SB Nation - Dale Thayer

What is the Plural Form of LOOGY?

R.J. Anderson — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 20:08:34 -0000

Brian Shouse is due back tomorrow. Odds are, the Rays send Dale Thayer back to Durham and roll with two LOOGY for a few days. One of the pair is almost certain to go before week's end. The Rays could designate Choate or Shouse for assignment, and then work on a trade over the next few days. I guess that gives away some leverage, but it's a lefty reliever, how much leverage do you really have when the good is so common?

The differences are marginal. Shouse is owed less than 750k for the rest of the season, but does have an option at 1.9 mil (or buyout at 200k) for next season. Conceivably the Rays could trade him and save a few hundred thousand this year. Meanwhile Choate is making league minimum and won't be eligible for free agency until after next season.

Choate strikes more out, walks more, and gets about the same number of grounders. His BABIP is due for some regression and I'm not sure his career high swinging strike rate will maintain either. Shouse's whiff rate is down and his raw stats are worse, having faced more righties than Choate.

Don't expect much of anything for either, just know the Rays really can't afford to waste a roster spot on additional lefty specialist for long, even if the Yankees are in town.

J.P. Howell is More Qualified Than Most Analysts

R.J. Anderson — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 16:36:03 -0000

So, I'm reading this fine piece by Tim Marchman on the closer-by-committee approach, and all of the sudden, he drops this fantastic J.P. Howell quote on me:

One wouldn't want to make the Rays out to be more unconventional than they are, however. Ace lefty J.P. Howell is getting most of the chances, and rightly so -- one of the real marvels of baseball, he has run up a 2.01 ERA since the beginning of last year and struck out 139 in 129.2 innings while serving straight slop, including a fastball that may touch 90 on days when he's feeling really good. Still, the team has yet to name him their capital-C closer, something he explains as well as anyone might. "I think just naming a closer would limit our bullpen," he recently told MLB.com.

Emphasis mine.

That's the player saying that. The player who would make a lot more money just by having the label and meaningless stat following him around. He said that. Just a few weeks ago we had to endure the FOX 'analysts' bashing on 'sabermetrics' for not having a closer. As it turns out, even the player with the most to gain gets it. Good Betsy, J.P. Howell is awesome.

Also, Tim Marchman really does know his stuff:

Dale Thayer, whose greatest virtue may be his fabulous moustache

This is true.

Minor League Highlights 6/21 - 6/23 (INPO)

FreeZorilla — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 14:56:57 -0000

More photos » by Steve Nesius - AP

6 months ago: Kansas City Royals catcher Miguel Olivo, left, and Tampa Bay Rays' Matt Joyce watch his two-run homer off Kansas City reliever Roman Colon during the eighth inning inning of a baseball game Tuesday, June 2, 2009, in St. Petersburg, Fla. Joyce had four RBIs in Tampa Bay's 6-2 win. (AP Photo/Steve Nesius)

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1. The Durham Bulls bats came alive the past 3 days. SS Reid Brignac went 4-10 with a 2B and a BB. Reid's splits sit at .291/.356/.436 vs. .250/.299/.412 a year ago. A big improvement this season has been BB:K as he has gone from .27 to .78. His K% has been reduced from 26.4% to 13.4% while his walks have jumped to a more respectable 9.5%.

2. 27 year old OF Rashad Eldridge continues to play well for Durham since being promoted from AA. In the past 3 games he has gone 3-8 with 2 BB. The minor league vet is having arguably his best season hitting .301/.370/.361. Eldridge had a shot at AAA back in 2006 with the Mets and the Rangers but only OPSed .612 and .583. Prior to this season he put up back to back years in AA of .780+ with the Twins and the Rays.

3. OF Matt Joyce has been mired in a slump since being recalled to Durham going 7 for his last 49 with 9 walks. His OPS in that span has been .541. For the season vs LHP he is putting up .229/.260/.333. He's going to need to improve on those numbers to become the everyday right fielder for the Rays. In the past 3 games he has gone 1-13 with 2 BB, but his lone hit was a big home run yesterday. His seasonal slash at AAA is .268/.367/.453.

