Posts Tagged ‘Rays’
Monday, April 14th, 2008
In the second huge call-up this week for the Tampa Rays, top pitching prospect Jeff Niemann was recalled from Triple-A Durham
to replace the injured Matt Garza. He allowed 1 run on 6 hits and 1 BB in 6 innings pitched, while striking out 5 and earning his first career W. The 6′9″ right hander, ranked 99th overall by BaseballAmerica, will more than likely be sent back down upon Garza’s return. Regardless, with skills like this and the new and improved Rays offense, Niemann is definitely someone to watch as a fantasy sleeper this year.
Garza is scheduled for a bullpen session on Tuesday, and if all goes well he’ll go on to make a rehab tune-up in the Minors prior to rejoining the big league club.
Tags: Jeff Niemann, MLB Prospects, Rays
Posted in 2008 Fantasy Draft Sleepers, Jeff Niemann, P, Rays Prospects, SP | No Comments »
Tuesday, March 25th, 2008
Yesterday we brought you news that top overall pick in last year’s Rule 4 Draft, David Price, had left a game with stiffness in his elbow. Well today comes news that Price will miss 6 weeks because of the injury. Executive VP Andrew Friedman said that the injury was definitely not serious, but that the Rays’ medical staff determined that Price would need this amount of time to work his way back into playing shape. It sounds like the stiffness Price experienced was simply a result of Price not having pitched a game since last May with Vanderbilt before starting a few spring games. Cross your fingers Rays fans.
Tags: David Price, MLB Prospects, Rays
Posted in David Price, MLBPN Top Prospects, P, Rays Prospects, SP | No Comments »
Tuesday, March 25th, 2008
Lost amid news of top overall prospect Evan Longoria getting optioned to Triple-A was news of another top Rays prospect getting cut. Rays SS of the future, Reid Brignac was optioned to Triple-A Durham as well. It seems the acquisition of Jason Bartlett from the Twins in the Delmon Young trade has delayed the big league appearance of Brignac for a while. The young shortstop handled the news well:
“I’m not disappointed at all… I just got to go down to Triple-A and keep working until I get where I need to be. They’ve seen me, they’ve seen how I play. Just going to keep playing hard, keeping working hard and see what happens.”
At only 22, Brignac still has plenty of time to develop his skills and still come up to Tampa as the offensive SS he projects to be. Even if he does get the call-up this year, he probably won’t be fantasy relevant until 2009 or later.
Tags: MLB Prospects, Rays, Reid Brignac
Posted in Evan Longoria, MLBPN Top Prospects, Rays Prospects, Reid Brignac, SS | No Comments »
Monday, March 24th, 2008
We’ve been anticipating it for a while now, but still holding out hope that the Rays wouldn’t do it. The Rays informed Evan Longoria that they were reassigning him to minor league camp after the Rays game on Monday. Longoria said that he was “a little bit let down” by the decision, and that the Rays did not give him any kind of timetable for his return to the show.
The Rays pointed to the fact that Longoria has only had 104 ABs above the Double-A level. They say they want to avoid a situation similar to how the Alex Gordon call-up played out last year. Really, though, it all comes down to the economics. If Longoria stays in the minors for even a few weeks, the Rays can delay his free agency until after 2014. If they wait a few months to call him up, similar to Ryan Braun’s situation last year, then they can avoid Longoria qualifying for Super-Two early arbitration eligibility. While there’s no question about whether Longoria can succeed in the majors, it becomes a question of whether or not the Rays can succeed this season even with Longoria for a full season. In the stacked AL East, not many people think the vastly improved Rays can compete in 2008-2009, with or without Longoria. If the Rays are targeting next year or the year after as the year they start to compete, why not delay the arbitration clock on Longoria as much as possible. In short, while any true baseball fan would love to see what this kid could do this with a fulls eason, this move made all the sense in the world for the Rays.
Tags: Evan Longoria, MLB Prospects, Rays
Posted in 2008 Fantasy Draft Sleepers, 3B, Evan Longoria, MLBPN Top Prospects, Rays Prospects, Top 5 Prospects | No Comments »
Saturday, March 22nd, 2008
The Rays announced today that they have optioned SP Jeff Niemann to Triple-A Durham. This leaves only four Rays pitchers to fill the three remaining spots in the rotation. While Niemann was disappointed by the decision, he understands why the decision was made. Niemann still has options remaining, which isn’t the case with all of the Rays pitchers. Niemann feels like he is pitching as well as he ever has right now.
