Johhny Damon: Will I play 162 games? Probably not. But I've learned how to keep my body healthy
Manny Ramirez: Lets do it (looking at Damon). You play 100 and I play 62. Thats all we gotta do
Zing!
Showing posts with label Tampa Bay Rays. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tampa Bay Rays. Show all posts
Advance Aged Rays Pitchers (AARP)
Has anyone noticed the age of the Tampa Bay Ray bullpen? With recent signee Jorge Julio (30) to join the bunch, the following [elderly] players make up the relief core of the reigning AL Champions:
- Troy Percival (39, going on 40)
- Grant Balfour (32)
- Joe Nelson (34, going on 35)
- Dan Wheeler (32)
- Jason Isringhausen (36, going on 37)
- Brian Shouse (40, going on 41)
- Randy Choate (33, going on 34)
- Chad Bradford [DL] (34, going on 35)
- Lance Cormier (29)
- J.P. Howell (26)
- Al Reyes (37)
- Gary Glover (31)
- Trever Miller (35)
The Tampa Bay Rays
Over the next 30 days, we at SAGOI will be analyzing 30 teams to prepare you for the upcoming baseball season. First on the list is the Tampa Bay Rays
What can we say about the beloved Rays? Their fantastic rotation was backed up by the league’s top defense and a solid offense. Despite the cheap payroll, the Rays had a great team in 2008. While it’s “hard to repeat”, the Rays are primed to do so for one reason alone in 2009: they are only going to get better. The reason the Rays payroll was so low in 2008 was that the team was primarily comprised of young, inexperienced players. Outside of Eric Hinske and Cliff Floyd, the team was largely comprised of guys with less than six years of major league playing experience. One of their best players, young third baseman Evan Longoria, didn’t even join the major league roster until mid-May. With a year more of experience under their belt, Tampa’s players are just entering their prime. Scott Kazmir is only 25 years old; Evan Longoria is 24; James Shields and Carl Crawford (provided his knees are healthy this year) are in their primes at 28. To add to this, Tampa has made three strong upgrades to their 2009 roster with the additions of uberhyped pitching phenom David Price to the starting rotation, underrated slugger Pat Burrell (who replaces the oft injured Cliff Floyd as the team’s primary DH) and toolsy outfielder Matt Joyce from the Tigers. Joyce, who has great defense to go along with his above average offensive skills and speedy legs, looks to take over an everyday position left field. His offensive skills aside, however, the addition of Joyrce will only make the game’s best defensive outfield -- which already features Carl Crawford and BJ Upton -- even better. Talk about field coverage! Pat Burrell, at age 31, looks to provide the Rays with much more pop and pure on-base power than Cliff Floyd or Eric Hinske. Since he isn’t a defensive liability anymore, there is no reason to no absolutely love his 90 walks and 30+ dingers per season (batting average is still ridiculously overrated on it‘s impact upon Run Created by conventional baseball). Finally, David Price, who made a brief, but imposing debut in 2008, will take over in the #5 spot behind underrated control artist Andy Sonnanstine. While it’ll conceivably take him sometime to adjust to major league hitters for a whole season, Price has the stuff to dominate. While you shouldn’t expect a ton of innings from David Price this year -- like Joba last year, expect something like a 150 IP limit -- you should expect those innings to have a big impact on the Ray’s playoff run. His strikeout potential makes him the Max Scherzer of the AL East.
All in all, the Rays have a top, if not improved, defense, a stronger offense than the previous season and a pitching staff that’s only gotten better. Skipper Joe Madden may not believe in “that fancy statistics crap”, but they’re all working in his favor for ‘09. If not at the top of the AL East this year, the Tampa Bay Rays will at least take the wild card.
