Devil Rays News And Notes

• Much has been made of the crowded outfield situation that the Devil Rays appeared to have at the beginning of the season. With Carl Crawford and Rocco Baldelli signed to long-term contracts, there is only one position that will be available done the line. Delmon Young is slated to be the third outfielder in due time, however, that left everyone wondering what would come of Elijah Dukes and Joey Gathright. Since the season started, Gathright has been traded to Kansas City and Dukes is on yet another suspension and his future with the organization is cloudy at best. Now a new logjam is on the horizon for the Devil Rays…A crowded infield. Since the beginning of the season, the Rays have drafted Evan Longoria, who is tearing up the minor leagues. They have traded for Ben Zobrist, who is now the starting shortstop with the rays and they have acquired Joel Guzman a converted shortstop playing the outfield, that the team will likely move to first or third base in the off-season. Those three are added to an infield situation that already has Jorge Cantu at second base who has a 100-RBI season in the majors already, B.J. Upton, who is now starting for the Rays at third base, The Cajun God of Baseball, Reid Brignac, who was recently promoted to AA after tearing up the high-A California League, Elliot Johnson who is having a very strong all-around season in AA, and Wes Bankston who was recently promoted to Durham, but is yet to really play to his talent level. Well, Jim Callis of Baseball America recently addressed this issue and gave his take on how the situation could play out in the next couple of years. In summary, he sees Upton at third, Brignac at short, Longoria at second and Guzman at first base. [Baseball America]
• Not the most ringing of endorsements for Wade Davis who is considered one of the Rays better pitching prospects. In defense of Davis, this scout’s take was written before his most recent start on Saturday when he appeared back to his old self, when he struck out 10 and walked none in 6 innings and allowed only 1 run. [SI.com]
• Hey! At least we are better than the Royals and the Pirates. [ESPN Power Rankings]
• Josh Hamilton did have surgery on his knee after a visit to Dr. James Andrews. Luckily the surgery was arthroscopic and his recovery time should be short. The rehab is expected to take 4-6 weeks, but Hamilton will not rush it, so he may not play again this season. This was Hamilton’s seventh surgery since being drafted. [The News and Observer]
• The Devil Rays appear set to move to Charlotte County in 2009 to play in the former Spring Training home of the Texas Rangers. [Sun Herald]
• We’ve been sitting on this item for a while now and really didn’t think it was very news worthy but we will throw it in here in case you had not heard about it. After the trade deadline on July 31, teams can still trade any player on their 40-man roster to another team as long as a team with a worse record doesn’t claim that player on waivers. So far a couple of those trades have happened. One of those sent Javy Lopez to the Red Sox for a minor leaguer. Well, the Devil Rays, who are apparently upset that the Red Sox talked to Julio Lugo’s agent without their permission, put in a claim on the minor league player that the Orioles were set to receive, outfielder Adam Stern. Therefore the Red Sox had to pull Stern back from waivers, or else they would lose Stern to the Rays for nothing. The claim by the Rays is mostly symbolic and only a mild annoyance to the teams involved. Instead of giving Stern to the O’s now, the Red Sox will give the O’s a “player to be named later.” After the season, players no longer have to clear waivers, so the Red Sox will just wait until the season ends to send Stern to the O’s, to fulfill the trade. [MLB Trade Rumors]

The Hangover: The Rays Are Swept By Oakland

Oakland 3, D-Rays 1. Estaban Loaiza…Estaban Loaiza *shaking head*…The Devil Rays offense has been bad this year. They have been especially bad in the second half. On Sunday the Rays offense hit their low point of the season, when they could only manage 3 hits in 8 innings off of Estaban Friggin’ Loaiza. A real major league team should be able to get 7 hits off Loaiza while blindfolded and one arm tied behind their collective backs. In 12 major league seasons, Loaiza has only won more than 12 games once. We are not sure how he has managed to turn an arm full of potential and one 20-win season with the White Sox into what will undoubtedly be a 15-year major league career. But this much is certain…Estaban Loaiza is a terrible major league pitcher and somehow the D-Rays made him look like Sandy Koufax yesterday. B. J. Upton led the way, both literally and figuratively. Upton batted lead off for the first time this season. In his first at bat, he was robbed of a base hit on a diving catch by Elijah Dukes Sr. (Milton Bradley). He then proceeded to strikeout during his next 3 plate appearances. Tim Cocoran was cruising until he ran into trouble in the 7th inning that cost himself a chance at a victory. Corky had allowed only a 5th inning single to Eric Chavez in the first 6 innings. In the 7th after retiring the first batter, he gave up a single and then a 2-run home run to Chavez, and the lead and the game was gone.

So the Rays have now been swept by Oakland, after being swept by Seattle and are 8-21 since the All-Star break with no hope in sight.

