Rays continue to roll through spring; Beat Jays 10-0. Plus Possible trade candidates...again

For the second straight day the Rays routed their way to a victory. Today the star was the Blue Jays defensive who had five errors in one inning. The fifth inning couldnt have gone worse for the Jays. The Rays scored 10 Runs and that was more than enough. Jonny Gomes is heating up again, going 3-4 with home run, tying him with Carlos Pena for the team lead(4). BJ Upton(2-4) and Carlos Pena(2RBI) continue to have quietly impressive springs. Eric Hinske started at 3B and Elliot Johnson at SS to show some defensive flexibility that will help them make the club.


It was all good news on the mound. Jason Hammel pitched only four innings by design to allow relievers to get more work in. Hammel was impressive, giving up only three hits and no walks. Trever Miller, Al Reyes, Dan Wheeler, Gary Glover and Troy Percival, the five keys to the Rays pen, pitched a combined five scoreless innings only giving up two hits and striking out six. The best sign was from Percival, who struck out two in his scoreless frame, after a disasterous outing on Sunday.

In other news:

Brian Anderson's career as a Rays isn't quite over yet. While his playing days are now done, the Rays were impressed by Anderson and named him assistant to Pitching Coach Jim Hickey. Anderson will assist in scouting and monitoring the staff. Quote from The Heater:

"It's not something I ever dreamed of," Anderson said. "I was honored."

Also we have some encouraging news on Scott Kazmir. Kazmir, who hasn't thrown of a mound in over a week, will begin tossing from 90-120 feet in the next few days and could see some time on a mound next week.

Reports are coming out of Seattle that the Rays maybe interested in OF Jeremy Reed.

"A veteran American League scout said Monday that Tampa Bay also is interested in Reed as a left-handed hitting outfielder to platoon with Jonny Gomes. The Rays might be willing to trade some young pitching to land someone who might get 350 or more at-bats this season."

Reed is left handed, can play CF and has two more years of team control. He played a career high 141 games in 2005, but only hit .254/.322/.352. Reed can hit righties ok, but can't touch a lefty(.271/.329/.396 compared to .165/.245/.226) for his career. We all know the only thing Gomes mashes better than lefties is blondes, so a platoon with Reed looks pretty good on paper. Plus by all accounts Reed is a very good defender.

The Mariners did have interest in Edwin Jackson and J.P. Howell last season.

Another option that may be available is Matt Murton of the Cubs. The Cubs just picked up former Jays OF Reed Johnson and have been trying to move Murton. The problem with Murton is he is suited for the corner OF and not much else. He is, however, a pretty good offensive player with a career line of .296/.365/.455, but like Gomes is much better against lefties.

Tampa Bay Rays: Jonny Gomes OF/DH #31

40 Rays 40 Days










Jonny Gomes
OF/DH #31
HT:6'1 WT:225

The Dish: When Jonny Gomes walks in a room, people notice. The 18th round pick of the Tampa Bay Rays in 2001, Jonny Gomes is simply...The Man. Gomes is The Stylin', profilin', limousine riding, jet flying, kiss-stealing, wheelin' n' dealin' son of a gun! Don't believe me? Just ask your girlfriend.

It didn't take long for Jonny Gomes to show the Rays that dude can flat out mash the ball. In 62 games of rookie ball, Gomes hit .291/.442/.597 with 16 home runs. Not even a heart attack on Christmas eve of 2002 could stop Jonny. By the time the 2002 season rolled around Gomes was in Advanced A ball hitting 30 home runs for Bakersfield. Gomes started 2003 in AA Orlando hitting 17 more home runs before a brief promotion to AAA. Gomes played in five games for AAA durham and made his big league debut on 9/12/03. Gomes played in eight games for the Rays that September. In 2004 Jonny had a brief five game stint with the Rays, spending most of his time at AAA Durham hitting .256/.368/.531 with 26 home runs and 78 RBI.

2005 was a good year for Gomes. He was briefly up with the big league club until May and was sent down again playing 45 games total for AAA Durham. He was recalled in June and remained with the Rays for the remainder season. Gomes finished a with a line of .282/.372/.534 21 home runs and 54 RBI. He also finished third in the AL Rookie of the Year voting. There were high hope for Jonny in 2006 and he started off with a bang, hitting 11 home runs in the month of April. However, a shoulder injury hampered Gomes and he finished the season on the DL; hitting .216/.325/.431 with 20 home runs and 59 RBI. The Rays made Gomes battle for a roster spot in the spring of 2007. Gomes broke camp with the team, but barely saw playing time and was sent to the minors in May. Gomes was recalled in June and saw an increase in playing time, playing in 107 games total.

2007 Numbers:(AAA Durham)13 Games .302/.464/.419 with 1 home run. (Rays) .244/.332/.460 with 17 home runs and 49 RBI.

Jules Fantasy Impact: If he gets 350-400+ ABs he should put up a line close to .260/.360/.450 or so with 20-25 HR and 75RBI. He has the potential to exceeded those predictions and have a season similar to his 2005. I'd say he's worth a flyer in an AL-Only league and a waiver wire watch in deeper mixed leagues.