Fantasy Impact: Evan Longoria (increased ABs may lends to more HRs, more RBI), Pat Burrell (he's not batting after Ryan Howard, which may mean players are left on base for him to bat in; also, expect more ABs from this defensive liability turned DH), Anyone on the Rays pitching staff (seriously, it's just that good)
Sleepers: David Price (#1 overall pick in 2007, he's a lefty with high 90s fastball and sick slider, expect high Ks from this guy), Grant Balfour (dark horse candidate to close in Tampa)
What can we say about the beloved Rays? Their fantastic rotation was backed up by the league’s top defense and a solid offense. Despite the cheap payroll, the Rays had a great team in 2008. While it’s “hard to repeat”, the Rays are primed to do so for one reason alone in 2009: they are only going to get better. The reason the Rays payroll was so low in 2008 was that the team was primarily comprised of young, inexperienced players. Outside of Eric Hinske and Cliff Floyd, the team was largely comprised of guys with less than six years of major league playing experience. One of their best players, young third baseman Evan Longoria, didn’t even join the major league roster until mid-May. With a year more of experience under their belt, Tampa’s players are just entering their prime. Scott Kazmir is only 25 years old; Evan Longoria is 24; James Shields and Carl Crawford (provided his knees are healthy this year) are in their primes at 28. To add to this, Tampa has made three strong upgrades to their 2009 roster with the additions of uberhyped pitching phenom David Price to the starting rotation, underrated slugger Pat Burrell (who replaces the oft injured Cliff Floyd as the team’s primary DH) and toolsy outfielder Matt Joyce from the Tigers. Joyce, who has great defense to go along with his above average offensive skills and speedy legs, looks to take over an everyday position left field. His offensive skills aside, however, the addition of Joyrce will only make the game’s best defensive outfield -- which already features Carl Crawford and BJ Upton -- even better. Talk about field coverage! Pat Burrell, at age 31, looks to provide the Rays with much more pop and pure on-base power than Cliff Floyd or Eric Hinske. Since he isn’t a defensive liability anymore, there is no reason to no absolutely love his 90 walks and 30+ dingers per season (batting average is still ridiculously overrated on it‘s impact upon Run Created by conventional baseball). Finally, David Price, who made a brief, but imposing debut in 2008, will take over in the #5 spot behind underrated control artist Andy Sonnanstine. While it’ll conceivably take him sometime to adjust to major league hitters for a whole season, Price has the stuff to dominate. While you shouldn’t expect a ton of innings from David Price this year -- like Joba last year, expect something like a 150 IP limit -- you should expect those innings to have a big impact on the Ray’s playoff run. His strikeout potential makes him the Max Scherzer of the AL East.
All in all, the Rays have a top, if not improved, defense, a stronger offense than the previous season and a pitching staff that’s only gotten better. Skipper Joe Madden may not believe in “that fancy statistics crap”, but they’re all working in his favor for ‘09. If not at the top of the AL East this year, the Tampa Bay Rays will at least take the wild card.
Fantasy Impact: Evan Longoria (increased ABs may lends to more HRs, more RBI), Pat Burrell (he's not batting after Ryan Howard, which may mean players are left on base for him to bat in; also, expect more ABs from this defensive liability turned DH), Anyone on the Rays pitching staff (seriously, it's just that good)
Sleepers: David Price (#1 overall pick in 2007, he's a lefty with high 90s fastball and sick slider, expect high Ks from this guy), Grant Balfour (dark horse candidate to close in Tampa)
Boston Red Sox v. Tampa Bay Rays
Originally I was going to start this post off by saying the Yankees would win the division and this post was dedicated to who would win the AL Wild Card but with no bullpen and no pitching depth and injury risks to Chien-Minh Wang, C.C. Sabathia, and A.J. Burnett, I'd actually say this division is up for grabs. While I still think the Yankees are going to to win the division, here's my "Wild Card" prediction by match ups. A Yankees/Red Sox match up has already been done so I'm going to do Rays/Red Sox
Catcher
Dioneer Navarro v Jason Varitek.
