Breaking Report: Hank Blalock to be in St. Petersburg Today
by FreeZorilla on May 15, 2010 8:33 AM EDT
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PrintWhile it is not official, all signs point to Hank Blalock being added the the 25-man roster today. We cannot confirm any corresponding roster move at this time.
As we've covered multiple times, Blalock was convinced by the Rays' management to sign a one year deal with the team during Spring Training, and further talked into taking a temporary assignment in AAA Durham with an opt-out provision. Blalock's agent appears to have forced the team's hand by publicly discussing the imminent use of the opt-out clause this week.
Blalock likely would add the left-handed side of the designated hitter platoon currently being manned by the right-handed Pat Burrell. Blalock has posted a wOBA of .410 in Durham year-to-date and most projection systems have him in the .322-.336 range in the majors. We will keep you posted as we learn more...
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jobu can hit the knuckler?
Witty's 2010 Draft review is full of meaty goodness. What you mean, you're vegan?! Sigh. Just read it.
What if they're trading him to the Mariners?
The Rays are facing 2 lefties this weekend.
RaysRev.com or m_weber on twitter
I would think they would wait until after the series
If that was the case
Free Dan Johnson!
by Sveet on May 15, 2010 9:34 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions
Maybe they'll trade Pat Burrell to the Mariners...
for Milton Bradley.
RaysRev.com or m_weber on twitter
Looks like Burrell is on his way out.
Offense needs a little kick so hopefully the promotion helps shake things up a little.
OTOH, totally out of my butt thought, Pena to the DL.
PtB is just so washed up
It is really sad to watch
Go Gators!!
Refund
Warde hit the nail on the head. There should be a penalty clause if they do not produce specified numbers.
BTW, I believe that the only free agent that returned money for not performing was Lyman Bostock, who was tragically killed in an accident.
Am I right there?
Me too
Or, I had one. It was a victim of my mother during a spring cleaning phase. 20 years ago, and I’m still not over it.
by nomoredevil on May 15, 2010 12:40 PM EDT up reply actions
I reported it and I own it
Its not a team source, but I felt good about the reliability. If Hank Blalock is nowhere to be found by midnight tonight, its on me.
Follow Me on Twitter @FreeZorilla
by FreeZorilla on May 15, 2010 11:26 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions
Is this a confession?
RIP Andy Hellicksonstine. He died, like so many young men of his generation, he died before his time. In your wisdom, SBN, you took him, as you took so many bright flowering young men at the OTTOTD. These young men gave their lives. And so would Andy. Andy, who loved trannies.
by PlayOnWords on May 15, 2010 11:36 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions
I stand behind FreeZo on this.
There wouldn’t be a green light if I didn’t trust the information to be correct.
www.draysbay.com, www.bloombergsports.mlblogs.com, Twitter @trancel
by Tommy Rancel on May 15, 2010 12:19 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
I'm readying my tar and feathers, just in case you're misleading us all.
"Sooner or later, you're going to have #69 in your face." -Al Michaels
Well done on the scoop
I saw it on Twitter this morning, then noticed the “no comment” from the Rays, followed by the move becoming official.
Good job!
by Eric Stephen on May 15, 2010 2:31 PM EDT up reply actions
here we go
I really hate that Pat the bat did not pan out, but its time to move on on, Blalock deserves a shot, dont drag your feet on this Rays, just get him in the lineup.
This just in! PTB has been picked up by the international wiffle ball league.
Quote from the manager of the Venezualan whiffle ball team, “we are thrilled to have Pat on our team, his swing is picture perfect for whiffle ball”.
"Pat is the first guy here every day," Maddon said.
Easier to cut him when nobody else is around…
by nomoredevil on May 15, 2010 12:42 PM EDT up reply actions 4 recs
LOL.... Hilarious
My O's fan buddy laughed at me when I said the Rays were a 90-win team on opening day. He's right, they're looking more like a 105-win team.
BULLETIN: Pat Burrell signed by Dutch Goose softball team.
He will bat in front of Eric Byrnes so he might be able to finally produce.
Voodoo Five - South Florida Bulls SBN Blog
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by Jamie DeVriend on May 15, 2010 11:42 AM EDT reply actions
The timing is surprising
Given that the Rays had an off-day on Thursday and the Bulls headed out on a long road trip, then the Rays faced a RHP on Friday, but are facing a LHP on Saturday/Sunday, I’m a bit surprised that a Blalock move would be made now. It opens up the possibility of a Pena DL move or similar, I would think (Ben at 1B, Kapler in RF, Aybar DH, Rodriguez at 2B).
The question that I really want answered is whether Blalock made the trip to Columbus with the Bulls. If he didn’t, then the team may have given him the courtesy of reporting within 3 days, and he chose to arrive with last night (which would be logical and expected). If he DID make the trip to Columbus and then flew to Florida, I would lean more towards a trade being finalized as opposed to a callup.
without knowing specifics, I'm guessing that May 15 was the opt out date and thats why were seeing so much noise on the radar.
www.draysbay.com, www.bloombergsports.mlblogs.com, Twitter @trancel
by Tommy Rancel on May 15, 2010 12:20 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
I've heard the same thing
But (also without knowing specifics), I would think that would be covered by the “Did he go to Columbus?” question.
Geez, it would suck to not have either one of those guys around,
but I think, until a trade happens, that we’ll be saying bye bye to Brignac.
from Cubs Stats and Twitter @BradleyWoodrum
And so it does.
I’m disappointed that Burrell didn’t work out. I wasn’t necessarily thrilled with the signing when it happened, but I did, along with pretty much everyone else, think that it would be a really positive thing for the team. Fittingly enough, given that I was the last one on the Burrell bandwagon, I was pretty much the last one off too. Given all the work he did during the off-season, I was hopeful that he’d be a different player at the plate – wasn’t in the cards.
