Chris Archer throws a pitch against the Atlanta Braves at Champion Stadium. (Photo courtesy of Kim Klement/USA Today Sports)
I wrote earlier that the Rays were expected to make a big announcement, Wednesday. I also followed with speculation that the front office could be announcing a six year contract extension for 25 year-old RHP Chris Archer.
We can put the speculation to rest, the Rays and Chris Archer have agreed to a six-year contract worth around $25 million, reports Ken Rosenthal of FoxSports.com.The deal is worth $25.5 million, and will begin this season. Archer’s contract will run through 2019, and it will include team options for the 2020 and 2021 seasons.
With options, the deal with Archer would cover eight years and be worth $45.5 million. The first six years of the deal would cover the pre-arbitration and arbitration years, while the options will cover the first two free years of free agency. Archer’s deal is similar to what they did with Matt Moore after the 2011 season; eight years with options for around $40MM
Archer owns a 3.47 ERA (110 ERA+), 2.69 K/BB ratio and a 46.3 percent groundball rate in 29 career outings — 27 of which have been starts. Archer finished third in the AL Rookie of the Year balloting last season.
Dayn Perry of CBS Sports writes,
“In essence, this deal buys out all of Archer’s arbitration years and his first free agent year, and that’s before taking into account the two club options.”
Yes Wil, it was one of those nights. (Photo by Brian Blanco/Getty Images)
Baseball can teach a valuable lesson every now and then. No matter the immense expectations placed on the Rays 2014 season, or the obvious advantage Alex Cobb had over Drew Hutchinson, you’re inevitably going to lose some games. And it just so happened that Tampa Bay’s first loss of the year came in the second game of the season, by a score of 4-2. Alex Cobb followed David Price’s outstanding 7-1/3 inning outing Monday, with a buggy 5 IP/4 H/4 ER/4 BB/3 K/1 HR affair Tuesday evening. But oh, did they ever make it exciting in the bottom of the ninth.
All is not lost however; the bullpen looked incredible, Evan Longoria made a dazzling play to end the top of the ninth, and we got to see the umpire crew — by way of the video crew, in New York — review not one but two questionable plays.
Despite showing flashes of adjustment — especially in the second through fourth innings — Cobb just didn’t have his best stuff. After getting in trouble with two on and two outs in the first, Cobb left a pitch up to Adam Lind… A pitch which unfortunately found its rightful home in the deepest part of center field. Lind’s three-run shot represented all the runs Toronto needed. As DeWayne Staats noted in the telecast, prior to Lind’s home run, Alex Cobb hadn’t given up a homer wRISP since September of 2012 — his third homer wRISP overall. The other two came against Jacoby Ellsbury (referenced above) and Albert Pujols in August of 2012.
This isn’t to say the Rays righty wasn’t able to make adjustments, especially the second time through the order. Case in point, Lind’s second at-bat. Determined to not allow Lind beat him again, Cobb kept the ball down for the entirety of his second at-bat. Cobb got Lind chasing after “the Cobb” to end the inning. There was also a beautiful sequence of pitches to Colby Rasmus which culminated in a swinging strikeout. Cobb threw breaking pitch in the dirt, after breaking pitch in the dirt, only to get Rasmus chasing after a change-up. And despite his struggles, Cobb still maintained a healthy 9-to-4 GB-to-FB ratio. In the end though, Cobb’s overall lack of command and pitch inefficiency found him getting the hook after five innings of work.
Heath Bell, Josh Lueke, Cesar Ramos, and Jake McGee followed Cobb and put together four innings of one hit, one walk, four strikeout baseball. I was particularly impressed with Cesar Ramos’ outing. Ramos was able move the ball all over the zone, leaning on his sinker, slider, and change-up. The Blue Jays, at most, made weak contact. And when they didn’t ground out (twice, including a double play) or fly out (once), Ramos made the Jays’ batters look silly by inducing whiffs at pitches that disappeared before their eyes — rather, beneath their bats.
At-Bat results. (Courtesy of Brooks Baseball)
Offensively, the Rays struggled to put anything together against the 23 year-old RHP Drew Hutchinson. Still, Wil Myers and Desmond Jennings each doubled for the second straight game, and Matt Joyce continued to look good at the plate (extending back to Spring Training) after going 2-3 with a walk and a run. It would be an exaggeration to say the Rays were flush with scoring opportunities, but at 1-11 wRISP, there were opportunities to tag the Jays for more than two runs in the fifth and sixth innings. They picked up a run in the eighth inning after a Wil Myers double, and though Tampa Bay made things interesting in the ninth, the Rays were unable to get the crucial hit they needed as Yunel Escobar struck out looking with men on second and third and two-out.
A few other game peripherals…
In the Blue Jays half of the ninth, Evan Longoria made a diving stop on a hot shot down the line, throwing from his knees to get Melky Cabrera by a step.
With two outs and Desmond Jennings on second and Sean Rodriguez on first, the Rays speediest runners each moved up a base uncontested.
Instant replay was used twice Tuesday night. Marc Topkin wrote Wednesday, it was used, “Once when it didn’t seem necessary, at the umpires’ discretion on a long foul ball by Toronto’s Colby Rasmus in the seventh inning that after more than 31/2 minutes was confirmed as foul. And once in the ninth on a challenge by Jays manager John Gibbons that after 1:20 was confirmed as an out at first after a dazzling play by Evan Longoria and James Loney. Maddon earlier again considered a challenge on a play at second but after a sign from bench coach Dave Martinez (“a sad face,” Maddon joked), he declined to pursue it.
