"BREAKING: Manny Ramirez informs MLB he is retiring. MLB recently notified Manny of an issue under MLB’s drug prevention & treatment program."

from ESPN: "Major League Baseball recently notified Manny Ramirez of an issue under Major League Baseball's Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program," the statement said. "Rather than continue with the process under the Program, Ramirez has informed MLB that he is retiring as an active player. If Ramirez seeks reinstatement in the future, the process under the Drug Program will be completed. MLB will not have any further comment on this matter."

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=6310125

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The list includes: OF Desmond Jennings, RHP Chris Archer, SS Tim Beckham, C Robinson Chirinos, RHP Alex Cobb, RHP Dane de la Rosa, RHP Brandon Gomes, RHP Dirk Hayhurst, 1B Leslie Anderson, Russ Canzler, J.J. Furmaniak, Daniel Mayora and Steven Vogt.

Somewhat of a surprise? Not really, all of these were long-shots. Here's to Jennings tearing up AAA and getting up sometime this summer. Eight more words is all that i need.

Last nights line:

Price, David 6IP,4ER, 5BB, 0K

Granted this may be one of his worse starts, it's pretty indicative that something in his development has gone awry. He has not been lights out in any single start, and really just looks mediocre at times. His walks are up, his K's are down. I personally am starting to worry some. Any guesses as to what the [bleep] is wrong with David Price?

I live in Austin, and I pretty annually go to Dallas whenever the Rays come out. Last year they came out once, but this year they've been out twice, which makes living away from Tampa just a bit easier. This series though, hands down, was the best weekend long baseball-a-thon I have ever been a part of.

Things started out well on Friday. Got to the park early, brought along my mini-bat (already signed by Shields and Longoria) and a blank baseball. I managed to get Rocco(who signed a lot on all 3 days) on both the bat and the ball, Aki on both, and Balfour on the ball. The game was also pretty spectacular. Garza was just dominant. Luckily there was a legit hit, or that non-error call probably would have made me riot at Rangers Ballpark. I will say BJ did not look at all upset about being pulled. I sat 2 rows back from the middle of the Rays dugout, and he was up and about, looking at the crowd, laughing with teammates, checking out girls with Kazmir. Speaking of Kazmir, he spends pretty much the entire game, when not pitching, looking at the crowd checking out girls. He only throws balls out to girls, and pretty much only gives out signatures to girls. So fridays game ended well, I gave a shout-out to Kalas ("KALLLLASSS", as i do after every game), and left the ballpark.

Saturday started out soon-to-almost-be-ironically, when my brother, my friend, and i went to Denny's for breakfast. Who did we see at the table next to us but Dan Wheeler, eating a Grand Slam. He was nice enough, and as I happened to have my baseball on me, gave me a signature as he left. Saturday I also stopped by the ole baseball card store, picked up a few things to try and get signed. I lucked out and got Garza to sign his rookie card, Shields to sign a newer card, Bradford to sign the ball, and i'm pretty sure others i can't remember right now. The game, as you know, sucked. It was boring, droll, annoying, and confusing as to why our hitters looked like garbage against a pitcher who was obviously nothing special.

Sunday also worked out well. Joe Maddon came out early to talk to some people he must have known, and on the way down into the dug out, stopped on the steps and let people toss him stuff to sign. I was amazed, he must have signed 30 things. I actually got to toss him a mini-bat, and the baseball, to get signed. I have to comment on how cool it was of Maddon to stand there and sign stuff for 15 minutes, and even cooler that he let me toss him a mini-bat. I actually wasn't able to get anybody else's signatures before that game, but I was pretty happy with the Maddon addition. The game was great. Kaz looked in control most of the time. The HR's were awesome. Both BJ and Pena tossed me the ball after the inning was over. The 9th inning was insane, and the fans in Dallas were pisssssssed when Maddon walked Hamilton. I was nervous, that was for sure, but it all worked out. After the game Kaz was hanging outside the dugout waiting for some family or something and I got him to sign a Card for me, so that put a nice cap on the weekend.

Before you even start to think this is a Sonnanstine bashing post, let's be clear that it is not. What it does have to do with is that, recently I got to thinking that this year, more then last, i feel like he tends to give up a few runs real early in the game, then settle down to pitch well the rest of his outing. I feel like we've seen a lot of 2 or 3 run 1st, 2nd, and 3rd innings, then 0's through 6 or 7, so i decided to take a look at the numbers.

