Reid Brignac Beats Hank Blalock For Roster Spot; Rays Opening Day Roster Nearly Set
by Tommy Rancel on Apr 2, 2010 3:17 PM EDT
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PrintSome how this is Gabe Kapler's fault.
After years of top 10 prospect status in the Rays system, Reid Brignac has finally cracked the Rays opening day roster. Brignac was chosen over Hank Blalock, who will explore other major league options. Good luck to him with that.
All along I thought Blalock would win the spot, but that it was not necessarily the right move. Brignac gives the Rays much more defensive flexibility, more speed, a left-handed bat, and is just a better player overall than Blalock is in my opinion.
As a Brignac fan, my wish would be to see him as an everyday player, but for now I'd take him as a platoon player facing right-handed pitching. Most projection systems have him with a less than stellar wOBA around .310 thanks to his relatively average offensive performances of the past few seasons. However, his defensive reputation is now noted.
The Rays opening day roster is set as far as position players:
Catchers: Dioner Navarro, Kelly Shoppach
Infielders: Carlos Pena, Willy Aybar, Sean Rodriguez, Jason Bartlett, Evan Longoria
Outfielders: Carl Crawford, B.J. Upton, Gabe Kapler, Ben Zobrist (at least opening day)
DH: Pat Burrell
The final spot on the 25-man roster comes down to the bullpen where: Joaquin Benoit, Mike Ekstrom, the new acquired Virgil Vasquez, or someone outside of the organization will take the final seat.
Congrats to the Cajun God of Baseball.
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In the event that Burrell continues to be a catastrophe, Brignac can also help platoon at DH.
Mira Sorvino...Paul Walker...T-Pain...Fall 2010...HEADSTONE MAFIA, A LOVE STORY OF REVENGE. "5/5 stars!!!" - DRB User "Andy Hellicksonstine"
wat?
brig probably plays a better SS or 2B than anyone else on the team. he is not a DH. let Bartlett DH
In a perfect world, sure.
But Maddon loves Bartlett in the field.
Mira Sorvino...Paul Walker...T-Pain...Fall 2010...HEADSTONE MAFIA, A LOVE STORY OF REVENGE. "5/5 stars!!!" - DRB User "Andy Hellicksonstine"
Team loyalty wins out.
I always tried to look at this situation from Reid’s standpoint.Here is a guy that has put his all into making this team.He played very well over the past few years.I am glad the Rays kept this choice in the organization guy.
Opening day lineup?
Jason Bartlett SS
Carl Crawford LF
Evan Longoria 3B
Carlos Pena 1B
Ben Zobrist RF
B.J Upton CF
Pat Burrell DH
Sean Rodriguez 2B
Kelly Shoppach C
Bench: Dioner Navarro, Reid Brignac, Willy Aybar, Gabe Kapler
I like
Fire and Ice: Rafael Soriano and J.P Howell.......with their side kick Grant the aussie Balfour!
Meaning, also expect Navarro.
Mira Sorvino...Paul Walker...T-Pain...Fall 2010...HEADSTONE MAFIA, A LOVE STORY OF REVENGE. "5/5 stars!!!" - DRB User "Andy Hellicksonstine"
Dioner Navarro also went with James Shields to catch his minor lg game yesterday
We could see some personal catcher situations arise.
www.draysbay.com, www.bloombergsports.mlblogs.com, Twitter @trancel
by Tommy Rancel on Apr 2, 2010 3:39 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
But, why??????
What’s the point of having a straight platoon if one guy is the better hitter against both splits?
Bad Left Hook - The SB Nation boxing blog
"Baseball is played on the field, not on a calculator."
ok I will go with Navi then but I still think Puffy starts opening day
now, choose Benoit and start the season please
Fire and Ice: Rafael Soriano and J.P Howell.......with their side kick Grant the aussie Balfour!
Opening Day lineup?
1. Bartlett – SS
2. Crawford – LF
3. Zobrist – RF
4. Longoria – 3B
5. Pena – 1B
6. Upton – CF
7. Burrell – DH
8. Navarro – C
9. Brignac – 2B
Why wouldn't SRod be in the starting lineup?
by FloridaownsFSU on Apr 2, 2010 4:02 PM EDT up reply actions
RHP
Mira Sorvino...Paul Walker...T-Pain...Fall 2010...HEADSTONE MAFIA, A LOVE STORY OF REVENGE. "5/5 stars!!!" - DRB User "Andy Hellicksonstine"
Burrell should be batting 8th...
also where does Brignac play? Barty is an everyday SS, and S-rod is a 2B platoon with Zob…
Zobrist is OF
At least until Joyce comes back
Bad Left Hook - The SB Nation boxing blog
"Baseball is played on the field, not on a calculator."