A Look At The Future: Yesterday On The Farm

Evan Longoria goes deep twice

Louisville 8, Durham 5. Catcher Shawn Riggans went 3-5 with a double and an RBI and Wes Bankston went 2-5 with a double and 2 RBI. Joel Guzman was hitless in 3 at bats and Delmon Young went 1-4 with 2 runs scored. Chris Seddon gave up 6 runs in 6.1 innings.

Montgomery 4, Mobile 0. The Dirt Bag is the real deal. We thought it was a good sign when he dominated in the New York-Penn league for a week. Then we started to get excited when he dominated the California League. We were still a bit hesitant considering everybody hits well in the CL. But now…Oh boy! We are starting to get down-right giddy. Evan Longoria hit 2 home runs last night for the Biscuits. He now has 4 home runs in 9 games since being promoted to AA, and 14 in 44 games as a pro. He is 14-37 (.378) in 9 AA games. The Dirt Bag can hit…he can just flat out hit. Mitch Talbot struck out 7 and allowed 4 hits in 7 shut out innings. He did manage to work around 5 walks.

Modesto 15, Visalia 5.

Dayton 10, SW Michigan 3. Michael Wlodarczyk continues the struggling ways of the Big 3 pitching prospects of the D-Rays. Last night he gave up 8 runs on 12 hits in just 5 innings of work.

Lowell 2, Hudson Valley 0. The Renegades were no-hit in a combined effort of 2 pitchers. Hudson Valley managed only 3 baserunner all night, a walk and 2 hit batsmen.

Danville 7, Princeton 6. Chris Andujar, son of former big leaguer Jaoquin, gave up 3 runs, on 7 hits in 5 innings.

A Look At The Future: Yesterday On The Farm

Durham 3, Indianapolis 2. Joel Guzman’s home run streak ended at 3 games. He went 1-4 with 2 strikeouts. Strikeouts were the theme of the game as 5 different Bulls struck out 2 times and the team fanned 13 times in total. Not to be completely outdone, Durham pitchers had 12 strikeouts of their own. J. P. Howell led the way with 8 strikeouts in 6.1 innings. He gave up 6 hits, 1 walk and 1 run. Howell was making his first start back at Durham after 2 appearances with the Devil Rays and showed once again the difference between pitching in AAA and the majors. Chad Orvella added 4 strikeouts in 2.1 innings. He now has 55 in 38.2 innings on the season.

Montgomery 4, Mobile 1. Justin Ruggiano was the “Player To Be Named Later” in the deal that sent Tobey Hall and Mark Hendrickson to the Dodgers for Dionar Navarro and Jae Seo. Ruggiano, a marginal prospect at best, was selected by the Dodgers in the 24th round of the 2004 draft out of Texas A. M.. At 24, he had a very productive 2005, which saw him hit .342 after a midseason promotion to AA, where he started the 2006 season. He was only hitting .260-9-45 in 89 games with the Jacksonville Sun when he was traded. Things have been better for Ruggiano in Montgomery. Last night he he hit his 3rd home run with the Biscuits. He is now hitting .298-3-9 in 17 games for Montgomery. Reid Brignac went 2-4 with 2 singles and 2 strikeouts. Evan Longoria was given the night off.

Modesto 3, Visalia 1. The Oaks were held hitless until a leadoff double by Fernando Perez in the 9th inning. Chris Nowak had the only other hit for Visalia when he doubled home Perez.

SW Michigan 5, Dayton 2. The “Big 3” pitchers for the D-Rays have recently looked like they were beginning to tire in the 2nd half of the season. Last night Wade Davis had a strong start, striking out 10 in 6 innings. He gave up 7 hits, 1 walk and 1 run. He now has 145 strikeouts on the season, which is 2nd in the Midwest League and 5th most in minor league baseball. Teammate Jacob McGee leads all minor league baseball with 157.

Lowell 4, Hudson Valley 3. Jeremy Hellickson continues to roll along. He struck out 8 in 5 innings with no walks. He allowed 4 hits and 2 runs, 1 on a solo home run. Hellickson’s ERA is now 2.25.

Princeton 4, Danville 3. Ryan Morse who was the Rays’ 14th round pick in 2005, improved to 4-3 with 6 shutout innings. He gave up only 2 hits and 2 walks. He struck out 6.

A Look At The Future: Yesterday On The Farm

Durham 5, Indianapolis 4. An up and down night for Jason Hammel. Hammel struck out 10 and walked none in 5.1 innings, but he gave up 8 hits and 3 runs (2 earned). Delmon Young picked up 3 hits and Joel Guzman and Wes Bankston added 2 hits and an RBI apiece. YOung has his average up to .339 while Guzman is up to .294 after a very slow start.

