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The Rays head to Clearwater today to face the Phillies in a World Series rematch. One of the biggest storylines, other than the fact that it is the rematch, is Pat Burrell is heading back to face his former team. I thought this would be the best time to write about Pat the Bat.

Pat Burrell patrolled left field in Philly for 9 years and provided right handed pop in their lineup. He has now joined the Rays and will be the  DH, which is a huge change for him. We will just have to wait to see how he does in a position change, but he should hit 30 to 40 homers which is what the Rays needed.

Burrell will make the trip to Clearwater and will DH for the Rays. We will have to wait and see what the reaction is from Phillies fans.

REMINDER: Today’s game will be broadcast on MLB Network at 1:00.

We’ve got a tough one here. I don’t really know much about Jason Cromer, other than he dominated the Red Sox in his two innings. He struck out five and only allowed one hit. He will likely take the roll of a lefty specialist for the Bulls or the Biscuits.

Cromer is not a high level prospect but could be battle for the lefty specialist role down the road.

Sorry I can’t provide more about him. If anyone out there has seen him, please share what you know.

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So, for the second day in a row, the Rays showed little offense and came away with a loss. Not to be discouraged. The Rays have not put out good lineups. We look to the person who started the game pitching for the second day in a row. Wade Davis wowed Rays fans with two great innings yesterday. He did not allow a base runner and he struck out two no names. I think there names were Alex Roidriguez and Mark Teixeira. Go figure.

For those of you who follow minor leagues, you have probably heard of Davis. He is one of the Rays best pitching prospects who has been out shadowed by David Price. If you have not seen him live, make a point to do so. Davis is a great pitcher and should be expected in the majors in the near future. You could see him in a David Price role in September this year.

There are a few comparisons between Price and Davis, like both came out and blew away the Yankees in their first Spring appearances. That is not to say that they are anything the same. Davis is one to watch as we get through the Spring and into the minor league season. Oh, and did I mention that he is a hometown boy?

Your Rays one to watch for today: Wade Davis, starting pitcher

Here is a scouting report for Davis from the Diamond Cutter

Davis rounds out one of the best collection of young arms in any Minor League system. Davis is a hard thrower with a fastball in the upper-90’s and a sharp moving plus curve. He is currently working on refining one more pitch (between a cut fastball and change up) to help in his battles and to make his other two pitches that much more effective. At first I saw him a middle of the rotation type guy with a ceiling of a number two starter. I’m now coming around more to him being a number two starter with the possibility of becoming an ace type if he can harness one more plus pitch and hold on to his command.

Over the Spring Training, I will run down the newcomers to the Rays and the players you don’t know yet but you may know soon in the new Rise of the Rays series, Get to Know the Rays. We will start with yesterday’s only bright point, Carlos Hernandez.

Hernandez pitched two innings in the opener and struck out one. He allowed no hits. Hernandez is another one of those players out of the Astros organization. He was given a second chance with the Rays. Once upon a time, Hernandez signed with the Astros as a highly sought after prospect at the age of 17. He played in the 2000 Future’s game and his first major league outing was a seven inning shut-out in which he got a win. This is where the great story ends. he has faught injuries ever since.

Eleven days after his fairy tale beginning to a career, he partially tore his rotator cuff and was done for the season. He has since had multiple shoulder surgeries and has not seen Major League action since 2004. Fast forward to now. The Rays claimed Hernandez from the Astros and are giving him a second chance to prove he’s still got it. He is one in the battle for the fifth spot in the rotation. We will have to wait and see how this story plays out.

Source: http://www.sunnewspapers.net/articles/lspnews.aspx?ArticleID=2905&sppg=0&writer=DKLEM

Since the Rays lost 7-0 in the opener and there is not much to talk about there, here is another story. As you may know, the final 28 man rosters for the WBC came out the other day. We already knew that Howell and Aki would be on the list. There was one suprise. Willy Aybar was listed on the Dominican roster. This move basically came out of nowhere. He was not on the original provisional roster.

The Dominican was short on first baseman since Pena and Albert Pujols couldn’t play due to injury and David Ortiz cannot play first base period.

Rays sign one year deals with a few players

The Rays have renewed the contracts of BJ Upton, Matt Garza, and Andy Sonnanstine, among others. They failed to get them long term contracts. The Rays need to get those players signed.

Here are the others that were signed to one year deals yesterday: Reid Brignac, Wade Davis, Jason Hammel, James Houser, J.P. Howell, John Jaso, Elliot Johnson, Matt Joyce, Jake McGee, Fernando Perez, Shawn Riggans, Justin Ruggiano, Mitch Talbot and Dale Thayer.

