X-Rays Spex

A Below Average Rays Fan Blog

Tampa Bay Rays enter the offseason with a ton of optimism for the future

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Rays skipper Kevin Cash has a lot to look forward to going into the offseason.

A day after the Tampa Bay Rays 2019 campaign came to an end, Vice President of Baseball Operations Chaim Bloom, General Manager Erik Neander, and Manager Kevin Cash met with the media for their annual post-season press conference at Tropicana Field. As the players cleaned out their lockers in ahead the off-season, Bloom, Neander, and Cash note of their optimism going into the 2020 season.

There is an expectation for the young core of players to get even better after gaining another year of experience, including another postseason berth. Moving forward, the likely focus for the Rays brain trust will be more on the now than on the future, as they tinker with the roster to make a really good team even better.

We’re more equipped to compete with what we have right now. As thick as we are right now, I think we’re satisfied with the talent we have.

But I think it’s kind of in our DNA and our mode of preparation that we have an offseason with months to play with and think about things, and we can’t help ourselves but to think about how to make the team better. That’s our job, and we’ll do that. We’ll be open to things. But we do like our starting position here going into the winter.

— Erik Neander

With a team that has gone from 68 to 96 wins over a four-year period, not to mention an organization that has one deepest farm systems in the game, Tampa Bay is positioned well for a successful run.

With that in mind, Juan Toribio (MLB.com) listed his four key takeaways from the press conference, which you can read below:

Rays ready to build on postseason appearance

After their first postseason berth since 2013, the Rays enter the offseason as one of the early favorites to contend for the AL pennant in ’20. While they have difficult decisions to make this winter, the front office will operate with the sense that next year’s team is set to contend for more than just a postseason berth.

I think it’s much more that we’re putting ourselves in the territory where we’re expecting to be one of the most competitive and one of the most talented teams moving forward in the American League. And with that, the balancing of your near-term versus your long-term, it shifts a little bit to the present. And, really, that’s the goal.

— Erik Neander

Payroll operations

It’s no secret that the Rays don’t have the same payroll flexibility as some of the other clubs in the Majors, but they’re going to continue to be resourceful with what they have. Neander said that the Rays have “an idea” of what the payroll will be next season, which will help them in the free-agent market, but it isn’t necessarily a set number.

It’s kind of more of a range, but not something that we’ve gotten into too deeply. I think it’s important to survey the landscape and what our needs are and what’s available, what’s the inventory and then work backwards from there.

— Erik Neander

Medical update on Honeywell

Brent Honeywell entered the season as the team’s top pitching prospect, but setbacks from Tommy John surgery ended his season in June. Honeywell has now missed two full seasons, but he’s currently on pace to begin throwing at the start of the year. Honeywell was the only member of the 40-man roster to not pitch for the Rays this season, but the club is optimistic that the right-hander will contribute at some point next season.

The plan all along was that he wasn’t going to throw until around the new year and that remains the case. This kid is as intense and strong of a competitor as anyone we’ve been around, and for him to not taste competitive baseball for a couple of years is tough. But he’s going to get through this and we’ll see how he does once he picks up a ball.

— Erik Neander

Staff changes?

With a throng of job openings around the Majors, there’s always a chance that the Rays could have some turnover on their coaching staff. Rocco Baldelli and Charlie Montoyo both took managerial jobs last winter — with the Twins and Blue Jays, respectively — and some clubs could inquire about bench coach Matt Quatraro this winter.

Cash said that there could be some interest around the league for some of his staff members and front office personnel, though he’s optimistic about keeping his staff intact.

I don’t anticipate any changes. We have a really good group and a great staff. I think they do a really good job of keeping a positive vibe while helping players get better. There’s probably a lot of discussions out there right now. I would imagine that we have some people on our staff and within our organization that are looked upon very highly. I can’t thank this staff enough for the work this season.

