Perhaps this is why players and teams typically try not to negotiate contract extensions during the season.  On Tuesday, Ben Zobrist signed his five-year contract extension including options that will pay him almost $30 million if the options are picked up.

Since Tuesday, he’s 2 for 15. 

I know.  This all means nothing.  It’s a slump.  All players go through it, whether they’ve signed a contract extension or not.  But, for me, Ben’s hitting looks “off”.  It looks to me as if he could use a round in the batting cage with his swing doctor, Jaime Cevallos. 

Last season, Ben started off the season with four home runs April in an uber-utility role.  He hit .289 through the first month of the season.  In 2010, he’s hitting .250 with no home runs. 

Was 2009 a fluke?  Will Ben rebound?  These questions are masked by the Rays hot start.  If the Rays were playing average baseball, he would be under a microscope.  He’s certainly not currently performing up to his 2009 level.  The positive point is the Rays are winning despite that.  Let’s hope he turns it on when a slump for another player starts.  That’s how the Rays will continue winning.

• With the 11-1 blowout win last night, the Rays have extended their win streak to 5 with a 17 and 5 record. Hopefully the Rays will be able to keep that up tonight so the Rays can assure at least a split in this series. Matt Garza pitched a great game and John Jaso called another great game while still hitting. Will it ever be safe to bench him? He is just too good. Jaso has always been a great hitter, but his defense was not good. They worked on his defense this spring and it has payed dividends as he is calling a great game and playing great defense.
• Another guy who had a great game was Reid Brignac. He was 2 for 5 with a run and 3 RBI’s out of the nine hole. Then, you turn the lineup over and Jason Bartlett was 1 for 4 with a run and 3 RBI’s. Pat Burrell had a good night at 2 for 5 with 2 runs and 1 RBI.
• The Rays will look to extend the win streak to 6 tonight against Brian Bannister and the Royals. Bannister is 1-1 with a 4.13 ERA. The Rays will look to keep the bats going tonight. I like the score early and often approach, so that would be great for tonight.
• The Rays will send Jeff Niemann to the mound. Niemann has pitched well this season, he just hasn’t gotten many decisions. Niemann is 1-0 with a 3.27 ERA. We would like to get a good start out of him tonight so we can get another easy win.

Triple-A Durham (15-7, 1st place) – lost to Buffalo 4-0

• The Bulls offense was shut down today, only mustering 1 hit against the knuckleball throwing RA Dickey of the Bisons.
• Fernando Perez led off the game with a single.  After that, Dickey was perfect, getting 27 straight outs.
• Heath Phillips saw his record fall to 1-2, going the distance in allowing four runs (three earned) on eight hits.

Double-A Montgomery ( 11-10, 2nd place ) – lost to West Tennessee 8-4

• Starter Rayner Oliveros fell to 0-2 after allowing five runs on six hits in four innings.
• Matt Fields and Cody Strait had two hits each for the Biscuits.

Single-A Charlotte (11-8, 2nd place, tie) – beat St. Lucie 4-2

• Starter Chris Andujar pitched 5 1/3 shutout innings, allowing just two hits and three walks while striking out two.
• OF Henry Wrigley continues to swing a hot bat, going 3-4 with an RBI.  He’s now hitting .380 on the season.
• Stephen Vogt and Michael Sheridan each hit their first home runs of the season for the Stone Crabs.

Single-A Bowling Green (5-16, last place) – lost to Great Lakes 2-1

• Starter Alexander Colome was the hard-luck loser, allowing two runs (one earned) on five hits over eight innings.  He struck out nine.
• The Hot Rods only managed three hits, two from Chris Murrill and one from Brett Nommensen.

Our friends at raysindex.com posted their second annual Tampa Bay Rays Trade Pool and Devon and I both gave our lists of the five Rays that we would expect to see traded through the course of the season if a trade is made.

My list, with the most likely to be traded first, was:

1. Andy Sonnanstine
2. Hank Blalock
3. Carlos Hernandez
4. Dan Johnson 
5. Carl Crawford

As you can tell, and for obvious reasons, I’m leaning toward the Rays being in the playoff hunt all season long.  I threw Carl Crawford into the picture just in case they’re not, because he’s definitely going somewhere if the season goes south.

Andy Sonnanstine, on the other hand, is expendable now, in my opinion.  If a team were to come calling in need of a starting pitcher, Andy could be used to bring back something they need. 

After that, it’ll be minor league players with big league experience that will draw the most interest.  Hank Blalock and Dan Johnson are crushing the ball in Durham and Carlos Hernandez is an experienced lefty who might be able to help someone right away.

Devon’s list is similar, but he put a little more weight on CC being traded.

1. Andy Sonnanstine
2. Carl Crawford
3. Hank Blalock
4. Jake McGee
5. Dale Thayer

We’ll see how it goes.  But, with the Rays off to a 16-5 start, I don’t think they will be very active in trade talks.  Certainly no blockbusters.  A spare part here or there.

• With last night’s impressive 10-3 win to complete a 2 game sweep and extend the win streak to 4, the Rays improved to 16-5, 2.5 games ahead of the Yankees and 5.5 games ahead of the 11-11 Red Sox. Looks great for the Rays right now, hopefully the Rays can keep this up for a while longer and build their lead.
• The Rays will open up a four game series against the Royals. The Royals will send Luke Hochevar to the mound in the opener. Hochevar is 2-0 with a 3.55 ERA on the season. The Rays will hope to keep their bats going as the Rays look to extend the win streak to 5 and hope to go 12 games over .500 to keep up the best start in franchise history.
• The Rays will send Matt Garza to the mound. Until Friday Garza had been pitching great all season. Hopefully he will be able to get back on track tonight. Garza is still 3-1 with a 2.17 ERA, so he is still in good shape. The Rays will look to get back to back great starting performances tonight.