I like the move
Would have like it more Blalock stayed and Kapler went, but I think we already established that.
my apologies for not conforming my opinion to yours
but i don’t hate Kapler. i hate that we wasted money on him when there are cheaper options for the 4th/5th OF.
I won’t bring up Gabe again though… :/
And what would be a reasonable expectation for Ruggiano this season?
Don’t overreact to a small sample size like his spring training thus far.
by FloridaownsFSU on Apr 2, 2010 6:39 PM EDT up reply actions
Kapler is a safe bet to do what is supposed to well
I really don’t trust Ruggiano or the other options. If anything it adds depth.
by SRQman on Apr 2, 2010 4:53 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
Kapler has a good glove and kills lefties
Blalock is a DH and only a DH, one is enough
Fire and Ice: Rafael Soriano and J.P Howell.......with their side kick Grant the aussie Balfour!
From your boy
Marc Topkin SPTimesRays
Some #Rays clarity: vs RHP, expect Zobrist in RF, Rodriguez or Brignac at 2B; vs. LHP Kapler in RF, Zobrist at 2B
Still confused at where everyone is gonna play. Should be fun though.
Well that's a bit of a shock.
Congrats to Briggy.
I wonder if this decision might have come down to their springs? I know Blalock looked pretty good in his time here, but his production wasn’t all that good while Briggy’s performance with the bat looked very much like we expect to see MECANX (or whatever) clients.
A bit surprised
I thought a Blalock/Burrel platoon would be nice.
No more Cowbells!
by bestbostonsports on Apr 2, 2010 4:22 PM EDT reply actions
Mistake in my book. Kapler and his 150/250/300 ist ghalf stats will win a lot of games
by sternfan1 on Apr 2, 2010 4:25 PM EDT reply actions 1 recs
His 1st half OPS last season was .840.....
And he rakes lefties, which is where almost all of his high leverage AB’s happen. He faces righties many times in low leverage spots.
You are correct, but upon further review, Kapler had one month that was worth writing home about
S-Rod can do what he does and more
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/split.cgi?n1=kaplega01&year=2009&t=b
by sternfan1 on Apr 2, 2010 4:45 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
Upon even further review...
He has a significant history of raking against lefties.
SPTimes is reporting that Blalock will report to AAA if he doesn't find a better Major League Opportunity by Sunday.
Blalock’s decision to do that.
I'd think so. I doubt anybody would take him over their current 1B, and you know the Rays are dangling nice tasty incentive-to-stay carrots.
You’ve got to imagine he’s got opportunities here if he just hangs around long enough between Burrell and Pena.
Injury/Option I guess
Or Burrell gets released if he can’t put it together.
But Joyce won’t be ready until probably May
PIZZA?!?
Could Kapler be released?
Let’s say he starts off the year like he did last year. Why keep him around once Joyce returns? Joyce could play against RHs, Zobrist against LHs, with SRod and Brignac splitting time at 2nd when Zobrist isn’t there. Works for me but I doubt Maddon goes through with something like that.
I think that is the missing link here
Briggy will get optioned down to AAA then. With Zobrist getting significant PT in RF while Joyce is out the added depth in the IF helps. Brignac still has options and sending him back down helps with the clock situation.
Anything involving Kapler or Burrell then is silly.
I could be wrong
But I think he just has a minor league contract, in which case they owe him nothing if he’s cut now. But it’s a modified contract so he gets $925k, and he’ll earn the prorated portion of that if he stays in AAA. If he makes the major leagues and is added to the 40-man roster, then his full salary becomes guaranteed, and he has the opportunity to earn another $400k in incentives. At least that was my understanding.
Bad Left Hook - The SB Nation boxing blog
"Baseball is played on the field, not on a calculator."
Which is why him saying he wouldn't play in the minors was a bluff
He isn’t going to turn down that type of cash
This is my understanding
I don’t know why so many assumed he was going to be on the big league roster. The intial analysis (correctly noted on this site) was that he was headed for AAA and insurance. Somehow that morphed into him being likely to get a spot on the 25.
I don't completely disagree either
but if Benzo gets significant time at 2b, don’t see a lot of PT for Brignac, and he should be playing more.
