SB Nation - Dewon Day

Wade Davis Rocked In Most Likely His Final Spring Start

Tommy Rancel — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 00:54:39 -0000

Apparently Wade Davis took the news of his impending move to minor league camp pretty hard. After it was announced Saturday that today's game would "most likely" be his final start of the spring for the big league Rays, Davis was shelled by Boston lineup.

Davis had allowed just one baserunner in his first 5.2 innings of spring. He had K'd Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixiera in consecutive ABs and retired reigning NL MVP, Albert Pujols twice. This earned strong praise from pitching coach Jim Hickey, who said Davis was a candidate for the 5th spot. Realistically we all knew this was Hickey trying to "coach'em up" and enstill confidence in his 23 year old RHP future stud. Nonetheless up until today's game you could've made an argument that Davis was having the best spring amongst the candidates.

The Rays made no secret of their plans after Saturday's announcement and most of us will still remember Davis's strong starts, but this one was definitely not one to remember. In 2.2 innings of work against a Red Sox lineup that was missing: Dustin Pedroia, Kevin Youkilis, David Ortiz, Jason Bay, Mike Lowell and Jacoby Ellsbury, Davis allowed six earned runs on eight hits and two walks. He allowed a home run to Nick Green. Yes, that same guy we got for Jorge Sosa way back when. He was also taken deep by Zach Daeges. I'm sure it's not the way Davis or any of us for that matter wanted to see him wrap up his portion of spring with the big club, but we still saw a ton of good and hopefully we will see a lot more of it sooner than later.

As for the rest of the game there wasn't much else going on. A day after pounding the Red Sox for 15 runs, the Rays could only send two men across home plate. One of the two runs was driven in by Mr. March 2009, Jon Weber. Dewon Day had two scoreless innings and Rule 5 pick, Derek Rodriguez worked a perfect eight inning.

A Deeper Look at the Tampa Bay Rays Bullpen: Post-Isringhausen Edition

R.J. Anderson — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 20:45:04 -0000

We've talked a lot about preventing bullpen regression next season on an individual and staff-wide basis. Naturally, Andrew Friedman and staff have put those concerns to rest with a number of reliever additions, all baring some usefulness. It might be time to bury any concerns we had about the pen regressing to hell.

Left-handed specialist

Last year the Rays signed Trever Miller and claimed Kurt Birkins off waivers as their LOOGY additions. Miller did a decent enough job when called upon, and Birkins has an abbreviated run for the Rays early in the season, although most of his time would be spent in Durham. Both are now out of the organization, with Miller signing in St. Louis and Birkins going to Colorado on a minor league deal. In their places are Brian Shouse and Randy Choate. The only similarities the pairs feature are contract types and dexterity. It's not stretch to say the Rays have improved in talent while spending less money.

Below you will see a chart with labels such as "L3YFIP", don't be confused, that simply means the last three seasons of the players career have been weighted (on a 5-3-2 scale) and the number is a representation of that statistic. I've included FIP, tRA, and pLI, but it's important to note that pitchers have next to no control over their pLI. The inclusion is simply to show how previous teams have used them, not necessarily how the Rays will use them.

Name	Shouse	Miller
L3YFIP	3.87	3.95
L3YtRA	4.44	4.47
L3YpLI	1.11	0.87
Salary	1.55	1.6

First up, the major league lefty specialist:

Shouse appears to be a better pitcher despite being used in tougher situations. In equal innings the differences are quite marginal, however we should factor in Shouse's usage in Milwaukee as questionable, given Ned Yost's poor bullpen management. Miller will be guaranteed a third of Shouse in 2009 and yet might earn 2 mil based on appearances, but Shouse is actually making less than Miller did in 2008 and less than Miller's option called for.

Now we move on to Choate and Birkins.

Name	Choate	Birkins
L3YFIP	3.54	4.61
L3YtRA	3.54	4.74

With a lack of consistent major league spots, the above numbers are a mixture of major league and minor league performances, I'm not aware of a readily available pLI measure for minor leaguers otherwise I would list it. Regardless, Choate shows a clear advantage of Birkins. Add in a funky throwing motion and the run advantage is all the sweeter.

Groundballer

Name	Cormier	Bradford
L3YFIP	4.26	3.61
L3YtRA	4.85	3.68
L3YpLI	0.78	1.46
Salary	0.65	3.5

Necessitated by injury, Cormier's numbers look poor thanks to being a failed starter. The Rays added a number of additional groundball minor league relievers, here they are:

Name	Childers	Day	Rodriguez	DePaula
L3YFIP	3.49	3.18	3.93	4.52
L3YtRA	3.59	4.69	3.57	4.3

Late innings

A wild Isringhausen appears!

Name	Izzy	Percival	Balfour	Howell	Wheeler	Nelson
L3YFIP	4.7	4.7	3	3.34	4.09	3.79
L3YtRA	5.3	4.35	2.7	4.1	4.19	4.2
L3YpLI	1.94	1.4	0.89	1.15	1.66	1.14
Salary	~2	4.55	1	0.4	3.2	1.3

Summary

The bullpen will most likely look like this:

Percival/Isringhausen

Wheeler

Howell

Balfour

Nelson

Shouse

Cormier

That's at a cost of ~13 million. Which isn't too bad, although that's without Bradford's 3+ mil and Izzy's potential salary. Next year the cost should drop which is good, considering most relievers are either really good or really replaceable. The Rays have a stable of arms capable of filling in given injury or other incapacity. They also have one excellent reliever in Grant Balfour and a handful of decent types.

I'm impressed.

*For players missing a year (Nelson, Percival, ect.) I assumed a league average performance.

DRB: Weekly Recap

Tommy Rancel — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 17:05:20 -0000

Monday 1/5

Burrell Wrap--Full recap of the Pat Burrell signing.

Tuesday 1/6

Projecting the Pitchers--rglass44 predicts the Rays will get 21 WAR total from the staff.

Payroll Update--Quick look at the 2009 payroll.

Burrell in 2010--R.J. breaks down the top Burrell Comparisons and warns us most of them broke down at age 33.

Wednesday 1/7

Best Individual Moments Pt. 1--Erik takes a look at the top individual moments for each postion player.

Sonnanstine is Slicker than Your Average--A look at how Andy Sonnanstine compares to Carlos Zambrano, Mark Buehrle, Daisuke Matsuzaka.

Farewell Rocco--One last look back at Rocco Baldelli, who signed with the Red Sox.

Thursday 1/8

Sonnanstine vs. Radke At Age 25--I found a pretty amazing comparision between the two "finese righties."

A Few Words on Gabe Kapler--With the Rays interested in his services, a quick look at the last three Kapler seasons.

Friday 1/9

The Rays Discover Walks--Walks are almost as good as hits and the Rays have found that out in the Friedman Era.

Best Individual Moments Pt. 2--It's time to break down the top indivual moments for the pitching staff.

MLB Releases Report on 2008 Drug Testing--19 cases resulting in discipline and 114 exemptions granted including 106 for ADD.

Rays Claim Dewon Day--The Rays claim the RHP off waivers from the Boston Red Sox.

Rays Claim Dewon Day

R.J. Anderson — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 22:01:30 -0000

Off waivers from Boston, added to the 40-man roster per Marc Topkin.

Day is a strikeout and groundball heavy reliever who split 2008 between the "Sox" organizations. Day relies on his fastball/slider and throws right-handed. The Rays continue their assault on the Charlotte Knights roster, as Day makes the third pitcher from the Knights to be added, joining Derek Rodriguez and Jason Childers.