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This Week in Rays Baseball ― 9/21/15 – 9/27/15

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Mikie Mahtook is congratulated by Brandon Guyer after hitting a two-run home run in the third inning during a game against the Toronto Blue Jays. (Photo Credit: Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images)

Mikie Mahtook is congratulated by Brandon Guyer after hitting a two-run home run in the third inning during a game against the Toronto Blue Jays. (Photo Credit: Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images)

The Tampa Bay Rays took to the road on Monday with their sights set firmly on collecting their first winning road trip since June 17-21, when they took four of five from the Nationals and Indians. They also set out with an opportunity to get back to .500 and then some. The Rays, however, were unsuccessful in both endeavors, and ended the road trip with a 3-4 record after being chewed up and spit out by the unrelenting Blue Jays of Toronto.

…And the downward spiral continues its slow grind toward the end of the season.

This isn’t to say the past has been uneventful ― far from it. Joe Maddon’s Chicago Cubs clinched their first playoff berth since 2008. Not to be outdone, the Pittsburgh Pirates, New York Mets, Kansas City Royals, and Toronto Blue Jays will also play relevant baseball past October 4th, setting the table for what promises to be a compelling postseason. Now if the Houston Astros could hurry up and realize their postseason aspirations. I digress.

On the bright side, there were three promising games on the Rays road trip, all of which came at the hands of the Boston Red Sox. Let’s take a look at those games, and the peripheral events that surrounded the team this week.

Tuesday

Before Tuesday’s contest, curious news broke (via the Tampa Bay Times), the Atlanta Braves are allegedly interested in calling St. Petersburg their Spring Training home at some point in the near future. A proposal by SportsPark Partners LLC a group ― a development group led by Darryl LeClair ― would move the Braves Spring Training quarters from the Orlando area to a new stadium complex in the Toytown area of St. Petersburg.

You might recall, LeClair put together a Rays stadium proposal in the Carillon area of St. Pete three years ago. That plan, however, never gained traction with the team’s ownership group.

The initial bid on the Toytown property was made the beginning of the month, though the bid was not made public at that point, and it was assumed that LeClair might consider using the property toward another Rays stadium bid ― after all, it’s in the East/Central part of Pinellas County, it’s right off the highway, and it’s not far from the Howard-Frankland Bridge. It should also be noted, Pinellas County has the money to pool together for a new stadium.

The team chose not to comment on things until later in the week.

Meanwhile on the field, Mikie Mahtook hit a two-run homer in the eighth inning and Matt Moore recovered from a tough start to fan seven as the Rays beat the Red Sox 5-2.

Moore threw an incredibly inefficient 32 pitch first inning, though he settled in and hurled 5-2/3 innings of scoreless baseball from that point on. The lefty didn’t walk another batter, and collected seven strikeouts, while scattering seven hits. Topping out at 96 mph multiple times throughout his start, the lefty racked up 17 total swings and misses with his four seam fastball (5), change up (6), and curveball (6).

Word also broke why Nathan Karns hadn’t taken the mound of late, the righty has been shut down for the season due to right forearm tightness.

Per Marc Topkin (Tampa Bay Times):

Both Karns and Rays manager Kevin Cash said they are confident the issue is nothing serious and said that at a different point in the season he may have pitched through it. But after Karns went through a 20-pitch session early Tuesday afternoon, the decision was made to be cautious and allow him more time to rest and not risk further injury by having him make another start.

Wednesday

A pair of former teammates took the hill against one another on Wednesday night, yet Rays hurler Drew Smyly prevailed over Boston’s Rick Porcello. The Tampa Bay Rays broke open a close game late en route to a 6-2 win over the Red Sox.

Smyly worked around three walks and an HBP, to go along with five scattered hits. He fanned seven in his fourth scoreless start of the season ― the second in as many starts against Boston. Additionally, the scoreless start gave Rays starters their 31st scoreless start of the season ―  the most in the Majors after leading the Majors last season with 32. Per the Elias Sports Bureau, Tampa Bay is just the second club in Major League history with 30 starts in back-to-back seasons when the starting pitcher was not charged with a run.

Thursday

Erasmo Ramirez took the bump in the series finale with Boston and put up another gem. And though he gave up two Red Sox runs in the first inning on a David Ortiz homer (his 36th homer of the season and 502nd of his career), Ramirez settled down and did not allow another runner beyond first over the next six innings ― ultimately retiring 18 of 20 batters faced.

