X-Rays Spex – Page 498 – A Below fWAR Rays Fan Site

Hot-Stove: Rays Release Leslie Anderson, On Jerry Sands, Etc.

Leslie Anderson and Ichiro Suzuki in the 2009 World Baseball Classic.

As I reported earlier in the week, the Tampa Bay Rays have released Cuban born 1B/OF Leslie Anderson so he could pursue a career in Asia. Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors writes,

“The Rays have released first baseman Leslie Anderson so that he can pursue an opportunity to play in Asia, according to Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times.

Tampa Bay signed Anderson after he defected from Cuba prior to the 2010 season, giving him a four-year deal worth $3.75MM. Anderson’s bat never fully took off in the minor leagues, however, and he found himself designated for assignment prior to the 2011 campaign. In 1599 plate appearances at the Triple-A level, the now-31-year-old Anderson owns a .295/.348/.439 batting line.”

The Jerry Sands acquisition makes a little more sense now. The question begs: Who is Jerry Sands? Furthermore, what can he offer the Rays?

Former Dodgers/Red Sox/Pirates 1B/OF Jerry Sands was DFA’d by the Pirates after only 343 at-bats with the Pirates Triple-A affiliate in 2013. A career .244 hitter in the minor leagues, Sands has power potential and low strikeout rates, averaging 30 homers per year (between the minors and majors) since 2008 and a 23.9% K%. The 26-year is rather patient at the plate, averaging a 12.0% walk-rate across the minors, posting a respectable 12.7% walk-rate last season.

After a pair of 25+ home run seasons with the Dodgers Triple-A affiliate, something happened — Sands had a power outage of sorts. According to Bucs Dugout, “Jerry Sands, struggled through an abysmal season, with a .640 OPS,” leading to him being named the biggest disappointment of the 2013 season within the Pirates organization. Still, there is rebound potential.

Since 2011, Sands has accumulated 1350 minor league plate appearances. During that time he batted a mere 37.6% GB%. Compare that to a 44.1% FB% — including an 8.4% infield fly-ball percentage. As Daniel Russell of DRaysBay asserts, “If Sands could convert half of those infield flies into line drives (20.6 LD% in Triple-A last year), perhaps with a swing adjustment, he’d have a batted ball make up similar to Chris Davis. That’s a big if, though. His outfield fly-ball rate dropped 12.1% at Triple-A last season.”

If everything goes right for Sands, he will be able to earn a roster slot, possibly as a right-handed compliment to Matt Joyce at DH, in Spring Training. That is, of course, assuming the Rays don’t add anyone else to the roster, or they don’t trade Joyce ahead of Spring Training.

Noteworthiness

In Manny being Manny like news, this generation’s Manny Ramirez, Yasiel Puig, was arrested on Saturday morning in Florida on a charge of reckless driving. The Daily News reports that Puig was arrested at around 9:30 a.m. ET when officers clocked him driving his 2013 Mercedes at 110 mph while going westbound on Alligator Alley, a section of Interstate 75 with a 70-mph speed limit.
The 100th anniversary of Tony Jannus’ flight across Tampa Bay is New Years Day, at 10:00 AM. Prior to his flight, the only way to get from St. Pete to Tampa was by boat. Jannus’ trip (which now takes 20-25 minutes by car) took an hour plus. Think about how convenient it is to cross the bay nowadays, with three bridges spanning the gap, from Pinellas to Hillsborough. Keep this in mind the next time you complain about going to a Bucs or Rays game. After all, it’s not like you need a Baldwin Red Devil to bridge the gap.

Hot-Stove: Balfour – A Ray Once More?

How great would it be to see this guys presence in the pen again?

The Rays intensified their interest in re-signing Grant Balfour days after the Baltimore Orioles walked away from a two-year, $15MM deal with reliever because they had concerns with his throwing shoulder. That interest only increased following the results of a second opinion from Rays team doctor, Koco Eaton.

