[THE HANGOVER] The Price For Scott Kazmir Keeps Going Up

Tampa Bay Rays (66-96)
If the Rays want to sign Scott Kazmir to a long-term contract, they may want to do it sooner rather than later, because the price keeps going up. Jake Peavy signed a contract extension with the San Diego Padres that will guarantee him $65.5 million over the next 5 seasons. While Kid K has never won 19 games, much less a Cy Young Award, Kazmir’s career to date is very similar to Peavy’s first three full seasons and would it really surprise anybody if Kid K won 18-19 games this season? In 2007 he went 13-9 for a team that lost 96 games and possessed one of the worst bullpens in baseball history. Oh yeah, and he is left handed.

At the other end of the spectrum in terms of comparison is Jeff Francis, a lefty for the Colorado Rockies, who signed an extension prior to last season. A contemporary of Kazmir, there first two seasons were nearly identical, but Francis broke out last season, winning 17 games for a playoff team. Francis is due $19.25 million over the next four seasons. If the Rays are to sign Kazmir to an extension this off-season look for the numbers to fall somewhere between those two contracts. Let’s say 4 years/$26 million or 5 years/$38 million with the last year being a club option.

Peavy closes in on $52M extension [SI.com]

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• Omar Minaya says that the Mets don’t need another starting pitcher. Of course the Mets currently have Pedro Martinez, Orlando Hernandez, John Maine, Oliver Perez and a minor leaguer to be named later…Conclusion: Minaya is lying out his arse…We wonder if Mets fans have changed their tune about how they can thank the Scott Kazmir deal for Omar Minaya and all those championships they have won since he came on board. [SI.com]
• John Keri interviews Matt Silverman and Andrew Friedman. [ESPN]
• No surprise here, but it is now official…Akinori Iwamura will be the Rays second baseman whether or not Evan Longoria is ready to be a major league third baseman. Joe Maddon says that the Rays will “mix-and-match at third base until Evan is ready”. If Longoria does start the season in Durham, the most likely choice to be the Rays opening day third baseman is Joel Guzman, who has a gold-glove caliber glove but comes with a gold-glove size hole in his swing. [Yahoo! Sports]
• Baseball America says that the Rays suddenly have a lack of depth of outfielders in the organization and are likely to select Brian Barton in Thursday’s Rule 5 Draft. They say that there are questions concerning Barton, but that the upside is well-worth the selection. [Baseball America]

“Maybe he’s not the type runner he was prior to the (off-season knee) surgery,” said another AL front office executive. “Maybe he comes back and is the same kind of runner. But he’s got the ability to hit for average, has more pop than a lot of people give him credit, and can defend. He’s a little stiff on balls in on his hands, but you could definitely see him going to Tampa with everything they’ve shipped out.”

• Not so fast, Baseball America is now saying that the Rays will not select Brian Barton. Rather the Rays will either sell their selection or select a relief pitcher. BA also notes that Rays’ farmhand Evan Meek may be selected in the draft. Meek increased his stock in the Arizona Fall League after a mediocre 2007 in Montgomery. [Baseball America]
• The Rays need a left handed bat and a right fielder. Marc Topkin points out that there used to be a player in the organization that fit the bill perfectly…Josh Hamilton anybody? [tampabay.com]
• David Price was given his 2007 Baseball America College Player of the Year award yesterday at the Winter Meetings in Nashville. For the first time Rays management acknowledged Price could very well pitch for the Rays in 2008. [TBO]

“He can come quickly,” Rays manager Joe Maddon said this afternoon, adding that it was within the realm of possibility for Price to reach the majors sometime in 2008.