Erasmo has now thrown at least seven innings in three straight starts for the first time at the MLB level. He enters the with an 11-6 record and a 3.65 ERA/3.82 FIP/2.2 WAR line. Not bad for a hurler who was once referred to as “Assmo” by some of readers at DRaysBay.

Friday

Three days after a plan was unveiled to move the Atlanta Braves Spring Training home to St. Petersburg, Major League Baseball and the Tampa Bay Rays issued their first public comments.

Rays president Brian Auld quickly made his first public comment on the proposal:

The Rays appreciate MLB’s attention to this matter. We fully agree with and support their statement, he said in a statement when asked for comment by the media.

Major League Baseball issued the following statement this morning:

Earlier this week, Major League Baseball and the Tampa Bay Rays learned of the St. Petersburg Sports Park proposal for the first time.  Major League Baseball appreciates the support that it has received for the construction of Spring Training facilities throughout the State of Florida. The most pressing need, however, is the construction of a Major League-quality facility for the Rays.

Major League Baseball is committed to working with the Rays to secure a new ballpark in cooperation with the Tampa Bay region.  This can only happen with the support of local political and business leaders.

Incidentally, Noah Pransky (Shadow of the Stadium) opined the proposal could mean one of three things:

  1. The Rays & MLB are assuming the Rays will be gone from Tampa Bay in a decade or so, thus diminishing any negative impact of a Braves spring training relocation. In fact, it could be positioned as a consolation prize for Pinellas County.
  2. The Rays & MLB want to stay in Tampa Bay, but are using the pressure on Pinellas County’s limited tourist tax bonding capacity to force St. Pete’s hand.  Forced to make a decision about where bed tax revenues would be best-spent, the city could allow the Rays permission to begin negotiating for new stadium sites.
  3. The Rays & MLB want a taxpayer-funded stadium at Toytown and – unable to negotiate with Pinellas County right now – the Rays have coordinated with the Braves, MLB, and developers to orchestrate a bait-and-switch.  The proposed 10,000-seat stadium becomes a 25,000-seat stadium and the Rays move closer to the bay bridges.  The Braves could even share Bright House Networks Field in Clearwater without major expenditures.

Pransky was quick to note that while option three is a longshot, all three theories could mean a considerable bump in leverage for the Rays as they continue to push for a new stadium.

The weekend series against Toronto was a wash. The team played like the Devil Rays, although we got a sense of what’s to be expected out of the Blue Jays in the playoffs. God help whoever they may face.

One last thing

When you’re feeling disappointed about the black hole that is/was the 2015 season, just remember at least we don’t have to watch the bravado fest that is Bryce Harper and Jonathan Papelbon. The two volatile players exchanged words before their spat came to blows in the dugout. #Perspective

This Week in Rays Baseball: August 16th – 23rd

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(Photo Credit: Cary Edmondson/USA Today Sports)

(Photo Credit: Cary Edmondson/USA Today Sports)

Let me just say what everyone is thinking, thank god that 10-game road trip is over! To be fair, the Tampa Bay Rays performed fairly well against the Houston Astros and Oakland Athletics…well, better than they had against Texas. They were able to win some games against some pretty good pitchers, and the good guys four of their last seven. That being said, their showing Sunday looked more like the softball team I play on, and less like a team vying for a playoff berth. In the end Tampa Bay couldn’t win its first-ever road sweep of Oakland, although the team was able to take two-of-three from the A’s. After a well needed off-day Monday, the Rays will welcome another fringe contender into the Trop, the Minnesota Twins.

Let’s take look at some of the peaks and valleys from the week past.

The Rays entered the only other citrus themed facility in the bigs on Monday to start a four game set against the Houston Astros. Erasmo Ramirez earned his 10th win of the year, holding Houston’s powerful bats to just two single tallies on six scattered hits, including an opposite field homer to Evan Gattis on a pitch that was well out of the zone. For the life of me, I still cannot understand how Gattis poked that fastball to right-field!

Screen Shot 2015-08-17 at 11.48.34 PM

The offense supported Erasmo — and the pitchers that followed — with nine runs of support, while going 6-17 wRISP (.353 BA) and scoring six two-out runs.

