Comments on: 2013 Preview: Tampa Bay Rays

By: sportsfan22

sportsfan22 — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 02:45:04 +0000

Loney will hit better than Pena…but less home runs. Escobar is an upgrade at short offensively and defensively. Luke Scott is coming back fully healthy.Get fuld back as he brings energy iff the bench. Kelly Johnson has pop and won’t play full time S-rod can just face lefties and platoon with Johnson. Forget about the catcher but gimnez has been raking this spring. I actually like this team. They had elliot johnson and drew sutton starting last year!! Now Have more depth then last year. People forget how good Nieman is, he had freak injury last year taking a ball off his foot. He is the #5 starter. And how the rays clubhouse always gets together helps players have fun and perform.

By: tc4306

tc4306 — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 03:27:03 +0000

Very poor defense cost them a spot in the playoffs last year. Escobar at short will be a big improvement. Joyce/Myers, Jennings and Zobrist in the OF will be fine.

Scoring will be a problem but Maddon will mix and match lefties Johnson, Loney, Scott and Joyce with righties Roberts, Rodriguez and Duncan. They’re not the Angels but with their pitching they should score enough to be in the hunt.

Second in the Division is a reasonable prediction, but they could just as easily finish 3rd or 1st. Can’t see them worse than 3rd without a lot of injuries/bad luck.

By: indaburg

indaburg — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 02:01:51 +0000

Aw, you missed us. Big softie. It’s getting better.

Zobrist always manages to get in the lineup somehow. I can’t wait for Wil Myers. I still think we’ll get no-hit once.

Cool gravatar.

By: unclemosesgreen

unclemosesgreen — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 01:28:48 +0000

Between norovirus and “Irish flu” there’s been a decided lack of estrogen around these parts today. Hope your sick are improving.

The hitting will improve when Wil Myers gets called up and Ben Zobrist gets to permanently bench whoever is hitting the least in the infield.

By: Kevin Gillman

Kevin Gillman — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 00:59:30 +0000

Okay my mistake, but I stand by what I said about who would have thought Joyce would have even made the All-Star team about 3 years ago? Madden takes players, and has them play to their full potential somehow. So the Rays have a good shot at the AL East crown.

By: spol85

spol85 — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 00:54:59 +0000

Joyce made the All Star team in 2011 not last season.

By: proudlycanadian

proudlycanadian — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 00:43:05 +0000

Cast-offs and soiled laundry be darned. The Rays fans have had reason to trust Maddon and the pitching staff.

By: indaburg

indaburg — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 00:29:08 +0000

And since when haven’t they had several cast-offs in the starting 9? The pitching will be solid. Other than losing Shields, there is no reason to think that it won’t be. Injuries can happen to any pitching staff, as you are well aware, but barring that, they’ll be fine. Chris Archer is a great talent, and he’s just waiting to be called up. The hitting will be excruciating for us fans to watch. We’ll probably get no hit at some point during the season, but that’s par for the course. I’m thinking another 90 win season. Whether that’s enough to make the post-season, we’ll see.

By: Kevin Gillman

Kevin Gillman — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 00:05:23 +0000

Wasn’t he an All-Star last season?

By: spol85

spol85 — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 00:04:40 +0000

Matt Joyce an All Star player? He hit .241 with 17 HRs with 59 RBI. He is just awful against lefthanders hitting under .210 last year. The Rays may play him full time but until he starts to produce against lefties, then he will always be better suited as a platoon player.

By: buddaley

buddaley — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 00:00:34 +0000

By cast offs, I assume you mean Loney, Molina and Kelly Johnson in particular.

Consider. In 2008 they went to a World Series with cast offs such as Gross, Hinske and Pena (a dumpster dive the year before) playing major roles as starters or platoon partners.

In 2011 they won 91 games and made the play offs with cast offs Shoppach, Damon, Kotchman and a trio of border line major leaguers at shortstop.

We forget that being a major league cast off means you are among the best players in the world, and the gap between cast offs and serviceable major leaguers is pretty small and often a moving line. In the right circumstances, used to maximize their strengths (which got them to the majors in the first place) and minimize their flaws, and perhaps with some tweaking of their mechanics or approaches to improve their play, they can contribute to a winning team.

