Rays must add a bat...
by td32 on Jul 9, 2008 4:49 PM EDT
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PrintThis isn't a reactionary post based on the past few games. The Rays are average to slightly above average when it comes to scoring runs. The only reason for the team's success this season has been the outstanding starting pitching, the unbelievable work of the pen, and the incredible defense. Offensively, the Rays clearly need improvement.
The only positions that can be addressed are RF and DH. We all know who is lurking out there at DH, so I won't even get into that "wet dream". But what impact bad can be had without severely depleting the farm system?
Matt Holiday will be to expensive, and given his splits, the Rays really shouldnt be considering him unless they feel like they arent giving up much in value.
Jason Bay would be a substantial upgrade, but how much will he cost in prospects?
Nady would be an upgrade as well, but how much of an upgrade, and at what cost?
Who else is out there other then the Casey Blake rumors?
After carefully evaluating this team and its potential TO WIN THE FREAKING WORLD SERIES THIS DAMN SEASON, how can you not want to add Bonds? Would you rather give up some pieces to the future to land Bay?
How about both? You put Bay in right and Bonds at DH, and the Rays probably would have won there last 3 games instead of losing. That's all pure speculation, but not far from the truth.
Is this lineup good enough now to go deep into the post season? Maybe, but there are certainly some holes.
This post was written by a member of the DRaysBay community and does not necessarily express the views or opinions of DRaysBay staff.
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Agreed bat is needed...
Still would like to see Ruggs get his shot in a platoon with Gross, would love to see Nady or Bay though. I think Pit might be trying to hold on to them though… Cliff has not rocked the bat since the White Sox series in early June… Kinda wishing he was not the DH these days, can’t get rid of him now though…
Not sure what to do… Upton could show up and hit the long ball again…
If Upton and Pena could perform even close to what they did last season
This offense would be completely different…Something is worng with BJ, but I cant put my finger on it. I wish one of those websites that does a side by side evaluation of the players mechanics would take a look at him. He doesnt look like he is trying to tatoo the ball, he looks more like he is trying to hit line drives and ground balls the other way and up the middle.
Nothing is wrong with Upton
He’s hitting fine, and getting on base which is more important to this team the way they play than trying to hit home runs and flying out.
let's go get....
.... Chris Davis…. seriously… what a freak. he looks like a monster at the plate… or, dare I say, Huff?
I don't even think Nady would be enough
Holliday wont be a stud away from Coors, plus they have the balls to ask for Price for him.
We need Jason Bay and Damaso Marte. Bucs wanna start McClutchen and I think they will be reasonable in a trade. If they want a little too much then fuck it, do we want to win or prove all those assholes right who still think we will fall off?
Also get Casey Blake cheaply and have a decent bat off the bench/spot starter that isn’t Jonny Gomes.
Iwamura 2B
Upton CF
Bay RF
Pena 1B
Longoria 3B
Crawford LF
Navarro C
Hinske/Gross/Blake/Ruggiano? DH
Bartlett SS
bullpen would have Marte, Wheeler, Howell, Balfour and Percival in it.
If all that happens which isnt THAT far fetched, Blake would probably play RF and Bay would play DH since he’s a LF and CC’s ego is too high to be moved, probably also too high to be moved down to 6 but he can get over it until he starts hitting.
Hitting = would look very good
Bullpen = 5 guys who can shut the door with Reyes, Glover, Miller, and Hammel fighting for 2 spots.
Rotation = VERY solid, our #5 got his ERA under 4 today.
Time to show we actually wanna win.
As I posted in the Price thread
I’d rather not trade for a bullpen arm and give up a prospect. Price could come up and do VERY well out of the pen.
Again, he isn't what we need now
Yes Price will be a fantastic front line pitcher. But how much better can he do than E-Jax giving up 1 run, or Kazmir giving up 2? Until we get guys in this lineup who can mash, we are doomed to eek out 3-2 wins if we want to hold onto first place.
I can’t say enough for how great our new ownership/gm has done building this organization. But the facts remain we have mainly drafted pitching, and of the prospects who have made it, most are pitchers. At some point we need to address our lineup.
They need more than 1 bat
Come on, what is one guy going to change? They haven’t hit all season. CC and Upton are the most over-rated hitters in the league, Pena hits .230 out of the cleanup hole. All the pressure is on a rookie. It’s ridiculous. Today we failed to score against Sidney freaking Ponson. What does that tell you?
It tells me we screwed up with RISP cuz we are stupid
Reid Brignac should be in AAA but he hit with the bases loaded.
Carl Crawford has become the biggest rally killer I have seen
Navarro is having a great year but he showed yesterday that he is TOO slow and it will hurt us
Pena has had some tying HR’s lately but we lost them. He is ALWAYS swinging for a HR, he needs to swing for a regular old hit
Everybody wants to do much and they don’t do anything. We wouldn’t even need 1 bat if these guys would stop messing up.
Brignac, Zobrist and Gomes
all belong in the minors. Brignac has never showed me anything. He is regressing as a hitter in the minors, and his fielding has always been suspect. Beckham passes him in the organization by mid 2009 at the latest.
His fielding is not suspect at all
He’s widely considered the best defensive SS in the minors. That doesn’t mean he’s going to be GG quality, but his glove is solid average. Brenden Harris he’s not.
Tools Whore
Sign Bonds!
this line-up
CF Upton
LF Crawford
3B Longoria
DH Bonds (signed)
1B Pena
RF Hinske
C Navarro
2B Iwamura
SS Bartlett
OPS of 806
is not special for an outfielder. Is he good? Yes. But he is considered one of the game’s great young hitters, and he just isn’t. He also takes strange routes to the ball and appears to be poorly positioned at times, and has to make up for it with his range.
