Tampa Bay Rays news and links: Snell poised for a breakout?

Happy New Year, y’all.

Not a lot of Rays news right now, but there should be a left-field shoe and maybe a starting-pitcher-trade shoe getting ready to drop eventually, so hang in there.

Links

• Mike Petriello made a list of starters who looked poised for a breakout season, and he included Blake Snell and his high-spin fastball.
• Who’s spending money on free agents? MLB Trade Rumors made a list, grouping acquisitions by division. The AL East has been pretty quiet so far, but the Rays did acquire the #13 free agent in Wilson Ramos.
• Joe Clarkin wrote a really fun article looking at the most extreme players in terms of two-strike outcomes. Former-Ray Derek Dietrich figured highly in the “most-likely-to-take-strike-three” category.
• There was apparently some thought in the Rangers organization about turning former-Ray Matt Bush into a starter, but that’s been discarded.
• David Laurila talked to Pete Mackanin, the Phillies manager, and got a good quote about managing to one’s team.

Trivia

Here’s a trivia question about base-running. As you all can probably guess, the best base-runner (defined as the person who accumulated the most base-running value) in Rays history is Carl Crawford, followed by a bunch of other fast guys. The worst base-runner (most negative career value) is Toby Hall, followed by a bunch of other slow guys.

But what if you only looked at value from stealing bases? Slow guys don’t usually try to steal.

Who has hurt the Rays the most over their career by attempting to steal a base? Give the top five.

Hint: There are four slow guys on the list, but the #1 spot is a fast guy.

When you want to see the answer, click here.