The Cub Reporter (Free subscription) | 8 hours ago
According to Sun-Times beat reporter, Gordon Wittenmeyer , with the signing of John Grabow to a 2/7.5 contract (backended as only Jim Hendry can do) and the trading of Aaron Heilman to the Snakes, the Cubs have supposedly made their final bullpen move of the offseason. The deal appears to secure the final key piece to the Cubs' projected 2010 bullpen, coming one day after the team traded veteran Aaron...
Beale Street Beat (Free subscription) | 11/10/2009
Some links for Tuesday… Mack Avenue Tigers checks out the Tigers’ arbitration dos and don’ts. Bill Conlin feels that the Phillies disrespected Pedro Feliz by not picking up his option. The Rays, as expected, picked up Carl Crawford’s 2010 option. The team declined options on Brian Shouse and Greg Zaun, though, and claimed reliever Ramon Ramirez off of [...]
Baseball Time in Arlington (Free subscription) | 11/10/2009
Behind a group of talented young position players and several surprising pitching performances, the 2004 Texas Rangers won 89 games after averaging 72 wins per season from 2000-2003. Ryan Drese and Kenny Rogers anchored a staff that improved from 67 runs above replacement (RAR) in 2003 to 122 RAR in 2004. The 2004 bullpen was slightly better than what had been a very good bullpen in 2003 (91 RAR vs....
Miami Herald (Free subscription) | 11/09/2009
The Tampa Bay Rays announced Monday they have exercised the 2010 option on the contract of outfielder Carl Crawford and declined the options on pitcher Brian Shouse and catcher Gregg Zaun.
kansascity.com (Free subscription) | 11/09/2009
The Tampa Bay Rays announced Monday they have exercised the 2010 option on the contract of outfielder Carl Crawford and declined the options on pitcher Brian Shouse and catcher Gregg Zaun.
Rays Index (Free subscription) | 11/09/2009
The Rays madeseveral moves today including picking up Carl Crawford’s option. The team also decided not to puck up the options for Gregg Zaun and Brian Shouse. In addition the Rays claimed pitcher Ramon Ramirez off of waivers from the Reds. © The Professor for Rays Index, 2009. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us Post tags: [...]
DRaysBay (Free subscription) | 11/09/2009
Nothing unexpected on the options part. Although it will be interesting to see if they attempt to get Zaun to re-sign. Ramirez is a 27-year-old righty from the Cincinnati organization and 39.3 career innings in the Majors. That's a pretty small sample size to draw from, but during his time he posted a 4.6 FIP and 5.1 tRA. His home run per fly ball percentage is awfully high for a reliever (just over...
DRaysBay (Free subscription) | 11/09/2009
More photos » by Elaine Thompson - AP Inverted W! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES! Browse more photos » Per Ed Price. Crawford won't reach free agency, Zaun and Shouse have options which may be declined, and Springer is a true free agent. The questions now are whether any of them will be offered arbitration in order to gain a supplemental round compensation pick. Given his age (and potential salary)...
DRaysBay (Free subscription) | 11/07/2009
More photos » by Elaine Thompson - AP Tampa Bay Rays will just say "yes" when it comes to Carl Crawford's $10 million dollar option for 2010. Browse more photos » One of the first orders of business to take care of during the hot stove league is squaring away options. So far 11 options have been accepted or declined since the end of the World Series with several more looming....
MLB Trade Rumors (Free subscription) | 10/16/2009
MLB.com's Alden Gonzalez provides the latest on a few Tampa Bay Rays: If Ben Zobrist becomes the team's everyday second baseman, the club may decide to bring free agent-to-be Gabe Kapler back as a backup outfielder. Kapler made $1MM this year and hit .239/.329/.439 in 245 trips to the plate. If the club keeps Zobrist at second, it appears highly unlikely that the Rays would pick up Akinori Iwamura's...
MLB Trade Rumors (Free subscription) | 10/07/2009
Lefty relievers are a popular offseason wish list item this year. Let's take a look at the free agent market. The group's ERA leader (1.50), Scott Eyre, is considering retirement. Mike Gonzalez is next at 2.42, though he may be seeking a closer job. John Grabow at 3.36 rounds out the top three. Gonzalez leads with a 10.9 K/9, followed by Darren Oliver at 8.01 and Ron Mahay at 7.51. Brian Shouse (club...
The Rays Party (Free subscription) | 09/18/2009
Don't tie this with the recent frustrations in the Rays bullpen. I really don't want to see (most) of these guys pitching in a Rays uniform after this season. And we don't even need to use statistics to know that! Just dollar figures because that is what is being wasted here. Brian Shouse - I am not sure how many other non-knuckleballers throw slower than him (I know one) but he doesn't really fool...
DRaysBay (Free subscription) | 08/26/2009
One benefit to the Russ Springer deal that slipped my mind until now. Even if the Rays don't make the playoffs and Springer decides he doesn't like this Bay Area too much, if the Rays offer him arbitration and he declines, then they would net a sandwich pick for their efforts. Well, no team is going to give up a draft pick for Russ Springer, which is why the good news is that they won't have to. Remember...
DRaysBay (Free subscription) | 08/26/2009
More photos » by Darren Calabrese - AP about 2 hours ago: Tampa Bay Rays' Carlos Pena hits his second home run of the game off of Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Brett Cecil during the third inning of a baseball game in Toronto on Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2009. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press,Darren Calabrese) Browse more photos » This will be a short recap since we did not get to watch any of the game....
The Rays Party (Free subscription) | 08/08/2009
The Rays have made yet another waiver wire deal acquiring veteran reliever Russ Springer from the Oakland A's . I wrote a bit about him a month ago on MLB Notebook and how he has gained some velocity on his fastball during this season. The righty had a tremendous O-Swing% but Springer has had a scary high flyball rate which works in Oakland but not in places like New Yankee Stadium or the against the...
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