I don’t think he is good enough to hold down a 3-4-5 spot in the lineup.
You have to take into consideration who they are competing with. Boston has huge OPS up and down the lineup. Our’s might be good enough for the NL West or AL Central, but by the end of the season we will be struggling for a wildcard at best with this lineup. Too many tough games in the AL East.
Sorry, have to disagree...
As a 22 yr old playing CF and 2nd base last season, he had an .894 OPS and an OPS+ of 136. This season in his first full season as a CF he has an OPS of 806 and an OPS + of 120. Remember, he is jut 23 years old, and he is putting up very good numbers, while not performing up to his capabilities.
What exactly changes from now until the end of the season?
We’re middle of the pack, we’re middle of the season, and we’re on top of the middle. We’re going to keep winning with great D and good pitching.
by R.J. Anderson on Jul 9, 2008 6:55 PM EDT up reply actions
You'll take the back of my hand for even suggesting such blasphemy.
by Aaron Campeau on Jul 9, 2008 5:37 PM EDT up reply actions
how bout we offer the O's errbody buy Price for
Markakis?
i mancrush all over nick the stick… it would just be perfect… rf… strong arm… lefty stick.
that or we go after Hermida right now while he is not tearing it up. just get a young RF now so we don’t have to worry about it.
on Tuesday we tried
to go Righty heavy vs the southpaw and we still had 4 left handed sticks in the lineup. If that is not an signal we need a right handed bat I don’t know what is. What about Garrett Atkins as a DH?
by PriceMultiCyYoungs on Jul 9, 2008 6:33 PM EDT reply actions
Pujols would be better.
Wonder what it would take to get him. Price?
by Aaron Campeau on Jul 9, 2008 6:53 PM EDT up reply actions
If that deal and Bedard for Rasmus went down the same day
he would take a lot of other people with him.
by Aaron Campeau on Jul 9, 2008 6:55 PM EDT up reply actions
Bedard/Rasmus needs to happen, just for his reaction.
by R.J. Anderson on Jul 9, 2008 6:56 PM EDT up reply actions
I think it's about as likely to happen as Price/Pujols
but his reaction would be fantastic. Best viewed from afar, though.
by Aaron Campeau on Jul 9, 2008 6:57 PM EDT up reply actions
I still don't understand the hating on Holliday
yes his splits are bad but I see at worst a guy who will hit .300 with 15-20 HR, 50 RBI in the 2nd half in Tampa.
I also think everyone is freaking out over the Price thing, I’m sure when we go talk to the Pirates about Bay/Nady they ask for Price as well. I’m guessing that Hellickson and Niemann along with 1 other OF (Ruggiano or Gomes) would be enough
The hating on Holliday is simple
The Rockies want a 1.000 OPS price for Holliday, but he’s simply not worth that to the Rays.
by R.J. Anderson on Jul 9, 2008 7:58 PM EDT up reply actions
We have Brignac which...
If we resign Bartlett for a few more years until Beckam gets here, we wouldn’t have a need for him and he’d be blocked. There’s teams looking for a SS (Dodgers, Pirates if Wilson gets traded and some others i can’t think of). Maybe then we’d make a deal with Pitt for someone. Any pitchers the Dodgers have that they’re shopping and also worth grabbing?
Since the Rays are headed to Cleveland
Maybe Andrew Friedman can work a deal for Grady Sizemore while he’s there. I’m willing to part with Gomes, Raymond, and the Cowbell Kid in a 3-for-1 swap.
why dont
the Mariners trade us Wladimer Balentin? We would actually use him and he is gonna be so awesome.
Also Brandon Morrow would be like the coolest pick up we ever made.
he will
just like Jeff Clement is gonna be now that the Mariners are finally playing him. I would still like to see Morrow as a starter.
Wlad isn't going to be anything special.
He won’t be a bad player, but he won’t be all that good, either.
by Aaron Campeau on Jul 9, 2008 11:13 PM EDT up reply actions
This is true
He’s got tons of raw power, but probably isn’t going to hit for a huge average in the bigs. Plus he doesn’t walk that much. He’ll be a solid player, but special isn’t a word special or awesome isn’t something that he’ll be described as very often.
Tools Whore
Sign Bonds!
Most likely, yeah.
It’s possible he becomes more, but I’m skeptical at this point.
by Aaron Campeau on Jul 10, 2008 9:56 PM EDT up reply actions
He screwed himself.
Willy Mo has that MLB-only contract that prevents teams from sending him down to the minors. He could have been awesome with a little minor league grooming.
by floridaroar on Jul 11, 2008 12:08 AM EDT up reply actions
It wasn't an MLB-only deal
it was just a regular MLB deal, much like Price signed. The difference was he was 16 and wasn’t ready at 21 when he had to be on the active roster or be lost to waivers. So the Reds kept him on the bench rather than losing him.
Tools Whore
Sign Bonds!
if we are a to add a bat,
can it a huge bat with fangs? That would add into the fear factor, and help in ticket sales.
The line it is drawn/The curse it is cast/The slow one now/Will later be fast/ As the present now/Will later be past/The order is/Rapidly fadin'./And the first one now/Will later be last/For the times they are a-changin'..- Bob Dylan
by thebaddancingraysfan on Jul 10, 2008 1:51 AM EDT reply actions
Sounds vaguely devilish...
Isn’t that outlawed (or fined) in your neck o’ the woods?
by nyyfaninlaaland on Jul 10, 2008 2:52 AM EDT up reply actions
Sexson is available....
he’s eating lefties pretty good ….hitting almost .350. Not sure how he would field in RF though
He's awful at 1B.
Putting him in RF would be hilarious.
by Aaron Campeau on Jul 10, 2008 9:57 PM EDT up reply actions
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