What Did We Miss?

We finally have returned from a 4-day drunken stint in Pittsburgh for the All-Star game. Unfortunately we stayed in the same hotel as Chris Berman and the rest of the ESPN crew, which meant that all women in leather pants were already spoken for at the hotel bar. The entire experience was somewhat surreal right down to being informed of the Aubrey Huff trade by none other than former Mets general manager Steve Phillips while waiting in line to check out of the hotel (more on that in a moment). There is no surprise that Huff was traded. In fact the Astros were one of the logical choices. Huff is set to become a free agent at the end of the season and will likely command in the neighborhood of his current $7.3 million salary. In return, the Rays received SS Ben Zobrist, and RHP Mitch Talbot. Talbot, 22, is a former 2nd round draft choice (2002) of Houston. In his first three professional seasons he has been consistent, but unimpressive with a career ERA of 3.90 in 66 career starts with 6.6 Ks per 9 innings and a WHIP of 1.30. He has been more dominating this season going 6-4 with a 3.39 ERA in 17 starts with 96 strikeouts in 90.1 innings. The key to the trade appears to be Zobrist. Zobrist, 25, was a 6th round pick in the 2004 draft. This season in AA, he is hitting .327-3-30 with a very impressive 55 to 46 strikeout to walk ratio and a .434 OBP. A couple of weeks ago we had commented on the recent power surge of Carl Crawford and noted that C. C. was more suited to be hitting in the #3 spot in the lineup. The problem was that the Devil Rays did not have a current member or a prospect that looked to be an ideal #2 hitter. Zobrist could be that player.

Finally, the Devil Rays also swallowed about half of Huff’s remaining salary for the 2006 season. For a team that clearly does not have the financial resources of other franchises, this move was a bit surprising, yet pleasing. This is the second time this season the front office has included cash in a deal, having sent $1 million to the Dodgers in the Hendrickson-Hall trade. This marks a clear shift in the team’s philosophy that they are willing to spend money to improve the club. The other interesting development in this trade was timing. It is impossible to know how many teams had made offers for Huff, but clearly the Rays jumped on the first offer that was deemed good for the team. There have been rumblings that the team could have received more (Steve Phillips had not even heard of the prospects and he is a former GM), but this quick trigger could prove a good move for the team in the future. In particular, as the team looks to move Julio Lugo, any team that has Lugo targeted will be more likely to approach with their best offers early knowing that Tampa will not hesitate to accept a different offer.

In a related story. The long-anticipated move of B. J. Upton to a new position has finally occurred, as he will begin the second half of the season as the new third baseman for the Durham Bulls. Team executives have emphasized that the move is not permanent yet and that the team still looks at Upton as their future SS. However, the move clearly indicates that the team wants Upton in the majors sooner rather than later and the trade of Huff leaves an open spot in the infield. In fact, if Upton takes to his new position quickly, we could see B. J. in a Devil Ray uniform in the next month. If and when Lugo is traded, Upton will most likely get a chance to play both third base and shortstop in the last 2 months of the season.

So what is the immediate impact of this trade on the major league roster for the Devil Rays? As of this afternoon, the team has not indicated who will replace Huff on the roster. The logical choice is Kevin Witt. Witt leads the International League with 23 home runs and on Wednesday night, led the IL All-Stars to victory by going 3-3 with a 2-run home run and an RBI double. Witt, 30, has played parts of four seasons in the major leagues with three different teams. Most recently he played 93 games with the Detroit Tigers in 2003 hitting .263-10-26. He is a career .249 hitter with 13 home runs in 127 games. Witt can immediately become the starting first baseman with Ty Wiggington moving to third base until Upton is deemed ready.