Tags: Jeff Niemann, MLB Prospects, Rays
Posted in 2008 Fantasy Draft Sleepers, Jeff Niemann, P, Rays Prospects, SP | No Comments »
Thursday, March 13th, 2008
- After hitting two long balls yesterday, Cameron Maybin came through with another home run today. Looks like the youngster is making a push for that CF job. Maybin had come into the game as a pinch runner earlier in the game.
- Kosuke Fukudome wowed fans with his defense today, making a spinning acrobatic catch to save an extra base hit. Piniella also batted Fukudome in the 5 hole today, wanting to put a solid bat behind Aramis Ramirez.
- As we reported a few days ago, David Price has been cut from the big league squad. It was announced today that Price will be starting the season at Class A. This is pretty standard for first year players, but Price proved this spring that he isn’t a standard prospect. It had been speculated that Price might start a little higher than Single-A ball. Regardless of where he starts, Price should end up at the big show in no time.
- Jonathan Mayo of MiLB.com released his list of the top five farm systems. Mayo had the Rays at #1 (no surprise there), the A’s at #2 (okay, that’s surprising), the Rangers at #3, the Reds at #4, and the Red Sox rounding it up at #5.
- The Giants are trying speedster Eugenio Velez at 3B. Two weeks into March and the Giants still don’t really have a leading candidate for the 3B spot, so Velez definitely has a shot. The Giants have been reported to be surveying the trade market for a third basemen, but if Velez wins this job, look out. With a little bit of playing time Velez is definitely a fantasy sleeper to watch for his SB totals.
- Twins RHP Nick Blackburn finally gave up a run. The youngster hadn’t given up a run this spring, until surrendering 3 ER in 3 IP today.
Tags: A's, Cameron Maybin, Cubs, David Price, Eugenio Velez, Giants, Kosuke Fukudome, Marlins, MLB Prospects, Nick Blackburn, Rangers, Rays, Red Sox, Reds, Twins
Posted in 2008 Fantasy Draft Sleepers, 2B, 3B, A's Prospects, CF, Cameron Maybin, Cubs Prospects, Daily Pepper, David Price, Eugenio Velez, Giants Prospects, Kosuke Fukudome, MLBPN Top Prospects, Marlins Prospects, Nick Blackburn, OF, P, RF, Rangers Prospects, Rays Prospects, Red Sox Prospects, Reds Prospects, SP, Twins Prospects | No Comments »
Tuesday, March 11th, 2008
Spring training with the big league club has come to an end for the top overall pick in last year’s first-year player draft, David Price. The Rays announced on Tuesday that they notified Price he was optioned to the Minor Leagues. It was a short spring for Price, but he certainly took advantage of the time he had. He finished with a 0.00 ERA having retired six of the seven hitters he faced. He frequently touched 99 on the radar gun with his fastball, but what really impressed was his consistent command keeping the ball down in the zone.
The Rays haven’t yet announced which level they will be sending Price to. But it’s safe to assume that after the impression he made with the big club, his ascent through the system could be a fast one.
Tags: David Price, MLB Prospects, Rays
Posted in David Price, MLBPN Top Prospects, P, Rays Prospects, SP | No Comments »
Sunday, March 9th, 2008
As always, some good prospect news from an article by ESPN’s legend Peter Gammons:
- Evan Longoria has lived up to the hype this spring, impressing everyone with not only his bat but his stellar glove work as well. Gammons notes that scouts believe Longoria could go for 30 HR in his rookie season if he’s allowed to play all of it. But as Gammons notes, there is still speculation that the Rays might delay his call-up to avoid super-two status. For fantasy sake, we all hope they just let him play.
- A few people in Dodgers camp think that phenom Clayton Kershaw should be with the major league team now. Russell Martin was quoted saying that Kershaw is going to help the Dodgers this year, in line with a similar quote by Joe Torre a couple weeks ago. That the Dodgers are even discussing bringing Kershaw up so early (remember he’s only 19) is testament to his uncanny skill. There was word today that the Dodgers have decided to keep Kershaw at the big league camp through the rest of spring training, but Joe Torre said there is almost zero chance he makes the big league rotation.
