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.

Longoria homers again, but Rays lose 4-2; Kazmir speaks about injury

Another quick recap for me today. The Rays are playing another home and home series with the Phillies today and tomorrow. Today the Rays dropped the first game to the Phillies in Clearwater 4-2. Evan "Encore" Longoria hit another home run today. That gives "The Natural" a team leading three on the spring. While it still looks like he's Durham bound he isn't going quietly. Other than Longoria's blast the Rays managed only two other hits, one by Reid Brignac and one by Dioner Navarro.


On the mound, Matt Garza had a so-so outing. He went six innings giving up four runs(three earned) and walked three. J.P. Howell was perfect in his only inning. The story on the mound today was the Phillies Cole Hamels. Hamels went six innings giving up one run on two hits and had seven K's.

The same two teams play tomorrow at Al Lang Field. Edwin Jackson gets the start for the Rays followed by: Scott Munter, Scott Dohmann, Troy Percival and Grant Balfour.

Here's the Box score .

In other news, Ben Zobrist had the cast taken off his thumb a week a head of schedule and might not miss the season opener after all.

Scott Kazmir will continue to take it easy, especially after watching Brian Anderson's career end last week with an elbow injury. From Raysbaseball.com:

"It kind of freaked me out a little bit, to be honest with you," Kazmir said. "You see him come in and the next thing you know he's talking about, 'Oh, I ripped my whatever' and what not. Then I'm like, maybe I should take a little more time.

"I see that going on. I'm thinking, 'Oh, man, I don't want to be in that boat.' And, plus, I've got the time no just to make sure that everything is strong and I'm ready to go."

Kazmir talked to Anderson after Anderson received the diagnosis, but he didn't want to talk to him too much.

"I didn't want to get too many images in my head about what was going on," Kazmir said. "But yeah, I talked to him a little bit about it right when he came in afterwards."

Kazmir said he's all ears when receiving good advice, noting Anderson told him: "Dude, don't rush it at all. This is a perfect time to do that, Spring Training."

Kazmir to DL?; Plus possible trade candidates and more

The 13-3 Rays finally have an off day on the field, but there is plenty to talk about off the field. It is all but official that Ace LHP Scott Kazmir will start the season on the DL. The word is there is no new injury or symptoms, but the Rays are just being over cautious with the 24 year old pitcher. Kazmir went through all his tests and threw bullpen and batting practices sessions with no problems, however the Rays weren't satisfied with his arm strength. They have decided to slow him down an bit and it seems he'll miss a start or two and return in Mid-April.

What does this means for the rest of the rotation? James Shields is now the opening day starter after improving his spring record to 3-0 yesterday with an ERA of 1.84. Matt Garza slides into Shields place at #2. The rest is a mystery, with four candidates(Edwin Jackson, Jason Hammel, Andy Sonnastine, Jeff Niemann) battling it out for three spots. From my own personal observations it looks like Jackson and Hammel are the front runners despite their up and down Spring performances. Just from the comments that Joe Maddon is making, and the amount of starts they are getting, I think you can put them in. That leaves Sonnanstine and Niemann for the last spot. Niemann has been strong this spring, but Sonnanstine has been better and has over 100 innings of Major League experience. I think Sonnanstine should be in the rotation no questions asked, but I believe the Rays are looking at him more as a reliever than a starter. Once Kazmir is healthy the Rays will be faced with a question on who they want to keep as the long reliever; J.P. Howell or Sonnantine?

More injury news, Shawn Riggans caught a break when he found out his hand didn't. Riggans said he thought his hand was broken, but X-Rays were negative and he plans to be back in action this week. Kurt Birkins will miss 5-7 days with a nerve problem, Chad Orvella is still sidelined with a shoulder problem. Carl Crawford(legs) is expected to play tomorrow and Andy Cannizaro(back) might play as well.