Rays trade Huff for prospects. [tbo.com]
Revamping Rays: Huff traded, Upton to 3B. [tbo.com]
International Wins Triple-A All-Star Game. [Herald Sun]

Devil Rays vs. New York Yankees Tidbits

• The Devil Rays are 38-48, 14.5 games behind the Red Devils and a half game behind the Orioles. The Spankees are 48-35, 3 games behind Boston and 2 games in front of Toronto. The Bronx Roiders lead the season series 4-1.
• New York is coming off a series split against Cleveland in which they lost the first two games es by a combined score of 24-3 and then won the next two games by a combined score of 21-7. The Devil Rays just took 3 of 4 from the Red Sox, but failed to become just the 5th last place team in Major League history to sweep a 4 game series from a first place team.
• This season the Yankees remind us of a teenager spending their first paycheck. They have all this money and it is more than they have ever had. Three days later, they looked at their account and all the money is gone and they have nothing to show for it. The Yankees have a $200 million payroll and in the past three days they have had the following players appear in their starting lineup…And Phillips, Melky Cabrera, Kevin Reese, Miguel Cairo, Aaron Guile, and Devil Ray castoff Nick Green. Inflation…$200 million just doesn’t go as far as it used to. On top of that, Jonny Damon may miss this series and be out until after the all-star break with an abdominal strain.
• Shouldn’t there be more Yankees fans jumping into the East River? It has been argued that YanksBlog, Replacement Level Yankees Weblog and Bronx Banter are the top three Yankee blogs. After reading the most recent posts from all three, we feel like we read the same site three times. All three have posts since yesterday and all three are just recaps of last nights game. We can get that from Sportscenter. Maybe we just caught them before they had their cappucinos. We expected a bit more panic…The Yankees are in serious danger of missing the playoffs for the first time in 11 years. We guess this is just the mentality of the Yankees fans. They assume that George Steinbrenner will go out and trade for Barry Zito or Dontrelle Willis or Albert Pujols and the team will surge into the playoffs, again. There are problems with that assumption this year.

1. The Red Sox are the real deal. They will be there all year and are just as likely as the Yankees to pick up a player before the trade deadline.
2. Last season the Yankees picked up Aaron Small and Shawn Chacon in midseason trades. Chacon went 7-3 and Small went 10-0. Where are the Yankees going to find another pair like that this year? The number of available pitchers this season appears to be small and if the Yankees do pick up somebody, are they going to go 10-0 like Small did?
3. Finally and most importantly the Red Sox and Yankees are probably fighting for one spot this season. New York is 7 games behind the White Sox and 8 games behind Detroit in the wild card and only 2 games in front of the hottest team in baseball, the Minnesota Twins who recently won 19 of 20.

• Please note below. The Devil Rays will avoid the Yankees top two pitchers in this series, Mike Mussina and Randy Johnson.
• In the last 25 games the Rays are batting .282. Prior to those 25 games, the team had a major league worst .240 average.
• Shawn Chacon is listed as the probable starter for Sunday’s contest, but Bronx Banter reports that Kris Wilson will make the start in place of Chacon. [Bronx Banter]

Friday, 7:15 et
New York Jaret Wright, RHP (4-5, 4.61)
Devil Rays Jae Seo, RHP (2-5, 5.59)

Saturday, 7:15 et
New York Chien-Ming Wang, RHP (8-4, 4.21)
Devil Rays Scott Kazmir, LHP (10-5, 3.29)

Sunday, 1:15 et
New York Shawn Chacon, RHP (4-3, 6.71)
Devil Rays Casey Fossum, LHP (3-3, 4.84)