• David Price has set a target date of July 11 for his major league debut. That is July 11 of this season. It is not out of the realm of possibility that the Rays rotation in the second half is Kazmir-Shields-Garza-Price-Niemann, with Wade Davis and Jake McGee pounding the mitts in AAA gunning for a 2009 debut. [MLB]
• Mike Pagliarulo (that Pags?) calculates Carlos Pena’s value at $4-5 million and explains the correct way to determine the value of a player. [Dugout Central]

The Hangover: Reid Brignac Continues To Struggle In AFL

Scottsdale 7, Peo Javelinas 6 (10 inn.).
Evan Longoria has completed his tour of duty in the Arizona Fall League as he will now join Team USA as they compete in the World Cup in Chinese Taipei. Reid Brignac was the only Devil Ray in action yesterday, going 0-5 with an RBI ground out. He is now 5-42 (.119). After posting what were certainly disappointing numbers for the young shortstop this past season (.260-17-81, .760 OPS), one has to wonder if the AFL is doing more harm than good. It may be time to shut Brignac down for the year and let him get away from the game a little while, clear his head and then start preparing for 2008. Of course, the flip-side of the argument is that a young player needs to learn how to fight his way out of slumps, and the Cajun God of Baseball must be feeling rather mortal these days.

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• Just to show exactly how vague the definition is of “Comeback Player of the Year”, one of the NL nominees for the players association version of the award is Josh Hamilton, who only had a handful of games above single-A prior to this season. [Cincinnati Enquirer]
• Oh, and this just in…Josh Hamilton was kept on the Reds roster for the entire season and is now a permanent member of the Cincinnati ballclub. Of course we knew that back in March when Hamilton hit a game-winning 500-foot home run in one of his first spring training games.
• Chris Richard of the Durham Bulls, has started a regular off-season diary for the Bulls website. His most recent piece is on the use of human growth hormone from a player’s perspective. One point we disagree about with Richard is the perception of some fans. While there is an element of the fanbase that doesn’t care (a group that we believe is growing because the story is tiresome), we doubt there are many fans that think the use of performance enhancers is good because it produces players that “hit a ball 500 ft. and throw 100 mph.” Hitting 100 on the gun and blasting a tape-measure shot are specials feats in baseball because they are rare. Otherwise, as fans we do understand the frustration that must come from doing it the right way and having to compete for jobs with players that are cheating. But…and this is a Rosie O’Donnell BUT…we do not understand why the players and the players association do not take a more active role and we do not understand why their “hands are tied in politics”. [Durham Bulls]
• DRays Bay is reporting that Jae Seo and Tim Corcoran have been granted free agency. No surprise as both players were removed from the 40-man roster this past season. [DRays Bay]

Down On The Farm: Another Strong Outing By Josh Butler

Louisville 7, Durham 5. Jason Hammel struck out 9 in 5 innings but allowed 7 hits and 3 walks that led to 4 runs. Justin Ruggiano and Wes Bankston contributed 2 hits apiece. Ruggiano is now 12-38 (.315) with 4 home runs and 3 doubles in the past 9 games.

Montgomery 4, Carolina 3. Chris Seddon gave up 9 hits and 3 runs in 6 innings. Jason Pridie collected 2 hits and an RBI, including the game-winner in the bottom of the 9th. Reid Brignac, who has struggled this season, was moved from the 3-spot in the lineup to the 2-hole. He went 1-4 with a 2-run double. Those were his first RBI since May 23, a span of 11 games. Evan Longoria batted 3rd and went 0-4.

Vero Beach 8, Sarasota 4. Mike Wlodarczyk struck out 5 in 6 innings and allowed only 1 run on 4 hits and 2 walks. He is now 3-1 with a 3.49 ERA. Garrett Groce was 1-5 with a 2-run double. Rhyne Hughes was 2-3 and is now hitting .337.

Columbus 2, Rome 0. Josh Butler pitched 7 scoreless innings allowing only 3 hits and 1 walk while striking out 6. Last year’s 2nd round pick, is now 4-1 with a 2.14 ERA.

NOTES FROM DOWN ON THE FARM…

• Josh Hamilton hit his 4th home run in the 5th game of his rehab assignment against Durham on Saturday.

Down On The Farm: Josh Hamilton, Right Place, Wrong Team

Durham 5, Louisville 4 (10 inn). Mitch Talbot struck out 5 in 6 innings and allowed 3 runs on 5 hits and 3 walks. Ben Zobrist and Wes Bankston homered for the Bulls. Bankston’s 8th home run of the season came with 2 outs in the bottom of the 10th to give Durham the walk-off victory.

Huntsville 4, Montgomery 2. Reid Brignac and Evan Longoria were each 1-4. Brignac committed his 12th error. John Jaso was 2-3 to raise his average to .336. Mike Prochaska gave up 4 runs (3 earned) in 5.1 innings.