— Kevin Cash

The Rays now will prioritize their own needs, like a catcher (if Travis d’Arnaud leaves), a right-handed power hitter (should Avisail Garcia leave), and a key bullpen piece or two.

Still, there is the feeling that the future looks better than ever which is a good place to be as the team looks to build on the successes of the 2019 campaign.

We’re putting ourselves in the territory, where we expect to be one of the most competitive, one of the most talented teams going forward in the American League.

— Erik Neander

Even in defeat, our gratitude for the Rays continues on

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  • The Astros swarmed right-hander Tyler Glasnow in the first inning, tagging him for four runs and a difference that could not be made up for. (Photo Credit: Tampa Bay Rays)

The Houston Astros struck quickly on Thursday, ultimately showing why they are the best team in baseball. Houston got key hits from their first four batters, and five of six, while scoring four first-inning runs en route to a 6-1 win over the Tampa Bay Rays. To the victors go the spoils, as Houston won the American League Division Series three games to two to end Tampa Bay’s postseason run, and advance to meet the Yankees in the American League Championship Series.

Many will dissect and/or recap the fifth game of the 2019 ALDS, and in all honesty, I’m pretty worn out from the month-and-a-half long spread of heart attack inducing ballgames, down the stretch, by the cardiac kids. For tonight, it’s okay to feel sad because of the outcome, but let’s make sure to celebrate OUR team for their onfield accomplishments, of which there were many.

Suffice it to say, this wasn’t our year. Sure, there was a ton of opitimism following their 90-win 2018 campaign, but with such a young core of relatively inexperienced players, a World Series run ultimately wasn’t in the cards. However, the Adames’ and Choi’s of the world proved that the 2019 Rays were a formidable opponent, so much so they won 99 games overall (96 regular-season games) in the same division as the Yankees and the Red Sox.

The Rays entered Oakland for the AL Wildcard game as the underdogs and defeated the Athletics to earn the privilege of playing against in the ALDS against the best squad in the game. That squad, the 107-game winning Astros, were predicted to shut down Tampa Bay in three games, and yet the Rays went toe-to-toe with Jose Altuve, Alex Bregman, George Springer, and a pair of immensely talented hurlers — one of which Tampa Bay knocked out of Tuesday’s game before the final out of the fourth inning.

What an impressive run. They were a fun team to be around, fun team to watch for 6-1/2 months. Can’t deny the fact that we came up short. You get a taste of this, you want to keep going. Today we kind of got outpowered — outpowered on the mound and obviously at the plate. But really, really proud of the guys.

— Kevin Cash

This season we watched guys like Willy Adames and Ji-Man Choi blossom into all-around solid players.

Plays like this make watching this 6-3 duo fun.

Besides Avisaíl García, Travis d’Arnaud, and Eric Sogard — all of whom are set to enter free agency — Tampa Bay will have the majority of its roster back in 2020. More importantly, this young core is now better because of the postseason experience. They should be around for a while. While 2019 was great, 2020 promises to be even better.

Rays outfielder Austin Meadows spoke to that after the game:

Something Dave Wills (Rays Radio) mentioned over more than a few occasions, the window of opportunity for this special group should be open for much longer than with previous rosters.

His radio partner, Andy Freed, reiterated that idea in a tweet referencing Winston Churchill.

They may not have shocked the world, but they are now certainly worthy of respect.

While I’m thinking about it, I’ve got to say, it was wholly refreshing to hear someone in the national media, namely AJ Pierzynski, acknowledge the WE are a great fan base. We get plowed over by so many people (including folks from the local media) so often, that an acknowledgment by someone with a far larger platform than, say, Marc Topkin was reaffirming. That’s really saying something when the local beat writer is more angsty toward the fan base than one of the most unbeloved former players in the game.

The New What Next

So what’s next? We here at X-Rays Spex will be pulling for Houston to first defeat the Yankees, then win it all. Who knows? Maybe one of us will whip together a series preview as we’ve done in the past.

