Tampa Bay Rays news and links: Colby Rasmus signed

There was big news yesterday, as the Rays signed Colby Rasmus to a one-year, $5 million deal, that might go to $7 million, depending on incentives.

Rasmus is an interesting pickup. He had a down year at the plate last season, but he is a bounceback candidate, and should be at least decent against right-handed pitching. And he fills a need. He can be counted on for excellent defense in left field, and he’ll back up Kevin Kiermaier in center field.

Steve Kinsella at Sports Talk Florida gave a good rundown of what Rasmus brings.

Neil Solondz observes that Rasmus has worked with the Rays hitting coach before.

The signing has implications for where and potentially how much Corey Dickerson will play, so Jason Hanselman’s profile of Dickerson is timely.

Links

• Former-Ray Nathan Karns was traded to Kansas City, with the Mariners receiving Jarrod Dyson.

• Jackie Brown, a former Devil Rays pitching coach, died at the age of 73.
• The Rays are moving some titles around in their front office.
• I’m enjoying Joe Clarkin’s series on x-y count superlatives. No Rays in this one, but here’s the 3-2 count.
• Pitch tracking on college and high school baseball fields?
• How does an agent do his or her job in an era where everyone knows the WAR numbers?
• Better-quantifying the effect of wild pitches.

Trivia

Colby Rasmus has been a decent fielder over his career, but as I was glancing over his numbers from Tom Tango’s Fans Scouting Report, I noticed that he’s been given very poor ratings on his arm accuracy.

So let’s try this. Who, according to us the fans, has been rated as having the least-accurate arms during their time as a Ray?

Hint: In the top five there is one current player and four former players.

Call it a win if you get the current player, and at least one of the other four. Click here for the answer.