4. 25 yr old C John Jaso has woken up in June after a dreadful May where he OPSed .431. He has gone 3 for his last 11 with 2 BB and a HR. His season slash sits at .238/.349/.390. Jaso's plate discipline is excellent, especially when compared to Navi. He is walking at a rate of 13.7% while only striking out 12.8% for a BB/K of 1.24. For those keeping score at home Navi has walked 1.9% and struck out 14.9% for a ratio of .13.

5. OF Justin Ruggiano continues to play well going 3-8 with a 2B and a HR making this list for the 2nd consecutive time. THe 27 year old is now slashing .247/.341/.416.

6. 1B Rhyne Hughes continues his torrid hitting since being promoted from Montgomery. In the past 3 Hughes has gone 5-13 with a BB, a 2B, and 2 HRs. In 58 AAA ABs, Hughes has now posted .323/.354/.613.

7. Scott Kazmir had what appears to have been a one night only in Durham going 6 innings while striking out 5 and walking none. He surrendered 5 hits and 0 runs with his velocity consistently in the 90s. Kazmir was sadit o have thrown about 70% strikes.

8. Wade Davis made another excellent start going 6 innings, striking out 6 and walking 2. He allowed 6 hits and 2 runs, 1 earned. In 31 June innings his K/9 is 11.32 vs a BB/9 of 2.32. His seasonal FIP is 3.68 with a June FIP of 2.99.

9. Four Durham pitchers performed well this week out of the bullpen: Jason Cromer, Dale Thayer, Joe Bateman, and Julio DePaula. Each allowed no earned runs in a minimum of 2 innings pitched. The table below will update you on their seasons to date:

	K/9	BB/9	ERA	FIP
Jason Cromer	4.78	3.38	0.84	4.07
Dale Thayer	5.87	2.93	1.47	3.3
Joe Bateman	9.25	5.92	4.81	3.73
Julio DePaula	6.75	4.14	4.14	4.63

10. It was a quiet few days with the lumber for the AA biscuits, but there were a few pitching gems. Jeremy Hellickson made his return in a big way picking up right where he left off. Hellickson went 4 strong striking out 6 and walking none while surrendering 4 hits and 0 runs. Hellickson has been lights out all season with a K/9 of 10.9 and a BB/9 of 2.08. His FIP is at 2.25 with an ERA of 1.85. The right hander turned 22 in April.

11. 25 year old left hander Brandon Mann made his best start of the season for Montgomery going 6 shutout innings while striking out 6 and walking none. For the season his FIP sits at 3.85 with a K/9 of 5.07 and a BB/9 of 3.73.

12. 24 year old right hander Ryan Reid struck out the side in his one inning of work. Control has plagued him since joining AA last season. This season his K/9 and BB/9 both sit at 6.33. His K/9 has slipped this year from 10.3 to 6.33, so hopefully this inning was a sign of things to come for Reid.

13. Jesse Darcy made his best start of the season for the Charlotte Stone Crabs pitching a 7 inning complete game shutout. Darcy struck out 2, walked one, and allowed 5 hits. Darcy picked up his second win of the season in 13 starts. His FIP sits at 5.25 with a K/9 of just 3.68.

14. 24 year old right hander Tommy Rafferty has pitched 8.1 innings of relief for the Stone Crabs since his mid-season promotion. Rafferty has struck out 9 and walked 4 in his 8.1 innings posting a FIP of 2.51 while allowing 2 earned runs.

15. Cody Cipriano has had a cooler bat going 1-8 over the past 3 games. Why is he on this list? 4 walks over that span elevating his BB% to 11.8%. This is good because in A-and A ball Cody walked 14.1% and 13.9% of the time. Looks like his eye may be catching up to A+ pitching.

16. 22 year old middle infielder Omar Luna had been struggling mightily since joining the Stone Crabs in 2009. In the past 3 he has managed to go 4-6 with a BB. His slash sits at .197/.217/.413. Luna has never walked above 5% in his career.

17. 22 year old left fielder Ryan Royster has struggled in his second year with the Stone Crabs. He did manage to go 4-7 over the past games raising his slash to .220/.273/.295. His OPS has declined from .691 last year to .568 this year at the same level. He seems to be struggling in his splits OPSing .516 vs righties while his OPS vs lefties is .771.

