Rays in the New York Times, Again

by R.J. Anderson on Feb 14, 2009 4:36 PM EST

“Our nucleus is intact,” Friedman said. “We feel like we really augmented the group we had.”

In Scott Kazmir, James Shields, Matt Garza and Andy Sonnanstine, the Rays have four starters who are 27 or under and who all won at least 11 games last year. David Price, a left-hander who was a superb bullpen weapon in the postseason, will eventually join them. But Freidman [sic] said “development is king” with Price and noted he has made only 20 professional starts. If Price opens the season at Class AAA, Jeff Neimann [sic] or Jason Hammel will probably be the fifth starter.

Same question as yesterday, different names: how many runs better (per nine) do you think Jeff Niemann is than Jason Hammel?

(For example, if you think Niemann is a 4.5 FIP type, and Hammel is a 5.5 type, then you would say ~1 run)

Poll

See above

0.5 or less

23 votes

1 or less

32 votes

1.5 or less

22 votes

2 or more

10 votes

87 votes | Poll has closed

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Comments

Hmmmm

I think moving Niemann to the bullpen needs to be done sooner rather than later. He would seem to have a brighter future as a shutdown power reliever if the warm-up problems are resolved. Frankly I don’t want to see Hammel back in the rotation either, I think Talbot has a much higher upside.

by Lurch's Lobbyists on Feb 14, 2009 4:41 PM EST reply actions

I agree with everything here

Niemann needs to spend the whole season as a RP, Hammel needs to be traded for…..something and it should be Price vs Talbot even though I really want Price to get that spot.

Evan Longoria and David Price - the fight for my heart

by joeybw on Feb 14, 2009 5:04 PM EST up reply actions