Then, after a little time away, we’ll start crunching the numbers to see where the Rays fared well this season, and where they can improve moving forward. I’m sure we can expect some non-news news to come out of the Rays camp regarding Stu Sternberg’s cockamamie (his words, not mine) proposal, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.

At any rate, the blog will be updated regularly with applicable news among other things, so keep on reading!

TNWN: Rays look to win a third consecutive game against Houston

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A pair of orange roofs graced Tropicana Field on Monday and Tuesday, as the Rays defeated the Houston Astros at home. (Photo Credit: Tampa Bay Rays)

After a travel day Wednesday, the Tampa Bay Rays made their way back to Houston, where they will butt heads with the Astros one more time in the final game of the best of five American League Division Series. Houston won the first two games of the set, while Tampa Bay won a pair of elimination games at home. The victors will face the Yankees in the American League Championship Series, starting Saturday.

The Rays enter play 3-0 in elimination postseason games this season and are 8-4 overall. They have dominated the series beyond the Justin Verlander/Gerrit Cole innings in Houston. With Verlander and Cole on the on the bump, Houston outscored Tampa Bay 8-0. Yet beyond that, in all the other innings of the series, the Rays have outscored Houston 17-5.

As Bradford Doolittle (ESPN) noted, the numbers all swing the Rays’ way. Tampa Bay has a 6-4 edge in homers in the series. They have that 17-13 edge in scoring. They have more walks, a better on-base percentage, a better slugging percentage. The Astros have been outplayed.

It is not clear if Yandy Diaz will be available. Diaz left Monday’s game with left foot soreness, and did not play on Tuesday. In his place, Matt Duffy collected two hits on Monday, while Joey Wendle hit an RBI double on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the Rays pitching staff has limited Houston to 1-9 with runners in scoring position (.111 BA) over the last two games — something they hope to continue on Thursday. Put another way, the keys to any presumptive victory will be timely hitting, run prevention, and quality pitching.

Even though Tyler Glasnow is set to make his second postseason appearance (more on him below), Rays manager Kevin Cash acknowledged Wednesday that there will again be an all hands on deck approach to pitching in the series finale, with all of the team’s 12 pitchers available for this contest, including both Blake Snell and Charlie Morton (who pitched Monday) on short rest. In the bullpen day on Tuesday, not a single Tampa Bay hurler threw more than 29 pitches. The same can be expected from A.J. Hinch and the Astros.

The New What Next

Tyler Glasnow (6-1, 1.78 ERA) will make his second and final ALDS appearance, pitching opposite of Gerrit Cole (20-5, 2.50 ERA).

Tyler Glasnow will be pitching on an extra day’s rest after throwing 4-1/3 innings on Friday when he gave up four hits including a two-run homer to Jose Altuve. He struck out five. He is 1-0 with a 1.80 ERA in one career start against Houston in regular season play, but 0-1 with a 4.15 ERA and a 1.82 WHIP in the postseason.

Gerrit Cole was historically dominant in the second game of the ALDS when he fanned 15 — an Astros franchise playoff record — in his 118-pitch, 7-2/3 inning outing. Cole is 0-2 with a 3.51 ERA in four career starts against the Rays, 0-1 with a 3.55 ERA in two 2019 starts against Tampa Bay, and 1-0 with a 0.00 ERA and a 0.65 WHIP in postseason play. Key Matchups: Jesus Aguilar (3-8, 2 RBI, BB), Ji-Man Choi (2B, HR, 4 RBI, BB), Travis d’Arnaud (4-4, 2B, HR, 2 RBI, BB), Yandy Diaz (2-3, HR, RBI), Tommy Pham (9-18, 2 2B, HR, 4 RBI), Daniel Robertson (2-6), Joey Wendle (3-7, 3B, 3 RBI)

You can read about the series in our preview, while the starting lineup and Noteworthiness are below.