Mobile 13, Montgomery 2. Evan Longoria provided 3 of the Biscuits 6 hits and drove in a run. He is now hitting .364 since being promoted to AA. Reid Brignac went 0-4 with 3 strikeouts.

Visalia 9, Modesto 8, 10 innings. Catcher John Jaso went 1-6, but he made his 1 hit count, with a bases loaded single in the bottom of the tenth to win the game. Centerfielder Fernando Perez went 3-5 with 2 runs scored and an RBI. He also stole his 32nd base.

Dayton 14, SW Michigan 4. Rough night for top prospect Jacob McGee. He gave up 7 hits and 7 runs in just 3 innings of work. He struck out 4 and walked 3.

D-Rays @ Oakland Athletics Tidbits

• The A’s just took 2 of 3 from the Rangers to open up a 3.5 game lead in the AL West. Oakland had won 6 straight before losing the final game of the Rangers series 14-0.
• After winning 4 of 7 from the Tigers and the Red Sox, the Rays proceeded to remind us that they are still the Devil Rays and lost 3 straight to the Mariners. The Rays are now 22 games behind the Yankees and 4 games behind the 4th place O’s.
• Scott Kazmir will come off the DL tonight to face Dan Harren, who has won 3 straight starts. Kazmir already has the second most strikeouts in team history, 18 behind Victor Zambrano.
• Look out for the mighty Casey Fossum! Tomorrow night Fossum will face Joe Blanton, who has won 4 of last 5 starts. Fossum is 4-1 with a 3.51 ERA in last 8 starts. That has to be a typo. right?

Probable Pitchers
Friday, 10:05 et
Devil Rays Scott Kazmir, LHP (10-7, 3.36)
Oakland Dan Harren, RHP (9-9, 3.67)

Satuday, 9:05 et
Devil Rays Casey Fossum, LHP (6-4, 4.63)
Oakland Joe Blanton, RHP (12-9, 4.61)

Sunday, 4:05 et
Devil Rays Tim Corcoran, RHP (4-3, 4.14)
Oakland Estaban Loaiza, RHP (5-7, 6.41)

A Look At The Future…Yesterday On The Farm

Charlotte 8, Durham 7. Joel Guzman is starting to warm up. Last night he homered in his third straight game, a solo shot in the second inning, and has his average up to .267 since being acquired from the Dodgers. Kevin Witt went 2-3 with a double and Shaun Riggans went 3-4 with 3 RBI. Wes Bankston added 2 hits and 2 RBI and now has his average up to .277 since being promoted to AAA. Doug Waechter got knocked around…again. He gave up 6 runs in 4.2 innings. Juan Salas took the loss after allowing a solo home run in the 8th inning.

Montgomery 7, Mobile 3. Evan Longoria went 2-4 and hit his 2nd home run for the Biscuits since being promoted. He is now hitting .310-2-8 in 7 games at AA. Reid Brignac also had 2 hits and an RBI and is now hitting .321. He also stole his first base since he arrived in Montgomery. Second baseman Elliot Johnson added his 15th home run of the season. Andy Sonnanstine got back on the winning track. He lost his last start after winning 9 straight. Last night he worked 6 innings of 1-run ball to pick up his 13th win.

The Frustration Continues

Seattle 2, D-Rays 0. We knew this was going to happen, but we might have been in denial. Since the Rays traded Mark Hendrickson, Tobey Hall, Joey Gathright, Aubrey Huff and Julio Lugo, we knew this team would struggle at times…Ok, ok…We knew this team would struggle a lot. However, what makes this difficult for us is that this team, that just got swept by the Mariners, is the same team that can split a 4-game series with the best team in baseball (Detroit) and win 2 of 3 against Boston. They are young and inexperienced (2nd youngest roster in the Majors), but the talent is there. Unfortunately, at this stage there is going to more frustrating games than games that remind us of the potential.

Last night James Shields pitched well enough to win, but received no offensive support. Shields went the distance striking out 6, allowing 5 hits, 1 walk and 2 runs. The Rays were down early, allowing a run after the first 3 batters. Shields then settled down to retire the next 8 batters before allowing a solo home run to Adrian Beltre to lead off the 4th inning. Shields then retired 14 of the final 16 batters he faced. Offensively, The D-Rays managed just 4 singles and nobody for the Rays reached third base. In the 7th and 8th the Rays were able to threaten. In each inning, Tampa had runners at 1st and 2nd with one out, but were unable to bring any runs home.

Just when we had left the last two series behind with a good feeling, along comes a team who had just been swept themselves and appeared to have just lost any hope to their season and the Rays get swept. The Rays were competitive in all 3 games, but this team needs to learn how to out themselves over the top. At least we get to look forward to having Scott Kazmir back on Friday night.

