I now love Joe Maddon, the Tampa Bay Rays coach.
In the 6th inning of tonight's game, Maddon got mad about a call at first base. Upton singled and overran first. In the umpire's judgment, he was moving to second, so when he was tagged, he was out.
In Upton and Maddon's opinion, he just overran first base. In the big leagues, if you overrun first base, you simply have to return quickly to first. You can't be tagged out in that situation. I saw the play, and I cannot conceive of how the umpire thought he made a move to second. He turned away from second to return to the bag. He didn't even twitch towards second.
Maddon got mad, and Maddon got thrown out.
In the postgame, Maddon was seriously pissed off, nearly an hour later, and didn't hide it. He said the call was "unconscionable, it can't happen, it's wrong, it's totally wrong" and "to make something up and then have it validated by the crew chief, really got me upset." He said he could understand missed calls on close plays, and missed balls and strikes, but nothing like this, particularly in a pennant race. He said "I'm not going to say anything more about it. I can't be any clearer about how I feel."
He'll probably get fined, but so what? Way to speak your mind Joe!
And he said something funny at the end. He is fighting a cold and a reporter asked him if he would have to go on the DL. He said he caught something on the road trip that he can't get rid of and then he said "and who knows, I may have given it to the umpires tonight."
***
By the way, I don't think Upton was hustling on that play either. It's no excuse for the call, but since he has been benched twice for not hustling, and then got thrown out at second last night during a home run trot (chased down from behind by Mark Teixeira), you'd think he'd be busting ass down to first.
Showing posts with label Devil Rays. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Devil Rays. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Tuesday, July 01, 2008
Red Sox @ Rays
It has been a long, long time since I've seen a regular season game with as much energy as tonight's Red Sox/Rays game. I've never seen it at a Rays game. Y'know, one of those games where the cameras are shaky because the crowd is so excited? The stands are jam packed.
The Rays announcers have been talking in excited tones the entire game, as if winning the game will put the Rays in the playoffs. I'm sure those in Tampa Bay are anticipating this kind of battle between the Rays and the expected contenders for the rest of the year.
What energy!
The Rays announcers have been talking in excited tones the entire game, as if winning the game will put the Rays in the playoffs. I'm sure those in Tampa Bay are anticipating this kind of battle between the Rays and the expected contenders for the rest of the year.
What energy!
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Tampa Bay Devil Flays
It never seems to get better in Tampa. With a crop of good young position players and at least a couple of potential arms, some of us thought Tampa might get within spitting distance of .500 this year. But as the season wears on, it's getting worse and worse.
I live in Florida, and I like watching the Devil Rays. I'm not invested enough to get my feelings hurt when they lose. It's just fun to watch Crawford and Upton and Young and Harris. But with Pittsburgh's recent victories over SF, Tampa Bay once again has the worst record in baseball.
They are the only team in the AL to not draw 1,000,000 in attendance so far, averaging about 4,000 a game fewer than Kansas City, despite Tampa/St. Petersburg being a much bigger metropolitan area than KC. Maybe this is a Florida phenomenon, because the Marlins are the only NL team under 1,000,000, trailing Pittsburgh by about 5,000 a game.
Florida is a better team than Tampa, but there are some other parallels. Both teams have the lowest fielding percentage in their respective leagues, and both have the worst defense efficiency rating in their leagues (Tampa is the worst in baseball).
Tampa's hitting is about average in the AL. Their pitching is dead last, with a team ERA over 6.00, and almost 7.00 on the road! Of course, with the worst defensive efficiency rating, that can be expected. The Devil Rays have always had horrible pitching.
Florida, on the other hand, was expected to be a pretty solid pitching team behind Dontrelle, Scott Olsen, Josh Johnson, Sergio Mitre and Anabel Sanchez. Instead, they are fourth in the league in hitting (judged by runs scored) and last in runs allowed. Again, defense is a factor here, because they are 11th in ERA, but last in runs allowed.