An old washed up player who has trouble getting his OBS over .300 in recent days versus an young up and coming stud. Maybe if this was Veritek a few years ago, I'd go with him, but this is not the Veritek of old, this is the Veritek who is 36/37 years old
Winner: Rays
First Base
Carlos Pena v Kevin Youkilis
Since Kevin "The Greek God of Walks" Youkilis' rookie season, he has never had an OBS under .381. However Pena is no stranger to walking either having an OBS the past two years of .411 and .377. Pena has also had more HRs than Youkilis of last dinging 46 two years ago and 31 last year versus Youk's 16 two years ago and 29 last year. But Youk has had more plate appearance than Pena, who is the past twp years has maxed out at 490 ABs. Youk is also getting better and better as the years roll on, was 4th in the AL in OBS last year, and is much younger than Pena who seems to be inconsistent and showing his age. It's because of this that Youk wins over Pena, but not by much.
Winner: Red Sox
Second Base
Akinori Iwamura v Dustin Pedroia
Iwamura, in his two seasons in MLB has had an OBS of .359 and .349. Pedroia, in his essentially two seasons have had a OBS of .380 and .376. Pedroia has a better career OPS+, SLG, HR, and SB%.
Winner: Red Sox
Shortstop:
Jason Bartlett v Jed Lowrie
In five season, Bartlett's career OPS+ is 85. I actually am not quite sure how to read defensive stats on baseballreference.com, but because he's a former Twins, and from what I've heard, he's a darn good defender. Lowrie only has a handful of starts under his belt, but his minor league numbers shows he has plate discipline but little to no power. I also don't know anything about his defense but I assume because he's a Red Sox it's pretty good. This match up is pretty bad but I'm going to give it to Lowrie because I think he can get on base in the pros
Winner: Red Sox
Third Base
Evan Longoria v Mike Lowell
I don't even need to look up the players stats to know just how awesome Longoria is and just how average Lowell is
Winner: Rays
Left Field
Carl Crawford v Jason Bay
Crawford has a career OBS+ of 101 but is a damn fine base stealer. Unfortunately his career OBS is .330 and he's injury prone. Bay has a career OPS+ of 131, can hit 30+ HRs a year. Bay walks and has power, what more do you want out of a player?
Winner: Red Sox
Center Field
B.J. Upton v Jacoby Ellsbury
More are young guys known for stealing bases. Upton has a better OBS than Ellsbury. But Ellsbury steals more bases and (although limited sample size) at a better rate. Upton has more power capabilities hitting 24 two years ago but last year only had 9. In his four season, Upton's OPS+ is above 100 versus Ellsbuy's which is not. Therefore, I give the edge to Upton. Plus, BJ stands for Bossman Junior
Winner: Rays
Right Field
Matt Joyce v J.D. Drew
Joyce is young and has some pop but doesn't have the best plate discipline. J.D. can walk and has power but is old and can be inconsistent. However, Drew has proven to be awesome and healthy and he was that last year. I think Joyce will be better than Drew soon, but not next year.
Winner: Red Sox
DH
Pat Burrell v Big Papi
Ortiz' career OPS+ is 138 versus Burrell's 119. Ortiz has has seasons of 40-50 HRs and Burrell has never gotten above 33 in the past 6 years. However Ortiz seems to be on the decline, doesn't have Manny hitting behind him, and now is facing steroid allegations. But Burrell isn't without his faults either having streaks of amazingness and streaks of shittiness giving him just above average total numbers. If Burrell could consistently hold his career numbers I'd give him this one but it's just so hard to.
Winner: Red Sox
Bullpen
Dan Wheeler v Jonathan Papelbon
Troy Pervical v Hideki Okajima
The best closer in the game and one of the leagues best set up man versus two old guys. No question
Winner: Red Sox
Rotation
James Shields v Josh Beckett
Beckett's career ERA+ is 116 versus Shields 114. Shields ERA+ is rising every year versus Beckett who can be amazing (2007- 145)or just his normal self (2008- 115). Josh Beckett can be amazing but Shields is younger and will probably be better than Beckett NEXT year.
