

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• In Marc Topkin’s latest piece, he speculates on what James Shields’ deal means for Scott Kazmir. Kazmir says that the deal has little bearing on his contract status as they are in difference situations (Kazmir is in his arbitration years). Later on in the piece Topkin raises a good point we had not considered before in regards to the recent deals for Shields and Carlos Pena. He states that even though the deals only take away a minimal number of free agent years, the contracts will also keep the Rays from being forced to trade one or the other at any time during their arbitration years. So while the players were locked up for X number of years prior to the deals (five years in Shields case) the deals do make it easier for the team to keep the players during those locked-up years. [St. Pete Times]

Shields’ deal technically would only keep him around for two extra free-agent seasons, but another benefit of these type of deals is cost certainly during arbitration years, which could prevent the Rays from having to trade him, as the Marlins did when arbitration-eligible Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis became too expensive.

• The Bradenton Herald says that the moves made this off-season are not a ploy by the team to earn support for a new stadium, and the timing is just a coincidence. [Bradenton Herald]
• Jim Hickey expects the bullpen to be much better in 2008 (Couldn’t be any worse). But what is interesting in the piece, when Hickey speaks of Troy Percival, Al Reyes, Dan Wheeler and Gary Glover. “When I end up talking about bullpen guys, you always talk about if you’re comfortable sending a guy out there, and right there are four guys I’m comfortable sending out there in pretty much any situation at all.” It is pretty clear from that quote, that Glover will be on the opening day roster. In our most recent 25-man roster projection (in the sidebar), we did not have Glover’s position listed as “secure”. We will have to change that in our next evaluation. That leaves three spots in the ‘pen. Long Reliever is likely to be one of the starting pitchers that does not win a spot in the rotation. Lefty-Specialist is a player-to-be-signed later. The final spot is up for grabs with Juan Salas and Scott Dohmann being the leading candidates (Salas has a minor league option remaining). [TBO]
• DRays Bay takes a look at every player invited to Spring Training and what each player’s chances are of making the team. [DRays Bay]
• Fox Sports lists Andy Sonnanstine as one of ten players that could break out in 2008. [Fox Sports]

With guys like Scott Kazmir, James Shields and Matt Garza in the Tampa Bay rotation, it’s easy to forget about Sonnanstine. However, he’s impressive in his own right. Sonnanstine boasts a low arm angle, an array of pitches, and an ability to change speeds. None of his offerings wow scouts, but in four minor-league seasons he logged a 2.56 ERA and a stellar strikeout-to-walk ratio of 6.2 to 1. Last season in Tampa, Sonnanstine struggled in terms of keeping runs off the board, but he did strike out more than three times as many batters as he walked. Given his command skills, Sonnanstine is one to watch in 2008.

• Evan Longoria will wear #3 in Spring Training. He wears #6 in the minors.
• The Rays have signed relief pitcher Scott Munter to a minor league contract. Munter was a 47th round selection of the Giants in 2000 and somehow has managed to earn three different stints with the Giants despite a career minor league record that includes almost as many walks (134) as strikeouts (175 in 334.1 innings). [Baseball America]
• RotoAuthority has their projection for James Shields numbers in 2008. Interestingly, the projection calls for a year not quite as a good as last year, with 13 wins and a 4.06 ERA. [RotoAuthority]

THE HANGOVERDevil Rays To Play "Home" Games At Champion Field. Queue The Soiled Underwear Jokes

Team USA 3, Peo Saguaros 0.
Evan Longoria was 0-3 and is now hitting .308 in the Arizona Fall League. Justin Ruggiano did not play. On Wednesday, Longoria went 2-4 with 2 doubles and 2 runs scored in Team USA’s 5-3 win over Surprise. Ruggiano went 1-4 with a triple and an RBI.

Scottsdale 6, Surprise 0.
Mike Prochaska started and pitched 5 shutout innings, allowing only 2 hits and 1 walk with 3 strikeouts. Evan Meek and Calvin Medlock each pitched an inning of relief striking out a combined 3 batters and allowing 2 hits. Each pitcher threw a wild pitch.

