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Rays Bid on 2010 ASG, RF Options

Hello folks, here's a few nice tidbits to pass along this Friday evening:

The Rays, Royals, and Angels have bid on the 2010 All-Star game, it appears the Angels will be awarded the event. Not a surprise, although personally I feel Kansas City should get the chance to hold it soon, they have some very loyal fans, and I'd must rather see the game held here when we have our new park.

Rosenthal chimes in with some ideas on who our RF options are, here's the snippet:

The Rays ideally want to replace Rocco Baldelli with a switch-hitter who could provide strong late-inning defense in right field and back up B.J. Upton in center. The Angels' Reggie Willits fits that description, but is said to be unavailable. Free agent Kenny Lofton and the Brewers' Gabe Gross are among the left-handed hitting possibilities. The Blue Jays' Reed Johnson, a right-handed hitter, also might fit, but many clubs view him as an injury risk. The Mets like Johnson, but would prefer an outfielder with more power.

I'm not so sure we'll land Willits, but if you missed the story about his family living in a batting cage, give it a read.

0 recs | Comment 15 comments

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Re: Rays Bid on 2010 ASG, RF Options
My two favorite options are Willits and Ethier.  I cant imagine Willits is really off limits, especially with Hunter, Mathews and Guerrero all likely sticking around for a long time and all three prerfering to play the outfield.  I read that they are looking for some starting pitching depth, so maybe Howell could be a starting point.  

Im not sure what the Dodgers would want in return for Ethier, as they are seemingly as stacking in the minors as we are.  They are desperately looking for a third baseman but Im afraid we have none to offer, unless of course they want Aybar or Guzman back. Ethier would immediately help the rays forget about Baldelli's sad story.

Outside of those two other options I like are Rivera (Angels) and Nady (Pirates).  Both are capable of backing up centerfield and wouldnt be longterm concerns (athough nady isnt a free agent for 3 more years).

by BossmanJunior333 on Mar 14, 2008 11:00 PM EDT   0 recs

Re: Rays Bid on 2010 ASG, RF Options
Off topic, but it appears that "a lot" of Yankee veterans gave Shelley Duncan a talk about his karate kick slide.

"A lot of veteran guys have talked to him," Johnny Damon told The Post yesterday. "We are telling him to keep playing hard, but keep the spikes down and the shoulders in (when sliding). This way people see you are playing hard, but no one can question you."

But as Mike Mussina told The Post, "he was right at the bag, spikes high and out by so much that it looked all the worse."

Doug Mientkiewicz, Duncan's teammate last year and a Pirate this season, added, "He hasn't been around long enough to do stuff like that."

"I can't get mad at the guy," Damon said. "He's young. We just need to talk to him and tell him to tone it down and tell him to watch out. . . . We love the hard play, but the hard play can't involve spikes and it can't involve cutting someone up. When he goes high, it will not just be talk around here. Guys around the league are going to talk."

"I'm all for playing hard, but you have to know what happens in such situations," Mussina said. "The whole season now there is going to be a cloud over it with everyone waiting for the next whatever to happen. He kept the ball rolling [in a growing feud against the Rays]. You like the energy and how he plays, and you believe experience will help him make good decisions."

http://www.nypost.com/seven/03142008/sports/yankees/vets_pitch_control_to_gung_ho_slugger_101893.htm

by websterjtc on Mar 14, 2008 11:28 PM EDT   0 recs

Re: Rays Bid on 2010 ASG, RF Options
Like MLB is going to want to have the ASG at the Trop...

by websterjtc on Mar 15, 2008 12:47 AM EDT   0 recs

Re: Rays Bid on 2010 ASG, RF Options
ASG in KC would be great

KC has some of the best fans in baseball, and their stadium is beautiful. Great place to see a game in the summer. Kauffman Stadium is a classic

by blazinrayz on Mar 15, 2008 2:00 AM EDT   0 recs

Re: Rays Bid on 2010 ASG, RF Options
RJ:

If management has any sense at all, this is the batting order for opening day:

Lofton
Crawford
Pena
Upton
Iwamura
Longoria
Gomes/Floyd
Navarro
Bartlett

Niemann should be 4th SP and Price comes up after 2 months. Both can have skipped starts with light bullpen work instead by using the long reliever who will presumably be an SP who has lost his job as SP [so that should help keep their IP down][if 2 former SPs wind up in the pen not a problem at all here, since there would still be 1 former SP for long relief purposes and the skipped Niemann and Price could otherwise do what I think should always been if the need arises, i.e., the bullpen light relief is actually middle relief in the game should the need for the same arise].  