TNWN: Rays vs Astros — an ALDS preview

Rays ALDS Game Five Starting Lineup

  1. Meadows LF
  2. Pham DH
  3. Choi 1B
  4. d’Arnaud C
  5. Sogard 2B
  6. Garcia RF
  7. Wendle 3B
  8. Kiermaier C
  9. Adames SS

Noteworthiness

— The Rays will be hosting three more official watch parties on Thursday in the Tampa Bay area. The first pitch is slated for 7:00, and the locations of the parties are below.

— Ever wonder about the cognitive dissonance between very wealthy people, like Rays principal owner Stu Sternberg, and, well…pretty much everyone else? Me too!

According to an article by Harren Walker (Vice), UC Berkeley psychologists Paul Diff and Dacher Keltner have done a number of studies over the past 10 years that suggest that the more material wealth an individual accumulates, the less likely that person is to have compassion and empathy for other people, and to use their wealth to help others in need.

Walker continued:

Upper-class individuals are also worse at recognizing other people’s emotions, and they’re less likely to pay attention to the people they’re interacting with.

— Harren Walker

In other words, Sternberg is living in a world where the realities of the majority of the Rays fan base do not match up with his own. Is he delusional for thinking that baseball fans in Tampa Bay and Montreal will glom onto his cockamamie leverage proposal to split the Rays between two cities for half a season? From a clinical perspective, there’s a strong possibility of that.

LBWMF: Rays win second straight against Houston, 4-1

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The rally flags were out in full force at Tropicana Field on Tuesday. (Photo Credit: Tampa Bay Rays)

The Tampa Bay Rays live to see another day. The Rays scored three huge first-inning runs against Justin Verlander on Tuesday and knocked the right-hander out of the ballgame in the fourth inning. That propelled the Rays to a second consecutive win over the Houston Astros in the American League Division Series, forcing a fifth game to be played on Thursday. The good guys held on to beat the ‘Stros by a 4-1 margin in front of 32,178 loud fans at Tropicana Field.

As he did six times during the regular season, Diego Castillo opened the game and fanned three batters after allowing a leadoff single to George Springer. His first inning of work included an absolutely filthy 99 mph fastball which cut in on a whiffing Jose Altuve, on the seventh pitch of the at-bat.

Meanwhile, Tommy Pham got the first-inning run-scoring rally going by drilling a 2-2 changeup over the wall into left-center for an early lead.

It was Pham’s second homer of the postseason.

Ji-Man Choi walked before Avisail Garcia laced a single to left. And with two on and one out, Travis d’Arnaud lined a single to left, scoring Choi for a two-run lead. Joey Wendle capped the scoring by ripping a double into the right-field corner, scoring Garcia for an early and unrelinquishable lead.

Castillo made his way to the mound once again in the second inning and allowed a one-out walk to Yuli Gurriel, but departed the game only after he got Carlos Correa to pop out to third.

Left-hander Ryan Yarbrough took over in his place and quickly got Josh Reddick to line-out to first, thanks to a great play by Ji-Man Choi — the first of two fantastic plays on the night.

In the fourth inning, Yarbrough found himself in trouble, although he was helped out by a terrific bang-bang throw at the plate.

Altuve singled to left to start the frame, and with one out, Yordan Alvarez hit a booming double to the wall in center. Kevin Kiermaier played the carom on a hop and threw a strike to Willy Adames, who was about 10 feet behind second base. Still, Adames quickly threw a bullet home to d’Arnaud at home to cut down the always dangerous Altuve.

Nick Anderson finished the inning by coaxing Gurriel into a ground out, ending the threat.

Then in a beautiful moment of serendipity, Adames led off the bottom of the sixth inning by crushing a 1-1 pitch off the D-ring in left-center, putting the Rays up by four.

It was willy’s second homer in as many days.

Verlander, who was pitching on three days rest, made an ungraceful exit three batters later. Tuesday’s game will go down as Verlander’s shortest outing ever against Tampa Bay. The presumptive Cy Young Award winner relinquished seven hits and three walks across 3-2/3 innings while striking out five. He threw 52 of 84 pitches for strikes (62% strike rate).