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• The Devil Rays are currently in negotiations with Disney to play a a series at Disney’s Wild World of Sports for the second consecutive season. If a deal can be reached, the games will be played in the newly named Champion Stadium after a deal was reached with Hanes clothing. The Devil Rays playing home games in “Champion” Stadium? There is no way this ends well in the Blogosphere. [Orlando Sentinel]
• Jim Hickeywill be back in 2008 as the Rays pitching coach. [TBO]
• MLB4U has a list of all the free agents that the Devil Rays will not be pursuing this off-season. [MLB4U]
• Does Matt Silverman have a new girlfriend? Nadya seems to think so. No details though. Damn it. [AOL Journals]
• ArmchairGM takes a look at Evan Longoria. [ArmchairGM]
• When we first read that Rays announcers Dewayne Staats, Joe Magrane and Todd Kalas were all up for the Frick Award we were taken back a bit. The award is presented annually during the Hall of Fame induction ceremonies and is given to a broadcaster that makes major contributions to baseball. We were a bit surprised. They are decent, but never have we thought that they added very much to a game. Not bad. Not great…Then we read the fine print and realized that the only reason they are “up for the award” is because every announce with 10 years experience is up for the award. A final list of 10 candidates will be announced in December. We are still wondering why Bill Chastain decided that this deserved its own piece on DevilRays.com. [DevilRays.com]
• Wanna meet Kevin Costner? Here is your chance. If we win, we are showing up dressed like his character from “The Postman”. [DevilRays.com]
• Tampa Bay Sports Fanatic takes a look at how all the Rays farmhands are performing in the Arizona Fall League. [Tampa Bay Sports Fanatic]
  

The Hangover: The Rays Claim Kurt Birkins From Orioles

Scottsdale 8, Team USA 6.
Reid Brignac continues to struggle in the AFL. Against Team USA, Brignac went 1-5 with a strikeout and is now hitting .193. Evan Longoria played third and hit clean-up for Team USA, going 1-5 with a run scored. He is now 3-12 with 3 singles in 3 games with Team USA. Justin Ruggiano went 0-2 for Team USA playing left field and batting sixth.

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• The Rays claimed another player off waivers. This time it was pitcher Kurt Birkins from the Orioles. To make room on the roster, they DFA’d Raul Cassanova. There is a good chance that Cassanova will be retained by the club once he clears waivers. [tampabay.com]
  
• Everybody wants Carl Crawford on their team…until they realize what it will cost to get him there. This time it is the Cubs. Listen Cubs fans…it will take 1) Pitching; 2) Major League Pitching; 3) A young stud Major League Starter; 4) And then throw in a prospect or two. And honestly, we do not see any players on the Cubs roster that fits the criteria. Good luck with the Torii Hunter negotiations. [Yahoo! Sports]
• Bugs & Cranks has more YouTube footage of Elijah Dukes in the Dominican Winter League in their latest installment of “The Redemption of Elijah Dukes”. [Bugs & Cranks]
• Martin Fennelly compares the Rays to the Ugly Duckling now that they are the only franchise that has never made a postseason appearance and they are the only one of the last four expansion teams to not make it to the World Series. [TBO]
• The Austin American-Statesman takes a look at the only four teams never to reach the world series and wonders which one of “The Final Four of Bad Baseball Teams” will be the first to break the drought. They compare the Devil Rays to the Mets of the late 60’s. [Austin American-Statesman]
• The Rays front office released a statement indicating that Jim Hickey will remain with the club as the team’s pitching coach. [TBO]
• Rotoworld ranks the Devil Rays as the 21st most likely destination for Alex Rodriguez. [Rotoworld]

It’d be something if the Rays could upstage Tampa’s other team by bringing in Rodriguez, but there’s been nothing to suggest they’d be willing to double their payroll.

The Hangover: Evan Longoria Still Hitting Home Runs And Little Else In Arizona

Scottsdale Scorpions (5-0)
Up and down weekend for Evan Longoria in the Arizona Fall League. The Dirtbag homered on Thursday and Friday to bring his streak to 3 straight games with a home run. He is tied for the league lead with 3 home runs and 5 RBI, but only has 1 other hit and is 4-18 (.222). Even more surprising is that Longoria has 8 strikeouts in 5 games with only 1 walk. While Longoria has not been immune to the strikeout, his strikeout to walk ratio has been the most telling stat of his young professional career. In 136 games between Montgomery and Durham, The Dirtbag struck out 110 times compared to 73 walks. A ratio close to 1:1 is usually a strong indicator of future success at higher levels.