Source: http://blogs.tampabay.com/rays/

Ah, the spring is upon us once again and it is even more special this year. The Rays have the privilage to open the Spring Training season at a state-of-the-art new facility in Port Charlotte, Florida.  We also enter the spring with the highest expectations for a Rays team ever, as the Rays are the REIGNING AMERICAN LEAGUE CHAMPIONS. Boy, that will never get old. Alright, now on to the game.

The Rays will play the Reds in the first game at the Charlotte Sports Complex.  The game is at 1:05.

Here are the pitchers for the Reds:

Edinson Volquez, Johnny Cueto, Homer Bailey

And the Rays:

Carlos Hernandez, Jason Hammel, Randy Choate, Lance Cormier, J.P. Howell, Neal Frontz, Mitch Talbot

Other than Howell and Hammel, a list of relative no names. Howell is only pitching because he has to leave for the WBC. You should not expect the regular pitchers until March 6th or 7th.

Here is the Rays lineup.

Jason Bartlett, ss
Carl Crawford, lf
Evan Longoria, 3b
Pat Burrell, dh
Willy Aybar, 1b
Dioner Navarro, c
Ben Zobrist, 2b
Gross, rf
Perez, cf

from http://blogs.tampabay.com/rays/

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Raysbaseball.com

The Rays have signed former All-Star and St. Louis closer Jason Isringhausen to a minor league deal. This is a steal and great insurance. Izzy had a terrible year last year but a phenomenal 2007 season. If he can return to his form that would be great. If not, he can retire or stay in Durham to work it out. It seemed like the Cards were close to signing him to a Major league deal so I don’t know how we pulled this off.

Tampa Bay is becoming the place to be for players on the back end of their career. Think Adam Kennedy and Izzy this year and Percy last year. Almost like the Yankees of the late 90’s. Players want to be apart of what is going on in Tampa Bay.  The Rays said after the Burrell signing they had very little money left. Since then, the Rays have signed nothing but steals since the signing. The Rays know what you have to do when you are a small market team.

Let me just say this. The attendance must go up this year. Fans should look at all the great players who want to be apart of this team and say to themselves that I  want to be apart of the magic too. I expect almost all weekend games to be packed and weekday games to have 20-25,000 per game. My prediction on average attendance is 27,000.

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MLB.com

Carl Crawford reported to camp on Wednesday in best shape we’ve seen from him in a while. One difference? He practiced on natural turf in Houston this offseason to make his hamstrings stronger and make him faster. Does this mean he will be better than he was two to three years ago? Who knows.

Crawford says it feels different in the clubhouse.

“It feels different,” Crawford said. “I’m used to coming in when expectations were that we’d lose 100 games. … I’d rather come in after the season we had last year. I like this feeling better, that’s for sure.”

The Rays success made Crawford work harder this offseason. It seems everyone wants to perform at a high level.

“[It helps] just knowing you want to be on top of your game, because you’re going to have a good team,” Crawford said. “[We] have a chance to go back to the playoffs — it definitely made me want to work harder this offseason.”

You will have to read the rest. The quotes are from the article, the commentary is mine.

http://blogs.tampabay.com/rays/2009/02/heres-the-early.html

Also, for anyone who has been wondering, the new slogan for 2009 is:

‘09 > ‘08

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From the Heater

The Rays have signed Adam Kennedy to a minor league deal and have given him an invite to spring training. The Cardinals still owe him $4 million so there really is no risk to the signing.

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The Heater

Kaz is officially out of he WBC. This is the best news Rays fans have heard in a while. The Rays petitioned his involvement in the WBC and won so Kazmir will not be allowed to take part.  Kaz says he is “dissapointed” in not being able to participate.

Camp Updates

Once again, the Heater

The only position players not to report are Crawford, Carlos Pena, and Ray Olmedo. Willy Aybar’s long term deal could be finalized when medical tests come back. The only player who will not report is Aki, who will stay in Japan to prepare for the WBC.

Tonight, I will come up with five reasons why the Rays will be the top team in the American League in 2009:

(Sorry if that was short, I’m not good at long-winded, grandiose introductions.)

1) The Starting Rotation — Last year, we had one of the best all-around starting rotations in the American League.  All of them were over .500, and only one pitcher had double-digit losses.  No starter had an ERA over 4.5, and all had an ERA+ over 100.  Our pitching staff as a whole gave up the second-fewest hits and the second-fewest runs, while issuing the second-most strikeouts.

And this was done with a Scott Kazmir that wasn’t healthy.