18. 21 year old shortstop Shawn O'Malley has gone 4-8 with a stolen base over the past 3. The speedster is slashing .265/.364/.322 while swiping 25 bags in 32 attempts. He is having arguably his finest season in 4 years with the Rays organization in his first season at the A+ level.

19. The South Atlantic League held their annual all-star game. The Hot Rods were represented by Tim Beckham and Chris Andujar. It was a rough night for Andujar giving up 3 hits, a walk, and 4 runs in his sole inning pitched. Becks star shone bright as he went 3-5 with a 3B and 2 strikeouts. He also committed an error.

Stats courtesy of MILB.com/Fangraphs/minorleaguesplits

Not all sites update daily so minor inconsistencies may appear

Will do a week in review for short season highlights during the weekend.

Rays Promote Matt Joyce From Durham; Dale Thayer Sent Down

Tommy Rancel — Sat, 30 May 2009 23:46:17 -0000

R.J. said he was ready and apparently the Rays feel the same way. After today's 5-2 victory, the Rays recalled outfielder Matt Joyce from Triple-A Durham. He will take the spot of folktale legend Dale Thayer. Thayer went 0-0 with a 5.06 ERA/3.71 FIP in 5.1 innings spanning over three games. He recorded a save in his first appearance. After a long time in the minor leagues we saw a lot of good from Thayer including a nice fastball to go with his slider. If anything, this stint proved he can get major league hitters out and he should be back up if an opening presents itself in the bullpen. However, let's turn our attention to Joyce.

Joyce was hitting .315/.408/.530 with five home runs, 15 doubles and 25 RBI for the Durham Bulls. In 401 career plate appearances at the Triple-A level, Joyce has hit .293/.380/.540 with 18 home runs and 28 doubles. It seems that the Rays agree that there is nothing left for him to prove at that level and it's time for him to start bringing that production to the big leagues. With Ben Zobrist manning either middle infield position these days, there is an opening in the lineup for Joyce. Gabe Gross continues to be good at being average, but he isn't exactly a player who should block Joyce. The Rays also have an opening at DH with Pat Burrell's return uncertain meaning the Gabe of the day still could contribute from that spot.

Like R.J. said, Joyce is going to strike out, but he's also going to slug, play above average defense and take his walks. I guess for Matt Joyce, the time is NOW!

---

Just saw the tweet come across announcing that the Rays have called up OF Matt Joyce and sent down relief pitcher Dale Thayer.

New Arms of the Week: Nine Pitching Debuts

Harry Pavlidis — Mon, 25 May 2009 03:27:36 -0000

More photos » by Manuel Balce Ceneta - AP

Craig Stammen throws a two-seamer in his debut on May 21, 2009.

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Another week, another batch of debuts. And another position player taking the mound (Ross Gload). I'm only covering the "real" pitchers, as usual. Minus Gload, that leaves these eight:

Craig Stammen
Promoted despite a paltry 3.2 K/9IP (gotta be the sub-2 ERA). That's well off his 2008 total (7.6) and career minor league mark (6.7). The Nationals gave Stammen a start this week, and it wasn't awful, nor pretty. He worked into the 7th inning, allowed four runs on four hits (one home run) one walk and three strike outs.

Cristhian Martinez
A minor-league veteran, Martinez debuted for the Marlins with two innings of relief. He allowed two runs, but struck out four batters. He was optioned back down to Double-A the next day.

Clay Zavada
Signed by Arizona out of the Frontier League in 2008, the lefty jumped from Low-A to Double-AA for 2009. He's got quite a story - it's in the New York Times. He had been drafted by the Dbacks a few years earlier, but life had other plans.

Kris Medlen
Just 23, Medlen made an ugly start for Atlanta. His rotation-mate in Triple-A Gwinnett is Tommy Hanson, and the two of them could be making a positive impact for the Braves sooner than later.

Dale Thayer
Another minor league veteran, Thayer worked a three inning save in his debut for the Rays. He's averaged more than a strike out per inning in the minors. Best known for his fledgling handlebar mustache.

Anthony Swarzak
In injury to Glen Perkins opened a spot in the Twins rotation for this 23-year old rookie. Swarzak got the win in his debut on Saturday.

