SB Nation User Blog: bobr

And the award for the stupidest blurb about baseball ever written goes to Jon Heyman. This has...

bobr — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 13:42:37 -0000

And the award for the stupidest blurb about baseball ever written goes to Jon Heyman.

This has nothing to do with the Rays, but it is so outrageous I wanted to expose it somewhere. It is posted at Shysterball, and if you follow the link to the Heyman article you will see it stands alone, with no caveat or comment.

I know there are almost an infinite number of candidates for the award of most stupid ever, but Jon Heyman's is inner circle stupid.

http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/shysterball/article/great-moments-in-notes-columns/#comments

The comment about Freddie Sanchez and the Rays is pretty apt, by the way.

This is from a comment at BTF regarding Jerry Manuel's decision-making. I post it because it is...

bobr — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 12:03:46 -0000

This is from a comment at BTF regarding Jerry Manuel's decision-making.

I post it because it is sure to amuse some Rays' fans:

"Can Brian Stokes get in a game once in a while? Just one time?"

Will Carroll on Navarro "Navarro was seen wearing a brace on his wrist, both at bat and in the...

bobr — Thu, 07 May 2009 18:41:15 -0000

Will Carroll on Navarro

"Navarro was seen wearing a brace on his wrist, both at bat and in the field. Given his early-season struggles, but now seeing his last two nights of decent hitting, it's entirely possible that he's been dealing with some kind of wrist problem. It's unclear when the wrist brace was first worn and if it has anything to do with his better performance in the last two games, but it's certainly notable. Wrist injuries often present as a drop in power and loss of bat control, something his stats show, especially the 16:1 K/BB ratio that stands in stark contrast to last season's 49:34. I'll continue digging to find out more."

I thought he was hit on or near his left wrist last night. Carroll is not saying when he started wearing the brace or on which wrist.

About Morlan

bobr — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 23:49:28 -0000

I asked Stacy Long a question about Eduardo Morlan; Here is his answer. It does not really address the question exactly, but perhaps the Rays are fixing him.

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https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=23235590&postID=3625403357584673901

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It would be a nice bonus if he comes around. Does anyone have another source who can comment on his pitching recently. I know it is just a few innings, but I noticed the 9 strikes in 9 pitches and also that he has struck out a man an inning while walking none.

Edwin Jackson

bobr — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 23:20:55 -0000

I was at the Phillies/Tigers game today in which Jackson started. From my seat, I could not tell whether his stuff was good or how close to the plate he was, but his first 5 pitches were balls followed by 3 strikes for the K, a fly ball out from Jenkins and another walk to Howard. Then, boom. John Mayberry Jr. creamed one into the left field stands. Then another 4 pitch walk, a trip to the mound and finally another strikeout.

His next two innings were much better although there were a couple of hard hit fly balls, one of which might be called a line drive. His last pitch of the day struck out Ryan Howard.

He seemed to throw more off-speed pitches than I remember. In that first inning, he froze Jenkins with one for strike two before getting the fly ball out.

Although I think the trade was both necessary and a smart deal for the Rays, and although I was on the Sonnanstine side of the interminable debate, I still like Jackson. He is a hard working, intelligent young man with enormous talent. I am dubious about him becoming a really successful pitcher, but still think it is possible, if unlikely.

Getting a plug. It may just be greasing the palm (ego) as he works on his book about the Rays, but...

bobr — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 17:16:14 -0000

Getting a plug.

It may just be greasing the palm (ego) as he works on his book about the Rays, but Jonah Keri does include DRays Bay in his list of people and sites who provide excellent sources for baseball analysis. Here is an excerpt from his post:
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"On a related note, it occurs to me that there are so many good writers out there doing so much good work on baseball, it ends up greatly informing anyone trying to write a book on the topic. The bibliography/references in Unnamed Rays Book (Spring ‘10), from BP to FanGraphs, the Hardball Times to the St. Pete Times, is going to be enormous. People like Marc Topkin, Shawn Hoffman, Dave Cameron, Marc Lancaster, Nate Silver, Tommy Rancel (everyone at DRays Bay, really) and many others have written some tremendously informative, thought-provoking pieces in just the past year or so, never mind all the good stuff that was written further back in history. This adds one more to the mix."

Four "Young Guns" http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/young-guns/ Whenever I see an article...

bobr — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 11:40:28 -0000

Four "Young Guns"

http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/young-guns/

Whenever I see an article from a worthwhile source that includes commentary on Rays, I figure people would like to look at it.

This is from THT today. Kalk seems more optimistic about Hammel's chances to be a pretty decent major leaguer than many of us here do. And he also is not in favor of Niemann in the bullpen.

Base...

bobr — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 22:55:20 -0000

Base running:

http://tampabay.rays.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090222&content_id=3865868&vkey=news_tb&fext=.jsp&c_id=tb

I don't usually find Chastain's articles particularly interesting, but I think this one is, perhaps because I think the Rays have made too many outs on the base paths the last few years.

Aggressive is one thing, but reckless is quite another. Glad he is keeping records and trying to instill the fundamentals.

One of Sternberg's (and the front office's) stated goals when they took over was to make TB a...

bobr — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 18:33:45 -0000

One of Sternberg's (and the front office's) stated goals when they took over was to make TB a destination for players. Obviously winning has helped to that, but apparently Maddon is part of that appeal also.

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2009/feb/21/sp-kennedy-made-positive-move/sports-rays/

We may not be thrilled with acquiring Kennedy and Isringhausen, although I think most of us generally approve, but the reason they claim to have wanted to come here is interesting as are Burrell's comments.

Remember when critics were saying Maddon wasn't tough enough, that he was just some feel-good, wine loving, laid-back Californian stereotype?

From Kevin Goldstein's chat at BP today "Philosopher (Chicago): Which current MLB player would you...

bobr — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 22:46:48 -0000

From Kevin Goldstein's chat at BP today

"Philosopher (Chicago): Which current MLB player would you compare Tim Beckham to? Do you think he's a "high risk, high reward" type of prospect?

Kevin Goldstein: Perfect world projection? Barry Larkin."