Quotes from The Heater:

"It just depends on when Kaz comes out and does this next throwing event, but there's a pretty good chance that he would not be available at the beginning of the season,'' Maddon said. "There's no rush on this whole thing. We believe he's fine. We just want to make sure that the arm strength is there and that we take care of this right now so that there is no lingering effect during the season. We just have to not give you a specific date right now but I don't think it's going to be very long.''

"I'd rather miss just a couple starts early in the year than miss a couple months during the year,'' Kazmir said. "I just want to make sure we get it right.''

Is a trade coming? There have been no real signs of a trade in the works, mainly just some speculation on possible candidates. Marc Topkin gives us a possible list including: Dave Dellucci (Indians), Gabe Gross (Brewers), Skip Schumaker (Cardinals), Reggie Willits (Angels) and, less likely, Reed Johnson (Blue Jays).

Reggie Willits is the name that stands out to me the most. He's young, athletic, good defensively, gets on base(.393 career OBP), can steal bases, and most importantly he's cheap and controllable for a few years. He is a switch hitter and can play all three OF positions. However, Halos Heaven is reporting that the Angels aren't shopping Willits and will be sending him to AAA to start the season. They do say Juan Rivera can be had for two A-level pitchers or a AA outfield bat and a Single A arm.

Kazmir to miss Opening Day start. Hank Steinbrenner speaks about Rays

The Rays announced today that Ace Scott Kazmir will miss his opening day start. Kazmir was also pulled from tomorrow's start against the Tigers. Joe Maddon said the move was designed to give Kazmir more time to build arm strength and is not because of a set back in the rehab process, or another injury. Kazmir could make his spring debut as early as Tuesday. Carl Crawford was also held out of todays split squad games today with leg tightness. Joe Maddon quotes fromthe heater:

Rays manager Joe Maddon insisted Kazmir was "fine" and there was "nothing wrong with him,'' but said the Rays wanted to give him time to "build up more arm strength.''

On CC:

"C.C. just came up a little bit tight today,'' Maddon said. "I just think the field was kind of wet (Friday) and sometimes when you run on soft ground that can happen. So his legs were a little bit tight today and we said "No"

Maddon said if it was a regular season game CC would've played. With an off day the Rays may hold CC out of the lineup on Sunday as well to give him three straight days of rest.

Hank Steinbrenner also weighed in on the current Rays/Yankees fued saying:

"The Yankees are my team, but the Rays are in my hometown, and hopefully it won’t become a problem,” he said. “I saw the replay of the play at the plate where our catcher got hurt, and that guy just lowered his shoulder and hit him — that wasn’t a normal collision at the plate. But now it should be done with, that’s all. They got in their shot and we got in our shot, and it’s over as far as I’m concerned.”

Steinbrenner also said: “Hopefully, everything dies down with the Rays. But nobody likes the Yankees anyway, and you just can’t continue to allow other teams to take advantage, and Joe’s certainly going to see to that. He’s got his players’ back, and I’ve got his back.”

Then Hank went on to say:

"I don't want these teams in general to forget who subsidizes a lot of them, and it's the Yankees, the Red Sox, Dodgers, Mets," he said. "I would prefer if teams want to target the Yankees that they at least start giving some of that revenue sharing and luxury tax money back. From an owners point of view, that's my point.
"Nobody likes the brawl-type garbage, it doesn't belong in sports. And I don't want to see anyone injured in a brawl."

And Finally Rays Owner Stu Sternberg replied with:

"Off the field, we are partners in trying to strengthen and grow the game of baseball. On the field, we expect our teams will compete with energy and passion, and none of us - whether as an owner, a player or a fan - would want it any other way.''

The whole situation is getting a little ridiculous with Steinbrenner implying the Rays owe the Yankees and there for should take it easy on the field. Hopefully Hank was right about one thing and that episode is close to being over.