Now, one of the reasons there were so many people calling for Sonnanstine to be moved to the bullpen, including myself, was that the stats bared out that he was better the first time through the line-up, and got hurt the second time through. Which in 2007, was true. But, that trend seems to have reversed itself this year, and I just cannot figure out why. That doesn't seem like a trend that should have completely reversed unless something changed with the way the pitcher is pitching. I didn't bring it up earlier in the season, because i really didn't feel there was a large enough sample size. But now with 84 innings on the year, it seems there is enough data to be relevant.

Lets take a look at some numbers:

2007:

                    BA   OBP   SLG   OPS
1st. Inning    .244  .333  .397  .731
2nd Inning    .250  .256  .425  .681
3rd Inning     .221  .256  .325  .581
4th Inning     .398  .429  .673 1.102 
5th Inning     .321  .326  .583  .909
6th Inning     .310  .375  .414  .789

Times Facing Opp. in Game

                  BA   OBP   SLG   OPS
1st PA in G   .249  .297  .400  .697
2nd PA in G     .321  .347  .535  .882

2008:

                    BA   OBP   SLG   OPS
1st. Inning    .278  .298  .519  .817
2nd Inning    .255  .255  .382  .636
3rd Inning     .449  .452  .609 1.061
4th Inning     .200  .268  .340  .608 
5th Inning     .327  .339  .600  .939
6th Inning     .351  .368  .486  .855

Times Facing Opp. in Game

                  BA   OBP   SLG   OPS
1st PA in G   .325  .338  .516  .854
2nd PA in G     .296  .323  .426  .749

Now looking at the numbers, there's an obvious disparity. In 2007 Sonnanstine seemed to sail through the first time he faced a batter, and consequently do well through the first 3 innings, with the 3rd inning being his best, as you would assume it would be, considering he would most likely be facing the bottom of the order. In 2008, almost the exact opposite is seen, as he gets touched up the first time through the order, and consequently, has a very rough 3rd inning, assuming that he's probably at that point facing the top of the order having given up more hits along the way then in 2007.

These points not withstanding, he is obviously a better pitcher in 2008 then in 2007. His ERA is 1 point lower, his ERA+ is 10 points higher, there's no arguing he's better this year then last year. I guess what I'm trying to figure out here is:

1. Why this reversal?
2. Will it hurt him in the long run?
3. There was another rays blog that did a nice piece on how he's using his arm angles for success vs when he's not having success, could this have something to do with it?
4. Is he still a candidate for the pen?
5. Does it really matter? Outside the obvious that teams would rather be ahead early in the game then having to come from behind, if the end results are essentially better, does it really matter how we get there?

So remember, this is not a Sonnanstine bashing post. I simply noticed a pattern, explored that, found some obvious changes, and decided to ask you all what you thought. Let's be constructive here.

From the Tribune's Marc Lancaster:

Following the game, the Rays optioned Justin Ruggiano back to Durham to open a spot for Matt Garza coming off the disabled list tomorrow.

Link 

I will say, i liked having Ruggiano up here. but with Gross in the mix, it seems that whoever was that last outfielder was only going to get very minimal AB's, and I have to agree when Maddon says:

"We haven’t had much of an opportunity to use him. We’re kind of covered in the outfield right now, so we primarily wanted him to get more at-bats and sent him back to do that."

Haynes may not fit in with our long term team plan, but i can see the wisdom in sending Ruggiano back to continue his development.

The Rays have scheduled a “major” announcement by executive vice president Andrew Friedman for today at 1 p.m. at Tropicana Field.

No word yet on the nature of the announcement. It could be a free agent signing or a contract extension for a player or Manager Joe Maddon, but that’s only conjecture at this point.

Check back for details soon. 

http://www.tboblogs.com/index.php/sports/comments/major-announcement-coming-today/

what could it be???? Come on Barry Bonds!!!!!!!

Maybe someone can help me understand what exactly is wrong with Garza, because at it stands now, I really do not see how he is "rehabbing".

Let's start with where I get confused. So, as Garza has stated, this is a problem, they call it Radial Nerve Irritation, that goes back to the later half of the season last year with the Twins. It seems that it has recently been flaring up on him, causing him some significant discomfort, and interfering with his ability to pitch well. That all makes sense to me. What really does not is how he is rehabbing.

Now, if this is a problem that he had last year with the Twins, and all that it is is irritation, then I have to conclude from the rehab program we have him on, that just taking things easy for a couple weeks is sufficient enough to treat and heal the injury. If that is the case, then I have to wonder why this injury did not heal over the off-season, when he rested for a couple months straight.

Where is get confused, is he got hurt here, and only took a day or two off before he started tossing the ball again. Now how is this rehab, and months worth of rest is not? Is there a chance that this will just keep acting up over and over again?