Anderson continued to pitch through the sixth inning, posting the longest outing of his big league career. In 2-1/3 innings of work, Anderson punched out two and allowed just one hit. The right-hander benefitted from another excellent play by Choi, who snared a line drive off the bat of Michael Brantley and stepped on first to turn the unassisted double play.

After Anderson, Colin Poche took over and collected five outs, while striking out two, before former Ray Robinson Chirinos hit a two-out homer to right-center to draw Houston within three, chasing Poche.

Tasked with getting the final four outs of the game, Emilio Pagan got the last out in the eighth, then took the mound again in the ninth. Pagan walked Altuve on a close full-count pitch with one out, bringing Alex Bregman to the plate. The 2019 All-Star singled to left-center, putting runners at the corners and chasing Pagan.

Blake Snell, making his first big league relief appearance, entered to face Alvarez, who represented the tying run. Alvarez went down swinging on a slider for the second out; allowing Bregman to move up 90 feet on defensive indifference. Finally, Gurriel grounded to Wendle at second base, ending the game with another orange roof.

All told, six pitchers combined to limit Houston to six hits and two walks. Compare that to Tampa Bay, which had 13 hits (including four from Garcia, and three from Pham).

Rays win, 4-1, one more ALDS ballgame to go.

LBWMF: Morton, Adames, and the Rays pound the Astros in game three of the ALDS, 10-3

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A blue roof gave way to an orange roof by the end of the Rays 10-3 contest against the Astros. (Photo Credit: X-Rays Spex)

The excitement was palpable on Monday, as the Tampa Bay Rays overcame their two-games to none deficit, handily defeating the Houston Astros, 10-3, in front of 32,251 raucous fans at Tropicana Field. The Rays now trail the Astros two-games to one in the best of five series, with game four scheduled for Tuesday.

The Astros, who had not trailed in the first two games, took the lead in the opening frame against Charlie Morton. After getting ahead of (and nearly striking out) Jose Altuve on a borderline pitch that was called ball three, Altuve homered to deep centerfield on the payoff pitch. It was Altuve’s second long ball of the series, and the fourth this season against Tampa Bay. And Morton continued to scuffle in the inning.

After Michael Brantly was called out for the second out of the frame, Alex Bregman walked, and Yordan Alvarez reached on a two-base throwing error by Yandy Diaz that skipped past Ji-Man Choi. However, the right-hander limited damage and got Yuli Gurriel to pop out to second on the sixth pitch of the at-bat, ending a 31-pitch labor-intensive inning.

From there, Morton tightened up his game and went on to scatter a base hit, a double, and a walk, yet nothing else. All told, Morton allowed one run on three hits and two walks, while striking out nine on 93 pitches (62 strikes, 67% strike rate).

Houston’s manager A.J. Hinch is all too familiar with this type of solid performance by the former Astro.

I’ve seen this out of Charlie. When you get him early, get some opportunities early, you have to maximize them if you can. Same thing he did in the Wild Card Game. He settled in nicely and got them through five innings.

— A.J. Hinch

Meanwhile, Tampa Bay took an unrelinquishable lead in the bottom of the second against Zack Greinke, who still has never won a game at Tropicana Field (seven appearances, six starts). Avisail Garcia got things started with a one-out base hit to center. A batter later, he moved up 90 feet on a groundout. After Travis d’Arnaud was hit by a 1-1 pitch, Kevin Kiermaier laced a 2-1 changeup, that caught too much plate, into the right-center stands for a three-run homer, giving the Rays a two-run lead.

It was Tampa Bay’s first lead of the series and the first of four home runs in the ballgame.

Tampa Bay was able to extend the lead to three runs in the bottom of the third inning. With none on and two outs when Ji-Man Choi launched a solo shot to right, his first homer of the postseason.

Another inning another homer … Brandon Lowe unloaded on an opposite-field homer on the first pitch of the bottom of the fourth inning — his first-ever post-season home run, making it 5-1.