Rays beat Yanks 4-1; Price makes Impressive Debut

The may have changed the name of the field, but today a legend was born on it. The Rays beat the Yankees to improve to 7-1 this spring, but the real story was David Price. Price took the mound in a professional game for the first time. So what he plunked the first batter, he was just setting the tone. Price went on to strike out the side topping the Radar gun at 99 MPH. Scouts consistently clocked Price at 95-97. Grown men wept in the stands as they witness the greatness. Ok so maybe thats all little dramatic for a spring game, but you have to be impressed by David Price's debut in a Rays Uni even in an exhibition game. All in all Price threw 17 pitches, 11 for strikes and Duncan, Lane and Betemit may not be Jeter, Rodriguez and Posada, but you can't dismiss the arsenal Price showed.

Price was the most impressive, but wasn't the only Rays pitcher who pitched well today. Shaking off his so-so first start of the spring, Matt Garza allowed one hit in three innings striking out four. Brian Anderson and Scott Munter threw a scoreless inning a piece and Scott Dohmann was perfect in his two innings of work. Kurt Birkins also worked an inning, giving up the Yankees only run.

Jonny Gomes hit his second home run of the spring, hitting a solo shot off of Mike Mussina. Hector Gimenez also hit a home run(1). His shot came off of Yankee Prospect Russ Ohlendorf. Rays 3B stud Evan Longoria was 1-3 with a run scored, while his closest competition, Willy Aybar was 1-1 with a RBI double playing 1B.

Box Score

The record setting Rays lead by Edwin Jackson will host the Reds on Sunday without Rocco Baldelli, who has all but been ruled out for Sunday's game. The clock is ticking on Baldelli and even Skipper Joe Maddon admitted it by telling the St. Petersburg Times:

"It's not like we're not worried about it right now (but) over the course of the next week something's probably got to give in a positive direction to know that he's going to be able to to get out there with any kind of regularity,'' Maddon said. "You're looking to get nine innings, whether it's as a DH or an outfielder so I'd say the next week is going to be very vital or important to determine that.''

The outlook on Scott Kazmir is much better. Kaz will throw a bullpen session on Monday after completing the long toss portion of his rehab.

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?

Andrew Friedman speaks on Bonds and Pena; Olney on Kazmir

Finally, we get to here it from the horse's mouth. Over the past three days there have been all types of stories saying the Rays should sign Barry Bonds, the Rays shouldn't sign bonds, the Rays are interested in Bonds, and according to MLBTR, the Rays were never really interested in signing bonds. Leave it to the GodFather Peter Gammons to deliver the real deal. From Mr. Gammons blog today:

The Rays did discuss Barry Bonds nearly a month ago in personnel meetings. "If I didn't entertain ideas, be it a signing of a great hitter like Bonds or a trade, I should be fired," says general manager Andrew Friedman. "But that is past." Agent Jeff Borris is right: Bonds can still hit, and he's still a treasure to watch. But in this case, the Rays have to find out if Rocco Baldelli can hold up, and he's going to get a load of the DH at-bats. Also, a couple of the trades by Tampa this winter were to allow Joe Maddon to go from firefighter to manager.

What an excellent quote by Andrew and he is absolutely correct. His job as a GM is to explore every available option to make the team better. This doesn't mean he has to follow through on everything he explores, but if it's there and it can improve the team he should consider it. Friedman also talked about Carlos Pena as a franchinse person, not player:

"the great thing about Carlos Pena is that more than being a franchise player, he's a franchise person."

Not only that, but Carlos's mother cooks the best plantains you'll ever eat.

I also wanted to add this piece in here. Buster Olney speaks on the difference in opinions between Kazmir and the Rays on his recovery time.

Scott Kazmir wants to be on the mound on Opening Day, writes Marc Lancaster, but the Rays are taking a different approach in treating the pitcher's injury. I'd bet that what they are telling him is this: Don't worry about an arbitrary date in one year of your life, and let's focus on how to put you in the best possible position to make another 300 to 400 starts in your career.

I know Kaz wants to be out there, but hopefully he thinks long-term on this subject.