I do think the significant takeaway is that while no one could have predicted this outcome a year and a half ago (and, more importantly, no one did), the front office truly does understand the concept of sunk costs.
Chalk it up to Good Process, Bad Result.
At the time of the signing, Burrell filled a major hole and the cost seemed right. For whatever reason things didn’t work out. Good luck to him in whatever he does next.
www.draysbay.com, www.bloombergsports.mlblogs.com, Twitter @trancel
by Tommy Rancel on May 15, 2010 12:58 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
It is a weird generation
I’d imagine it is pretty tough to project bulkier type players like Burrell coming out of the roid era. It is hard enough to project them to begin with
Go Gators!!
Karlos Kena is my joke, and is reserved for GDTs.
This is the exact reason why it’s reserved for GDTs.
Jesus Didn't Tap.
I sort of understand the strikeout reference for Carlos, but no idea what the blaylock thing means
Go Gators!!
I don't think he is hurt?
Just because he is K’ing a lot doesn’t mean he is hurt. He is a K machine. He will break out and have a couple monster games over the next week and all of a sudden his numbers will fall in line with what they should be.
Carlos is going to get his numbers in bunches.
Go Gators!!
Anyone think there's a chance he'll pass waivers?
Maybe he could Blalock it up in Durham for a while.
from Cubs Stats and Twitter @BradleyWoodrum
He likely will clear waivers
But I don’t see him accepting assignment to Durham, even if they wanted to.
As someone who had his heartbroken by Blalock the last two years in fantasy, don't get your hopes up.
Now the site leader in permabans!
Write a 1,000 word essay on why there should be a space between 'heart' and 'broken'
DRB: There is certainly good content, but other than that the behavior here is pretty poor; They are right, you are wrong. End of story.
This is supposed to be the less technical, more relaxed blog for cool kids.
by Top Gun Numba 1 on May 15, 2010 1:10 PM EDT up reply actions
I have no illusions about Blalock re-finding his all-star form
but he cannot be worse than Burrell. And even if he is, there is always Plan C
Dan "The Plan" Johnson
DRB: There is certainly good content, but other than that the behavior here is pretty poor; They are right, you are wrong. End of story.
This is supposed to be the less technical, more relaxed blog for cool kids.
by Top Gun Numba 1 on May 15, 2010 1:13 PM EDT up reply actions
The organization would have been better off with nearly any player in our system in the majors over PtB
Go Gators!!
I don't think it is hyperbole
Paying a horrible player league minimum would have been superior to paying a crappy player millions of dollar. My comment was about cost + performance. I think Sternberg would have rather had RJ Anderson stand in the batters box for league minimum over the past couple years than pay PtB. At least you would have gotten a fair amount of BBs
Go Gators!!
I actually didn't realize Sorrento was that good
Guess it is out of sight out of mind.
Go Gators!!
Aybar ahead of Pena in the lineup today
DRB: There is certainly good content, but other than that the behavior here is pretty poor; They are right, you are wrong. End of story.
This is supposed to be the less technical, more relaxed blog for cool kids.
by Top Gun Numba 1 on May 15, 2010 1:32 PM EDT reply actions
Oh well.
As much as I disliked him towards the end, I’ll miss Burrell. He was like an underdog story that never developed properly. Like Montreal if Halak had been disemboweled in Game 1 at Washington, or Los Angeles if the Rally Monkey had been tragically strangled during the world series run.
That being said, if Blalock doesn’t produce obscenely good numbers, I want him DFA’d. He not only has to produce decent #s to justify his own presence here, but he has to produce some additional numbers to make up for what Burrell didn’t give us. Anything less than a .420/.870/.560 line is unacceptable.
"Sooner or later, you're going to have #69 in your face." -Al Michaels
Underdog Story: 1st overall pick out of the U. Hold out. Clubhouse cancer. Never the best player on his team. Underdog.
DRB: There is certainly good content, but other than that the behavior here is pretty poor; They are right, you are wrong. End of story.
This is supposed to be the less technical, more relaxed blog for cool kids.
by Top Gun Numba 1 on May 15, 2010 1:44 PM EDT up reply actions
I meant underdog on this team.
Way to kill my buzz, man.
"Sooner or later, you're going to have #69 in your face." -Al Michaels
If Burrell had hit it would have just been living up to what he should have done, not overcoming any adversity.
DRB: There is certainly good content, but other than that the behavior here is pretty poor; They are right, you are wrong. End of story.
This is supposed to be the less technical, more relaxed blog for cool kids.
by Top Gun Numba 1 on May 15, 2010 2:00 PM EDT up reply actions
By the time I started paying attention to the Rays (and baseball generally)...
Burrell was already sucking, and I didn’t know anything about him except that he was a blind squirrel who very occasionally found a nut.
I wasn’t concerned with his expectations back then and I’m not now, really.
"Sooner or later, you're going to have #69 in your face." -Al Michaels
It's Official....
PtB is DFA’d
lol
DRB: There is certainly good content, but other than that the behavior here is pretty poor; They are right, you are wrong. End of story.
This is supposed to be the less technical, more relaxed blog for cool kids.
by Top Gun Numba 1 on May 15, 2010 1:53 PM EDT up reply actions
Just looking at some of Blalock's stats
Seems like his 2009 season he had some suppressed BABIP going on, I don’t know how to do xBABIP, but it would be interesting to look at it. His overall BABIP was ~.250 and against righties it was ~.245 despite hitting 20%LD .
.
http://www.draysbay.com/2010/1/8/1238972/xbabip-adjusted-lines-for-rays
Hey, Surly only looks out for one guy...Surly!
by Andy Hellicksonstine on May 15, 2010 2:54 PM EDT up reply actions
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