Sean West
The Marlins were busy with the debuts this week. They had two of their own and hosted two others (Zayer and Zavada). West, a 22-year old lefty, got the start Saturday night and did alright, all things considered. Two runs in five innings, four walks and five strike outs for a no decision.

Carlos Fisher
Called up with Jonny Gomes, Fisher debuted in the 11th inning of an interleague game against Cleveland. The Reds rookie was credited with the win when Alex Gonzalez connected for a walk-off double.

Read on for the PITCHf/x goodies.

PITCHf/x Profiles

Oddly enough, on the day of if the Indy 500, I found exactly 500 pitches from these new arms.

Click the table headers to sort.

Pitcher	Type	#	vs LHH	vs RHH	MPH	PFX_X	PFX_Z	DEG	RPM
Dale Thayer	Change	1	1	0	84.2	-6.5	3.5	241.5	1,376.9
Dale Thayer	Two-seam FB	7	5	2	93.3	-11.1	6.8	238.7	2,680.0
Dale Thayer	Four-seam FB	29	14	15	93.1	-8.5	8.1	226.3	2,423.6
Dale Thayer	Slider	8	4	4	81.8	0.3	-3.6	149.1	683.9
Kris Medlen	Change	27	18	9	80.1	-7.7	6.2	230.7	1,774.6
Kris Medlen	Curveball	19	4	15	78.0	4.9	-4.6	46.3	1,195.9
Kris Medlen	Two-seam FB	20	12	8	89.3	-7.5	7.4	225.1	2,120.2
Kris Medlen	Four-seam FB	46	16	30	88.9	-3.3	10.3	197.7	2,167.4
Cristhian Martinez	Change	8	5	3	85.2	-9.0	5.8	237.0	2,032.1
Cristhian Martinez	Two-seam FB	10	6	4	91.3	-9.6	5.7	239.2	2,267.7
Cristhian Martinez	Four-seam FB	7	2	5	91.1	-6.7	7.4	222.7	2,020.3
Cristhian Martinez	Slider	12	1	11	80.2	4.6	2.5	117.2	998.3
Carlos Fisher	Two-seam FB	2	2	0	92.4	-5.4	6.3	220.3	1,711.3
Carlos Fisher	Four-seam FB	5	0	5	93.7	-1.6	9.1	189.7	1,943.2
Carlos Fisher	Slider	7	1	6	82.9	3.4	-1.9	61.8	720.1
Anthony Swarzak	Change	17	7	10	80.7	-9.5	7.9	230.0	2,216.6
Anthony Swarzak	Two-seam FB	63	31	32	91.1	-9.2	8.4	227.7	2,540.4
Anthony Swarzak	Four-seam FB	10	4	6	91.5	-6.6	10.5	211.8	2,516.3
Anthony Swarzak	Slider	8	3	5	76.1	6.8	-0.5	85.1	1,151.5
Sean West	Change	5	0	5	84.1	8.2	10.0	140.3	2,415.7
Sean West	Two-seam FB	3	0	3	92.6	9.0	9.6	136.9	2,706.8
Sean West	Four-seam FB	60	5	55	92.5	6.4	10.9	149.4	2,603.5
Sean West	Slider	23	1	22	81.7	-1.1	2.9	199.3	589.8
Craig Stammen	Change	11	7	4	82.5	-6.1	7.4	219.4	1,788.1
Craig Stammen	Two-seam FB	6	3	3	90.5	-8.0	7.2	228.2	2,169.2
Craig Stammen	Four-seam FB	61	37	24	90.4	-5.9	9.5	212.2	2,263.4
Craig Stammen	Slider	7	3	4	80.4	0.8	-4.1	113.0	767.2
Clay Zavada	Change	6	4	2	80.4	12.0	4.0	108.6	2,248.4
Clay Zavada	Two-seam FB	1	0	1	88.0	10.0	7.2	125.9	2,402.4
Clay Zavada	Four-seam FB	9	7	2	88.1	6.2	11.4	151.8	2,549.7
Clay Zavada	Slider	2	2	0	79.6	-3.0	-0.1	270.2	563.2

Swarzak's slider, or slurve, is very nasty looking. Thayer throws a hard two-seamer with lots of movement. Those are really the two pitches that stand-out for me.

