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This is today, y’all.
BREAKING: The Players & Pooches calendar will go on sale Tuesday, Dec 20 at 1 p.m. in stores & online, benefiting @PetPalStPete. pic.twitter.com/M8EBpRG4kT
— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) December 16, 2016
And on another positive note, Justin O’Conner, former top prospect DFA’d after struggles and back surgery, will be kept in the organization.
The #Rays have announced they've retained C Justin O'Conner, as he's been outrighted. O'Conner was DFA'ed to make room for Wilson Ramos
— Neil Solondz (@neilsolondz) December 16, 2016
Links
- Chris Anders of Beyond the Box Score analyzed Nick Franklin, who showed the biggest year-to-year improvement in contact rate in all of baseball.
- Bill Chastain of MLB.com talked to Mikie Mahtook about competing for an outfield job.
- David Laurila asked a bunch of managers, including Kevin Cash, if the curveball was coming back. Overall gist is that maybe it is a little, but that really it’s just that teams are getting better at finding their pitchers’ optimal pitch mix, and that for some guys with good curves that means more curves.
- Jason Hammel has a curve ball. He’s also a former-Ray, and a free agent.