With the coming-of-age of Matt Garza, the return to good health for Kaz, and the rise of David Price (who will take Edwin Jackson’s place in the rotation), we will continue to have the most consistent rotation in the the majors.  We have at least four good, reliable starting pitchers (can’t say that yet about Price, he’s a rookie).  No other team in the American League can say that.  Not even the Yankees, for all the money they blew on C.C. Sabathia and A.J. Burnett.

We’ll compare to the A.L. East for example:

The Yankees have C.C. Sabathia and Andy Pettitte.  A.J. Burnett has a bad history of arm trouble.  Chien-Ming Wang is coming off a foot injury that ended his season, and could possibly change him as a player.  Joba Chamberlain may not even start, and if he does, has durability issues.  And you can forget about Ian Kennedy and Phil Hughes.

The Red Sox have Josh Beckett and Jon Lester.  Daisuke Matsuzaka is a pitcher of extremes–either he’s on, or he’s out in the first inning.  Buchholz and Masterson are not panning out.  Wakefield’s knuckler has been solved. And Schilling will never be the same after his botched shoulder injury last year.

The Blue Jays have Roy Halladay and Jesse Litsch.  They lost Burnett.  McGowan and Marcum flap in the breeze.  And good pitching means nothing if you can’t get them run support.  Halladay is on pace for the MLB record for complete game losses.

The Orioles have Jeremy Guthire and Mark Hendrickson.  When Mark Hendrickson is your second-best starter going into camp, you’re in for yet another long year.

If Kaz is healthy, Garza continues to play like he did in the ALCS, and David Price turns out to be even half of what we think he is, our starting rotation will be better than it was last year.  I would take five above-average pitchers over two superstars and three or more scrubs.

2) Dioner Navarro — Last year was the year Navi put it all together, and we really got a sample of it in the second half of 2007, when he hit .285 after the break.  This past year he hit .295 and only struck out only 49 times in 120 games.  Fielding-wise, he cut his errors down to 5, and only allowed 45 stolen bases (71 last year), catching 28 would-be base stealers.  He also showed his maturity as a game manager (especially when Garza started listening to him).  I believe a lot of our success this year in the pitching department has to do with Navarro calling games.  At 25, and not bothered by chronic injury, there is absolutely no reason to believe he will decline this year, or any time in the near future.

3) Solidified RF and DH — Last year, our weaknesses were at RF and DH.  Although we got clutch hits from Cliff Floyd and Gabe Gross, the positions just did not bat very well last year.  RF and DH were two of our three lowest BAs (.246 and .244, respectively), had terrible K/BB ratios, and had the fewest stolen bases.  Now, we have Matt Joyce and Pat Burrell, respectively.

Matt Joyce is going to be a sophomore this season, so he’s got very little to go on by numbers.  But if the trade for Garza and Bartlett is any indication, there’s no reason to believe he won’t be a contributor to the club.  Although his average last year was .256, his OPS was .831, not a bad number for a rookie.  He committed one error in 25 games.  Stretched out over a season, that would equal our amount for the position last year (6), which is pretty good.  Turning 25 in May, he has plenty of years ahead of him to further develop.

Pat Burrell has been the unsung hero of the Phillies.  He’s had an OPS over .800 the past five years, over .870 the past four.  He’s walked over 100 times the past two years.  He’s had 29 or more homers the past four years.  And if Carl Crawford ails, he’s a capable outfielder–last year was his best fielding year ever, with only 2 errors in 155 games in LF.  At 32, his two-year contract will fall on the exact prime of his career.

4) Batting Depth — This is our projected starting lineup for the main part of the season, after the week B.J. misses finishing up his shoulder rehab (no particular order, just positional):

C – Navarro
1B – Peña
2B – Iwamura
SS – Bartlett
3B – Longoria
LF – Crawford
CF – Upton
RF – Joyce
DH – Burrell

If Crawford goes out, he can be replaced by Burrell, and Gross can DH.  Fernando Perez can cover Upton.  Gabe Gross can cover Joyce.  Longoria can move to SS, and Aybar can cover 3B.  Ben Zobrist can contribute at most positions.  And we have Shawn Riggans and John Jaso behind Navarro at C.  And this doesn’t even count most of our farmhands, including Elliot Johnson, Reid Brignac and Justin Ruggiano.

The Rays will be alright should there be the occasional injury bug.

5) A Healthy B.J. Upton — It is now established that Upton has been playing the past few seasons with a bum shoulder.  This offseason, he finally had his labrum repaired.  Although he may miss the first week of the season finishing rehab, if the postseason was any indication, he may already be on his way to being the player he has the promise to be.  He had half as many errors as the previous year, so he’s definitely found his position.

Tomorrow night, you will get five reasons why the Rays won’t be the top team in the American League.