He could be shipped down when/if Joyce returns. But if Rodriguez and/or Brignac are holding down 2b effectively, maybe Joyce goes to Durham, Zob plays more RF.
But it seems to me keeping Blalock, sending Reid down, then reevaluating when Joyce was ready was also a good choice. Maybe Blalock develops some trade value in that time. Or you dump him then, though financially that’s not too smart. From a service perspective, keeping Brignac in AAA for 1/2 the season adds a control year too.
Brignac has earned the spot though.
I cannot cannot cannot see how this was the right move
The cons are overwhelming I think, we’re starting the arb clock on a future key cog early and we’re robbing Brignac of time in AAA to improve his bad plate discipline and overall hitting practice.
Especially with Sean Rodriguez available to be a middle infielder, I can’t fathom why we need Brignac to be a backup backup. Blalock is the better hitter no question ,even if he is overrated.
by benderbrodriguez on Apr 2, 2010 5:29 PM EDT reply actions
Bad assumptions...
First, the assumption that he will be a backup backup. If he continues to play well, there’s a chance he sees the field mutliple times a week at either SS or 2B.
Second, the assumption that he needs to improve his bad plate discipline. By all accounts he’s shown a much improved approach at the plate during ST and it’s probably what sealed the deal to keep him instead of Blalock.
Bottom line, I don’t think the Rays FO makes this move unless they’re sure he’s ready and can get some legit PT.
I forgot that Joyce is injured
Which changes things quite a bit. If, as implied above, Brignac gets demoted back when Joyce gets called up, then I’m quite ashamed for doubting AF for even a second.
by benderbrodriguez on Apr 2, 2010 11:28 PM EDT up reply actions
Brignac is certainly a more flexible cog
I’m just not sure how much a premium that is given the flexibility of guys already on this roster. Nonetheless, I’m excited to watch the young guns sooner than I thought I would get to. Remember, Maddon likes to rest his guys. SRod will find plenty of starts while Briggy will get to play both MIF spots.
Also the battle is just between Eckstrom and Benoit
Echoing my guesstimate earlier,
Per @ SPTimes Rays UPDATE, 12:05: The Rays are acquiring Vasquez, but it is a deal for Triple-A depth and won’t impact the big-league team. So the Benoit-Ekstrom pitch-off continues.
Follow Me on Twitter @FreeZorilla
In Durham, sure
Bad Left Hook - The SB Nation boxing blog
"Baseball is played on the field, not on a calculator."
R.J Anderson is getting publicity, OMGEEZ.
Over at Fangraphs, R.J. Anderson took a look at just how many pitchers have had two straight seasons as good as what Lincecum produced in 2008 and 2009 and the short answer was: Not many
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/big_league_stew/post/Can-Tim-Lincecum-win-his-third-straight-Cy-Young?urn=mlb,231808#remaining-content
I was the head of the Eric Berry bandwagon- Im sad to say its over.
Puffy Rod's Bandwagon continues forever.
New head of the Matthew Barnaby Bandwagon!!!
Ok, before you say anything, I know he sucked against lefties last year
but he has always been MUCH better against lefties than righties, I am speaking of Burrell
so with all the guys who deserve PT, how’s this?
vs LHP
Jason Bartlett R SS
Carl Crawford L LF
Ben Zobrist S 2B
Evan Longoria R 3B
Carlos Pena L 1B
Pat Burrell R DH
B.J Upton R CF
Gabe Kapler R RF
Kelly Shoppach R C
vs RHP
Jason Bartlett R SS
Carl Crawford L LF
Ben Zobrist S RF
Evan Longoria R 3B
Carlos Pena L 1B
B.J Upton R CF
Sean Rodriguez R DH (Where else would he fit here? I guess Barty can be the DH and Briggy SS but doubt it)
Reid Brignac L 2B
Whoever Maddon feels like writing down that day C
Thoughts? I would also like to have a BenZo/Rodriguez platoon in RF and a BenZo/Brignac at 2B vs LHP and Kapler to come off the bench but wont happen
I just think this gives us the best chance to win and Briggy needs to play
Fire and Ice: Rafael Soriano and J.P Howell.......with their side kick Grant the aussie Balfour!
If I had a dollar for every time you type out a lineup
I could make it rain.
by ChiBurbRaysFan on Apr 2, 2010 10:32 PM EDT up reply actions 3 recs
I do it a lot, its true
Keep trying to think of what would be the perfect one but not the one Maddon would use
Fire and Ice: Rafael Soriano and J.P Howell.......with their side kick Grant the aussie Balfour!
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