Reid Briganc went 2-9 in 2 games over the weekend. Mike Prochaska started on Saturday and was knocked out after giving up 6 runs in 1 inning.

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• We have heard and read the calls for the Rays to hire Leo Mazzone as pitching coach after he was let go by the Baltimore Orioles. We have no doubt that Mazzone would be a good pitching coach with the Rays but we have to agree with Rays of Light that he would not be a good fit. If the Rays decide to part ways with Jim Hickey after his recent DUI arrest and after the Rays finished with the worst ERA in baseball, his replacement is most likely already on the payroll. We don’t see any reason to go out and hire Mazzone for something between $500,000 and $1 million when the team’s top coaching prospect is a pitching coach at AAA Durham. Xavier Hernandez has a great track record and already has an existing relationship with many of the Rays young pitchers as well as many of the prospects that will be wearing Rays uniforms in the near future. We would not want the Rays to sign a free agent third baseman with Evan Longoria so close to the majors, so why should the Rays do the same with Hernandez? [Rays of Light]
  
• Ryan Royster was named the Minor League Baseball’s Single-A offensive player of the year. [MiLB]
• U.S.S. Mariner handed out their organizational grades and the Rays were one of only three teams to receive an A. [U.S.S. Mariner]
• The Rays have finished 5th in 9 of the team’s 10 seasons. This promotion only seems logical. Gives new meaning to “One for the thumb” [The Harrumph Herald]

The Hangover: DRays Bay Still Committed To Tampa Bay Rays Despite New Colors

Devil Rays (66-96)
Our questions have been answered!

DRaysBay will be changing their colors to match those of the new Tampa Bay Rays uniforms and logos that will debut next season. They will also be changing their logo (Please make it a sunburst!). Patrick Kennedy sounds like a kid losing his woobie when he talks of trying to refer to the team by their new moniker.

I will try and respect the team’s decision and refer to the team as the ‘Rays’ as much as I possibly can, although having grown up a fan of the Devil Rays and having written about the team online for 33 months, that will be admittedly difficult.

But one thing will not change at DRaysBay…

we are all committed to wanting the Devil Rays to become a championship organization as soon as possible.

Thats right folks. DRaysBay writers are “committed to wanting” the Rays to be good. We are not sure what “committed to wanting” means, but we envision all the writers at DraysBay already have “Tampa Bay Devil Rays: World Champions” tattooed on their asses. Now that is “commitment to wanting”.

DRaysBay to Change as the Team Does [DRaysBay]

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• On the last day of the season, Jim Hickey, passed Randy Johnson, and took home the “Most White Trash Story of the Year” Award. [Drunk Jays Fans]
• The Hardball Times takes a close look at Scott Kazmir and try to answer questions concerning where his career is headed. One has to wonder if Derek Carty was the right choice to write this piece. Can a Mets fan truly analyze Kid K from an unbiased viewpoint? [The Hardball Times]
• When Jake McGee and Wade Davis go out to dinner, do they go to the bathroom together? Once again the two pitching prospects are found attached at the hip. This time it is on Baseball America’s list of the top 20 prospects in the Florida State League. McGee and Davis are #3 and #4 respectively. [Baseball America]
• Joe Henderson believes that the Rays may regret the decision to not extend the contract of Bill Evers. We don’t like the idea of losing a guy like Evers will all his experience and old-school style, but a bench coach needs to be a consigliere…His confidant. Apparently Joe Maddon and Bill Evers did not have this type of relationship and bench coach is the one assistant that the manager needs to be completely comfortable with. [TBO]

The Hangover: Even Without Long-Term Deals, Look For Carlos Pena And Scott Kazmir To Avoid Arbitration