Kazmir to rest, miss opening day start

This morning's St. Petersburg times offers good news and bad news for the Rays on Scott Kazmir. Good news is Kazmir doesn't have a serious elbow injury and will just take a few weeks to rest his elbow. The bad news is Kazmir will most likely miss his opening day start meaning James Shields will likely start his first opening day. Also, everything seems to be ok with top draft pick David Price who also skipped yesterday's game with some stiffness in his arm.

With Kaz out for at least two weeks, we will get an extended look at Jeff Niemann and Mitch Talbot, two candidates for the final rotation spots. If Kaz should have to start the season on the 15 day DL in order to get more time in extended ST, the Rays could just skip his first turn in the rotation without much shakeup in the normal rotation.

We received an update from the heater:

LHP Scott Kazmir has inflammation and a left elbow strain, but will be sidelined "weeks not months,'' executive VP Andrew Friedman said Wednesday. "Relatively speaking, it is good news,'' Friedman said. Friedman said the Rays would not put a specific timetable on Kazmir's return, but they expect him "at most" to miss only a few regular-season starts. The Times reported Wednesday that Kazmir is unlikely to make his expected opening day start and expected to miss about two weeks. "I expect it would be two weeks at least until he is throwing to a hitter,'' Friedman said.Friedman said an MRI and examination by Dr. Koco Eaton showed that "the nerves, the tendons, the ligaments, everything's intact.''

Kaz scratched from Instrasquad Start, goes for MRI on Left Elbow

Scott Kazmir was scheduled to start today in the first intrasquad game of the spring. However, Kazmir was a late scratch. We hope to have more on this situation as the news comes in. We are hoping it was just a precautionary measure and the team didn't want to force something that wasn't necessary. Here is a piece from the heater:

There's still no word on the official reason, but Kazmir had warmed up in the bullpen as usual prior to the game and sat in the dugout for the Team Feinsteins first round of batters. Kazmir apparently didn't feel right and walked to the clubhouse, as Reyes began to warm up.

UPDATE: Kazmir is headed for an MRI on his left elbow. They are thinking it could be a hyperextension, but you never want to hear your Ace pitcher is getting an MRI on his throwing elbow. Thanks to the heater for these quotes:

It was just a little scary because I never felt it before,'' Kazmir said. "But after I talked with (head athletic trainer Ron Porterfield) and everything and we did some of the strength tests I felt confident it would be all right. Just got to check it out to make sure.''

"It felt like it just jammed a little bit, kind of like a hyperextension. ... The thing is I don't feel anything now. If it was a torn ligament or something, you'd be hurting.''

We are hoping Kaz is right about the hyperextension. Just the fact that he said torn ligament makes me cringe a little.

David Price the Rays 2007 top pick also was scratched from his scheduled inning due to stiffness.

Kaz/Shields/Garza=Glavine/Avery/Smoltz?

Apparently Troy Percival reads the Sunday paper. In case you missed it, the St. Petersburg Times ran an article on Sunday comparing the Rays trio to some other young trios of baseball's past: The A's trio of Hudson/Mulder/Zito, the Marlin's Beckett/Penny/Willis and the early 90's Braves trio of Glavine/Avery/Smoltz. Percival wanted to have a little fun with the Rays young guns, from The Heater:

Troy Percival continued to show his clubhouse leadership, and sense of humor, sporting a customized jersey. After kidding the pitchers over a Sunday Times article comparing Rays starters Scott Kazmir, James Shields and Matt Garza to some of baseball's best young rotations, Percival wore a jersey that looked like this:

KAZMIR
SHIELDS
GARZA
-----------
GLAVINE
AVERY
SMOLTZ

"I might wear it all spring,'' Percival said.













I like the Glavine and Smoltz comparison, but I hope the third member of the Rays trio fairs better than Steve Avery. Avery had four good years (1991-1994) and then became very average. He was out of baseball at the age of 29 before attempting a brief comeback with the Detroit Tigers in 2003 at age 33. Let's just hope they don't turn into the next Generation K.