I bet a majority of baseball fans can't name three players on the Devil Rays (or maybe even two). You know how many all-stars the Devil Rays have had in the last 8 years? Eight. The minimum. In their 10 year existence, they've had 11 All-Stars. (Kansas City is next on the list with 12 in that time period, followed by Pittsburgh. Florida has had 22 in those 10 years).
It wouldn't surprise me if the casual fan was unaware the Devil Rays even exist.
Florida will bounce back, like they always do. Tampa has nothing to bounce back to. Are they nearing Expos territory?
I live in Florida, and I like watching the Devil Rays. I'm not invested enough to get my feelings hurt when they lose. It's just fun to watch Crawford and Upton and Young and Harris. But with Pittsburgh's recent victories over SF, Tampa Bay once again has the worst record in baseball.
They are the only team in the AL to not draw 1,000,000 in attendance so far, averaging about 4,000 a game fewer than Kansas City, despite Tampa/St. Petersburg being a much bigger metropolitan area than KC. Maybe this is a Florida phenomenon, because the Marlins are the only NL team under 1,000,000, trailing Pittsburgh by about 5,000 a game.
Florida is a better team than Tampa, but there are some other parallels. Both teams have the lowest fielding percentage in their respective leagues, and both have the worst defense efficiency rating in their leagues (Tampa is the worst in baseball).
Tampa's hitting is about average in the AL. Their pitching is dead last, with a team ERA over 6.00, and almost 7.00 on the road! Of course, with the worst defensive efficiency rating, that can be expected. The Devil Rays have always had horrible pitching.
Florida, on the other hand, was expected to be a pretty solid pitching team behind Dontrelle, Scott Olsen, Josh Johnson, Sergio Mitre and Anabel Sanchez. Instead, they are fourth in the league in hitting (judged by runs scored) and last in runs allowed. Again, defense is a factor here, because they are 11th in ERA, but last in runs allowed.
I bet a majority of baseball fans can't name three players on the Devil Rays (or maybe even two). You know how many all-stars the Devil Rays have had in the last 8 years? Eight. The minimum. In their 10 year existence, they've had 11 All-Stars. (Kansas City is next on the list with 12 in that time period, followed by Pittsburgh. Florida has had 22 in those 10 years).
It wouldn't surprise me if the casual fan was unaware the Devil Rays even exist.
Florida will bounce back, like they always do. Tampa has nothing to bounce back to. Are they nearing Expos territory?
Saturday, July 28, 2007
Devil Rays Incompetence
I've already written about the horrors of Navarro catching, and suggested Casanova as a replacement -- since he is already on the major league roster. Well, not any more. They sent him down. Yes, he with the .600 slugging percentage will labor in Triple AAA, while Navarro, whose on base percentage and slugging percentage combined is less than Casanova's SLG, remains with the team. Who comes up for Casanova? The previously mentioned, and unimpressive, Josh Paul.
Bad enough, right? Now how about trading away Ty Wigginton, one of the hottest trading deadline properties, for Dan Wheeler? I cannot believe the best the Rays could do for a guy on pace to get about 25 HR and 80 RBI, and who plays five different positions, was swapped for a setup man having a poor season (and who failed in his attempt to unseat a struggling Brad Lidge as the Houston closer).
When will this franchise start making the right moves?
Bad enough, right? Now how about trading away Ty Wigginton, one of the hottest trading deadline properties, for Dan Wheeler? I cannot believe the best the Rays could do for a guy on pace to get about 25 HR and 80 RBI, and who plays five different positions, was swapped for a setup man having a poor season (and who failed in his attempt to unseat a struggling Brad Lidge as the Houston closer).
When will this franchise start making the right moves?
Saturday, July 21, 2007
Friday, July 20, 2007
Dioner Navarro
If you don't know who this is, he's the starting catcher for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Don't bother getting familiar with him. He's horrible.