Devil Rays

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• The Ledger takes a look at the upcoming arbitration cases of Scott Kazmir and Carlos Pena. Another thing to always consider when teams deal with arbitration and their top players. A big incentive to avoid arbitration is that teams do not like having to go into an arbitration hearing and trash their top players in an effort to show why the player does not deserve more than they are offering. It can lead to hurt feelings and increase the chances of the player leaving the team once they hit their free agency years. While the Rays will try to work out long-term deals with both, if that does not happen, it does not necessarily mean they will automatically go to arbitration. Once each side submits a salary to the arbitrator, they will often find a middle number and agree on a one-year contract avoiding the arbitration hearing. This was the route taken by the Marlins and Dontrelle Willis last season when they agreed on a 1-year deal for $6.5 million. Look for Kid K’s number to come in just south of that one. Let’s say $5-5.5 million. [The Ledger]
• Evan Longoria was named to the USA National Baseball Team that will compete in IBF World Cup in November. [tampabay.com]
• Andy Sonnanstine. Yuo have never looked so good. Not sure. We think the first attempt is a more accurate mugshot. Either way, willing to bet Jim Hickey’s mugshot looked half as good as either of these. [Baseball Mugshots]
• A look at David Price’s already impressive career. [Prospect Spotlight]
• Tampa Bay Sports Fanatic believes the Rays should pursue Pudge Rodriguez if the Tigers decide not to exercise his option. First of all, his salary demands would not fit into the Rays projected payroll for 2008. Second of all, Dioner Navarro firmly established himself as a major league catcher in the second half of this season. His defense is already strong and getting better, and he already knows the young pitching staff very well. And finally, we are talking about Pudge Rodriguez. Hall-of-Famer? Sure. Over-the-hill? Probably. Not to mention his defense has always been slightly over-rated, and has a long reputation of not being much of a team player. This is a guy that would call fastballs when the situation demanded something different, just so he would have a better chance of throwing out a base stealer. [Tampa Bay Sports Fanatic]

The Hangover: Will Jim Hickey’s Arrest Open Door For Xavier Hernandez?

Devil Rays (66-96)

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• The Rays 68-94 record was only 2 wins less than their expected final record. [Baseball Musings]
• Jim Hickey. We guess being the coach of one of the worst pitching staffs ever would be reason to drink, but it is not reason to drive and it is not reason to take your frustration out on the batboy. By the looks of the mugshot, Hickey lost the argument. [Lion in Oil]
• Jim Hickey’s arrest comes only days before the team is to decide whether he and the rest of the coaching staff will be retained in 2008. Hitting coach Steve Henderson is the most likely coach to come back. Before Sunday, we would have assumed that Hickey was a lock to be given at least one more season to work with the staff. However, after his DUI, the Rays may turn to their pitching coach-in-waiting, Xavier Hernandez, who is highly regarded for the work he has done the last two seasons at Montgomery and Durham and with whom many of the Rays younger pitchers are already familiar and comfortable with. [tampabay.com]
• Its difficult to make an assessment of Akinori Iwamura’s ability to play second base, based on one game and especially one play, but when the opportunity arrived to turn his first double play from the middle infield, Mu-Rah was flawless. [TBO]
• Scott Kazmir finished as the Major League leader in strikeouts. Of course that goes a long ways to explaining whe he led the majors with 6,432,867 pitches thrown. [Bradenton Herald]
• Carlos Pena was named the AL Player of the Week for the final week. [tampabay.com]
• Carlos Pena finished with 46 home runs in less than 500 at bats, which makes him the most underrated first baseman in baseball. “If Pena was a Red Sox or Yankee’s player he would finish second in MVP voting. Instead he was underrated.” Actually, if Pena was playing for almost any other team, he probably finishes second in the MVP voting. That is the mark of being underrated. [I’m smarter than you]
• ArmchairGM makes a case for considering Carlos Pena for MVP. [ArmchairGM]
• Carlos Pena is a finalist for the “Pepsi Clutch” award that goes to the clutchiest player. We agree that he is a worthy nominee, but we disagree with the notion that “few people knew of Pena before the year”. Anybody that follows baseball even remotely, knew of Pena as one of the top prospects in baseball a few years ago. [MLB]
• We have a feeling that Delmon Young will finish second in the Rookie of the Year balloting, but it will not be because of his outburst following Saturday’s game in which Joe Maddon pulled Young from the game for not running out a ground ball. Ballots for the award were due on either Sunday or Monday, which means most writers are likely to have already made their selections prior to Saturday. [Yahoo! Sports]
• It was a disastrous season for Korean baseball players. Of course, Jae Seo, Jae Kuk Ryu and Hee Seop Choi were all member of the Devil Rays at one point, so it is kind of like the Chicken and the Egg argument. [Korean Times]
• Greg Norton will have surgery on his elbow. A case can be made that Norton should share team MVP honors with Carlos Pena. If Norton had not gotten hurt the final week of Spring Training and was hitting well to start the season, it might have taken the team a while to call up Pena. [Devil Rays]
• Some of the players believe that the team is very close to competing. [tampabay.com]