The former Rays and A’s reliever was in line for a significant payday from the Orioles, following a season in which he posted a 2.59 ERA, saved 38 games, and posted a 10.34 K/9 in 62.2 innings of work. He, however, was unable to pass his physical with Orioles’ team doctors. The Orioles reportedly had concerns over Balfour’s throwing shoulder, which was operated on three years prior to him joining the Rays organization in 2007. Now his value has taken a significant hit, and the potential for him to don a Rays jersey once more has become very realistic.

The writers at DRaysBay noted,

This came as a shock to Balfour, who claims to be “100-percent fine.” Balfour received a second opinion from Rays team doctor Koco Eaton on Friday, who worked with Balfour during his time with the Rays through 2010, and he agreed.

Eaton told Ken Rosenthal, ”The MRI that I did on him today looked exactly the same as the MRI I did three years ago,” and called the two-year contract with Baltimore a “no-brainer”:

“It did not look normal compared to a person who does not play baseball for a living. But for someone who plays baseball for a living, it looked normal. There are abnormalities on the MRI as there are on every single baseball player’s. But three years ago, there was no issue, and he had pretty good performance when he was with Oakland.”

According to a source, the Orioles did not compare Balfour’s present MRI to the one he had three years ago, as is customary.

Eaton also claimed there has been no change in risk for Balfour since his days with the Rays: “I would say with a reasonable degree of medical certainty that his shoulder would not be a problem going forward any more than it was a problem over the past three years,” Eaton told Rosenthal. “And there was no problem over the past three years.”

“I’m the All-Star pitcher I was last season. My shoulder is fine, everything is fine. I’m ready to come out there in the ninth inning, do what I do.” -Balfour to A’s reporter Susan Slusser

Timothy Kremchek, Balfour’s surgeon that repaired his rotator cuff almost a decade ago in 2005, reviewed the report from the Baltimore doctors, and was reportedly surprised how little had changed. ”For a guy in his 30s who has pitched [in the major leagues] six or seven years since his rotator-cuff repair, his MRI on his shoulder looks remarkably good.” Kremchek is the same doctor who performed Balfour’s Tommy John surgery in 2004.

Baltimore claims they did not “back out” of the deal, and would still be interested at one-year guaranteed with an option, but in the mean time, the Orioles have chosen to walk away from the deal, which could cost Balfour a significant amount of money.

Balfour remains a free agent, and is considering filing a grievance with Baltimore through the player’s union.

These events may coalesce into a benefit for the Rays. According to ESPN’s Jim Bowden, the Rays are now in on Balfour, which makes sense given the team doctor’s public opinions on Balfour’s health. They are the only team rumored to have interest at this time.

In three years with Oakland, Balfour stuck out 203 batters in 199.1 innings. He converted 62 of 67 save opportunities in the last two seasons as a closer. Last year, he posted his highest strikeout rate since 2008 at 27.5% (2.67 K/BB), while walking twenty-seven batters (3.88 BB/9).

Balfour was effective against left handed batters last season, and generally stayed out of trouble against right handed batters when he kept the ball away in the upper third of the zone. With a 61.3% Z-Swing percentage, Balfour can be quite whiffy when he pitches in the zone, however he generally stays away from hitters. It has been asserted that some framing on the low-outside corner* against right handed hitters could improve his game.

Balfour leans on a 93.3 MPH four-seam fastball (on average) 64.6% of the time, and an 86 MPH slider 27.4% of the time. He also mixes in a hard 82 MPH 12-6 curveball 7.9% of the time, keeping batters off balance.

Going into the off-season, the Rays bullpen looked all but depleted. The re-acquisition of Grant Balfour would largely bolster the Rays back end, taking pressure off Heath Bell and Juan Carlos Oviedo to fill the (as of now) vacated closer spot.

*Molina and Hanigan’s bread and butter.

Links For Finks, and Other Nuggets of Joy

A mockup of the Tampa Baseball Museum, — A mockup of the Tampa Baseball Museum.

