So a few months ago, in a thread about Evans 2009 projections, I challenged the opinion that hitter protection did not exist. I obviously was belittled and acted as if my opnion did not count.

http://www.draysbay.com/2008/12/23/700420/community-projections-evan

"because lineup "protection" isn't a factor. It's a myth.

by Tommy Rancel on Dec 23, 2008 11:29 AM EST up reply actions   0 recs "

"No, they aren't.

Read a damn book.

by R.J. Anderson on Dec 23, 2008 11:26 AM EST up reply actions   0 recs "

Now the reason I am bringing this thread up again is due to me hearing Draysbay,Tommy and RJ getting some love on Duemigs show over the last few days. So I took the time to call into Duemigs show today and inform him of your opinion that hitter protection is a myth.

Duemig has watched baseball for 40+ years, so I will love to see you guys tell him how he needs to "read a damn book" cause he doesn't agree with your opinion.  Will be very hard to tell him that when you aren't hiding behind a computer.

I will not respond to any of the insults i am sure to come my way, so have fun but remember, baseball is played on the field, not on a calculator.

Selgy

 

 

I know, i got you thinking about the Durham Bulls, but this thread is more important.

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Not sure where to find this....

 

But have they ever ran numbers to see which would be a more productve lineup..

example:

9 hitters with .250 AVG and 30 HRS (like Adum Dunn)

or

9 hitters with .300 AVG and 10 HRS (like Ichiro)

 

the rest here is just filler to get to 75 words...merry christmas, happy new year ... go rays ... uhm ... uhm ... feliz navidad. So I need eleven more words to get to seventy five

 

This is to you Kansas City, You Tampa Bay, You Pittsburg, etc

GROW SOME FREAKING BALLS!!!!!!!!!!!!

As much as I would hate to say this cause it will hurt this great young team the Rays have formed, but the MLB owners need a LOCK OUT.

Thats right, close the doors...preemptive move against what will slowly make MLB a joke moreso than the NHL. The silver spooned teams such as the Yankees, Mets, Dodgers, Red Sox and Angels will continue to increase the financial gaps between the haves and have nots.

Look at the excitement in Atlanta and Miami this year with the Falcons and Dolphins. They were terrible last year, but due to the NFLs plan, they were able to step up and become playoff caliber teams. Sure its a league of parody, but you can still work your @$$ off as the Patriots have and stay a step ahead.

Impliment a salary cap. Set it at $150 million (example). Sure that wont finacially effect teams such as the Rays, Royals, Pirates...but it will cause the Yankees/Red Sox/etc to have to spend their money wiser and leave a bigger oppertunity for smaller market teams to compete for free agents.

Better compensation if a home grown talent is signed away. If a player is home grown and spends 5+ years in your organization and is signed away, get rid of this stupid system of draft picks, cause all that does is say "hey rays, we just signed away your player...now here is a draft pick...teach him everything he needs to know about playing baseball and have him ready so we can sign him in 5 years". Maybe in addition to the draft pick, you can impliment a "free agent player tax- salary cap adjustment" where say if you sign a player for 10 million a year, you have addition 10% of that total subtracted from the salary cap..such as

salary cap $150 million
minus Player X $10 million a year
minus salary cap adjustment (10% of free agent signee $1 million)
So the salary cap hit would be $11 million a year (a million of it is phantom money and just used to adjust the salary cap)

So now they would be down to $139 million in available cap space room. Sure this isnt a large tax for signing away players, but you add that up over the year and maybe it makes it to the point a team such as the Yankees/red sox will have to spend much more wisely.

Third....NO signing bonuses for free agents. If they allow signing bonuses, you can see the Yankees giving giant upfront bonuses and that would negate the changes required for baseball.

Just me ranting...i am sure others can make suggestions

LOCK THEM OUT!!!

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2008/11/cardinals-sign.html

According to Bernie Miklasz of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Cardinals signed lefty reliever Trever Miller (pending a physical).  GM John Mozeliak said southpaw relievers were flying off the shelves, so he acted quickly.  It's a bit of a surprise in that the Cards were said to be targeting Will Ohman and Arthur Rhodes.

Miller, 35, posted a 4.15 ERA in 43.1 innings for the Rays this year.  He held lefties to a .235/.327/.382 line.  Earlier this month, the Rays chose Miller's $400K buyout over a $2MM option.  Miller was a Type B free agent, so the Rays will get a sandwich pick for their loss.

 

 

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first of all, the homer by Gary Mathews was how can i say it...A SHOT. you cant tell from the film, but the ball hit the lower part of the wall on the fly.

I am so pissed at myself, i had a urge for a hotdog, so i went and ofcourse, that is when Gomes hit his homer. He is easily becoming a fan fav.

Green should have been charged with a error on the ball into short RF. There was no reason he shouldnt have had it.

The Rays have so much freaking heart. I took a bud of mines to the game and i coudlnt stop talking about how they are so deep and in a few years (i believe 2008) they will be champions.

Fossum was getting manhandled in the third when Matthews hit his homer. Later in the inning, Soriano hit a foul ball that was 1/2 the way up on the wall next to the beach. Was incredibly lucky they didnt completely tear him a new one that inning.

I live in Port Richey and the bud i picked up lives at Hills and 275. Took me about 25 minutes to get to the trop. Anyone who complains about the drive from Tampa to the trop is giving you complete BS. The drive was easy and so was the parking.

And i am going to make a lot of enemies on this site with what i am going to say here, but i have to give lou a lot of credit. I dont agree with every choice he has made this year...But when you take away Baldelli for the year...Have our starting second basemen and RF retire before the year started......Having Huff suck the first half of the year and dealing with the braz/bell 8th inning probs, well he has actually done a pretty good job. this team was headed on the up after the end of last year, has taken a step back with the beginning of htis year, but have recovered that step forward and i really dont see any steps back for this team. The pieces are in place with parts to spare. Now it might be Gomes, gaitright or baldelli, but im sure we will get plenty for them and this team has a great bright future. I am looking forward to bragging about this team and telling everyone to hurry up and get on the bandwagon.

Rob
aka Selgy

Does anyone know how many AB's Gomes would need to qualify for the ROY?
<img src="http://espn-i.starwave.com/media/apphoto/SPD10707310109.jpeg">
Tampa Bay Devil Rays' Johnny Gomes walks back into the dugout after hitting his third home run of the game, during the eighth inning against the Kansas City Royals on Saturday, July 30, 2005, in St. Petersburg, Fla. Tampa Bay beat Kansas City 7-3. (AP Photo/Steve Nesius)

With the possibilty of Upton being called up(if Lugo gets traded), would you prefer a solid glove at first such a Lee who will help give Upton some confidence and maybe cut down on his errors? With the possibility of huff and first and upton throwing, i'm not really sure Huff would be the best ift there and i feel that having Lee there the rest of the year woudl be a good idea(not liek we are going anywhere anyway).

As most of us can tell, Lou seems to really like Damon Hollins. And with this team going nowhere, its strange that hollins is in there instead of gomes/gaitright etc..... But does anyone feel that this might be lou window shopping Hollins around for the other teams to see what he can get for him? Maybe a 2 for 1 trade for example with the yankees or braves (hollins and huff). Nothing else seems to make sense, so was wondering if anyone else has thought this?