“We don’t need much,” All-Star Carl Crawford said. “Maybe another starter and probably a little more bullpen help. Just three players and we’re right there. We’re right at the tip.”

• Marc Lancaster takes a look back at the 2007 season and hands out a bunch of awards, we like to call the Marckie Marcs. Our favorite category is “Veteran of the Year” for a team that has exactly 3 players over the age of 12. And then there is the “Most Frustrating Season”. He should just rename that one the “The Rocco”. He also looks ahead to what we can expect for 2008. [TBO]
• Marc Lancaster can’t wait for next year. We would take it a step further. We would like to replay this season with the group the Rays ended with. Playoff contender? probably not, but definitely not the worst team in the league and maybe a run at .500 would be in order. [TBO]
• Bill Chastain takes a look back at the 2007 season and calls the second half lineup “one of the best lineups in team history”. He also takes a look forward to 2008. [Devil Rays]
• Hey! It’s the off-season. It is time to start reading a million and one articles about how [Insert Team Name] should acquire Carl Craw
  ford and that the Rays would probably give him up for 20 rusty nickels. The Akron Beacon Journal wasted no time. [Ohio.com]

11 Questions For Chad Orvella

Chad Orvella was recently sent to AAA Durham after 10 appearances with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. In only his 4th full season as a pro, Orvella has spent parts of each of the last three seasons with the Devil Rays, but has yet to achieve the same level of success he has experienced at the minor league level. In 169 innings as a minor leaguer, Orvella has a 1.49 ERA and has recorded 241 strikeouts and only 33 walks which equate to 12.8 K/9 and 7.3 K:BB. Those numbers are incredible at any level. Still, Orvella has struggled at the major league level. In 82.1 innings he has an ERA of 5.79 and has only recorded 66 strikeouts with 53 walks. His rates at the major league level have dropped to 7.2 K/9 and 1.2 K:BB. Since being back in Durham, he is back to his dominating ways, with 5 strikeouts and no walks in 3 appearances (3 ip). He has allowed only 1 hit.

In order to better understand the struggles of the young relief pitcher, we emailed him some questions. He emailed us some answers…

[our thoughts on Chad’s comments follow the Q&A]

1. You were used sparingly as a pitcher at NC State. When did you first realize that your best chance of making it to the majors was as a pitcher and were you surprised that the Devil Rays drafted you with the intent of making you a full-time pitcher?

CO: When I went to the cape cod league I hit about .180 and realized I should probably get on the hill and scouts saw that I had a good arm and asked me to throw at a practice at NC State.

2. In only your fourth season as a full-time pitcher, you are still very early in your development. Explain how you work on your mechanics. Do you watch video of yourself or do you rely exclusively on the advice of the coaching staff?

CO: I’ve just started to watch video. It’s tough to work with a coaching staff because I’ve had so many different pitching coaches over the past four seasons. The one that’s seen me the most is Xavier Hernandez (Bulls current pitching coach) so if he has any advice I’ll listen to him.

3. This season you have worked with both Jim Hickey and Xavier Hernandez. How do their coaching styles differ? How are they similar?

CO: I think both of their styles are to be aggressive and be the aggressor as the pitcher. I haven’t really been able to work with Hickey too much but he seems like a good buy.

4. For a young pitcher that has bounced back and forth between the minors and the majors and from pitching coach to pitching coach, how do you adjust to the different environments and the many voices offering advice? How much do you lean on others besides your current pitching coach (other pitchers, catchers, former coaches, etc.)?