Beyond the news that Longo is engaged (I know, that’s huge news for you and me), not much has gone on in the Rays world this week. Because of it, I decided to put together a Links for Finks post this time around. Here goes:

We received an email from the folks of the Tampa Baseball Museum, asking if we could help publicize their fund raising campaign. Since I adamantly support their mission to, “Through permanent and rotating exhibits, the museum will include Inter-Social, Negro, municipal, cigar factory and other early leagues, along with Major Leagues, Semi-Pro, Club, College and High School baseball. With a focus on Ybor City, West Tampa and Tampa baseball, it will provide context for more than 125 years of baseball heritage,” I figured it couldn’t hurt to do what I could to spread the word. From their lips (urm, fingers) to your ears, “Here’s how the crowdfunding campaign for the museum will work. The Ybor City Museum Society has already raised $195,000 of the $250,000 they need in order for a $250,000 matching grant to kick in from Hillsborough County. That means that they only need to raise an additional $55,000 in order to build the museum! That $55,000 (+8% in fees) is being raised at citizinvestor.com/project/the-tampa-baseball-museum where Tampa’s baseball fans can donate, tax-deductibly, to help bring this museum to life. Although citizens are asked to enter their credit card information on the project page, their cards will not be charged unless the project reaches 100% of its goal in the next 90 days.”
In a tweet from Marc Topkin, “Ex-Rays DH Luke Scott has an interesting new home, signing (for only $300K) to play in Korea for SK Wyverns.” I’m sure his awesome beliefs/moral code will go over real well there.
Ian Malinowski of DRaysBay writes, “Now that the glow of acquiring the much-loved-in-Cincinnati Ryan Hanigan has dimmed, it’s time to start thinking about what his presence will mean for the Rays. Yes, he’s an expert game-caller, framer, pitch-blocker, and thrower. Yes, he sounds like a fabulous clubhouse presence. Yes, he struggled with injuries last year. That doesn’t change the fact that in 2013 he was a pretty horrible hitter,” in a piece titled Will Ryan Hanigan Rebound? He goes on to assert, “What’s the lesson? Ryan Hanigan knows what he’s doing at the plate, as shown by his career walk rate (12.0%) being higher than his career strikeout rate (10.1%), but baseball is a difficult game, with only a small margin between success and failure. Hanigan’s margin has always been smaller than most, so when age and/or injuries impeded his swing, major league pitchers were about to capitalize. The Rays gave him a three-year deal, so they’re betting it was the injuries and not the age. Hope that they are right.”
Shots fired?! Is Montreal making a play for the Rays?

Hot-Stove: Rays, James Loney Agree to Three Year Deal, Have Interest in Juan Uribe

Tampa Bay Rays first baseman James Loney (21) singles during the fourth inning against the Boston Red Sox of game three of the American League divisional series at Tropicana Field. (Photo courtesy of Kim Klement/USA Today Sports)

For those of you opining because Tampa Bay left the 2013 MLB Winter Meetings without a first baseman, fret not: Mike Axisa of CBS Sports is reporting that James Loney and the Rays are on the verge of a three-year, $21MM contract, which includes a $5MM signing bonus. Yes, it’s another Thanksmas miracle! This is a somewhat surprising move by Andrew Friedman and company. After all, the Rays have famously walked away from players who had similar unexpectedly big seasons on one-year deals (cough, Casey Kotchman and Jeff Keppinger). Then again, Friedman hinted that the first base conundrum would come to a resolution sooner, rather than later.

In an article by Marc Topkin in Friday’s Tampa Bay Times, Friedman was quoted as saying, “In the next week, I feel very confident that we’ll be able to figure something out. I think the conversations have kind of reached a point where I don’t see them dragging on much longer than that time period. It’s tough to say with an extremely high level of conviction, but I’d be surprised if it went past five, six, seven days.” Topkin went on to write, “The Rays’ top choice is re-signing free agent James Loney, and there were some suggestions Thursday of movement that way. But it will be for less than the three-year, $27 million deal Loney is reportedly seeking.”

Let’s be honest here, Loney is the best man for the job, especially when you consider those remaining on the free agent market, and those available for trade. At $7MM per year, Loney will third highest-paid player on the Rays, behind David Price and Evan Longoria, and tied with Ben Zobrist. And excepting a potential trade of David Price, the Rays roster is effectively set for the 2014 season.