However, fortune did not favor the Rays on Tuesday and Wednesday, after they dropped a pair of extra inning contests by a 3-2 margin. The bullpen failed the team in both games, although they walked away from Tuesday’s fiasco with a far worse predicament — Jake McGee became the injury bug’s next victim when the lefty tore the meniscus in his left knee on the second to last pitch of his outing.

McGee, who is expected to miss 6-8 weeks after going under the knife, will likely miss the rest of the regular season. Kevin Cash said they will use several pitchers to take McGee’s late-inning role, including lefty Xavier Cedenno and righties Steve Geltz, Brandon Gomes and Alex Colome. He also said this less than operative situation doesn’t automatically mean Brad Boxberger will become the full-time closer. Rather there could still be situations where Boxberger pitches in the eighth, and one of the others closes out the game.

In dire need of a pick me up, the team closed out the stint in Houston with a big 1-0 shutout of the Astros, culminating in a one-hit/11 strikeout complete game gem by Chris Archer. When all was said and done, the starting rotation held the Astros to just four runs (1.33 ERA), while the offense was able to collect 42 total hits. However, they also went 9-for-40 wRISP (.225 BA), so…

The westward trek continued in Oakland on Friday, when Drew Smyly and Desmond Jennings led Tampa Bay to a 2-1 win. Smyly bounced back from a disappointing start against Texas by scattering seven singles and fanning two. And while his start wasn’t spectacular, he was good enough to keep Oakland at bay. The lefty focused more on pitching to contact, and — playing off the Athletics aggressiveness at the plate — forced a good number of weak poppers and fly balls. More importantly though, his command was much better and he was able to locate all of his pitches.

“It just helps when you can locate all your pitches, Smyly said. In Texas I was pretty much throwing two pitches: fastball, slider. Today I threw some changeups, I threw a lot of curveballs, my slider was good. All in all it felt good out there.”

Up by two runs in the ninth, Boxberger took over and almost allowed another walkoff loss. Instead he eventually settled down to earn his 30th save.

On Saturday, for the first time in 50 previous attempts, Tampa Bay notched its first ninth-inning comeback of the season as the team rallied for two runs late to win 5-4. Logan Forsythe, John Jaso, and Asdrubal Cabrera combined to tag Sonny Gray for three home runs, and the Rays became the first team to do as much off the excellent righty. Previous to that, Gray had given up only two homers in one game. Equally as impressive though, Alex Colome, who was the only reliever used by Cash, entered the game in the eighth inning and retired all six batters he faced (over a two inning spread) on an incredibly efficient 20 pitches. In 11 relief appearances and 17-1/3 innings since the All-Star break, Colome has allowed just one earned run. Only time will tell, but the former starter could be an apt replacement for McGee while he recoups from surgery.

It might be best if we just skip over the series finale.


Source: FanGraphs

Better yet, read FanGraphs’ game recap whilst listening to the Benny Hill theme song.

When all was said and done, it was the fourth game on the trip in which Tampa Bay blew a lead from seventh inning on. In retrospect, perhaps the quote at the bottom of Sunday’s lineup card was prophetic:

This Week in Rays Baseball: Decisions to be Made on Peralta, Cubs Set to Hire Maddon, and More

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Photo courtesy of Rick Yeatts/Getty Images

Photo courtesy of Rick Yeatts/Getty Images

The Tampa Bay Rays will wait until Monday to make their option decision on reliever Joel Peralta, the Tampa Bay Times’ Marc Topkin tweeted. They’ll also be making other 40-man decisions, since Matt Moore and Jerry Sands need to be reinstated from the 60-day disabled list, and their roster is currently full. If the Rays choose to exercise Peralta’s $2.5M option, they’ll have options at the same price for 2016 and 2017 as well. Peralta is coming off a season in which he posted a 4.41 ERA, and the Rays could decide to let him go to save a bit of money and clear a roster spot for a younger player. What follows are a handful of links from this week past.*

*Okay, maybe I fudged on the time scale just a touch.

