Rays Tank: Free Dan Johnson Edition

Steve is still without power in the wilderness of Connecticut, yet I, just a short train ride away in NYC, never lost it. There are some positives to living in civilization.

The biggest news is that Tony La Russa is retiring, and was going to, no matter the outcome of this season. He could be abrasive at times, he over-managed, and sometimes he was just flat out wrong, but he's going to be voted into the hall of fame and I'm certainly not about to argue against him. He predated the sabremetric revolution, and he never fully accepted it, but he also embodied its basic spirit. La Russa questioned assumptions about the game, and managed with his brain.

Brian Cashman isn't going anywhere.

The Fielding Bible released their annual fielding awards. It's not overall scientifically rigorous, but it's fun to see how each of the "experts" voted. The panel includes Bill James, John Dewan, the BIS video scouts, and Tom Tango's fan scouting report.

Speaking of Tango's poll, this is the last week to cast your votes. The Rays have only had 32 ballots sent in, which I find a little bit embarrassing. Go fill one out. Otherwise, I'll be forced to stuff the ballot, and nobody wants that.

Michael Jong is taking over the Marlins blog, Fish Stripes. He's written for Baseball Prospectus and Beyond the Box Score, and plans on giving Fish Stripes a more sabremetric slant, so if you also follow the Marlins, or have friends who do, point them his way.

Lastly, from Beyond the Box Score comes my favorite recent article, about which batters are best at running up pitch counts. The calculation is a combination of pitches seen per plate appearance, and on base percentage. The best Ray in this regard since 2002 has been Dan Johnson, with Akinori Iwamura following a bit behind. Third, surprisingly, is B.J. Upton, which makes me sad because it's very much driven by his awesome and not yet repeated 2007 and 2008.