West was the only pitcher to break 95 mph, which he did a handful of times, but didn't sustain the velocity, resulting in a lower average fastball speed than Fisher (who broker 94 once). There's a mix of change-up/fastball separations in the group. Anywhere from a 5 to 12 mph gap, approximately, amongst the eight rookies.

Like the sortable table? OK, have another. I've re-tagged events in my PITCHf/x database, so some things have changed. rv100 is averaging slightly below 0, which was the case after the initial correction (that was a bigger one) and is still wrong. nkSLG (total bases on all balls in play and home runs) is up from .51 to .52, the newer/higher being the more accurate (grand slams were not counted in the older version [!]).

I've also added batted ball types, which helped me dig deeper and parse more events in the PITCHf/x data correctly. Some error types are ambiguous (slightly) and there are a few goofy ones, but we're in better shape now than before.

Now, small-sample fun time...You'll notice pitch type is blank, that's because there are barely enough pitches to work with to begin with.

Pitcher	Type	#	Swing	Whiff	B:CS	IWZ	Chase	Watch	nkSLG	rv100
Dale Thayer		45	0.556	0.080	3.0	0.689	0.071	0.226	0.333	-1.8
Kris Medlen		79	0.329	0.192	2.2	0.392	0.146	0.355	0.375	0.7
Cristhian Martinez		37	0.487	0.222	1.7	0.568	0.125	0.238	1.200	4.3
Carlos Fisher		14	0.357	0.400	3.5	0.357	0.222	0.400	0.000	-3.8
Anthony Swarzak		98	0.418	0.073	1.5	0.663	0.273	0.508	0.227	-2.7
Sean West		91	0.407	0.108	2.1	0.615	0.114	0.393	0.357	-0.8
Craig Stammen		85	0.459	0.128	1.6	0.600	0.235	0.392	0.450	-2.0
Clay Zavada		18	0.444	0.500	1.5	0.611	0.286	0.455	0.000	-6.4

Swarzak's sinker was effective, but the slider wasn't. Based on the teeny weeny samples, here were the most effective pitches by type (rv100) minimum 10 pitches:

Change: Stammen (-3.4)
Two-seam FB: Swarzak (-5.1)
Four-seam FB: Thayer (-4.1)
Slider: West (-5.7)

Medlen had the only curveball, by my classifcations, and the 15 he threw averaged out to an rv100 of 1.9.

Lastly, batted ball data, sortable, too.

Pitcher	GB/BIP	LD/BIP	FB/BIP	IF/FB	HR/FB
Anthony Swarzak	36%	14%	50%	27%	0%
Carlos Fisher	50%	0%	50%	0%	0%
Clay Zavada	0%	0%	100%	50%	0%
Craig Stammen	60%	20%	20%	25%	25%
Cristhian Martinez	60%	20%	20%	0%	100%
Dale Thayer	17%	17%	67%	13%	0%
Kris Medlen	25%	13%	63%	20%	0%
Sean West	36%	14%	50%	29%	0%

Until next week....Happy Memorial Day.

The Rays Love Dale Thayer's Mustache Too; Jeff Niemann Pitches Well

R.J. Anderson — Sun, 24 May 2009 05:20:56 -0000

Easily the best start of the season for Jeff Niemann. Yes, he threw 67 of 90 pitches for fastballs, but he seemed to have his best control of the pitch in a while. Niemann responded from an absolutely atrocious single strike swinging effort last time out to whiffs on 11% of his pitches tonight. That should certainly help increase his seasonal whiff rates. His fastballs were here, there, and everywhere, not showing as nice of a cluster as the previous time out and Pitchfx failed to register a two-seam fastball, so who knows what's going on there. Who knows if this is too little too late for Niemann's Rays rotation hopes. With David Price poised to start Monday, and almost certainly a lock to remain in the rotation heading forward, that leaves Niemann battling Andy Sonnanstine and Scott Kazmir's eventual return date.

Some other random thoughts

Reason #22 as to why you should hope for Troy Percival's retirement (and soon): it creates budget room. If Percival retires, the Rays are off the hook for the rest of the payments. Freeing up~2+ million would be a pretty sweet surprise, especially if the Rays have to make a deadline acquisition for a playoff push.