- Gammons also notes that Dodgers coach Larry Bowa is very impressed with SS prospect Chin-Lung Hu. His quote was “He can really play defense.” Don’t look for Hu at SS in Los Angeles as long as Furcal is healthy. But Furcal’s contract expires after this season, so the Dodgers would love for Hu to be ready to take over at short next year.
- Check out this gem of a quote Gammons pulled up from one of the Scouts in Arizona this spring: “The best young pitcher I’ve seen in two years out here is Oakland’s Henry Rodriguez. He throws 98 with a devastating breaking ball.” Gammons notes that Rodriguez will not start the season with Oakland, but given these comments and the abundance of opportunity for young players in Oakland this year, it could only be a matter of time before we see this 21-year-old with the big club. That’s pretty interesting stuff, considering Rodriguez isn’t on many people’s radar as a top prospect. He is the #8 prospect in the A’s system according to BaseballAmerica.
Tags: A's, Chin-Lung Hu, Clayton Kershaw, Dodgers, Evan Longoria, Henry Rodriguez, MLB Prospects, Rays
Posted in 2008 Fantasy Draft Sleepers, 3B, A's Prospects, Chin-Lung Hu, Clayton Kershaw, Dodgers Prospects, Evan Longoria, Henry Rodriguez, MLBPN Top Prospects, P, Rays Prospects, SP, SS, Top 5 Prospects | No Comments »
Tuesday, March 4th, 2008
- Great day for the Dodgers’ prospects today. In a heated competition for 3B with Nomar, Andy LaRoche stepped things up today. He hit a solo home run in the 2nd inning. He finished 2-4 on the day, and is now batting .385 this spring.
- In the same game, top prospect Clayton Kershaw saw his first action with mixed results. He allowed a HR to Luis Jimenez and loaded the bases on two cheap hits and a HBP. But he then buckled down and proceeded to strike out the side. No surprise with the stuff he has. He probably won’t be up this year, but when he does look out. Future ace on any staff.
- Rookie import Hideki Kuroda pitched two scoreless innings today as well. He has impressed everyone in the Dodger camp with his pitching and especially his toughness, according to this great piece on Kuroda by Ken Rosenthal.
- David Price’s scheduled start was canceled today, but it wasn’t because of his shoulder. It was because of bad weather. We’ll definitely have to watch his start on Saturday to see how he responds to the shoulder that was bothering him.
- Royals RHP Luke Hochevar pitched another 2 scoreless innings today. He gave up 1 H and struck out 2. He has yet to give up a run this spring, and should definitely be on your radar as a fantasy sleeper in 2008.
- Astros backstop prospect J.R. Towles went a long way today towards putting a nail in the coffin on the starting job. He hit a bomb, two doubles, and had 4 RBI on the day. Definitely a sleeper at the shallow C position in fantasy drafts this year.
Tags: Andy LaRoche, Astros, Clayton Kershaw, David Price, Dodgers, Hiroki Kuroda, J.R. Towles, Luke Hochevar, MLB Prospects, Rays, Royals
Posted in 2008 Fantasy Draft Sleepers, 3B, Andy LaRoche, Astros Prospects, C, Clayton Kershaw, Daily Pepper, David Price, Dodgers Prospects, Hiroki Kuroda, J.R. Towles, Luke Hochevar, MLBPN Top Prospects, P, Rays Prospects, SP | No Comments »
Saturday, March 1st, 2008
A few notes from The Heater, a blog from The St. Petersburg Times following the Rays:
- Evan Longoria continues to impress, smashing a triple that scored 2 runs as a pinch hitter in the 6th inning of today’s game. I understand the contract dilemma, but it’s going to be tough to keep this kid out of the majors.
- CF prospect, Fernando Perez flashed the speed that made him #72 on Keith Law’s list of top prospects. This kid could be leading off for the Rays in a few years.
- Stud SS prospect, Reid Brignac, is still out with a broken pinky toe. Manager Joe Maddon expects him to return soon, however.
Tags: Evan Longoria, Fernando Perez, MLB Prospects, Rays, Reid Brignac, Tampa Bay Rays
Posted in 2008 Fantasy Draft Sleepers, 3B, CF, Evan Longoria, Fernando Perez, MLBPN Top Prospects, OF, Rays Prospects, Reid Brignac, SS, Top 5 Prospects | No Comments »
