The Rays Tank: Goodnight Los Angeles

Last night, Clayton Kershaw got hit hard and the Dodgers were eliminated, with the Cardinals advancing to the world series. I guess Kershaw isn't a big game pitcher after all (sell now, LA).

The Fangraphs contract crowdsourcing series has come around to another Ray. Go take a guess at a Jesse Crain contract.

As I've said before, there's some really good stuff going on in the FanGraphs Community Blog. Arcarsenal8 has some high-level ideas about how to analyze pitch sequencing. It's long and math-y, but I think this is one of the obvious futures of sabermetrics.

Beyond the Box Score breaks down a possible Max Scherzer trade. Good reading while thinking about a possible David Price trade.

The White Sox signed Joese Abreu out of Cuba to a six year $68 million deal. It's times like these that are frustrating as a Rays fan. It's very possible Abreu makes that contract into a steal. It's not a bad risk the Sox are taking. But it's a risk that the Rays simply cannot take themselves, ever.

And finally, MGL revisits the question of whether or not you should take out a starter while he's pitching a shutout as he gets later on into the game. Joe Maddon left his horses in late into many games this season. MGL would contend that he was probably in error.