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Today is the day! Before today's spring training game, Joe Maddon and around 25 other Rays players and employees will shave their heads in support of Vincent Lecavalier's Cut for a Cure campaign. The full list of participating players is somewhat staggering:
Craig Albernaz, Bryan Augenstein, Reid Brignac, Matt Bush, Robinson Chirinos, Alex Cobb, Wade Davis, Dane De La Rosa, Jesus Feliciano, Sam Fuld, Chris Gimenez, Brandon Gomes, Brandon Guyer, Elliot Johnson, Matt Joyce, Jose Lobaton, Jake McGee, Jose Molina, Matt Moore, Cesar Ramos, James Shields, Albert Suarez, Mark Thomas, Matt Torra, Stephen Vogt
It looks like we're going to see a number of bald heads around the Rays this season. I can't wait to see what Shields looks like with a shaved head; first his beard went gray last season, and now he's balding? Not a good sign...
If you'd like to donate money to support this charity, you can do so at the Rays team page. So far, they've raised $1,176, which is a great and all, but....well, the Lightning have already raised over $3,000. Are we going to let some stinkin' hockey fans show us up?? I don't think so.
All money donated to this charity goes to support pediatric cancer research and to help local children and families battling cancer.
They will be cutting it all off and shaving their heads in order to raise money to be donated to the Pediatric Cancer Foundation and the Vincent Lecavalier Pediatric Cancer & Blood Disorders Center at All Children's Hospital. By supporting them and their efforts "to go bald," you are supporting medical research, programming and pediatric care for children and families battling pediatric cancer and blood disorders.
Again, if interested, you can donate here. It sounds like a great charity and cause, and in my mind, tossing in a donation means even more than shaving your head in solidarity.
- Marc Topkin has a great piece in the Tampa Bay Times this morning about Jeremy Hellickson and BABIP. It sounds like Hellickson could use to understand BABIP theory a bit better, but damn, Joe Maddon nails it. And some of his comments support the theory that Hellickson could be one of those players that consistently generates a large number of pop-ups. So good!
- It's been a huge couple days for Tampa Bay sports teams. The USF Bulls won their first ever NCAA Tournament game last night in dominating fashion, and the Buccaneers have jumped in free agency with a splash. I'm not sure exactly what to think about the Bucs' signings, but I'm so pumped for USF.
- Bill Petti did some research about how much park effects influence a player's results when they change teams, and his results were fascinating. As the Trop is a pitcher's park, these results are worth remembering; just as Prince Fielder could use his home run total decline by a good margin this year, so could Carlos Pena and Luke Scott.