The draft is like three weeks away and we aren't debating who to take in the top 10. Relish this. I'm not saying we'll be picking in the top 10 anytime soon, but the first time is always the most memorable. Whoever we pick will be the first player since the Rays recorded a win or a loss who was not picked in the top 10 of the first round.

The July 2^nd signing period for international amateurs isn't too far away either. Miguel Angel Sano is the hot name. He's a teenage shortstop with comparisons to Gary Sheffield. Every team in the league is interested, but Sano's reported signing bonus would probably engulf the Rays entire signing budget. Then again, maybe his reported signing bonus isn't accurate, we'll see, just don't hold your breath.

If you thought I was alone obsessing over Dale Thayer's mustache, you were mistaking:

Friday Roto Round Up

faketeams — Sat, 23 May 2009 13:45:10 -0000

More photos » by Manuel Balce Ceneta - AP

7 months ago: Baltimore Orioles' Nolan Reimold watches the ball as he hits a home run during the second inning of a baseball game against the Washington Nationals, Friday, May 22, 2009, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

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RP Joel Zumaya, Detroit Tigers: Zumaya notched his first save of the season. Sadly, he started the 9th with a three-run lead and allowed two runs.

OF Nolan Reimold, Baltimore Orioles: The rookie hit his 2nd HR in as many games. Since being recalled, he is hitting .313 with four RBIs. With Luke Scott due off the DL soon, don't be surprised to see Reimold play less frequently until the Orioles unclog the logjam for ABs with Scott and Wigginton.

New Yankees Stadium: Seven more HRs were hit last night. Lefty hitters at Yankees stadiums are must starts in daily leagues until news breaks of alterations at the stadium.

New York Mets Line-up: Wow. Carlos Beltran hit third and David Wright batted 5th. The rest was just horrific. With the DH extending it by a batter, the 6 through 9 hitters were Jeremy Reed, Omir Santos, Ramon Martinez and Luis Castillo.

SP Ricky Nolasco, Florida Marlins: Two innings and eight earned runs later, Nolasco is a falling knife despite whatever his peripherals and BABIP say. He is either hurt or tipping pitches. Until one or the other is disclosed, stay away.

RP Dale Thayer, Tampa Bay Rays: The rookie gets recalled to replace closer Troy Percival amongst reports Percival may retire and nothces a save. It was a three-inning kind so don't read too much into it.

OF Michael Cuddyer, Minnesota Twins: The least favorite Twins outfielder amongst fantasy players went 4-5 with his 7th HR. The five runs he drove in brought his season total to 30. With a .291 AVG he has cemented the second OF spot along with Denard Span. Delmon Young and Carlos Gomez are going to need an injury to get full-time ABs.

3B Mat Gamel, Milwaukee Brewers: He started at DH as expected and went 2-3 with a double. The double came against lefty Sean Henn. If his stick plays against righties and lefties, the Brewers are going to struggle keeping him on the bench, defensive ability be da**ed.

SP Derek Holland, Texas Rangers: The rookie made his 1st major league start and gave the team 5.2 innings with three runs. He struck out four and walked none. He is a great pick-up in keeper leagues, but redraft leagues need to note he did this against a DH-less line-up.

8th Inning Set-Up: Ryan Perry DET (4), Bobby Parnell NYM (8), Edward Mujica SD (5), Jose Arredondo LAA (12)

Saves: Joel Zumaya DET (1), George Sherrill BAL (8), Francisco Cordero CIN (11), Francisco Rodriguez NYM (12), Dale Thayer TB (1), Mike Gonzalez Atlanta Braves (7), Bobby Jenks CSX (10), Frank Francisco TEX (10), Heath Bell SD (12), Brien Fuentes LAA (12)

Blown Saves:

Dale Thayer Debuts, Becomes Cult Figure

R.J. Anderson — Sat, 23 May 2009 05:21:40 -0000

Dale Thayer is fascinating. His statistics have always screamed sleeper, but his scouting reports screamed "mediocre". When he was acquired for Russ Branyan, a lot of people turned their attention to Evan Meek; your prototypical hard-thrower with absolutely no clue where the ball is going, basically canned plankton. Thayer seemed pretty generic too, the classic control over stuff reliever who gets a few chances, gets blown up, and ends up at their old high school as the baseball coach and physics teacher.

