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Tampa Bay Rays news and links: Have the Rays found a new first baseman?

Probably not. But he should help in Durham

By Adam Sanford and Ian Malinowski
Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

This Date in Team History, of Which They Are 4-12 All-Time

  • 2000 - The Rays retire their first official number to have actually been donned by a player of the team -- with Jackie Robinson's 42 being the other -- as they retire the #12 worn by Wade Boggs, who made history wearing the number when he mashed a home run for his 3,000th hit.
  • 2000 - After the ceremony, the Rays had an abysmal game, punctuated by the performance on the mound from Juan Guzman, whom they team gave a hefty two year deal to the past off-season.Guzman was out of the game by the end of the second, by that time he had allowed eight runs. Once he left the mound, he'd never return to one in the majors again. Meanwhile, the Indians cruised to a 14-5 victory.
  • 2013 - One day after sending Steven Vogt to the Athletics, the Rays send former top catching prospect, Robinson Chirinos to the Texas Rangers. After a down year in 2013, Chirinos has been excellent in 2014 and 2015 as he has slashed .236/.306/.425 with 23 home runs and accruing 3.8 fWAR over those two seasons.
  • 2013 - The Indians dismantle the Rays in a thorough take down as Justin Masterson, Joe Smith, and Vinnie Pestano combine to shutout the Rays on four four hits. Meanwhile, the Cleveland offense launched a total of five home runs in a 13-0 victory.

Links! (Ian)

- There's a real good interview on Baseball Prospectus by Evan Drellich of Astros pitching coach Brent Strom. The Astros are a smart team, and Strom is good at his job, and he's decently candid as well. Minor Rays tie-in -- he says that he studies other teams and tries to learn from what they're doing with their pitching, and when asked for an example, he cites the Rays as a team he pays attention to.

- Before the third game in the Blue Jays series, I talked a little about how while he struggled last year, the potential on Aaron Sanchez was scary. Well, Jeff Sullivan agrees, and he paid close attention to the PITCHf/x in the Rays game while the rest of us were yelling about slides and women. For one game, at least, Sanchez looks to have taken a step forward and been able to repeat his delivery.

- From yesterday's THT, Dr. Alan Nathan on the flight of a home run.

- The subhead of this article is "From Davis to Rickard . . ."

- Marc Topkin tells us the things he learned about the Rays from the first series. Much thanks.

- More interesting are Topkins miscellaneous notes -- Curt Casali's popup yesterday was the only the fourth to hit the A ring in Trop history, and Gibbons doesn't see what the big deal was, because he didn't offend his wife and daughter.

- Here's video with Moore where he talks about his pitch sequencing to Donaldson.

I don't know, Matty. When a top-level hitter "swings through one right down the middle," maybe you should thank your lucky stars rather than doubling up on it.

- The Rays got a new first baseman for Durham.

Jake Goebbert has strong minor league numbers, but at age 28 he's only been given 115 major league plate appearances. That means that no, we should not expect him to replace Logan Morrison next week.

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