Nick & Nick's Twins Blog (Free subscription) | 11/05/2009
The Twins have enjoyed an impressive run of sustained success over the past nine years. Only once during that span (2007) have they posted a losing record. And if there's one lesson to be taken from the '07 team, it relates to the pitfalls of complacency. In 2006, the Twins boasted a rather impressive offense. Joe Mauer won his first batting title, Justin Morneau captured the AL MVP award, Michael...
DRaysBay (Free subscription) | 11/04/2009
More photos » by Jerry S. Mendoza - AP The "sign and trade" of Akinori Iwamura is another example of the Rays getting creative in order to acquire new talent. Browse more photos » It is no secret that the Tampa Bay Rays are never going to be major spenders in the free agent market like their AL East Rivals, the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees . Instead, this team is built...
Sportsviews (Free subscription) | 11/03/2009
Last week I covered the top 5 position player bargains of the year – and despite the fact that they were great talents, had for cheap, they were still, mainly, pretty big names. This week, for part two, I’ll try to dive into 5 of the lesser known bargains. Once again, and this is something I should have clarified in part 1, is that I am… Added by: PeteSchiller Viewed: 0 time(s)...
DRaysBay (Free subscription) | 11/02/2009
More photos » by Steve Nesius - AP Browse more photos » Speaking of that Delmon Young deal... With knowledge comes responsibility to review the past. If Wile E. Coyote learns that the Road Runner can detect dynamite from distances expanding the blast radius, this changes his perspective on what he should've done. Selecting David Price over Matt Wieters was fine with my 2007 self - ace potential...
Lookout Landing (Free subscription) | 11/02/2009
As much as people love to debate the Cy Young and MVP results every year, the problem is that rarely can anyone be absolutely certain that their suggested pick is the right one. There are so many different ways of evaluating who was the best pitcher or who was the most valuable player that, as much as fans live to call other people and especially the award voters stupid, these awards make it hard,...
DRaysBay (Free subscription) | 10/30/2009
A quick smorgasbord here on two thoughts I have in my mind but are undeserving of their own full-fledged post. All bunts are not created equal Derek Shelton's hiring lead to a furry of tendency checking and question asking. Did his teams bunt more? Did they walk more? Did they hit more pop flies? Wait, how much say did Eric Wedge give Shelton on bunting patterns? And so on and so forth. One player...
Twinkie Town (Free subscription) | 10/26/2009
More photos » by Lori Shepler - AP Browse more photos » 2008 Roster 2006 Roster For the second year in a row I tried to put together a full 25-man roster, and while I made the cut this team has some pretty big holes. Generally it's old, which is surprising, and there's going to be some pretty bad defense in places, but if any of the three outfielders get hurt there's nobody to be a fourth...
Miami Herald (Free subscription) | 10/25/2009
Drivers Cat Manzi and Jason Bartlett were injured Saturday in an accident during a race at Freehold Raceway.
Seattle Times (Free subscription) | 10/25/2009
Drivers Cat Manzi and Jason Bartlett were injured Saturday in an accident during a race at Freehold Raceway.
Baseball Prospectus (Free subscription) | 10/25/2009
The Rays` shortstop discusses infield leadership, his improved approach at the plate, and his motivation.
Batter's Box Interactive Magazine (Free subscription) | 10/23/2009
Short is a big issue for 2010. Scutaro cannot be counted on we'd haveto assume (the Jays would do full medicals to know a lot better than usI hope) so what do they do? A strong #1 or #2 shortstop is needed. With this staff it has to be aleague average or better defensive one too (ala Scutaro & McDonald)but ideally also an offensive force (as good or better than Scutaro in2009). Checking Fangraphs...
DRaysBay (Free subscription) | 10/20/2009
More photos » by Chris O'Meara - AP Ben Zobrist looks to be part of a three way platoon in 2010(AP Photo/Chris O'Meara) Browse more photos » One of the more interesting story lines of this offseason, to me at anyway, will be the competition for the last remaining bench spot*. *This is barring any major trades or signings before opening day The Rays came into 2009 with a fairly strong bench...
Fake Teams (Free subscription) | 10/13/2009
More photos » by Chris O'Meara - AP 10 days ago: Tampa Bay Rays' Ben Zobrist lines a second inning RBI single off New York Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia during a baseball game Friday, Oct. 2, 2009 in St. Petersburg, Fla. Rays' Jason Bartlett scored on the hit. Catching for the Yankees is Jorge Posada. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara) Browse more photos » I know what you are saying. Who in the world...
Rays Index (Free subscription) | 10/13/2009
BJ Upton Carl Crawford Evan Longoria Carlos Pena Ben Zobrist Pat Burrell Jason Bartlett Gabe Kapler Dioner Navarro Above is a pretty standard batting order used by the Rays this past season versus left-handed pitchers early in the season. In fact, no other batting order was used more often this season. How often? Six (6!) times. Joe Maddon employed 125 different batting orders this [...]
Around the Majors (Free subscription) | 10/08/2009
Tonight on my Facebook news feed, several baseball fans on my friend list made posts bashing TBS broadcaster Chip Caray. Perhaps because I had these critical posts on the brain, I began to really listen closely to some of the analysis provided by Caray during the early innings. I tried keeping in mind that his objective is to make the game interesting to the casual fan. Plus, all of my virtual friends...
Videos