Winner: Rays
Scott Kazmir v Jon Lester
Both are about the same age but Kazmir has two more years on Lester. Both essentially have the same ERA+. Kazmir edges Lester is K/BB ratio because he can strike out guys but Lester seems to be getting better and better every year and able to (unlike Kazmir) able to be a big game pitcher. It's for this that I barely give the edge to Lester
Winner: Red Sox
Matt Garza v Dice-K
Both essentially have been in the league the same amount of time and essentially have the same K/BB ratio. Dice-K strikes out a lot of guys but also walks a lot of guys. Garza steadily have had an ERA+ of 118 the past two year versus the streaky Dice-K- because in his first year he had an ERA+ of 108 but 159 last year! Dice-K is in his prime but Garza is younger. Because Dice-K can strike guys out and because he IS in his prime and has shown to be great (4th in Cy Young voting last year) and can be GREAT, I'm going to give this one to Dice-K, but another really close one
Winner: Red Sox
Andy Sonnanstine v Brad Penny
Penny has actually sucked in his overall stint in LA and Sonnanstine is young and should only get better. But last year is ERA was mid 4.00 with a 102 ERA+. But because he is younger and Penny last year SUUUUUCCKKKKEEDDD, the young guy beats the old dude.
Winner: Rays
David Price v John Smoltz
I question if both can finish the season next year. Last year in the playoffs Price was sick and his stuff looked amazing. On the other hand, when Smoltz was healthy, he was one of the best pitchers in the game. Smoltz actually doesn't have to pitch everyday and will be on a need by/ if-he-can-pitch basis. When he can't pitch, Tim Wakefield will pitch for him in that case Price will have the edge. But Price is too much of a wild card for me to pick him right now.
Winner: Red Sox
Totals:
Red Sox: 10
Rays: 5
I think the Red Sox have better players overall, are more experienced, have one of the best bullpen's in baseball, a deep rotation, a strong organization, a deep farm system, and a great GM that I have a hard time believing that the Red Sox won't make the playoffs
Catcher
Dioneer Navarro v Jason Varitek.
An old washed up player who has trouble getting his OBS over .300 in recent days versus an young up and coming stud. Maybe if this was Veritek a few years ago, I'd go with him, but this is not the Veritek of old, this is the Veritek who is 36/37 years old
Winner: Rays
First Base
Carlos Pena v Kevin Youkilis
Since Kevin "The Greek God of Walks" Youkilis' rookie season, he has never had an OBS under .381. However Pena is no stranger to walking either having an OBS the past two years of .411 and .377. Pena has also had more HRs than Youkilis of last dinging 46 two years ago and 31 last year versus Youk's 16 two years ago and 29 last year. But Youk has had more plate appearance than Pena, who is the past twp years has maxed out at 490 ABs. Youk is also getting better and better as the years roll on, was 4th in the AL in OBS last year, and is much younger than Pena who seems to be inconsistent and showing his age. It's because of this that Youk wins over Pena, but not by much.
Winner: Red Sox
Second Base
Akinori Iwamura v Dustin Pedroia
Iwamura, in his two seasons in MLB has had an OBS of .359 and .349. Pedroia, in his essentially two seasons have had a OBS of .380 and .376. Pedroia has a better career OPS+, SLG, HR, and SB%.
Winner: Red Sox
Shortstop:
Jason Bartlett v Jed Lowrie
In five season, Bartlett's career OPS+ is 85. I actually am not quite sure how to read defensive stats on baseballreference.com, but because he's a former Twins, and from what I've heard, he's a darn good defender. Lowrie only has a handful of starts under his belt, but his minor league numbers shows he has plate discipline but little to no power. I also don't know anything about his defense but I assume because he's a Red Sox it's pretty good. This match up is pretty bad but I'm going to give it to Lowrie because I think he can get on base in the pros
Winner: Red Sox
Third Base
Evan Longoria v Mike Lowell
I don't even need to look up the players stats to know just how awesome Longoria is and just how average Lowell is
Winner: Rays
Left Field
Carl Crawford v Jason Bay
Crawford has a career OBS+ of 101 but is a damn fine base stealer. Unfortunately his career OBS is .330 and he's injury prone. Bay has a career OPS+ of 131, can hit 30+ HRs a year. Bay walks and has power, what more do you want out of a player?