A Look At The Future: News And Notes From The Farm

• Here is one blogger’s grades for the top prospects in the Devil Rays’ farm system. Must have given Delmon Young bonus points for bat throwing skills. [Minor League Ball].
• Josh Hamilton. On Monday night we trekked over to Keyspan Park in Brooklyn, NY for Josh Hamilton’s first game in a professional uniform since the 2003 spring training. Josh wore #18 and played…the bench. Apparently our crack research staff missed the part that said Josh would be in uniform but that he would not play until Tuesday night when the Hudson Valley Renegades return to their home ballpark. A couple of quick observations. We immediately noticed that Hamilton looked bigger and in fact he says that he is up to 230 pounds. Take it from us. He is rock solid and appears to be in great shape. He also looked genuinely happy to back in baseball. He could be seen joking and talking to his teammates throughout the game and even interacting with children behind the dugout. Welcome back Josh…It was our pleasure just to see you in a uniform. Tuesday night marked Josh’s official return to the baseball field as he was in the lineup for the Renegades. In Hudson Valley’s 7-2 loss to the Brooklyn Cyclones, Hamilton batted 3rd as the team’s DH. In his first at bat in the bottom of the 1st, Josh flied out to left field following a standing ovation from the home crowd. In his second at bat Hamilton hit a double between the left fielder and the center fielder, for his first hit in four years. He would later come around to score the team’s first run. He finished the game 1-3. Last night Hamilton was not in the lineup. Wednesday night, Hamilton was not in the lineup. Thursday night Hamilton went 0-2 with a walk and an RBI ground out.
• Evan Longoria. Longoria appeared to be struggling a bit since his promotion to the Visalia Oaks. He was 5-20 (.250) in his first 5 games with 2 doubles and 3 RBI. Then last night Longoria hit his first two home runs with his new team. He went 2-4 with 3 RBI. We are starting to get giddy. This interview is a little stale, but here is a one-on-one session with Longoria after he had started his professional career.
• Delmon Young. Well…Delmon may not yet have matured since his suspension, but he sure knows how to take his frustration out on a baseball. In his first 15 games back from a 50-game suspension, Young is batting .418 (23-55) with 8 runs scored and 17 RBI. He has also hit 5 doubles and his first 2 home runs of the season. He is now hitting .370 on the season in 36 games. If Young had enough at bats he would be leading the International League in hitting by 20 points. Maybe we will see Delmon in the Trop this fall after all.
• B. J. Upton. Melvin has his average up to .274 and continues to lead the IL in stolen bases with 35. He has 6 home runs and 35 RBI.
• Elijah Dukes. Dukes was back in the lineup after a 15 game suspension for fighting with a teammate. By the way…that teammate (Ryan Knox) was given a 3 game suspension and ordered to perform community service…as an outfielder for the AA Montgomery Biscuits. Dukes is 3-14 in his four games back and is now hitting .290.
• Juan Salas. You didn’t think we could do a minor league report without mentioning our favorite minor leaguer did you? That would be silly. In 9 appearances with the Bulls, Salas has pitched 12.2 innings and given up 6 hits and 4 walks with 15 strikeouts and he STILL HAS NOT SURRENDERED AN EARNED RUN IN 2006. Mr. Friedman…please…please call him up…pretty please?
• Seth McClung. McClung has had mixed results since his demotion to the Durham and his new role as closer-in-training. In 4 appearances he has pitched 8 innings an given up 78hits, 1 walk and 3 runs. He has struck out 13.
• Doug Waechter. Waechter hasn’t been so good. In 4 starts he is 1-3 with a 6.93 ERA.

Easy Big Papi!

Boston 12, Devil Rays 5. Heading into this series with Boston, if we were told we would win three of four from the division-leading Red Devils, we would have gladly signed for that and been ecstatic. Still, we found ourselves pacing around the room at 6-5 in the top of the 9th and then banging our heads against the wall as soon as David Ortiz began to unleash his thunderstick. We must admit…if one player is going to destroy our hopes with a grand slam in the 9th inning, we were glad it was Big Papi. Is there a more lovable player in baseball? And quite frankly it is starting to get to the point where we expect Big Papi to hit a home run every time he comes to the plate in the 9th inning of a close game. With the loss, the Rays missed an opportunity to climb out of the cellar in the AL East. Tampa remains a half game behind Baltimore.