In other news, rumors are swirling that Tampa Bay has interest in free agent Juan Uribe. It’s assumed Uribe could dabble at first and second base, and also back up Evan Longoria at third. The Rays would have to vie with that other Florida team for his services. Uribe slashed .273 BA/.331 OBP/.438 SLG/.769 OPS for the Dodgers last season. You may remember Uribe for his butt-end participation in Evan Longoria’s successful, and GIBBY Award winning, hidden ball trick last season.

Noteworthiness

According to Marc Topkin, infielder Tim Beckham will miss a significant portion of the 2014 season after tearing his right ACL working out. Surgery seems likely, though the team is still working through a plan. Beckham, along with Jake Odorizzi, Hak-Ju Lee, Taylor Guerrieri, Enny Romero, and Alex Colome (among others) was recently named one of the Rays top 10 prospects by Baseball America.

Hot-Stove: David Price and Other Winter Meetings Minutiae

I don't often like ESPN, but this is pretty damn funny. — I don’t often care for ESPN, but this is pretty damn (unintentionally, on their part) funny.

Though David Price has been the topic of much speculation during the Winter Meeting’s, if one thing is evident, none of the trade rumors have carried much weight. In fact, Price went out of his way to crush the hopes of every Mariners’ fan Wednesday. Ken Rosenthal noted in a series of tweets,

In short, David Price would not immediately sign a long-term deal with the Mariners if he were to be traded there. Blame it on the fact that they haven’t been contenders in 12 years, or blame it on the rain — whatever the case, it doesn’t look as though Price is heading to the Great Northwest anytime soon. As Ian Malinowski of DRaysBay asserts, perhaps Mariners’ fans should breathe a sigh of relief. After all,

“The value of trading David Price comes from the next two years of team control, when he will be paid $13 million (with an extra $4 million in deferred salary), and something in the vicinity of $17 million. Because he is an ace, he will likely produce far more value than that over those two years. After that, he will be free to leave, but in doing so he’ll decline a qualifying offer and net the team a draft pick.

His value does not come from the ability to extend him beyond those two years. Any team extending David Price will need to pay market rate, or nearly so, either in terms of a ton of money or in terms of risk from a long deal. And paying market price doesn’t make you a better team. It, by economic definition, makes you exactly as good a team as you were before.”

In other news, those dastardly Mariners not only took one potential first base candidate off the market Wednesday, they took two — Corey Hart and Logan Morrison. Hart is expected to take on the first base duties, while LoMo is expected hold down the fort in left field. The question begs: What will the Mariners do with Justin Smoak? Scott Weber of Lookout Landing thinks he could be traded to Tampa Bay as part of a package (ill fated, or otherwise) for David Price. Weber writes,

This is the second most popular theory being tossed around, with the idea being that Smoak could be sent to the Rays as a possible as part of a David Price deal. While the deal for Price seems a lot less likely now that his agent has interfered with negotiations and Z has stated his desire to keep Taijuan Walker, Smoak with Nick Franklin and James Paxton would be a good, logical trade for the Rays. It still doesn’t make much sense for the Mariners unless they add even more to surround Price with, but they’re clearly not done.

Though I don’t think the Rays would be willing to trade Price for Smoak, as I mentioned the other day, with the possible presence of both Kendrys Morales and/or Jesus Montero, there is the off chance that Tampa Bay will have an opportunity to acquire him in a lesser deal. From a defensive point of view, with five total errors in 121 games in 2013, a .995 fielding percentage, and an .828 RZR, Smoak could be a viable option for Tampa Bay. Forget that he’s projected to hit .238 in 2014. Steamer has him hitting 22 homers, driving in 72 RBI, and posting a .328 OBP and .404 SLG. Whatever the case, the Rays could have a new first baseman in the next few days.

According to Marc Topkin, (Andrew) Friedman says progress in the first base pursuit could be resolved in the “next few days.” He also said they have “a number of mature conversations going right now. Don’t forget, as of now Ike Davis, Mike Morse, Mark Reynolds, and Kevin Youiklis are still on the market.