The Rays Tank: David Price's Cutter, Jake Hager's Work Ethic, And Baseball In England

MLB Chatter

• Bud Selig wants to add in an extra Wild Card in 2012. What do you think: too soon, or should he wait until after realignment? I could go either way. I don't see the big deal about getting the system going this upcoming season, but if the Rays are sitting in the Wild Card lead late in the year, I may feel differently about that.
• I've generally assumed that Prince Fielder's contract was a massive overpay, but as Tom Tango spells out, it's not as bad a deal as you may think. If you look at comparable players to Fielder and how they have produced over the later half of their careers, it's not that bad. Unless, of course, you look a bit harder at that Cecil Fielder comp...
• They play baseball in England? Apparently. Craig Robinson (the Flip Flop Flyball guy) recently interviewed the head of Great Britain Baseball, and it seems like the growth of the sport over there is an uphill battle.
• If you haven't made a habit of reading David Laurila's interviews over at FanGraphs, I recommend you start. He has one with Lonnie Chisenhall (Indians infielder) up now, and they spend time talking about hitting approach. I always find it interesting to hear players get a little bit more in-depth when talking about the sport.

Rays Talk

• Lucas Apostoleris is one of the Pitch F/x guru's still floating around on the interwebs, and he posted an article last Friday about David Price's cutter. In particular, he looks at how Price uses his cutter and where he locates it. It appears Price normally uses the pitch against right-handed hitters, and he tends to use it to pound the outside part of the plate ("backdoor cutter").
• John Gregg posted an article on prospect Jake Hager over at Rays Digest this weekend, featuring some good quotes from Hager. He seems like yet another Rays prospect with a great work ethic.
• The Rays sent the players at their Development Camp to see a Lightning game, but then made them all leave after two periods so they could be back by 10? I see the Rays are already trying to get their prospects used to playing in Tampa Bay...