Devil Rays News And Notes

• While Jonny Gomes is now able to play everyday without anymore games in National League parks, an MRI on the last homestand indicated that he may need minor surgery at the end of the season. This leads us to believe that Gomes will be restricted to DH duty for the rest of the season. [devilrays.com]
• An interesting sidenote to the above news is that Jonny Gomes has ordered a first baseman’s glove and plans to start practicing at the position. There doesn’t appear to be any chance of Gomes playing there this season, but with Travis Lee a pending free agent and recently benched, along with the flexibility (position-wise, not body-wise) of Ty Wiggington, Gomes could be the first baseman for the Rays in 2007. [devilrays.com]
• Tyler Walker has been on the disabled list since June 13. Yesterday we read that Walker had suffered a setback and would go visit Dr. James Andrews. At the time the team made no indication about the seriousness of the injury, but we knew as soon as we saw Dr. James Andrews that it was probably season-ending. Pitchers don’t go to Dr. Andrews for any other reason. Well, the word came down today that Walker will indeed have season-ending surgery and may actually miss the early part of next season. This will have a profound effect on the future of Walker in a Devil Rays uniform. Walker is arbitration eligible at the end of the season. It is hard to say at this point if the team will want to take a chance on Walker and bring him back next season. The team may very well have other options in the form of Seth McClung, Edwin Jackson, Tim Corcoran and Juan Salas. [tbo.com]

Run, Carl, Run!

Devil Rays 5, Boston 2. Three games against the Red Devils and three wins. Tim Corcoran won his third straight start to improve to 3-0 and his ERA now stands at 1.69. Despite his great start, we are not convinced that Corky is long for the starting rotation. It appears as though the team, and Corcoran himself still believe that his longterm value to the team is as a relief pitcher. This is pretty evident as Corcoran still pitches from the stretch even when nobody is on base, a practice used by most relievers. However, if he continues to put up impressive numbers, he may force the team to rethink their plans for Corcoran. Last night he worked into the 7th inning and despite some control problems he only allowed 4 hits, 2 walks and 1 hit batter. Still, the star of the game was once again Carl Crawford. C. C. went 2-3 with with 2 RBI and 3 stolen bases. The most exciting number for Carl? His 1 run scored. In the 4th inning Crawford led off with a single up the middle. He then stole his second base of the game. He then moved up to third on Aubrey Huff’s ground out. Finally, with 2 outs, C. C. took advantage of former Devil Ray pitcher Jason Johnson who was working from the wind up and stole home. Many people say that the most exciting play in baseball is the inside-the-park home run. If that is true, then the straight steal of home is a very close second. The play brought about an eruption from both the crowd and his teammates. If Carl can continue to play the way he has the past month, next year he won’t have to depend on the manager to be named to the All-Star team. His numbers will start to be noticed by fans everywhere. He is too exciting of a player not to be noticed.

Momentum Is Only As Good As Tomorrow’s Starting Pitcher

On Sunday evening we couldn’t have felt worse about this team and the direction they were headed. Last Friday night, the Rays beat the Nationals 11-1, in what was probably the team’s best all-around game of the season. They promptly followed that game up with two tinkers to lose the series 2-1. So move ahead to Monday afternoon. The Rays just lost two ugly games to a terrible National League team, and are about to play four games against the division leading Boston Red Devils who were coming into the Trop as one of the hottest teams in baseball. We felt like a person who knows something bad is about to happen and there was nothing that could be done except cringe and brace ourselves, but baseball is a funny sport. There is an old saying in baseball…”Momentum is only as good as tomorrow’s starting pitcher.” Baseball is pitching, pitching, pitching. Enter Kid K. Scott Kazmir came out Monday night and delivered the finest performance of his young career and suddenly we were feeling a whole lot better about the D-Rays. Tampa beat Boston 3-0, behind Kid K’s 2-hit shutout, the first of his career. Kazmir walked 2 and struck out 10. He was masterful. Only one of the hits was hit hard, a double by Manny Being Manny to lead off the 9th inning. Only once was Kazmir in any serious trouble. In third inning he walked David Ortiz to load the bases with 2 outs. Then, in the most important at bat of the game, he struck out Manny Ramirez swinging. This game marked another step in the maturation of Scott Kazmir. He has pitched well against Boston before, and has even pitched well in Fenway Park. But on this night, the team needed Kid K to be his best. The team needed a boost, and they got it.