Winner: Red Sox
Center Field
B.J. Upton v Jacoby Ellsbury
More are young guys known for stealing bases. Upton has a better OBS than Ellsbury. But Ellsbury steals more bases and (although limited sample size) at a better rate. Upton has more power capabilities hitting 24 two years ago but last year only had 9. In his four season, Upton's OPS+ is above 100 versus Ellsbuy's which is not. Therefore, I give the edge to Upton. Plus, BJ stands for Bossman Junior
Winner: Rays
Right Field
Matt Joyce v J.D. Drew
Joyce is young and has some pop but doesn't have the best plate discipline. J.D. can walk and has power but is old and can be inconsistent. However, Drew has proven to be awesome and healthy and he was that last year. I think Joyce will be better than Drew soon, but not next year.
Winner: Red Sox
DH
Pat Burrell v Big Papi
Ortiz' career OPS+ is 138 versus Burrell's 119. Ortiz has has seasons of 40-50 HRs and Burrell has never gotten above 33 in the past 6 years. However Ortiz seems to be on the decline, doesn't have Manny hitting behind him, and now is facing steroid allegations. But Burrell isn't without his faults either having streaks of amazingness and streaks of shittiness giving him just above average total numbers. If Burrell could consistently hold his career numbers I'd give him this one but it's just so hard to.
Winner: Red Sox
Bullpen
Dan Wheeler v Jonathan Papelbon
Troy Pervical v Hideki Okajima
The best closer in the game and one of the leagues best set up man versus two old guys. No question
Winner: Red Sox
Rotation
James Shields v Josh Beckett
Beckett's career ERA+ is 116 versus Shields 114. Shields ERA+ is rising every year versus Beckett who can be amazing (2007- 145)or just his normal self (2008- 115). Josh Beckett can be amazing but Shields is younger and will probably be better than Beckett NEXT year.
Winner: Rays
Scott Kazmir v Jon Lester
Both are about the same age but Kazmir has two more years on Lester. Both essentially have the same ERA+. Kazmir edges Lester is K/BB ratio because he can strike out guys but Lester seems to be getting better and better every year and able to (unlike Kazmir) able to be a big game pitcher. It's for this that I barely give the edge to Lester
Winner: Red Sox
Matt Garza v Dice-K
Both essentially have been in the league the same amount of time and essentially have the same K/BB ratio. Dice-K strikes out a lot of guys but also walks a lot of guys. Garza steadily have had an ERA+ of 118 the past two year versus the streaky Dice-K- because in his first year he had an ERA+ of 108 but 159 last year! Dice-K is in his prime but Garza is younger. Because Dice-K can strike guys out and because he IS in his prime and has shown to be great (4th in Cy Young voting last year) and can be GREAT, I'm going to give this one to Dice-K, but another really close one
Winner: Red Sox
Andy Sonnanstine v Brad Penny
Penny has actually sucked in his overall stint in LA and Sonnanstine is young and should only get better. But last year is ERA was mid 4.00 with a 102 ERA+. But because he is younger and Penny last year SUUUUUCCKKKKEEDDD, the young guy beats the old dude.
Winner: Rays
David Price v John Smoltz
I question if both can finish the season next year. Last year in the playoffs Price was sick and his stuff looked amazing. On the other hand, when Smoltz was healthy, he was one of the best pitchers in the game. Smoltz actually doesn't have to pitch everyday and will be on a need by/ if-he-can-pitch basis. When he can't pitch, Tim Wakefield will pitch for him in that case Price will have the edge. But Price is too much of a wild card for me to pick him right now.
Winner: Red Sox
Totals:
Red Sox: 10
Rays: 5
I think the Red Sox have better players overall, are more experienced, have one of the best bullpen's in baseball, a deep rotation, a strong organization, a deep farm system, and a great GM that I have a hard time believing that the Red Sox won't make the playoffs
