Some thought Canzler would have a shot at making the big league club as a backup first baseman/ outfielder. Canzler tore up AAA last season, so it would have been interesting to see how he did at the big league level. I guess we will now have to see how he does in Cleveland for our answer.

Justin Ruggiano, who had been in the organization for 5 seasons, was also designated last week. His roster spot was given to Carlos Pena. Ruggiano refused his assignment to Durham and elected free agency.

In the need for Rays tickets for the upcoming season? Check out the Rays baseball game schedule and get all of your ticket needs taken care of.

In the last two seasons with the Rays, Matt Joyce has just 101 at bats against left-handed pitchers.  If the Rays have any plans to convert him from a platoon player to an everyday outfielder, isn’t now the time to give him Damon’s at bats, especially against lefties?

I get that Johnny Damon is popular and has had a good season with the Rays.  But, he doesn’t provide enough power from the DH position.  Couple that with a lack of home runs from Casey Kotchman at first base, the Rays often have a power problem.  Matt Joyce will never compete for a home run title.  But, I think it would be interesting to see what his numbers would look like if he played almost everyday.

Last night, the Rays acquired Matt Carson from the Oakland A’s for cash considerations.  This move does nothing more than to improve the Bulls’ chances as they head down the playoff stretch. 

Most likely, Matt Carson is not looked at as a viable option to the big league team.  He’s a 30-year-old minor leaguer who has spent most of the past four years in Triple-A.  In his most extensive big league action, he played 36 games for the A’s last season, hitting .177 with four home runs. 

I hate to draw similarities, but I look at this move and think Dan Johnson.  Carson comes to the Bulls after hitting .285 with 19 home runs and 65 RBI with Triple-A Sacramento.  Those are the kind of numbers Dan Johnson had last year with the Bulls before he was promoted.  Johnson teases us at the Triple-A level, but never produces consistent numbers at the next level.

Tonight, in just his second start at Durham, Matt Moore threw eight shutout innings, allowing just three hits while striking out 13 against the second-place Gwinnett Braves.  He was paired up against Atlanta Braves prospect Mike Minor.  And Moore proved to be far and above the better prospect.

The fact that Moore was promoted mid-season from Double-A Montgomery to Triple-A Durham was somewhat a surprise.  The Rays often prefer to bring young pitchers along slowly.  But, the mere fact that he’s in Durham now and continuing to dominate raises significant questions for the Rays. 

Can Andrew Friedman be a little more aggressive in trading a starting pitcher in the next few days?  While the Rays deny it, there continues to be speculation that James Shields could be traded.  Rumor has it that Friedman offered any one of Jeff Niemann, Wade Davis or Alex Cobb for Colby Rasmus.  It sounds as if the Rays are willing to deal a starter.  And why not?

Matt Moore appears poised to make a run at the starting rotation in 2012.  The Rays will clearly have a logjam there with as many as seven pitchers vying for five spots.  Shields will yield the most in a trade.  It would seem that trading a starter over the next few days would not be a big surprise.

The list of Rays heading to Phoenix is smaller by one today after David Price was replaced on the American League roster by David Robertson of the Yankees.  So while the Rays had three players named to the original roster, with James Shields pitching today, it looks like Matt Joyce will be the only player who could see action in the game.

For me, the removal of Price would have been a good way to get Kyle Farnsworth added.  In the end, how many Yankees have to be on the roster?  Sure, Robertson is having a good season.  He has a 1.27 ERA and and has struck out 56 in 35 1/3 innings.  But, he has three blown saves so far.  That’s one more than Farnsworth and Robertson isn’t a closer.

Finally, there’s Tampa Bay, which as always has to look at things differently because of its financial limitations. The Rays are “buying and selling,” as one official from a National League club put it. The Rays’ pitching has been a slight disappointment, and their offense a mild surprise. Old friend Johnny Damon, who is having his worst season (using wOBA as a measure) since 2001, could go in the right deal.

Sparking memories of a couple of years ago when the Rays traded Scott Kazmir while they were still in contention for a playoff spot, a trade of Damon would be sure to spark discussion and strong opinion from those who wouldn’t believe that he would be sent packing.  I, for one, would suggest that if the option to move him is there, the Rays should seize the opportunity. 

Over the next several weeks, the Rays will be looking for ways to promote one or both of Brandon Guyer and Desmond Jennings from Durham.  Of the two, Guyer is probably playing better baseball, coming off a 4 for 4 game on Wednesday and hitting .316 on the season compared to Jennings’ .274.

As should be no surprise, Johnny Damon is a fan-favorite.  Trading him would spark controversy.  But, if the Rays have the opportunity to bring in a bullpen arm or maybe a catcher or shortstop, I’m guessing the Rays will jump at the chance.  As Davidoff suggests, Damon has a decent-sized salary.  If the Rays were to improve on weak positions and add Guyer or Jennings to their everyday lineup, I’d have to believe they made improvements to their chances to compete for a playoff spot.

Shields’ numbers this season made the selection obvious.  He’s 8-5 with a 2.45 and an amazing six complete games.

Price has seen a slight decline in his numbers, making his selection somewhat of a surprise.  He’s 8-6 with a 3.43 ERA.  And, more importantly, he appears to have beaten out CC Sabathia for a slot on the pitching staff.

And then there’s Matt Joyce.  The player many criticized for a couple of years here in Tampa Bay as the guy who was acquired for pitcher Edwin Jackson.  The Rays maintained he would hit, and hit he has.  While spending some time leading the league in hitting, his average still hovers around .300 at .302.  He has hit 11 home runs and 40 RBI in what looks to be a breakout season for the right fielder.