Then something strange happened Tuesday afternoon…The Rays won a game they had no right winning. It seemed like a mismatch of epic proportions. The Red Devils were sending Curt Schilling to the mound. Schilling had just been snubbed by Ozzie Guillen by not being named to the All-Star team despite 10 wins and a lower ERA than Guillen’s own Mark Buerhle. Tampa was sending Casey Fossum and the Fossum Flop to the mound. On top of that, Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz homered in the game. Schilling was strong if not dominant. But Fossum was better. In what was his best start of the season and possibly his best start as a Devil Ray, Fossum gave up only 1 run on 4 hits and 2 walks in 5 innings. He struck out 8. Not the prettiest line score for a starting pitcher, but it was good for Fossum and good enough to keep the Rays in the game. After Chad Harville gave up a solo home run to Ortiz in the 7th to tie the score, it looked like the Rays would find a way to blow the game. But then Ty Wiggington continued his sudden re-emergence from mediocrity and hit his 3rd home run in 2 games leading off the bottom of the 7th and the Rays were back in front. Shawn Camp induced a ground ball double play to end the top of the 8th and then…5 Devil Rays would cross the plate in the bottom of the 8th. A meaningless 3-run home run by Manny Being Manny in the top of the 9th and the Rays walk away with their second straight win against the mighty Red Hose.

Tonight the Devil Rays will send Tim Corcoran to the mound to try and win his third straight start and give the team its third straight win in the series. Here is hoping that tonight, momentum resides in Corky’s right arm.

Devil Rays v. Boston Red Sox Tidbits

• Imagine that…suddenly it is cool to be part of Red Sox Nation. We have to admit, we used to have a soft-spot in our heart for the Red Hose, with their stumbling and losing ways and that old axiom, “our enemy’s enemy is our butt buddy” or whatever that saying is. In other words, our pure hatred for everything Spankee’s drove us to root hard for the Sox. But give the team one championship and all of the sudden they are the greatest thing since Vanilla Ice. If you ask us, with their “better-than-you” attitude the Red Sox are dangerously close to becoming the Duke Blue Devils of Major League Baseball. Of course, maybe the ‘BOSTON RED DEVILS’ fans just need to be reminded that in the last 87 years, their team has as many championships as the Arizona Diamonbacks…fewer than the Florida Marlins…and only one more than the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. [Surviving Grady]
• While we are secret admirers of Surviving Grady (see above), it appears as though the boys over at Soxaholix and Fire Brand of the American League have decided that things are sooooo good, they can take a vacation. We ask you…would Ben Wrightman take a vacation during the season?
• That being said we fully expect Big Papi and Manny being Manny to hit 9+ home runs in this series and for Curt Schilling to take his all-star snub and shove it up Ozzie “I don’t hate homosexuals because i like the WNBA” Guillen’s arse in the form of a 2-hit shutout on the 4th of July.
• The Devil Rays have lost 4 of 6 including 2 of 3 this past weekend to the damn Washington Nats! (we are mad, Lou Piniella mad) and are in danger of finishing the first half of the season in a very ugly manner with 4 games against the Red Sox and 3 games against the Spankees. Tampa is 35-47, 16.5 games behind the Red Sox in the AL East and 2.5 games behind the Orioles. We wanted to see what it would be like to be in first place, so turned the monitor upside-down…then we realized it would just be easier to stand on our head. Besides, the rush of blood to the head could do us some good.
• The Red Sox just kicked the National League’s arse to the tune of a 16-2 interleague record, including this past weekend in which they took 2 of 3 from the Marlins. Boston is 50-29 and have a 4 game lead over the Bronx Roiders.
• One good sign for the Rays is that they play 30 of their next 40 games at the Tropicana Dome, where they have a winning record (18-17). That’s called desperate for something good to write.