The New What Next: Enter the Evil Empire — A Series Preview of Sorts

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Ben Zobrist, center, carries his belongings out of the dugout after a baseball game against the Baltimore Orioles, Wednesday, April 16, 2014, in Baltimore. Baltimore won 3-0. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

Proof the Rays brought their bats on their recent nine-day road trip. Unfortunately for them, they didn’t use them. (Photo courtesy of AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

The Tampa Bay Rays return home Thursday following a 3-0 loss to the Orioles, and an abysmal 3-5 road trip. Suffice it to say, after going a combined 11-for-52 wRISP (21%), the Rays bats may have been in the dugout, but they certainly weren’t in the batters box. Tampa Bay has now dropped three in a row, while averaging under two runs per game over a ten-game span. Look at the bright side: The Rays are 7-8 after the first 15 games. Compare that to last season when Tampa Bay went 5-10 in the first two weeks of the season.

The Rays welcome the Yankees to the big top for a four game set. At 6-16 (against the Yankees) in their past 22 games at the Trop, the Rays will try to turn their misfortune around. The Yankees haven’t won a season series against Tampa Bay since 2009.

Much like the Rays, the Yankees are banged up. 1B Mark Teixeira, closer Dave Robertson and backup INF Brendan Ryan and C Francisco Cervelli have all been on the DL since opening day. SS Derek Jeter has missed a couple of games with quad issues, though was expected to return to the fold Wednesday night. Yet, the Yankees are atop the AL East with a 9-6 record, having won four in a row.

It bears mentioning, with a 5 IP/3 ER/3 BB/4 K slash line on 95 pitches (59 strikes, 62% K/BB), Jake Odorizzi put together a decent start Wednesday. Odorizzi kept the Rays in the game throughout his stint on the mound. In short, it is akin to what we should hope for (or expect, somewhat similar) out of Erik Bedard and Cesar Ramos, Friday and Sunday. It is essential for the bats to come to life — after all, three of their last six losses came by three runs or fewer. And if you accept the idea that a four run chasm is not an unbridgeable gap, the Rays could have won four of their last six games.

Rays and Yankees series starters.

Rays and Yankees series starters.

Rays and Yankees offensive production at home, away, and overall.

Rays and Yankees offensive production at home, away, and overall.

Rays and Yankees, by the numbers.

Rays and Yankees, by the numbers.

CC Sabathia: The Rays LOVE CC Sabathia. Thursday marks the 10th time Price has opposed Sabathia, and Tampa Bay won eight of those matchups with Price going 6-1 with a 2.68 ERA. Sabathia is 1-6 with a 6.11 ERA in his last eight starts against the Rays, and 0-5 with a 4.50 ERA in his past eight at Tropicana Field. Meanwhile, his velocity continues to plummet. Case in point, his first start of the season (against the Astros) when Sabathia’s fastball averaged 90.6 MPH, peaking at 91.6. The continued slowing of his radar gun readings has gone from “concerning” to “alarming,” while his ERA/FIP/xFIP/SIERA are all on a three-year rise. In short, facing the swarthy LHP could be just what the Rays need to jumpstart their offense. Key match-ups: David DeJesus (16-57, 7 2B, HR, 6 RBI), Yunel Escobar (11-36, 4 2B, 2 HR, 10 RBI, 3 BB), Ryan Hanigan (3-9, HR, RBI), James Loney (5-18, HR, 3 RBI), Evan Longoria (21-53, 6 2B, 6 HR, 13 RBI, 12 BB), Wil Myers (3-9, HR, 5 RBI), Sean Rodriguez (13-42, 3 2B, 3B, 2 HR, 6 RBI, 4 BB). 

Hiroki Kuroda: Per Rotowire, “Kuroda gave up four runs on six hits and three walks, while striking out five over 6.1 innings, in Saturday’s 7-4 win over the Red Sox.” Kuroda could be another godsend for the Rays. At 2-3 with a 7.36 ERA against the Rays over the last few years, Tampa Bay has had their way against the 39 year old RHP, tagging him for 26 runs (24 earned) in 29-1/3 innings of work. Overall, the Rays have slashed .268 BA/.321 OBP/.546 SLG/.867 OPS against Kuroda, with eight players posting a +.250 OBA. Key match-ups: David DeJesus (2-6, 2 2B, RBI), Yunel Escobar (4-16, 2B, BB), Logan Forsythe (1-3, BB), Desmond Jennings (3-11, RBI, BB), Matt Joyce (5-14, 3 HR, 3 RBI, BB), Evan Longoria (4-14, 2B, HR, 13 RBI, 5 BB), Wil Myers (1-2, BB), Ben Zobrist (5-12, 2 2B, 3B, 2 HR, 4 RBI, 3 BB).

