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Yesterday we reacted to some alarming comments from the Rays owner made about the team and region in his first sit down since the World Series.
This morning, the Tampa Bay Times has added some positive comments also made by Stu Sternberg that help cushion the blow for the section about his players, including this initial reaction to Marc Topkin’s question about the deciding Game 6:
It’s nothing but pride. I had pride in the seventh inning in that game, I had pride on the bus ride back to the hotel, I had pride the next day. I still feel it, and it’s the word that I’ve used all along.
The transcript, behind the paywall, also has Sternberg on record saying his team has, “tremendous players” even if, “it’s not like we’ve got this group of Hall-of-Famers and All-Stars,” adding:
[...] if we didn’t like them as players we wouldn’t have them on the team, they wouldn’t be here and we’d have different guys.
Added context for his comments about his employees, the region, or the three-to-five year financial smokescreen were... uh, not available.
Rays News
- Rays weren’t leaving the Winter Meetings without making a move:
We’ve made a trade with the Texas Rangers pic.twitter.com/F8NpRyMVX1
— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) December 10, 2020
Wishing nothing but the best to former Bull Nate Lowe, who played parts of 2 seasons in the Bull City including our Governors' Cup-winning 2018 campaign.
— Durham Bulls (@DurhamBulls) December 10, 2020
Good luck with the Rangers, Nate! pic.twitter.com/uy4EyZazhZ
Be great, Nate pic.twitter.com/Ac1XBvROSi
— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) December 10, 2020
- Rays trade first baseman Nate Lowe to Rangers - Marc Topkin, Tampa Bay Times: Marc has a good write-up on the Rays first big trade of the offseason.
- Rangers Pay a Steep Price to Add Another 1B/DH in Nate Lowe - Eric Longenhagen, Fan Graphs: Longenhagen is always excellent when it comes to evaluating trades where most of the pieces are prospects. He is also probably the highest on Heriberto than any analyst, so really interesting to read his thoughts on him in this trade.
- Rays Send Nate Lowe To Rangers In Exchange For Heriberto Hernandez, 2 Others - Josh Norris, Baseball America: For more prospect focused view, check out Josh’s write-up at BA.
- Thoughts on the Nate Lowe trade - Adam J. Morris, Lone Star Ball: Adam has the view from the Rangers perspective.
- Rays take two players, lose seven in Rule 5 drafts - Marc Topkin, Tampa Bay Times: Moderately eventful Rule 5 draft day.
- Heriberto Hernandez Deserves Our Attention - Jamie Sayer, PitcherList: Get to know the newest Ray!
There have been 3,006 player-seasons of at least 200 plate appearances dating back to 2006 in Rookie Ball (International).
— Max Goldstein (@MaxSportsStudio) December 10, 2020
Heriberto Hernandez’s 2018 campaign is the only one in which a player had a walk rate of at least 20% and a wRC+ of 180 or higher.
- Marlins selected Rays RHP Paul Campbell in Rule 5 Draft - Joe Frisaro, MLB.com: Marlins continue to achieve Rays South status. Excellent pick by Miami, and Campbell has a real shot at sticking there.
- Rays passed on the major league Rule 5 selection, but went back to the reliever well in the Triple-A phase of the Rule 5 draft:
#Rays selected RHP Jordan Brink from STL in the minor league rule 5 draft today. Has had a lot of success in Independent ball recently. This post of his on Instagram from 2 months ago shows some eye popping pitch data on his FB and CH: pic.twitter.com/nt7lrrzSFo
— Rays Metrics (@RaysMetrics) December 10, 2020
If the movement data on Jordan Brinks' FB is true (see last tweet) here is how it stacks up with MLB fastballs from the 2020 season. Nobody would've had both more ride AND more tail on their FB than Brinks. Gerrit Cole has the only movement comparable. pic.twitter.com/1BcvgYIfRQ
— Rays Metrics (@RaysMetrics) December 10, 2020
We’ll have analysis on all things Rule 5 shortly.
- What is ‘spin efficiency’ and why do the Rays have it in spades? - Eno Sarris, The Athletic: A good time to re-read this excellent article from Eno about what the Rays are looking for and leaning hard into when it comes to pitchers.
- Wander Franco has a Rays themed basketball court!
Wander Franco has the Rays logo painted on his basketball court. pic.twitter.com/wTiN5U02lx
— Danny Russell (@d_russ) December 11, 2020
- Neil Solondz has a massive Winter Meetings wrap up podcast that’s worth your time!
ICYMI: This Week in @RaysBaseball w/ #Rays GM Erik Neander, @jaysonst @Mike_Ferrin @AndrewFreed33 @davewills34 & @neilsolondz pic.twitter.com/laCqdqUVA9
— RaysRadio (@RaysRadio) December 10, 2020
Around the League
- Daniel Bard wins maybe the most earned Comeback Player of the Year award after years and years of the yips, and struggle, and fighting his way to being able to just throw a ball where he wanted it to go:
Congratulations to the comeback players of the year: Rockies reliever Daniel Bard and Royals catcher Salvador Pérez.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) December 10, 2020
- Daniel Bard’s Long Road Back From the Yips - Stephanie Apstein, Sports Illustrated: Good time to re-vist this excellent article on the comeback of Daniel Bard.
- Phillies on verge of hiring Dave Dombrowski - Jason Stark, The Athletic: Dealing Dave might be back!