He's hitting .179/.241/.250, for a robust .491 OPS. He's a starting catcher who at the plate is far below replacement level for a catcher. According to BP, he's 12 runs below replacement. Makes you wonder if he's that far below replacement, why don't they replace him? Surely someone in the Tampa Bay minors could manage a .491 OPS.
How does he keep his job? Well, according to BP he's pretty good defensively, at 12 runs above replacement. That gives him a WARP1 of -.1, or essentially replacement level when both hitting and defense are accounted for. But as discussed in the past, it is more widely accepted that fielding should be measured against the positional average, not against replacement. There, Dioner earns a 0. He's average defensively. If you recalculate his WARP1 based on FRAA, instead of FRAR, you get a -1.3 WARP through a bit more than half a season. (Look out Jerry Narron!)
Who can the Devil Rays promote? Let's start at the big club. Raul Casanova, Navarro's backup, has an OPS of .758. His slugging percentage is higher than Navarro's OPS. His defense is a little less robust, but that is made up for by his hitting.
Josh Paul, also with the big club, is not the answer with a .547 OPS. He's been DL'd twice this season, and most recently was put on the 60-day DL on June 3 (and he has not returned).
There are three players at AAA Durham: Hernandez, Johnson and Riggans. Hernandez is the best hitter, turning in an .820 OPS. You have to discount that for league quality. If AAA is 93% of MLB quality, that's still a .763. Johnson, the youngest, would be below replacement level at the plate, b/c he is struggling at AAA. Riggans has had a shot in the bigs (10 ABs, in which he did nothing and then went on the DL), and is only managing a .770 OPS at all levels. He probably isn't the answer.
Down at AA (Montgomery): they've got Jaso, Arhart and Spring (a good name for a catcher). The latter two aren't hitting and Arhart is on the 7-day DL, but Jaso has an .876 OPS, translatable to something like a .770 at MLB. He's outhitting SS prospect Reid Brignac and his OPS is second on the team to consensus Top 10 prospect Evan Longoria. He is slumping since the All-Star break, but I bet we see him in September.
That's at least three real possibilities: Casanova, a major league veteran; Hernandez, the Crash Davis of the system (but really only 28); and Jaso, the 23-year old future.
He's hitting .179/.241/.250, for a robust .491 OPS. He's a starting catcher who at the plate is far below replacement level for a catcher. According to BP, he's 12 runs below replacement. Makes you wonder if he's that far below replacement, why don't they replace him? Surely someone in the Tampa Bay minors could manage a .491 OPS.
How does he keep his job? Well, according to BP he's pretty good defensively, at 12 runs above replacement. That gives him a WARP1 of -.1, or essentially replacement level when both hitting and defense are accounted for. But as discussed in the past, it is more widely accepted that fielding should be measured against the positional average, not against replacement. There, Dioner earns a 0. He's average defensively. If you recalculate his WARP1 based on FRAA, instead of FRAR, you get a -1.3 WARP through a bit more than half a season. (Look out Jerry Narron!)
Who can the Devil Rays promote? Let's start at the big club. Raul Casanova, Navarro's backup, has an OPS of .758. His slugging percentage is higher than Navarro's OPS. His defense is a little less robust, but that is made up for by his hitting.
Josh Paul, also with the big club, is not the answer with a .547 OPS. He's been DL'd twice this season, and most recently was put on the 60-day DL on June 3 (and he has not returned).
There are three players at AAA Durham: Hernandez, Johnson and Riggans. Hernandez is the best hitter, turning in an .820 OPS. You have to discount that for league quality. If AAA is 93% of MLB quality, that's still a .763. Johnson, the youngest, would be below replacement level at the plate, b/c he is struggling at AAA. Riggans has had a shot in the bigs (10 ABs, in which he did nothing and then went on the DL), and is only managing a .770 OPS at all levels. He probably isn't the answer.