Something just does not make sense to me. Either his story that it started last year, the diagnosis, or the rehab. They all do not fit together neatly, something is off. If anyone has a medical theory, or some further explanation, I would love to hear it.

On Other Notes:

Really good story on Hellickson on BA today: http://www.baseballamerica.com/blog/prospects/?p=889

I would love to see this kid really live up to what it seems he can do.

Not to trash any member of the rays, but I have little-to-no faith in Doh'mann being a dependable major league pitcher, Glover is average, Miller SHOULD be a 1 batter specialist (not a full inning guy), and Reyes obviously wears down as the year goes on. Now, I am not saying that things won't go swimmingly, but Thayer seems he could be a very good presence out of the pen, and really add a youthful arm. He spent most of last year in AA and pretty much dominated, ERA of 2.26 and a whip just at 1.01. Then he moves to AAA , and though he only got 9 innings in, he lowered his whip to .96. This is a guy with a minor league line of 2.95 bb/9, 9.32 k/9, and a whip of 1.11, with an ERA of 2.24. He's only pitched 2.2 innings this year, but so far has been stellar.

So I ask, how long will it be until we see this guy? I know we have a decent bullpen, but Miller/Dohmann/Glover/ hell even Reyes, all look like just major league average pitchers, Thayer seems like he has a chance to be a real shut down guy for us.

Does anyone have any insight for us non-BA subscribers? I know certain subscriber info can't be posted, but I'd love to know what they had to say about him and the Rays. Any insight would be appreciated.....................................
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ok, not to rant and rave, but I am actually semi-upset about the handling of our OF situation. don't get me wrong, i think that front office is doing a fine team overhauling this team, putting us in a situation to be perennial winners. but, as of right now, we have no legitimate right fielder, not a single one. sure, we have a bunch of "right fielders", but no one should should be out there on any sort of consistent basis. at one point we have ridiculous depth out there, and i know we still have some, but most isn't major league ready, leaving us in the situation we are in now. now, you might say, well we had Rocco. yes, we did, we always have, but if i thought for one minute that the front office was hinging their plans on having Rocco in RF, then i would be terribly disappointed in their lack of realistic foresight. no, but i believe they knew the same thing we all did, that Rocco was never a sure thing, and that plans need to be made to take that into account.

but instead, what do we do? we don't protect Josh Hamilton, which though at the time may have seemed like not a big deal, this is a man we put millions  of dollars and years and years and years of investment into, and just as he was really getting his stuff together, we fail to protect him? and now he's  (i know spring training stats don't mean much, but the guy is for real)hitting over .500, has the most RBI's amongst all hitters, and an slugging % over 1. amazing. he might become what we always thought he would become, and looking back it seems like a major major gaffe to not protect him.

secondly, we trade Delmon Young, which was fine with me, b/c at the time i assumed we had a possibly healthy Rocco, and if not then a high-ceiling Dukes waiting to take over.

but then we trade Dukes, which was probably a good move, he probably never would have gotten his life back together here in Tampa, and we got good value in return.

which leaves us with Rocco, who we now know, and probably always knew, even if we tried to convince ourselves that this was the year for him, was never going to play, or at least not play often. now we're down to a platoon of poor fielders and specialty hitters, and have a huge gaping hole not only in our lineup, but in our field.

what i'm getting at is this. trading Young and Dukes were good moves, they probably had to be done. but it's the move we didn't make that could really haunt us now, as all it would have taken was a small sacrifice, which given the sacrafice the team already made to him would seem like a forgone conclusion, for a possible large reward, but we didn't do it.

and now, we're stuck in the situation we are in, all b/c we lacked the most basic and obvious foresight.

What's with this guy? Every spring training he looks like he's a .300 hitter, then he can't hit the broad side of a barn during the regular season.

I know it's only been 6 games so far, but he's at 6-14, good for a .400 AVG. Yes, it's a small sample size, but he is currently tops on the team. Last year he hit .345 in spring training, then proceeded to quickly fail miserable in the bigs. Send him back down, and he's a hitting machine again.

What's the deal with this guy? Can he hit, or not?

Regarding Blanton:

    * One Rosenthal source suggests a 50/50 chance Blanton is traded (presumably before the season starts).
    * Two teams are showing significant interest.  Rosenthal believes the Reds are one, and the Twins or Rays could be another."

This guy is only 28, and posted a sub 4 ERA last year. He's not top 3, imo, but would pretty much be guaranteed a spot in the rotation.

Question is, who would we trade for him? What would it mean for the rotation/pen?

R.J.: a few things, Blanton would be under team control through 2010, makes 3.7 mil this year, and has a 4.66 ERA away from that large Oakland park.