Ivan Nova: Out of the starters listed for the series, Ivan Nova has been the toughest nut to crack for Tampa bay. The Rays, historically, have not fared well against the 27 year-old RHP. If his last outing speaks to anything, it’s how tough he can be on opposing batters. Nova bounced back from two bad outings to begin the season Sunday night, holding the Red Sox to two runs on eight hits over 7.1 innings. His velocity is down, as is his K/9. Still, if Sunday’s outing speaks to anything, it’s that Saturday could be a long day for the offensively strapped Rays. Key match-ups: David DeJesus (3-7), Desmond Jennings (6-22, 2B, 3B), James Loney 6-10, 3 BB), Evan Longoria (8-28, 2 HR,, 5 RBI, 2 BB), Wil Myers 3-12, 2B, BB), Sean Rodriguez (2-5, HR, RBI, 5 BB).

Noteworthiness

 

This Week in Rays Baseball: Rays Announce Renovations to the Trop, Sign Reliever Mark Lowe, and More

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Reliever Mark Lowe (pictured above) has agreed to a minor league contract with The Rays. The deal includes an invite to the big league spring training camp.

Reliever Mark Lowe (pictured above) has agreed to a minor league contract with The Rays. The deal includes an invite to the big league spring training camp.

It’s time for another edition of This Week in Rays Baseball — the first in some time. I digress.

First on the docket, details on the Rays previously announced renovation of Tropicana Field have surfaced. They’re planning what is being called a 360-degree “interior stadium fan access” with the creation of walkways behind the outfield seating areas, similar Rays’ Port Charlotte spring stadium which has a boardwalk and centerfield tiki bar. They’ll also open up what was the dark, glass-fronted Batter’s Eye restaurant into an open-air meeting spot with concessions. “Fans can actually walk around the stadium without having to go into the concourse area,” said Joe Zeoli, the city’s managing director of development administration, in a Tampa Bay Times article. “You will be able to watch the game as you move from left field to right field, for example.

“Most of the other items are maintenance,” noted Zeoli. “This item will kind of get everybody’s attention.” Those renovations will include restroom upgrades, pipe replacement and ceiling restoration in the home clubhouse, improved exterior lighting in employee parking areas, and refurbishment of exterior awnings. All of the work is expected to be complete before the start of the 2014 baseball season.

The Tampa Bay Times’ article goes on to note,

Though the glass walls are coming down, there still has to be a dark area in centerfield that provides the hitting background, which is known as the batter’s eye. In the new configuration, that may be a screen or a mesh banner, and it will be smaller than the fronting of the restaurant, though it will meet league requirements. The Rays likely will consult with the coaching staff — and possibly have hitters test it out — to make sure it provides the proper background.

The majority of the $1.3MM overhaul will come from a special stadium capital projects escrow account which the city controls. Since the team cannot spend money from the account without city approval, they will be asked to approve the project at a November 25th city council meeting.

The Rays have signed 30 year-old RHRP, Mark Lowe, to a minor league deal, including an invitation to Spring Training. Lowe posted a 9.26 ERA in 11 appearances with the Angels this season before he was released in June. Lowe was picked up by the Nationals from there, though he pitched exclusively with Triple-A Syracuse before opting out of his contract after being passed over for a September call-up.

In his time with the Mariners and Rangers, from 2009-2012, Lowe compiled a 3.60 ERA over 177 appearances, impressively posting a 10 K/9 over a span of 193 innings. Lowe represents another in a long line of Rays reclamation projects that have have found recent success. DJ Short of NBC Sports’ was quick to remind us, “The Rays have earned the benefit of the doubt at this point, so it would probably be more surprising if he didn’t end up being a contributor in 2014.”

Finally, Noah Pransky reported this week, “Despite his August promise to intervene in the Rays’ Stadium Saga, Commissioner Bud Selig told reporters on Thursday that he has no plans to get involved in negotiations right now. He went on to write, “A departure from his previous frustrations, Selig said he was comfortable with the direction of the conversation.”

Noteworthiness:

  • Jeff Niemann has been dropped from the 40-man roster, and elected for free agency.