Charleston 5, Columbus 3. For only the 4th time in 11 starts, Heath Rollins allowed an earned run. Last night he allowed 1 run in 6 innings with 3 strikeouts and 2 walks.

NOTES FROM DOWN ON THE FARM…

• It took 8 years, but Josh Hamilton finally played in Durham. Hamilton is on a rehab assignment with the Louisville Bats. That sound you just heard was millions hundreds of Rays fans screaming out in pain.
  
• Jae Kuk Ryu, will join the rotation in Durham.

The Hangover: Handin’ Out Delmons And Chasing Charlie Hough

Devil Rays 4, Twins 3.
Delmon Young likes to throw things very hard and very far and very accurately. We call it Gettin’ A Delmon…Jason Kubel Got A Delmon…In the 4th inning, Kubel rambled a little too far towards second base on a line drive to Delmon Young in right center. Despite catching the ball while moving away from first base, Young turned and fired a pea to Carlos Pena at first to double-up Kubel and get the Rays out of the inning…Justin Morneau Got A Delmon…In the 6th inning, Morneau hit a rocket off the right field wall that would be a double on any other night. But on this night Delmon Young was roaming the FieldTurf II of the Trop. He played the ball off the wall, spun and fired a rocket to Brendan Harris at second base. Both Kubel and Morneau should just be grateful that Young wasn’t throwing a bat.

As for the rest of the game, the Rays once again were able to get to Twins closer Joe Nathan, scoring 2 in the 9th to tie the game. In 3 appearances this season against the Rays (3 innings) Nathan has given up 9 hits and 4 runs. In his other 10 appearances (10.1 innings) he has allowed only 10 hits and 1 run. In the bottom of the 10th inning (the Rays first extra inning affair of the year) Ben Zobrist fell rounding third base on Harris’ double, but made up for the gaffe beating the throw home on Dioner Navarro’s ground ball to short.

The Rays are now in sole possession of third place in the AL East, 5.5 games behind the Red Sox and only 1 game behind the Jays for 2nd place. Even more intriguing is that the Rays are only 4 games back in the wild card. But that is the last time we will mention that number until the Rays reach a more important milestone, .500. In our minds there are three numbers the Rays are chasing. 6.5 games is the Rays “mark” in the AL East. 4 games in the Rays mark in the wild card race, but neither of those numbers mean anything until the Rays reach “The Charlie Hough Line”. For his career Hough was 216-216. The knuckleballer was the epitome of a .500 pitcher. The Rays cannot think of any other teams until they first surpass Hough’s career winning percentage. So from now on we will only speak in terms of “Games behind Charlie Hough”. Right now the Rays are 1.5 games behind Charlie Hough.

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• The Rays base stealing is greatly improved in the last 10 days. After only being successful on 14 of their first 27 attempts, the Rays have stolen 14 of their last 17.
• Josh Hamilton was named NL Rookie of the Month for April. During the month, Hamilton, who started the season as a reserve, hit .266 with 6 home runs, 16 RBI and a stolen base.
• Akinori Iwamura finished second in the AL Rookie of the Month voting to fellow Japanese rookie Hideki Okajima of the Red Sox.
• Greg Norton has been getting at bats in extended spring training, and will begin a rehab assignment in Montgomery on Friday, where he will get 27-30 at bats (6-7 games). Norton should be back with the Rays a week from Friday when the Rays begin a series in Toronto.
• Now that Benny Boo Boo is on the bench, he has more free time to visit local school children. The upsetting part is that apparently BenZo was accompanied by his wife and mlb.com could not provide us with any pictures. That’s ok, we still have Julianne’s MySpace page.
• FoxSports has their first power ranking of the season and the Rays come in at #22. Might be the highest we have ever seen the Devil Rays ranked in any power rankings. Of course they mention that Jeff Niemann is returning from Tommy John surgery. Must have him mixed up with Wade Townsend.

