Tampa Bay Rays News and Links: Snell Tries Something New

Links:

• The Rays ended a brutal road trip with another tough loss in Boston.
• The big blow was a horrible error by Brad Miller, leading to 3 unearned runs, and the difference in the game.
• Blake Snell was a bright spot even though he took the tough loss for that final game against the Red Sox. Marc Topkin considers his performance still a mix of good and bad.
• Jason Collete has a much better breakdown of Blake Snell’s start yesterday, including a pretty interesting thing Snell did by ditching his wind-up.
• David Laurila of Fangraphs has a conversation with highly quotable Logan Morrison.
• The Rays bullpen has been a mixed bag so far in 2017. Some really good, with some real disappointing results. But hey, at least we haven’t had to suffer through Sam Dyson’s start to this season.
• Mallex Smith is starting his rehab with some “light running”.
• Eric Thames is absolutely smashing balls right now. The Rays seemed to be very interested in Thames, but instead chose the option of playing in the field, three year commitment, and mashing NL Central starters instead.
• Francisco Cervelli showcased an elaborate, subtle, and clearly secret signal for a pickoff attempt.
• Finally, Nate Silver of 538 lays out his solution to “fixing” one of the worst and most misleading stats in the game: the save. It’s a real interesting article and well worth the read. Personally, I really like stat concept (which is titled the “goose egg”):

A relief pitcher¹⁰ records a goose egg for each inning in which:

1)It’s the seventh inning or later;

2)At the time the pitcher faces his first batter of the inning:

His team leads by no more than two runs, or

The score is tied, or

The tying run is on base or at bat

3)No runs (earned or unearned) are charged to the pitcher in the inning and no inherited runners score while the pitcher is in the game; and

4)The pitcher either:

Records three outs (one inning pitched), or

Records at least one out, and the number of outs recorded plus the number of inherited runners totals at least three.