The most perverse part of the whole thing is that my first love is stuck with Juan "out-creating machine" Pierre for millions upon millions when we could have had our man Kenny L at substantially less.

Lastly, something is horribly wrong with the MLB game when Kenny isn't in anyone's camp this year.  

by ReggieSmith on Mar 15, 2008 4:43 AM EDT   0 recs

Re: Rays Bid on 2010 ASG, RF Options
I think Howell becomes our long man, and I don't doubt you're right about the rotation.

The lineup is interesting, people will complain about Aki batting behind Upton, but the idea of possibly seven .350+ OBP players in the lineup is very attractive.

by R.J. Anderson on Mar 15, 2008 9:34 AM EDT to parent up   0 recs

Re: Rays Bid on 2010 ASG, RF Options
instead of limiting kazmir and shields innings at 200, why don't they just use a 6-man rotation? (niemann)

seems better than shutting kazmir and shields down in september like last year

by websterjtc on Mar 15, 2008 10:52 AM EDT   0 recs

Re: Rays Bid on 2010 ASG, RF Options
Most teams don't have that kind of depth to be able to run five league average and beyond starters out there, even fewer have six.

by R.J. Anderson on Mar 15, 2008 10:55 AM EDT to parent up   0 recs

Re: Rays Bid on 2010 ASG, RF Options
i know most teams don't...but maybe we do?

OT: The main problem i have with the whole yankees thing is that girardi had a problem with the elliot johnson play but not the duncan slide...

by websterjtc on Mar 15, 2008 11:24 AM EDT   0 recs

Re: Rays Bid on 2010 ASG, RF Options
Blah, I had a link from when people were talking about the Sox doing it, I guess I didn't close the bracket so it didn't pop up.

Here

by R.J. Anderson on Mar 15, 2008 11:36 AM EDT to parent up   0 recs

Re: Rays Bid on 2010 ASG, RF Options
yea, i remember the bosox were thinking of doing it...but that was when they thought they had a "healthy" schilling.

by websterjtc on Mar 15, 2008 1:00 PM EDT to parent up   0 recs

Re: Rays Bid on 2010 ASG, RF Options
The 6 man concept was broached by Newsday for the Yankees as well.

by ttnorm on Mar 15, 2008 5:03 PM EDT to parent up   0 recs

Re: Rays Bid on 2010 ASG, RF Options
I believe Kauffman is in the midst of a major renovation (so is the football stadium next door) which won't be completed until the middle of 2009.  Given the situation and timing, I wouldn't be surprised at all if KC gets to host in 2010.

by RATW on Mar 15, 2008 1:33 PM EDT   0 recs

I think you're correct
Jackson County voters approved some form of renovations, I believe, a few years ago, although I think they rejected a plan to spend some obscene amount of money on a retractable dome that would have gone between both stadiums.

by Patrick L. Kennedy on Mar 15, 2008 2:18 PM EDT to parent up   0 recs

Re: Rays Bid on 2010 ASG, RF Options
I think there is some arguments in favor of a 6 man rotation, but we have to remember that the more pitchers in the rotation, the fewer starts go to your best pitchers and the more to the lesser ones. During the year, with injuries and schedule squeezes, most teams use at least 7 or 8 pitchers anyway, and sometimes what separates the better from the poorer teams is the quality of those #6-8 starters.

There is also some support for the notion of going instead to a 4 man rotation thus maximizing the starts by your better pitchers. There is some thought that the injury danger is not so much how many games you start but how many pitches you throw within the game. The investigation is into how many rest days pitchers need between starts, and one view is that 3 is plenty. In fact, there is a viewpoint that pitchers actually need to throw more, not less, but not more in each game. Rather, pitchers should throw more often.

I suppose if the Rays should have a rotation of Price, Kazmir, Shields, Garza, Davis & McGee, and all are everything we expect, a 6 man might make sense. (Although if it is true that pitchers get stronger via more work, it would still not be a good idea.) But take this year. Which is better, assuming that there is no greater injury risk? To give Kazmir, Garza, Shields and Sonnanstine about 40 starts each or to give each of them just 32-33 starts and the remaining 32-33 to Jackson or Hammel or Howell?

by bobr on Mar 15, 2008 5:16 PM EDT   0 recs

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