Triple-A Durham (15-6, 1st place) – beat Buffalo 9-2

• Starting pitcher Jeremy Hellickson improved his record to 4-0, allowing two runs on six hits in 5 1/3 innings.
• Chris Richard (4), Angel Chavez (2) and Rashad Eldridge (1) all hit home runs for the Bulls.
• Dan Johnson and Hank Blalock each drove in three runs.

Double-A Montgomery (11-9, 2nd place) – beat Mississippi 6-3

• Matt Fields hit his 5th home run of the season in the eighth inning to secure the win for the Biscuits.
• Emeel Salem added a triple and two RBI.
• Starter Jeremy Hall allowed two runs on four hits in 5 1/3 innings.
• Eduardo Morlan allowed a run in 2 1/3 innings to pick up the win and Paul Phillips went the final 1 1/3 innings to notch his third save.

Single-A Charlotte (10-8, 2nd place tie) - beat St. Lucie 6-3

• Tim Beckham was the star of the night, going 2-3 with two triples and five RBI.
• Richard De Los Santos improved his record to 3-0, allowing three runs on five hits over six innings.

Single-A Bowling Green (5-15, last place) – lost to Great Lakes 7-4

• The Hot Rods gave up five runs in the ninth to lose this one.  The damage was done against reliever Scott Shuman, who allowed all five runs on four hits and two walks in an inning of work.
• Starter Kyle Lobstein went 5 2/3 innings, allowing two runs (one earned) on five hits and three walks.
• OF Brett Nommensen was the hitting star, goint 3-4 with a double and two RBI.
• 1B Ryan Weigand went 2-4 with a double.

• The Rays did come out with the win, but it was not pretty. It seemed like everytime the Rays would score, the A’s would answer. It did not help that Davis did not have his best stuff last night, but at least the Rays were able to keep the lead and win the game.
• The A’s will send Dallas Braden to the mound tonight. Braden has had a great start at 3-0 with a 2.77 ERA. I’m sure most of you have seen his little tantrum directed towards A-Rod from his last start. He could be a little mad coming out to this start, but it will be seen if that is good or bad.
• The Rays will send James Shields to the mound in search of the Rays 4th straight win and to go 11 games above .500. Big Game James is 2-0 on the season with a 3.96 ERA. His ERA doesn’t show it and he has had a couple off games, but Shields has hung in there. Hopefully he will be on it tonight and give the Rays a W.

Triple-A Durham (14-6, 1st place) – Lost to Buffalo 9-5

• Starter Carlos Hernandez allowed five runs on seven hits and three walks over four innings.
• Reliever Joaquin Benoit gave up what turned out to be the decisive run in his one inning of work to take the loss.
• Chris Richard hit his third home run of the season.
• Dan Johnson drove in two runs, giving him 19 RBI for the season.

Double-A Montgomery (10-9, 2nd place tie) – Shutout Mississippi 4-0.

• Starter David Newmann pitched 7 2/3 innings, allowing no runs on just four hits and  a walk to win his first game of the season and lower his ERA to 1.90.
• Matt Gorgen threw the final 1 1/3 innings to pick up his fourth save.
• 3B Greg Sexton drove in two runs with a double in four plate appearances.
• Emeel Salem was 3 for 4.

Single-A Charlotte (9-8, third place) – lost to St. Lucie 5-3

• Starter Joseph Cruz allowed two runs on five hits in five innings while striking out six.
• Henry Wrigley had a triple and two RBI.  He is now hitting .369 on the season.

Single-A Bowling Green (5-14, last place) - beat Glen Lakes 4-2

• Starter Wilking Rodriguez allowed two runs (one earned) on just two hits over 6 innings to win his first game of the season.
• Kirby Yates pitched two scoreless innings in relief to earn his second save.

 

After 20 games, the Rays are on pace for about 120 wins.  Unbelievable, even for those of us who thought they were going to be good.  This is real good.

Having said that, they are showing signs of improvement as games go on.  The emergence of offensive juggernaut John Jaso is a surprise.  And, starting pitchers don’t seem to mind having him behind the plate.  Just ask David Price.

Reid Brignac is showing some pop.  Perhaps Pat Burrell will bust out of his neverending slump.  That three-run bullet he hit tonight got the game rolling in the right direction.

And, the biggest concern so far, the bullpen, is most likely about to get a new arm.  The two-game suspension of Dioner Navarro forced the Rays to bring up Jose Lobotan to back up Jaso.  But, after tomorrow, the Rays will send Lobotan back to Durham and bring up a reliever, probably Joaquin Benoit.  Adding an experienced reliever like Benoit to the bullpen could be additional arm they need to gain more consistency. 

Like I said, great start.  But, I’m not sure we’ve seen their best yet.

• The Rays will open up a 2 game series against Oakland tonight at the Trop. Oakland will send free agent aquisition Ben Sheets to the mound. Sheets is 1-1 with a 2.74 ERA on the season.
• The Rays will have rookie Wade Davis on the hill. Davis has pitched well ever since he struggled against the Yankees in his first start. WD-40 is 1-1 on the season with a 2.65 ERA. He will look to continue where he left off against the White Sox.
• The Rays will look to make it 3 in a row tonight after finishing the Blue Jays series with 2 wins.