Overall, Maddon said the process worked. “All protocol was attended to,” he said. “The umpires did everything right.”
The New What Next
Matt Moore will his first start Wednesday, opposite of Mark Buehrle. Moore is hoping a little change in his mechanics will make a big difference during the season. You can read about the pitching match-up in our series preview.
Rays 4/2/14 Starting Lineup
Jennings CF
Myers RF
Zobrist 2B
Longoria 3B
Forsythe DH
Loney 1B
Rodriguez LF
Molina C
Escobar SS
Moore LHP
Noteworthiness
“C Chris Gimenez was designated for assignment by Texas,” writes Marc Topkin, “and if he clears waivers expect the Rays to push to sign him for depth at Durham.”
Update: if you haven’t heard by now, the Rays and Chris Archer agreed to a six year, $25 million contract extension, Tuesday. You can read more about it here. Per Roger Mooney of the Trib, the Rays will be making an announcement today at noon. No details have been released, but the press conference will be held in the same place where the Rays announce contract extensions. There’s been speculation that the Rays have agreed to a six-year extension with RHP Chris Archer, in the range of $25MM. In this scenario, his new deal would begin this season and include two club options.We’ll keep you posted as the news breaks.
Below is a sights and sounds of Opening Day photo/video piece. Would you like your photo/video included? Email it/them to belowaverageraysfansite@gmail.com, and we’ll credit you for your contribution!
A panoramic shot of the Trop taken just prior to Evan Longoria picking up the Rays second walk of the day, in the third inning.
Hyperbole can be a effective device when trying to describe an event. Over do it with hyperbolic descriptions, of any given event, however, and run the risk of looking as though you spin yard wide yarns. That being said, I’m not exaggerating or being hyperbolic when I say the Rays crushed, neigh… Demoralized the Toronto Blue Jays, by a score of 9-2, in the Opening Day contest at the Trop. The game had everything you could ever want: quality pitching, an electric offense, and a few flashes of leather.
Below are a few game peripherals and highlights from Opening Day. You can read a blow-by-blow account of the game at our Tumblr page, where I live blogged the game.
Peripherals and Highlights
After two previous Opening Day starts, David Price can finally put a tally in the win column on the heels of a beautiful 7.1 IP/2 ER/6 H/1 BB/6 K/1 HR on 102 pitches (74 strikes) outing. Price seemed to get more efficient as the game progressed, using just six pitches in the sixth inning and seven in the seventh, holding the wolves at bay. Leading the way with the fastball, which he threw 58% of the time, and following with a decent curve and a very effective cutter, Price was able to induce seven ground-outs and five pop-outs — including a Josh Thole double play in the third inning. The Rays ace was able to locate his 91-95 MPH fastball on both sides of the plate with pinpoint accuracy, and the Jays hitters never seemed like they were able to get comfortable. Make no bones about it, with the exception of an eighth inning jam which culminated in a two-run blast, Price was very good — ultimately shutting down a Blue Jays threat in the third inning, and a runners at the corners threat with two outs in the fourth. Price ended the latter by striking out Brett Lawrie on an 84 MPH change-up, after a 10-pitch battle.
David Price pitch statistics. (Courtesy of Brooks Baseball)David Price strikezone plot. (Courtesy of Brooks Baseball)
After making his fair share of gaffes in center field last season, Desmond Jennings redeemed himself, making a beautiful Web Gem worthy catch in center, sprawling out to rob Jose Reyes of an extra base hit in the first inning. (Seen below)
Click the screen shot above, to be redirected to video of Jennings’ Web Gem worthy catch.
Tampa Bay scored in every inning but the fourth, sixth and seventh, knocking a very un-ace like RA Dickey out of the game after only five innings of work. And after putting together some pretty poor numbers against the Blue Jays knuckle-baller over the years (including a Wil Myers 0-for-7 streak with two strikeouts) the Rays were able to hit Dickey hard, tagging him for six runs on five hits and six walks. But Tampa Bay didn’t stop there. All of the starters (except Jose Molina) reached safely, with Myers, Evan Longoria, Matt Joyce, Desmond Jennings and Ben Zobrist combining for eight runs on nine hits — including three doubles — and six walks.
James Loney, who’s no burner mind you, swiped second after reaching on a leadoff base hit in the seventh inning. Loney was subsequently thrown out at home when attempting to score on a Matt Joyce double.
Rays left fielder David DeJesus left the game in the eighth inning after getting hit on the right foot by Jeremy Jeffress. After DeJesus took his base, he was lifted for pinch-runner Brandon Guyer who scored on a truly crazy play that included a pair of throwing errors, and what could be described as a poor man’s inside the park homer by Wil Myers. “It’s not broken,” DeJesus said, after the X-rays that were taken and came back negative. When asked if he would play Tuesday, DeJesus replied: “(I’ll) see how it feels, you know. Just go like that.” According to an afternoon update by Marc Topkin, DeJesus said his foot is sore and swollen a bit, and will test it to see if he can play Tuesday night. He does not think the DL is a possibility. His wife, Kim, tweeted after the game,
We put together a sights and sounds of Opening Day photo/video piece which you can view here. Want a photo or video of yours to be included? Email it/them to belowaverageraysfansite@gmail.com, and we’ll credit you for your contribution.
As expected, David DeJesus is leading off against the right handed RA Dickey, while James Loney will be in the fifth spot, hitting behind Evan Longoria.