And that wasn’t all.

Willy Adames worked a two-out walk, chasing Greinke. Hector Rondon entered and allowed a single to Matt Duffy before Wade Miley, the third pitcher of the frame, gave up a two-run double to Austin Meadows, putting Tampa Bay up by six.

Tommy Pham followed with an RBI single to right for an 8-1 lead.

Houston was able to get back two runs in the sixth inning against Chaz Roe, collecting three hits while plating a pair of runs on a Gurriel single. Still, Roe got the next two batters while Brendan McKay got Aledmys Diaz to pop out ending the inning.

Unsatisfied with just a five-run lead in the bottom of the sixth, Adames made it a six-run game once again, hitting a home run to left-center off Miley.

It was the first time the Rays hit four homers at the Trop in a postseason game.

Tampa Bay tacked on one last run in the seventh inning. After Garcia reached on an Alex Bregman error, he went to third on a single by Lowe, then came home on a sacrifice fly by d’Arnaud.

All told, the Rays scored 10 runs on 12 hits with three by Adames. As a team, Tampa Bay’s hurlers punched out 13 Astros. It should be mentioned, Houston was the toughest team to strikeout in the league during the regular season.

The New What Next

Kevin Cash will mix-and-match on the mound on Tuesday, with Justin Verlander (1-0, 0.00 ERA in the postseason, 21-6, 2.58 ERA in the regular season) getting the ball for Houston.

Diego Castillo (5-8, 3.41 ERA) will open for the Rays. The right-hander tossed 1-2/3 scoreless innings against Houston in Game 2 of the ALDS on Saturday. In six opening turns on the mound this season, Castillo is 0-1 with a 6.14 ERA (4.85 FIP). He, however, did not allow a run in 10 of 12 September appearances (2 ER across 14-2/3 IP), nor has he given up a run in any of his playoff outings so far across 3-2/3 innings.

After Castillo, the bullpen will cover the balance of the game with several pitchers working 1-2 innings each.

Justin Verlander will get the start even though A.J. Hinch likely would have preferred to save the right-hander for the first game of the ALCS. Verlander will pitch on three days’ rest Tuesday after tossing seven scoreless innings in the first game of the ALDS on Friday, allowing just one hit and three walks while striking out eight on 100 pitches (67 strikes, 67% strike rate). Verlander has never pitched on three days rest, so things could get interesting if he is not as sharp as usual. He is 10-4 with a 3.17 ERA in 20 career regular starts against Tampa Bay, and 6-3 with a 2.87 ERA in 10 starts at the Trop. Key Matchups: Travis d’Arnaud (1-2), Yandy Diaz (2-4, 2B, BB), Matt Duffy (4-8), Tommy Pham (3-6, 2 2B), Joey Wendle (3-8, 2B, RBI)

You can read more about the series in our preview, while the starting lineup and Noteworthiness are below.

TNWN: Rays vs Astros — an ALDS preview

Rays ALDS Game 4 Starting Lineup

    null
  1. Meadows LF
  2. Pham DH
  3. Choi 1B
  4. Garcia RF
  5. Lowe 2B
  6. d’Arnaud C
  7. Wendle 3B
  8. Kiermaier CF
  9. Adames SS

Noteworthiness

— A brief moment of pause for everyone commenting on the Rays attendance including Bob Costas, who allegedly decided to broach the subject on the air this afternoon. People who attend baseball games are consumers that purchase some sort of product or service. And as with any other product, consumers spend their hard-earned dollars on things they value regardless of the parameters surrounding product. The fact that there were over 30,000 fans in attendance on a weekday proves that fans can make it out to the Trop given the wherewithal to do so. The fans in attendance on Monday likely had to sacrifice more to attend the 1:10 p.m. thanks to adult responsibilities like work.

Remind your friends and family of this whenever they feel the need to bring up the subject of attendance.

— Well, this is pretty damn cool!