Rays dfa Burrell

[Cannon Shell]

Looking at the numbers the Rays pitching staff has been dominant. But there is no way they can keep up the current pace and they are gonna need to add a bat if Upton, Pena, Blalock, etc dont start to hit. Thier team hitting stats are pretty much league avg across the board with the exception of runs and RBI's which indicates very timely (and in a lot of cases possibly lucky) hitting which is likely to trend the other way at some point. It is getting 7 hits in a game but 5 of them in one inning leading to more runs than a team typically would get with 7 hits over 9 innings. Their team ERA is 2.82, the league average is 4.15. Thier per 9 innings numbers in regards to hits, walks, HRs allowed, K's and thier k/BB ratio are all very good but probably unusually so. But longterm they dont have a starter over 28, 2 of them are 24 and hellickson may be the best yet and he is still in the minors. If the cheapskates who own the team add a bat and a left handed RP (especially if Howell is not effective after being injured) they will be a very tough team to deal with.

[Bigsmc]

Originally Posted by Cannon Shell

Looking at the numbers the Rays pitching staff has been dominant. But there is no way they can keep up the current pace and they are gonna need to add a bat if Upton, Pena, Blalock, etc dont start to hit. Thier team hitting stats are pretty much league avg across the board with the exception of runs and RBI's which indicates very timely (and in a lot of cases possibly lucky) hitting which is likely to trend the other way at some point. It is getting 7 hits in a game but 5 of them in one inning leading to more runs than a team typically would get with 7 hits over 9 innings. Their team ERA is 2.82, the league average is 4.15. Thier per 9 innings numbers in regards to hits, walks, HRs allowed, K's and thier k/BB ratio are all very good but probably unusually so. But longterm they dont have a starter over 28, 2 of them are 24 and hellickson may be the best yet and he is still in the minors. If the cheapskates who own the team add a bat and a left handed RP (especially if Howell is not effective after being injured) they will be a very tough team to deal with.

Spot on Chuck. I would lean much more towards the lucky side of the hitting vs. the timely side. Average pitchers can shut them down on any given night.

Through yesterday their leadoff guy, Bartlett, is batting .243, Pena .183, Upton .214, Navarro .182 and your most used bench guys, Rodriguez .222 and Kapler .224.... You can't win a Championship with that in your line-up no matter how good your pitching is. They addressed one of their many problems, Burrell, they need to address the above players. You can afford to keep Bartlett, Pena and Upton in the line-up because they provide gold glove type work in the field, but the rest need to not see the light of day. Jaso (.313) should catch every day unless he's hurt, when Soppach comes back from injury, Navarro should pack his bags. He does not provide any defense to supplement anemic bat. Rodriguez and Kapler should provide once a month fill ins for resting players, no more. Once Matt Joyce retruns from his injury (which should be soon), he should provide some offensive punch after the All Star break. Ruggiano is also batting over .300 at Durham and has big league experience.

The bullpen has been average, then again, most bullpens are. If those guys were great pitchers, they'd be starters. Soriano is a minor upgrade, but every appearance is an adventure. He needs to get his **** together and be a closer.

JP Howell is not the savior the local media thinks he is.

Thankfully, their starting pitching is loaded and if one of them goes down, Hellickson is ready to roll.

[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by Bigsmc

Spot on Chuck. I would lean much more towards the lucky side of the hitting vs. the timely side. Average pitchers can shut them down on any given night.

Through yesterday their leadoff guy, Bartlett, is batting .243, Pena .183, Upton .214, Navarro .182 and your most used bench guys, Rodriguez .222 and Kapler .224.... You can't win a Championship with that in your line-up no matter how good your pitching is. They addressed one of their many problems, Burrell, they need to address the above players. You can afford to keep Bartlett, Pena and Upton in the line-up because they provide gold glove type work in the field, but the rest need to not see the light of day. Jaso (.313) should catch every day unless he's hurt, when Soppach comes back from injury, Navarro should pack his bags. He does not provide any defense to supplement anemic bat. Rodriguez and Kapler should provide once a month fill ins for resting players, no more. Once Matt Joyce retruns from his injury (which should be soon), he should provide some offensive punch after the All Star break. Ruggiano is also batting over .300 at Durham and has big league experience.

The bullpen has been average, then again, most bullpens are. If those guys were great pitchers, they'd be starters. Soriano is a minor upgrade, but every appearance is an adventure. He needs to get his **** together and be a closer.

JP Howell is not the savior the local media thinks he is.

Thankfully, their starting pitching is loaded and if one of them goes down, Hellickson is ready to roll.

I'd give Jermaine Dye a call to see if he wants to play in a pennant race for say a $1 mill for the remainder of the year? He slumped badly the 2nd half last year but has always hit well in Tampa (lifetime .375/.389/.813) and has always hit lefties which is important against NY. Maybe he would be stubborn and look down his nose at such an offer but you could do worse than him as your DH especially considering Hank Blalock and Aybar are you other options.

[Bigsmc]

Garza v Cliff Lee today. Neither looks hitable so far. 1 hit (Upton) in three innings.

[Bigsmc]

Originally Posted by Bigsmc

Garza v Cliff Lee today. Neither looks hitable so far. 1 hit (Upton) in three innings.

Mush.

[SCUDSBROTHER]

Who the fk is B.J. Upton?











Damn stick-figure shortened my life by a year already.

[SCUDSBROTHER]

Dodgers starting pitchers will start getting tight again. With them, it's all about whether they think the other team's offense will make plays. If they think the other team isn't making many clutch plays, then the Dodger starters can get pretty comfortable. The Phillies display a great deal of confidence, and the Dodger starters can't handle that well at all. They are much too concerned with the current state of mind of the other team's offense. So, the key to this team is to play teams with good pitching, and struggling offenses (Giants, Padres, and lately Arizona.) They love that lil situation. Look what happened when they had to face a team who's offense was warm at the time. I mean why do you think Kershaw just couldn't pitch well on May 4th? Short rest? Maybe, but Milwaukee's offense came in very hot, and it bothered him. Stats don't matter as much with this bunch. They don't want any part of facing a confident hitting team. The state of mind of the opposing team's hitters is the primary factor involved. They'd much rather face Dempster n' Zambrano (in their prime) than have to get out Rollins, Victorino, Utley, and Howard. That's why you saw them do well in the Divisional Series, and struggle in the LCS. They lay down against a top offense. Both Chicago n' St. Louis were struggling offensively. Dodger team loves that situation. Same reason they went 3 n' out in the Divisional Series in 2004, and 2006 (have no shot against those hi-octane offenses that come into the post with confidence.) Both those teams (Cards in 2004, and Mets in '06) got stopped by pitching staffs that were mentally tough. Same thing happened last year (the mentally tough Pettite set a stable tone, and wasn't bothered by the haughty Phils demeanor.)