CO: You try to take a little advice from everybody and make it your own. Use what you can. Everybody has an opinion.

5. Dioner Navarro and Shawn Riggans are both talented catchers, but both are young. How important is it to a young pitcher and a young pitching staff to have a veteran like Josh Paul, in Tampa, or Raul Casanova earlier this season and Michel Hernandez now in Durham?

CO: I think it’s important because they may know some of the big league hitters, but having a catcher like Shawn Riggans, where he’s seen me throw for four years, I think is more important than having a veteran catcher that doesn’t know you at all.

6. After your most recent demotion, you once again were back to dominating hitters. It was reported that you discovered a flaw in the mechanics. If that was the case, what was the flaw and how was it discovered?

CO: Jamie Shields brought up an idea that my delivery has changed in the past couple years. A few years ago I used to squat down really low, in fact, the guys used to make fun of me because it looked like I was sitting in a chair. But I’ve gotten away from that and now my command has gotten worse. I’ve gone back to looking like I was crouching in a chair and it seems to be working.

7. When you do tweak your mechanics, how is the adjustment? Is it something that you are comfortable with and notice the improvement immediately or does it take getting used to?

CO: When I made this adjustment it was pretty quick. It’s just getting comfortable with it again. The biggest difference I see is in my off-speed stuff and how the hitters are reacting to that.

8. Have the Devil Rays indicated to you what you need to improve in order to be more consistent at the Major League level?

CO: They’ve just said that I need to be more consistent. I’ve always had a lot of success at Triple-A and throughout the minor leagues. They know I’ll do well here, but they’re sending me here to get more confidence.

9. In the minor leagues you have posted some prodigious strikeout totals and incredible strikeout to walk ratios. While it is not surprising that your strikeout totals have fallen at the major league level, it is surprising that you have struggled with your control. How would you explain the stark difference in your numbers from one level to the next?

CO: The strike zone is a little different. Calls that I might get in the minor leagues I don’t get up there. I think it just goes back to maintaining my aggressive style while in the big leagues and I’ve gotten away from that.

10. How would you describe pitching at the Trop? As a pitcher do you like pitching indoors? Does pitching so many games indoors make it difficult to adjust to games on the road? Would you consider it a hitters’ park or does it play fair?

CO: Pitching at the Trop is a little different. I don’t think anyone loves playing inside, but it’s something you get used to. It plays fair.

11. Who is one player on the Durham Bulls roster (pitcher or fielder) that may fly a bit under the prospect radar, but whom you think is on the verge of breaking out and will be a successful big leaguer?

CO: Jeff Ridgway. I think he’s got the stuff to be a very good big league pitcher. It’s just being consistent like everybody else. He’s on the verge of breaking out.

[Rays Index] We have been following Orvella’s progress for several years now and it is easy to forget that he has only been a pitcher for about five years. Also, looking back, Chad’s dominance at the minor league level may not have been the best scenario for his development.
While it gave him confidence to succeed, it may have also provided a false sense of security. It is telling that a young pitcher still learning the craft is just now beginning to use video. That indicates, that up to this most recent struggle, he has relied completely on natural ability, and never learned how to work through adversity.

It is also worth noting that Orvella was on the major league roster for over a month and yet he says that he really hasn’t yet had a chance to work with Jim Hickey. We are no experts, but if a guy goes from 12 Ks per 9 innings to 7 and all of the sudden can’t find the strike zone after having impeccable control in the minors, the first thing we would do is dust off some videotape of Orvella from 2005 or 2006 and see if anything had changed. It is amazing that James Shields was the only person that noticed a change in Orvella’s mechanics.

Many, us included, have wondered aloud if Chad Orvella is a classic AAAA pitcher, with the ability to dominate the minor leagues, but without the stuff to succeed in the majors. Still, his minor league numbers are too impressive to write off and we need to remember that he is still learning how to pitch, how to succeed and how to handle adversity. If Al Reyes is traded before July 31 as we believe he will be, look for Orvella to emerge as either the Rays’ closer or 8th inning set-up guy in 2008.