By: proudlycanadian

proudlycanadian — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 23:53:27 +0000

The one thing that he has excelled at is striking out.

By: buddaley

buddaley — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 23:52:30 +0000

I think it is more than financial in this case. The Rays do not like to promote anyone to the majors unless they are confident it is for good. Archer still has only a small sample size that his control/command is improved enough, and he still needs work on an off-speed pitch.

As long as they have 2 viable candidates for the #5 slot (Hernandez and Niemann), they have the luxury of working with Archer in Durham until they are convinced he is fully ready.

By: raysfan1

raysfan1 — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 23:33:35 +0000

…because they have to plan their budget, including for out years, very carefully.

By: spudchukar

spudchukar — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 23:25:30 +0000

What seems to be missing from this conversation, is comparison. Those who believe the Rays will falter cause they have questions at SS, 2B, 1B, and catcher must have collective amnesia. They haven’t had any production from those positions in years and still they contend until the final week of the season.

I have doubts about Loney, Escobar, Kelly, and Molina, Lobaton/Gimenez/Chirinos group, but they cannot be worse than those who occupied the positions in the past few years. Plus they have depth with Rodriguez and Roberts and a better bullpen outlook than years past.

Come September count on the Rays to be in the mix.

By: chill1184

chill1184 — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 23:13:26 +0000

The boys in Tampa Bay are always a threat to be recognized, no matter what players they may lose to FA they always have a plan to fill that hole quite nicely. With the birds in Baltimore and Toronto thrusting themselves back in baseball relevancy after years of being the dark the AL East looks like it will be one of the most interesting division fights this upcoming season.

By: churchoftheperpetuallyoutraged

churchoftheperpetuallyoutraged — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 23:12:53 +0000

And the Rays likely would have made the playoffs had they gotten 150 games from Longoria

Just for fun, let’s look at games played in the last 3 years:

Longoria – 358
Arod – 358

Yes Longoria is 10 years younger than Arod, but maybe he’s got a bit of the injury bug too?

By: Kevin Gillman

Kevin Gillman — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 23:02:16 +0000

Wait a second, I just checked his stats, he has had 2 bad seasons in a row, so you’re right, just too inconsistent.

By: Kevin Gillman

Kevin Gillman — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 22:58:11 +0000

As much as Kelly has stunk, he has also had good seasons. In fact, if we go by this trend, the dude has a good season every other year. 2009, he had a good season, followed by a bad 2010 season. He had a good 2011 season, followed by a bad 2012 season. But regardless, just hitting .260 for him would be fine, with the core players all being healthy, and productive.

By: proudlycanadian

proudlycanadian — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 22:50:17 +0000

I have seen Kelly Johnson stink too often, to share your enthusiasm. Escobar is another matter. He has played well often, but is still inconsistent.

By: markofapro

markofapro — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 22:41:44 +0000

Maddon will get best out of his team. 1st place.

By: thebadguyswon

thebadguyswon — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 22:21:47 +0000

Because they delay the service time of every player they have.

To the point of starting inferior players in their place.

By: Kevin Gillman

Kevin Gillman — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 22:17:43 +0000

I agree Evan is the key here, but I also believe the cast-offs they picked up can produce, because they have in the past with Joe Madden as the manager. Who would have thought just a few seasons ago, Matt Joyce would be the All-Star player he was last season? I see Kelly Johnson having a good season, and all Loney has to do is play good defense anyway. The team can take the AL East, they just need to.

By: gotampabay52

gotampabay52 — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 22:09:16 +0000

Rays will win the AL East

By: proudlycanadian

proudlycanadian — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 22:05:08 +0000

Good luck to the Rays with those cast offs in the starting 9. The pitching had better come up big for them or else they are fried haddock.

By: 13arod

13arod — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 22:00:19 +0000

i don’t know why they sent chris archor down to the minors he was having a good spring and tampa said he was a cainadate for the 5th slot and he played in the majors a couple of times last year