Monday, 7:15 et
Boston Josh Beckett, RHP (10-3, 4.64)
Devil Rays Scott Kazmir, LHP (9-5, 3.59)

Tuesday, 4:15 et
Boston Curt Schilling, RHP (10-2, 3.54)
Devil Rays Casey Fossum, LHP (3-3, 5.03)

Wednesday, 7:15 et
Boston Jason Johnson, RHP (3-9, 6.22)
Devil Rays Tim Corcoran, RHP (2-0, 1.17)

Thursday, 7:15 et
Boston Tim Wakefield, RHP (6-8, 3.90)
Devil Rays James Shields, RHP (4-1, 4.39)

Scott Kazmir Named To AL All-Star Team

update: Carl Crawford was not named as a reserve for the All-Star game, nor was he one of the five candidates for the final roster spot. The five candidates are Travis Hafner, Ramon Hernandez, Francisco Liriano, A.J. Pierzynski, and Justin Verlander. Frankly, Crawford would have struggled in a vote with this group. With Crawford’s slow start, Liriano and Hafner are both more deserving. In fact, shouldn’t Liriano (9-1, 1.99) be on the squad anyway? However, for the life of us, why is Pierzynski on this list and Crawford is not? Oh yeah…The same reason Mark Buerhle is on the roster and Curt Schilling is not…that wacko Ozzie Guillen is managing the team and went with his own guy.

The All-Star teams will not be announced until this evening, but thanks to the guys over at High and Tight, they noticed that most of the rosters can be found at the MLB shop where you can already purchase All-Star jerseys. Just select the pull-down menu to see the jerseys that are available for players that will play in the game. Among the jerseys that are available is that of Scott Kazmir, with his customary #26 for the AL squad. The rosters only include 24 AL players and 25 NL players. Each all-star team will have 32 members, so there are still some open slots. Therefore there is still hope for Carl Crawford making the squad. Since Crawford has overcome his injured wrist that plagued him the first two months of the season, he has been one of the hottest players in the major leagues. After last night’s performance, he is hitting .380 with 11 home runs and 24 RBI in the last 30 games.

Considering that during most seasons, the Devil Rays haven’t even had one player deserving of All-Star recognition, lets hope that in a season with two deserving players, that they both get the nod. Kid K’s number has already been punched…here is hoping that C. C.’s name will be called later today.

The National League squad can be found here.

Tomorrow’s All-Stars, Today. [High and Tight]
American League All-Star Jerseys [MLB Shop]
National League All-Star Jerseys [MLB Shop]

Say It Ain’t Seo

Washington 6, Devil Rays 2. That was ugly…No that was real ugly, and by real ugly we mean Don Mossi ugly…We are on record as saying that we liked the hiring of Joe Maddon. While he does things a bit unorthodox at times, we believe he is a good manager and has the potential to be a great manger. However, it is days like this that make us miss Lou Piniella. There is no reason this team should have lost 2 of 3 to the Washington Nats, especially after playing what was probably their best all-around game during Friday night’s victory. We don’t know Joe Maddon well enough yet to gauge how he reacted to this loss, but we have a feeling he did not unleash a tongue-lashing that this team sorely needs and that Lou Piniella most certainly would have dished out. In fact, it is probably in the best interest of Lou Piniella’s blood pressure that he wasn’t managing the Rays on Sunday afternoon. With Jonny Gomes sitting out once again in a National League park without the DH and his sore right shoulder, and with Maddon giving both Rocco Baldelli and Julio Lugo the day off, we wonder if Maddon gave up on this game before it started. The team now has lost 4 of 6 and must finish out the first half of the season with 6 games against the Red Hose and the the Spankees. We understand sitting Rocco, who is still working back from injuries and is an excellent candidate to sit during day-games after night-games, but there is no logical reason to sit Lugo. Yes, Maddon likes to play all his guys, but with a lineup that is already missing Gomes and Baldelli, and already having a day off on Thursday, it seems that Lugo should have been out there today.

Would that have made the difference? Not likely. The team looked more like the Bad News Devil Rays or the Tampa Bay Uptons today. The team committed 4 errors. Seo gave up 7 hits and 2 walks in 5 innings. As good as Friday night’s game was…this one was just as ugly…Don Mossi ugly.