This Week in Rays Baseball: A Status Report at the Half-Way Point

The Rays have had an interesting first half of the season. Filled with exceeded expectations and dashed hopes, Tampa Bay has played the role of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde well. They’ve been both dominant and anemic offensively, have had good starting pitching no starting pitching whatsoever, and the same can be said about the bullpen. In this edition of This Week in Rays Baseball, we’ll take a brief look at the first 81 games of the season, and see how the 2013 Rays compare to the Rays of the previous two seasons.

Looking Backward While Moving Forward: Rays, Hellickson Snap Jays 11-Game Winning Streak

Jeremy Hellickson worked into the seventh inning for the first time since May 22nd, in the Rays 4-1 handling of the Toronto Blue Jays Monday night, snapping Toronto’s 11-game winning streak. Don’t look now, but the Rays are starting to look toasty once more. Not only have they strung together back-to-back victories, they’ve also won four out-of-their last six games. The game also went down in the annals of Rays history and lore, after James Loney, Wil Myers, and Sam Fuld hit back-to-back-to-back solo shots for the first time ever in the Trop. More on the game below, in a segment that we like to call The Good, The Bad, and The Argyle: A Bulleted Summary of the Game.

Hot-Stove: A Winter Meetings update of sorts

It’s been an interesting last couple of days. First the Rays acquired James Loney from the Boston Red Sox, signing him to a one year, $2MM contract. Then late last night Tampa Bay signed Yunel Escobar to a one year, $5MM contract with two $5MM options for 2014 and 2015. Former Ray Jeff Keppinger signed …

James Loney and the Rays agree to a one year deal

Updated: Maddon on Loney below. It didn’t take long for the Rays to make their presence known at the 2012 Winter Meetings. The Rays made the biggest news of the day, signing 27 year-old first baseman, James Loney, to a one year, $2MM contract which could net him $3MM once incentives are taken into consideration. …