The score presented the opportunity for Thayer to get some work in, and holy heavens did he ever. When the camera flashed to Thayer, the first and only thing anyone noticed was the miraculous mustache, one with roots all the way to Mecca and back. This my friends, should be on scouting reports. It goes; hand, age, hand, gratuitous facial hair(if so, what type), pitches, and so on. Thayer looks like Chet Steadman. This is a very, very good thing.

As for actually pitching, Thayer sat 91-93, topping out at 94 with his fastball. The pitch moves in to righties, breaking nearly 9.5 inches. It's impressive and certainly something to work off as Thayer seemed to control the pitch well. Thayer only threw one change, and a handful of slider/curve type pitches. Again, all looks well though the sample size is too small to say anything definitively.

Thayer would go three innings and record his first major league save. Good for him, but wait, there's more. Thayer also faced Ross Gload and it involved Thayer hitting. He actually went ahead in the count before shattering his bat on a ball hit back up the middle.

(H/t: ReasonableDoubt for the pics.)

There's a distinct possibility that Thayer is here for the weekend and then gone again. That's too bad. ‘Staches like that come around once, maybe twice a decade. Thayer could be our Sal Fasano/Matt Stairs type, and frankly that's something that should not be easily discarded. This is a guy with a WAR (Whiskers Above Replacement) of like 5, he's ridiculous. I can only hope he gets some more burn as the season progresses.

Seriously though, Thayer's interesting. I think he loses the numbers game this time around, but with a large crop of expiring pen contracts, he could find a spot eventually.

Yes, I realize Josh Paul had a similar mustache. It's Josh Paul though, he doesn't count.

Scott Kazmir and Troy Percival Officially Heading to the Disabled List

R.J. Anderson — Fri, 22 May 2009 20:25:21 -0000

As per the Rays press release; tendinits for Percival, a right quad strain for Kazmir.

Look, there's nothing to lose with switching out Percival and Thayer. The worst case scenario is Thayer being just as poor as Percival, but pitching in situations of far less importance. He's effectively the lowest on the bullpen totem pole, and that's probably fine by him. Expectations wise, hard to say, I wouldn't suggest thinking he's going to become a lock-down reliever, the stuff is and will be questioned and we don't really have any data on his pitches, so I can't say one way or the other. He missed bats throughout the minors though. On a lighter note; congrats Dale Thayer, you've earned this promotion, now just don't give them a reason to demote you.

As for Brignac. Assuming Pat Burrell returns within the next five-to-six days this is simply to give the Rays some flexibility. It adds a left-handed bat, a potential pinch runner, and a middle infield defensive sub to a bench lacking such. No idea whether Brignac will get a start or two while he's up, but a Bartlett/Brignac infield could be fun, and a glimpse of the future.

Enough has been said about Kazmir, the only question is whether Carlos Hernandez, David Price, Mitch Talbot, or someone else makes the start Monday. Theoretically the Rays could use Lance Cormier, but that seems unlikely. I'm cheering for Price, and I suspect most others are too.

Even more from Lancaster, the king of today's reporting:

tborays Percival has gone home to clear mind, ponder future - which could be in doubt

Reid Brignac and Dale Thayer Promoted, Scott Kazmir and Troy Percival to the DL

Tommy Rancel — Fri, 22 May 2009 17:04:19 -0000

According to Marc Lancaster, the mystery Durham Bulls to be called up are Reid Brignac and Dale Thayer. The lack of a starting pitcher in this equation leads me to believe Scott Kazmir and everybody else in the rotation is safe. My bet is two relievers will hit the DL, possibily Joe Nelson and Troy Percival. Of course that is just speculation, but we'll see how this all shakes out in the next few hours.

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Lancaster has confirmed the promotions.

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Percival officially to the DL, as first reported by Steve Duemig.

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So Thayer, Brignac are on the way up, Percival is to the DL, and one other player will join him, as there are reportedly no roster moves of the trade/DFA variety.

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Scott Kazmir is your other DL tripper. A pulled quad, per Marc Lancaster.