Speaking of competitive games in this series. We were unable to post about the middle game of this series and we would be remiss if we didn’t make a comment now about such a heart-breaking defeat. To recap: Ichiro lead off the bottom of the 10th inning in a 1-1 game with a double down the left field line. Joe Maddon then made his first mistake when he brought in Seth McClung. Maddon had to have expected that the Mariners were going to sacrifice Ichiro to third. And if he did expect that, he must have already known he was going to intentionally walk the next two batters (which he did). In that case, why not leave Shawn Camp in to pitch to the next three batters? Why bring in McClung at that point? After intentionally walking the next two batters, McClung had then thrown 8 straight pitches out of the strike zone. On top of that, McClung, a fastball pitcher, then had to face Richie Sexson, a fastball hitter. After the first pitch, a slider, was way out of the strike zone, everybody at the game…everybody listening to the game…everybody watching the game…knew the next pitch was going to be a fastball. More importantly, Sexson knew the next pitch was going to be a fastball. Next pitch? Fastball. Next pitch? Grand Slam. Next pitch? Game over. But that is not when the game was lost. We have not been very critical of Maddon this season. For the most part, we think he has called good games and has handled the players as well as can be expected, but Joe Maddon lost this game. He should not have brought in McClung when he did. His next mistake was the second intentional walk to Raul Ibanez. Why not pitch to Ibanez with the corners in and the middle infielders at double play depth. Why choose to face Sexson? That loss looked bad for McClung, but it was in no way his fault.

A Look At The Future…Yesterday On The Farm

Montgomery 15, Mobile 2. With the Durham Bulls having the night off, we will start in Montgomery…A career night for first baseman Gabriel Martinez. the 2001 27th round pick, went 4-6 with 2 home runs and 7 RBI, including a grand slam. He now has 9 home runs on the season and is hitting .270. Evan Longoria and Reid Brignac added 2 hits apiece, but the prospect that garnered the most attention was 2004 first round pick, Jeff Niemann. Niemann was making just his 10th start since returning from an injury that caused him to miss the first 3 months of this season and limited him to 8 starts in 2005. Earlier this season Niemann took a no-hitter into the 7th inning of a start. Last night he gave up his first hit with 2 outs in the 2nd, but that would be the only hit he would surrender in 6 shutout innings. He also showed excellent control with 1 walk and 8 strikeouts. He struck out 5 of the first 7 batters he faced. Up to this point, the biggest concerns with Niemann have been his endurance and his touch on the slider. He appears to have rediscovered the slider. Now it is just a matter of time until he gets his endurance back. When he does, expect to see him in a Devil Rays’ uniform…possibly as soon as opening day 2007.

Visalia 8, Stockton 6. John Jaso went 2-5 to raise his season average to .315, as the Oaks rallied from down 5-1. James Houser cruised through the first 3 innings before allowing 5 runs in the 4th and was pulled with 1 out in that inning.

Oneonta 10, Hudson Valley 7. 2004 6th round pick Ryan Royster went 2-5 with his 6th home run of the season. Royster, the left fielder, is now 3rd in the New York-Penn League in homers.

Kingsport 8, Princeton 7. Catcher Nevin Ashley, who was selected in the 6th round of this years draft went 3-4 with 2 RBI. He is now hitting .336-3-22 in 33 games and has the 3rd highest batting average in the Appalachian League.

A Look At The Future…Yesterday On The Farm

Charlotte 3, Durham 1. The Bulls split a double-header on Tuesday with a couple of familiar faces making returns to the field. Shortstop Luis Ordaz who was on the Rays opening day roster but was hurt in the first game and placed on the 60-day DL, began a rehab assignment with Durham. He batted leadoff and went 1-2. Even more surprising is the return of thirdbaseman Sean Burroughs. Burroughs, who was designated for assignment earlier this season by the Rays, was assigned to Durham and placed on the DL with a pinched nerve in his neck. He batted 8th and went 1-3. Another new face with the Bulls, Joel Guzman, hit his first home run in the D-Rays organization to account for the only run. Chris Seddon went the distance for the Bulls, giving up a game-winning 2-run walk-off home run with 1 out in the bottom of the 7th. He struck out 4.

Durham 13, Charlotte 2. Joel Guzman continued his best day yet since being acquired by the Rays, by hitting his 2nd home run of the day in the nightcap. Overall he went 3-4 with 3 runs scored. Delmon Young went 2-4 with a double an 3 RBI. Brian Stokes worked 5 innings of 2-hit ball, giving up 1 run and striking out 5 to pick up the win.

Mississippi 6, Montgomery 3. Evan Longoria went 1-3 with an RBI and Reid Brignac went 1-4 with a double. Mitch Talbot struck out 11 in 7 innings, giving up 5 hits, 1 walk and 3 runs.