Role for '08: The expectation during the offseason is Jonny Gomes would team up with Rocco Baldelli and Cliff Floyd to form a super trio platoon in RF/DH. Gomes would see the bulk of the AB's against left handed pitchers with Floyd and Baldelli playing against right handers. The Baldelli injury now makes the trio a duo. Gomes and Floyd should be in the line up almost everyday now alternating between RF and DH with Gomes seeing the bulk of time in the field. The Rays are looking internally at Jon Weber, John Rodriguez and Chris Richard as 5th outfield options. If one of those guys makes the team expect Jonny to get 500 AB's and hit 30 home runs. If the Rays choose to bring in Kenny Lofton or another outside candidate Gomes will see a little less AB's, but it won't really make much of a difference. He is also tougher than Shelley Duncan by a long shot.

Wikipedia

Baseball Cube

Tampa Bay Brawl: Tempers flare in Rays vs. Yankees rematch

As promised the Yankees attempted to exact "Revenge" on the Rays for a perfectly legal play. During the bottom of the first inning today, Heath Phillips was ejected from the game for hitting Evan Longoria, the swiss army knife of five tool players. However, the fireworks didn't stop there. Shelley Duncan, who has been vocal about paying the Rays back, went sliding into second base spikes high in second inning. The ball Duncan hit was a grounder to third and Duncan was immediately ejected. Aki Iwamura wasn't hurt, but Jonny F. Gomes took offense and came running in from RF to confront Duncan. Benches cleared and after a few shoves back and forth order was restored. In all Duncan, Phillps, hitting coach Kevin Long and third base coach Bobby Meacham were ejected for the Yankees. Gomes was the only Rays player sent to the showers early. According to TBO.com, Gomes went walking off the field somewhat triumphantly and according to another account hi-fived all the players on his way out. And who said spring training didn't mean anything.


Here are some quotes from Rays Players and Joe Maddon who was none to pleased:

“The other day we were playing in Tampa, that play you saw at home plate was a good, hard baseball play,” he said. “What you saw today is the definition of a dirty play. There is no room for that in our game, it’s contemptible, it’s wrong, it’s borderline criminal, and I cannot believe they did that.”

“Dirty play,” said B.J. Upton. “Just a flat-out dirty play. Period.”

“That was sort of second nature,” Gomes said. “I was taught from T-ball all the way up to have your teammate’s back. With that guy trying to hurt a teammate, I just acted how I acted.”

Gomes did get an initial shot in on Duncan but said an all-out brawl wasn’t his goal.

“I probably could have done a lot of things worse, but it is a baseball field and there’s fans and kids watching,” said Gomes. “I just had to let him know, that’s not going to fly with me on the field.”

“You’re just going out there, spikes high, trying to put them into somebody?” said Percival. “There’s no room in baseball for that kind of stuff. Ty Cobb’s been gone a long time.”

“It’s not typical of them, that’s for sure,” said Percival. “They’ve always been a professional organization. They’ve always played hard and they’ve always played smart. I won’t say that about today’s game.”

There also was as actual game played as well. The Rays won 7-6 in case you care. Andy Sonnanstine pitched extremely well throwing three scoreless innings and seemingly has the inside track on the 4th rotation spot. Scott Dohman escaped a bit of trouble in his scoreless frame. Rays Closer Troy Percival was perfect in his inning of work. The Rays seemed to have suffered another injury when Brian Anderson, trying to comeback from an elbow injury, walked off the mound after giving up 2 hits and 3 ER without recording an out. He was replaced by Calvin Medlock who held the Yankees without giving up a run in two innings. Dan Wheeler wasn't so sharp giving up three runs in one inning. G-Love pitched a perfect 9th for the save

At the Plate Gomes contributed an RBI before his ejection as did Cliff Floyd and WIlly Aybar. Ronnie Merrill, Who? hit a solo home run. Carl Crawford, Reid Brignac and Aki Iwamura had two hits a piece. As far as races go, the OF Race went like this Jon Weber 1-4 1 RBI(.200), John Rodriguez 1-2 2 RBI(0.83) and Chris Richard 0-1(.385). On the 3B side Evan Longoria was 0-1(.368), Willy Aybar 0-1 1 RBI(.300) , Joel Guzman 0-1(.188) and Eric Hinske went 1-2(.444)

It also occured to me today that our comments were turned off to most readers. I have fixed the problem so let the comments be FREE!

Kaz Moves on to Phase Three of Rehab; Rays World Tour?

The St. Petersburg Times is reporting that Rays Ace pitcher Scott Kazmir has moved onto phase three of his recovery. After phase two, which consisted of throwing 22 pitches with a ball in a sock, Kazmir played catch with Rays trainer Ron Porterfield from 60 feet. Kazmir completed 25 tosses with no apparent problems. The goal at this point is to throw from longer distances before attempting a bullpen session on March 10th or 11th. There is no time table or hint on if Kazmir will be available for opening day in Baltimore.

If you don't think baseball players are under intense pressure and are hard at work all the time, you're wrong. Rocco Baldell, Josh Paul, Edwin Jackson and Eric Hinske have spent a lot of extra time practicing together, however, not on baseball. The Rays quartet have started a band in the Rays stadium storage area. Baldell and Paul are guitarist, Jackson on the drums with Hinske filling in. The un-named band is looking for a lead singer. One thing I want to know is how Jonny Gomes is not involved in this?