Down at AA (Montgomery): they've got Jaso, Arhart and Spring (a good name for a catcher). The latter two aren't hitting and Arhart is on the 7-day DL, but Jaso has an .876 OPS, translatable to something like a .770 at MLB. He's outhitting SS prospect Reid Brignac and his OPS is second on the team to consensus Top 10 prospect Evan Longoria. He is slumping since the All-Star break, but I bet we see him in September.
That's at least three real possibilities: Casanova, a major league veteran; Hernandez, the Crash Davis of the system (but really only 28); and Jaso, the 23-year old future.
Mussina's Pitch Count
You hear a lot about pitch counts and whether (or how) they injure arms. Mike Mussina only threw 93 pitches against the Devil Rays tonight. That was in 4 2/3 innings, because Mussina was way off his game.
But most interesting is how many pitches he threw in top of the third. It was a bad inning for him...four runs scored. The damage could have been worse. He went to a full count on 5 hitters in that inning alone, and threw 46 pitches. 46 pitches in one inning?
Joe Magrane said he thought that was probably a record for Mussina. That's probably verifiable if you dig through RetroSheet data, or if you have a subscription to the Play Index at Baseball Reference.com.
Since I don't have time to pour through 15 years of Mussina games on Retrosheet, and have not yet subscribed to the PI at Baseball Reference, I'll speculate.
One common, and fairly accurate, way of estimating pitch counts is the following formula: BFP*3.3 + 1.5*SO + 2.2*(HBP+BB). Mussina faced 10 hitters in the 3rd inning, with one K and three walks. That's about 41 pitches. That means Mussina threw 4 more pitches than we would expect. Not a striking figure.
Has he ever had another inning where he faced 10 hitters and walked at least three? When viewed that way, it seems more likely. I don't know the answer, but Mussina gave up 10 runs in 3 2/3 innings in 1999, facing 24 batters in that short span. He threw 35 pitches in the bottom of the 4th of that game. Against who? The Devil Rays! That included a 9 pitch at bat by Wade Boggs.
That leads me to believe that his 46 pitch inning might not conclusively be the worst he's had in terms of pitch counts. I bet it is a close call.
By the way, Justin Upton hit a monster home run in that inning, off a horrible middle-in pitch from Mussina. In the post-game interview, Upton said it was the longest ball he had ever hit, and he turned it around so fast, he didn't even feel it hit the bat.
But most interesting is how many pitches he threw in top of the third. It was a bad inning for him...four runs scored. The damage could have been worse. He went to a full count on 5 hitters in that inning alone, and threw 46 pitches. 46 pitches in one inning?
Joe Magrane said he thought that was probably a record for Mussina. That's probably verifiable if you dig through RetroSheet data, or if you have a subscription to the Play Index at Baseball Reference.com.
Since I don't have time to pour through 15 years of Mussina games on Retrosheet, and have not yet subscribed to the PI at Baseball Reference, I'll speculate.
One common, and fairly accurate, way of estimating pitch counts is the following formula: BFP*3.3 + 1.5*SO + 2.2*(HBP+BB). Mussina faced 10 hitters in the 3rd inning, with one K and three walks. That's about 41 pitches. That means Mussina threw 4 more pitches than we would expect. Not a striking figure.
Has he ever had another inning where he faced 10 hitters and walked at least three? When viewed that way, it seems more likely. I don't know the answer, but Mussina gave up 10 runs in 3 2/3 innings in 1999, facing 24 batters in that short span. He threw 35 pitches in the bottom of the 4th of that game. Against who? The Devil Rays! That included a 9 pitch at bat by Wade Boggs.
That leads me to believe that his 46 pitch inning might not conclusively be the worst he's had in terms of pitch counts. I bet it is a close call.
By the way, Justin Upton hit a monster home run in that inning, off a horrible middle-in pitch from Mussina. In the post-game interview, Upton said it was the longest ball he had ever hit, and he turned it around so fast, he didn't even feel it hit the bat.
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