It remains to be seen who will be among the five AL players to go to a fan vote as the last player in.  Perhaps Evan Longoria or Ben Zobrist might get a surprise nomination.

EDIT: Vote Zorilla!

Ben Zobrist did make the final vote, so be sure you log on to MLB.com and cast your vote for Zorilla. You can vote up to 25 times a day to have Zobrist join Joyce, Shields, and Price in Phoenix.

It starts out…

The Tampa Bay Rays must be moved.

And then it’s all down hill from there.  Every time I read a story like this, I want to go on the defensive.  Is the story accurate?  Sure.  Things are embarrassing here in Tampa Bay as it relates to big league baseball.  Does it tell the whole story?  No.  It leaves things out.  So, for me, as ugly of a picture that Berthiaume tries to paint, it’s not completely fair.

Yes, attendance is down significantly to last year.  If I want to search for excuses, let’s look at the schedule compared to last year.  So far, of the 36 home games the Rays have played, only five have been against the Yankees and the Red Sox.  That leaves 13 games yet to be played against those two teams.  Attendance will clearly see a boost when those tickets are counted.

Beyond that, I don’t think the Rays have done themselves any favors with the times of their games.  They experimented by moving their April and May weekday games to 6:40 p.m. from the usual 7:10 p.m. start time to get school kids home earlier.  I think it could be said that that was a poor

decision.  If Tampa residents are going to complain about the travel to the Trop, how does starting games a half-hour earler help things?

Many of their Saturday games have been played in the afternoon.  It would seem that the Rays do this to get around the blackout rule that FOX imposes when they nationally televise games.  Am I alone in thinking that blacking out Saturday games might actually be a good thing if you want to boost attendance? 

As for TV ratings being down, a complete story would be to include the fact that the Rays and the Tampa Bay Lightning often were competing for viewers as the Lightning went deeper and deeper into their quest for the Stanley Cup.  Early in the NHL playoffs, the Rays maintained more viewers.  But, as the playoffs went on, the numbers shifted. 

I could go hunting for more excuses.  Tampa Bay’s economy is the pits.  Worse than many other places.  Attendance is down all over baseball, not just in Tampa Bay.  Down to the tune of a half-million people so far. 

In the end, I just wish people wouldn’t throw dirt on the coffin before the last breath is taken.  Attendance will most likely rebound.  Will it reach last year’s average?  Possibly. Like I said, there’s a lot of games against the Yankees and the Red Sox, a weekend series against the St. Louis Cardinals and a concert by The Wiggles.  The numbers have to go up.

The Tampa Bay Rays started out the 2011 season by going a miserable 0-6 at home, topped off by losing Evan Longoria for about a month due to a strained oblique muscle.  How did they respond?  They became the first team in league history to start so poorly and still finish the month of April with a winning record.

They started the season with a questionable bullpen and no clear closer.  Kyle Farnsworth has been spectacular, saving 14 games out of 15 opportunities with a 1.48 ERA and .781 WHIP. 

Despite losing last night to cap a long coast-to-coast roadtrip, they come home confident after going 6-5 on the trip.   

Tonight, they begin what I think is their biggest test yet.  They get to see how they measure up against the preseason favorites, the Boston Red Sox, who come in riding a nine-game winning streak. 

Coming in, the Rays are in third in the AL East, 4 1/2 games behind Boston and two games behind the Yankees.  Tampa Bay swept Boston at Fenway in a short two-game series early this season.  This time, they do it at home with Shields, Hellickson and Price taking the mound. 

Everything is lined up the way they would want it to be.  If they pass this test, we could be in for another season like 2008 or 2010.

And, he remained evasive about an “incident” that lead him to change high schools during October of his senior year.  That remains unusual and unexplained.  Taken from Marc Topkin’s Heater, he had this to say about his situation.

On what type of “incident” it was:

“I’m not going to talk about it. I’ve talked about it with the team, and they’re fine with it. It was just something minor, it wasn’t anything big. And we’ve moved on from it.”

On whether it’s fair for there to be speculation about his background and maturity:

“At some point. … But there’s been a lot of rumors, a lot of it’s not true. That’s all I can really say, a lot of it’s not true. I’ve moved on from what happened. And that’s it.”

To me, the problem with what Taylor Guerrieri is doing is the fact that he’s not talking.  Being quiet leads to a lot of speculation.  What in the world could this incident be?  Well, with Google’s help, I found this nugget (perhaps related, perhaps not) from Aiken County, South Carolina.

First, Taylor Guerrier’s real name is Christopher Taylor Guerrieri.  And, in December of last year, the Aiken County 2nd Circuit court had a case brought to them by a woman against Christopher Taylor Guerrieri related to a Motor Vehicle Accident (320).  The case was eventually dismissed at the plaintiff’s discretion in February.

Sure, not many details around this.  But, it’s a start.  Perhaps a piece of the puzzle.  Guerrieri should open up and talk to his problems.  I’ve seen some speculate that it was a DUI that got him kicked off his original high school team.  If this court case is indeed him, perhaps that’s true.  Or not.  We don’t know.  Speculation.  It could be a lot of things.

The timing of this court case fits the timeline.  He transferred unexpectedly in October.  The case was filed on December 2.  Seems about right.  At some point, we’ll learn more.  And, probably in the end, we’ll scratch our heads as to why this was such a big deal.  But, until he talks, we don’t know and we wonder.