The Hangover: Say It With Us…Rays Sweep Yankees

Devil Rays 6, Yankees 4.
Show of hands…how many of you thought the inning was over when the Yankees brought in a side-arming lefty to face Carl Crawford with the bases loaded and 2 outs? Be honest. If you don’t have your hand raised you are lying to yourself and to us and now you have to carry a Hello Kitty back pack and bring us candy every day. Now…how many of you saw Shawn Camp enter the game with a runner on and no outs in the 8th with the Rays up 6-3, with Alex Rodriguez and Jason Giambi due up, and tasted vomit in your mouth? Get your hands up. Be honest…This team has something. We can’t quite put our finger on it yet, but boy can they look good some nights. We shouldn’t say this out loud but the Rays really are just two pitchers (1 starter and 1 reliever) away from…Nevermind. So, what is more likely? The Rays now head to Anaheim and Oakland for 5 games and come home for 6 games against the Twinkies and Oakland. Not an easy stretch at all. Do the Rays build on the momentum of their first series win of the season and the knowledge that they have taken 3 of 4 from the Evil Empire and club LA in the series opener? Or do they throw out a stinker tomorrow against the Angels and lose a 10-1 ballgame? Honestly, we have no clue at this point. But neither would surprise us.

• Preliminary reports are that Akinori Iwamura will be out 4-6 weeks.
• Shawn Camp has been a completely different pitcher his last 4 appearances. By different, we mean not the worst pitcher in baseball. Does this mean we have to stop making fun of him?
• Jorge Cantu has embraced a move to first base. That is all fine and dandy, but if he wants to be an everyday major league first baseman, his 2005 numbers are a minimum. He is better off fixing his defensive short-comings at second.
• Not sure how we missed this. We hope you will forgive us. The Dugout did a Devil Rays preview that is a tad dated but still worth the visit. There has been more than one occasion when we wished Casey Fossum was GettinADelmon.
• Not to start everybody off in a depressed mood today, but has anybody noticed that Josh Hamilton is 5th in the NL in home runs with 5. Wish we hadn’t noticed.

The Hangover: Edwin Jackson Reminds Us That He Is Still Edwin Jackson

Minnesota 12, D-Rays 5.
Edwin Jackson threw 66 pitches in 3+ innings and only 33 were for strikes. He also hit a batter and threw a wild pitch. The defense did not help matters by throwing a few of their own wild pitches. After going the entire first week without an error, the team is starting to make them in droves, including 3 more last night. BJ Upton, who looked solid at second base in the spring committed his 5th error of the young season and was lucky that he was not credited with a second error later on. After forcing one runner at second, Upton threw wildly to first trying to turn the double play (an official scorer cannot give an error on a double play attempt). Ruddy Lugo continues to struggle mightily, allowing 3 runs on 4 hits in 1 inning of work. He has now allowed 15 base runners and 8 runs in 3 innings this season. Carlos Pena continues to hit the ball well, connecting on his 2nd home run as a pinch-hitter in the 9th. It will be interesting to see if it is already pre-determined to head to Durham when Greg Norton comes off the DL.

• The Rays still have not won back-to-back road games since June 30 of last season.
• Edwin Jackson says that he “pitched like a ——“. Actually, the Tampa Tribune used the word “wimp” in place of the actually word used by Jackson. Hmmm? What could it have been? Jackson has a potty-mouth.
• This just in…The Rays bullpen is not so good.
• Joe Maddon wants to treat the 2007 season like an instructional season in the hopes that all the athletes on the team become better fundamental baseball players. One of the glaring problems early in the season has been the Rays inability to lay down a successful sacrifice bunt.
• The Rays now a team era of 6.41, almost a run and a half more than any other team. The preseason projections that had the Rays pitching staff giving up more runs in 2007 may have been right. Simply put, the Rays have the offense of a .500 team, but the pitching of a team that could lose 100 again.
• Today Carl Crawford will wear #42 in honor of Jackie Robinson. CC admits that before he was drafted by the Rays he knew nothing about Jackie Robinson. Let’s hope that today’s tribute will help inform many others about Mr. Robinson and his legacy.
• Joe Maddon hopes that more players on the team will follow Akinori Iwamura’s lead and start working counts.
• Another baseball power ranking. Devil Rays #25. That’s about right.
• Was Friday’s win over the Twins and Johan Santana the greatest win in the history of the franchise?
• Maintaining a trend started last season, the Rays have held the lead in 8 of their first 11 games.
• The Brad Lidge to Tampa Bay rumors just won’t die.
• The Reds Ryan Freel may start playing infield for the Reds. This would help Josh Hamilton to become an everyday player.

Josh Hamilton Hits Home Run For His First Major League Hit

Cincinnati Red manager Jerry Narron gave Josh Hamilton his first Major League start last night in center field against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Josh didn’t disappoint, hitting a 2-run home run in the third inning for his first hit as a Major Leaguer. He entered the game 0-2 with a strikeout and a line drive to left field in which he was robbed of a base hit on opening day.

In the first inning last night, Hamilton grounded out to second base. Then in the third inning, Josh came to the plate with a runner on first and 1 out. He homered on the first pitch he saw over the right field fence off of Adrian Gonzalez. It was a line drive shot that was hit almost as hard as the shot Elijah Dukes had in New York last week. Hamilton finished the game 1-3 with 2 walks.

The Hangover: Casey Fossum Ineffective In Return To Mound

• The Rays fell behind big in the first two innings and eventually lost to the Jays 8-5. The big blow in the boxscore was a grand slam by the big hurt. However, Rays starter Casey Fossum never gave his teammates a chance. He gaveup 8 hits and a walk in 3+ innings. He also hit 2 batters. Overall the Rays pitchers walked 7, and threw a wild pitch, in addition to the two hit batters. We can take solace in the fact that Fossum will end up on the DL sooner or later.
• Rocco Baldelli played centerfield for the first time this season. Joe Maddon is not going to have Rocco in the field everyday. He wil be back at DH this afternoon and in center tomorrow against the Rangers.
• After an opening day sellout, the crowd was a respectable 18,495.
• Yesterday’s game marked the 30th anniversary of the Blue Jay’s first game.
• The new FieldTurf2 does look to be playing slower than the previous incarnation. This was most evident when Akinori Iwamura laid down a bunt for a basehit before coming around to score the winning run in the 9th on Friday night. Once the ball hit the Turf, it just died. Last year, that ball would have gotten to the third baseman a lot quicker and Muu-Rah may have been thrown out.
• Stuart Sternberg has believes that the first 12 games will set the tone for the rest of the season.
• Joe Maddon is trying to preach patience to the young Rays hitters. His goal is to force opposing pitchers to throw 145 pitches a game. So far, the Rays have come up short.
• MLB Trade Rumors looks at some potential trade partners for the Rays if they decide to move Jorge Cantu. They lean towards the Mets as the best fit, but admit there really aren’t any great match-ups.
• Thanks to the guys at FireJoeMorgan, we learn that Joe Morgan doesn’t think that Josh Hamilton deserves to be in the majors and that it sends the wrong message to minor leaguers. We have to agree with Ken Tremendous on his criticism of Morgan’s statement. The players with the best skills should be in the majors…Josh is 0-2 in 2 pitch hitting appearances.

The Hangover: Opening Day 2007

• It’s Opening Day!
• The Rays will field the youngest 25-man roster in baseball. Today, will mark Rocco Baldelli’s first opening day assignment since 2004. The Rays are actually 5-4 on opening day.
• The Rays and the Yankees have markedly different expectations entering opening day.
• Manny Stiles has posted his Devil Rays preview. He hasn’t been on board long, but he has done his homework.
• The Rays defense should be much improved in 2007.
• Jorge Cantu is threatening to not report to Durham.
• Seth McClung blames his agent, Scott Boras for not informing McClung of the Rays unusual fourth option. The extra option allowed the Rays to demote McClung to Durham.
• No surprise here, but it is now official, Josh Hamilton has made the Reds opening day roster. He still needs to remain on the active roster all season but that will not be a problem for Josh or the Reds.
• Don’t forget to stop by later today for the first ever Devil Rays live game blog. We are now in the heart of the Belly of the Beast. We are in New York City, a stone’s throw from Yankee Stadium. We will be “broadcasting” from the comfort of a couch, a computer, a big TV, and a fridge stocked with beer. We really have no idea what we are doing, but we will give it a shot. We are still trying to figure out this world wide web thing. So whether you are stuck at work or at home, don’t forget to stop by as we will get started around 12:45, and follow along as the Devil Rays take their first step towards .500 and the 2010 World Series! We will also keep an eye on the Reds-Cubs game as Josh Hamilton will be making his major league debut.