The 2020 (and beyond) Tampa Bay Rays

[Art Deco]

High drama at Yankee Stadium as New York took a 4-2 lead into the top of the 9th only for Mookie Betts to drill a 2-run homer off Joe Jimenez to tie it up, but in the bottom of the 9th pinch-hitter Drew Mendoza took Danny De Jesus into the RF seats to give the Yankees a 6-4 walk-off win and send them onto the ALDS to play the Rays.

[Art Deco]

The Diamondbacks rode the sinker of their ace Jeremy Odle to a 4-1 win over Cincinnati to send them into the NLDS against St. Louis. Odle, who led the NL in pitcher WAR and won 17 games, had Reds hitters pounding the ball into the ground to the tune of 14 ground outs.

[Art Deco]

Off to a good start...



In the end the Rays had a comfortable 8-2 win over the Yankees in Game 1 of the 2032 ALDS, but it started off nightmarishly for Christian Little. The Rays ace gave up 2 runs on 4 hits and a walk and had to throw 39 pitches in a first inning which saw him put his team in a 2-0 hole. But the offensive juggernaut that is this year's Rays immediately responded with 2 in the bottom of the inning on a Rodolfo Rivas sac fly and a Jasson Dominguez RBI double, and in the third they took the lead to stay on a Rivas homer, his first career postseason jack. Then they broke it open in the 4th and chased Yankee ace Eric Peterson with a 4-run rally highlighted by another postseason debutante, Bo Angeac, who drilled a 2-run homer. Luis Corpus, who had earlier knocked in a run in that 4th, homered later as well. Meanwhile Little did a 180 from the first inning, allowing the Yankees only one hit through the next 5 to finish a very good 6 5 2 2 1 8 for his 10th career postseason win. Chris Hicks and Jose Alvarado combined effectively to pitch the final 3 innings. Still too early to get excited as we remember last year they opened with a convincing win over Detroit behind a gem from Andy Aparicio and four games later AA was getting pounded in a Game 5 loss. One side note: Victor de Jesus has the flu and it was described as "moderate" so he sat in favor of Connor Kirkley. de Jesus will probably be back for Game 3 in New York.

In the other ALDS:



The Rangers and Tigers commenced their annual playoff battle and Texas got the better of Kumar Rocker to take Game 1.

[Art Deco]

Deja vu and not in a good way...



The Yankees took advantage of their opportunities and the Rays didn't in a 5-2 loss that evens the ALDS at 1. Reminiscent of last season when the Rays won convincingly in Game 1 only to give it away in Game 2, today saw Jon Hayes a bit too hittable despite all his strikeouts and a key Bo Angeac error in the 5th helped the Yankees score twice to go ahead to stay. It looked like more of the same in the 2nd when the Rays jumped on Colt Hill, pressed into action when starter Kevin Pratt had to leave after a batter, with a Jaiden Hardaway homer and a Dayle Jenkins RBI infield single. They should have scored more in the inning but Nate Clark grounded into a double play to end it, and the Yankees started chipping away at Hayes, eventually taking the lead in a messy 5th that was as much Hayes' fault as Angeac's even if the runs were unearned. Meanwhile the offense couldn't rub two sticks together after they couldn't score with the bases loaded in the 4th and Yankee closer Joe Jimenez, who they usually have success against, got them 6 up, 6 down in the final 2 innings. So we head to New York for another pivotal game with Andy Aparicio on the mound; here's hoping it goes a lot better than the last one.

In the other DS games:



All the road teams were winners today, including the two NL teams winning in extra innings. The Diamondbacks got their winning runs against old friend Jasseel De La Cruz, who had a pretty good year with St. Louis saving 44 games. Meanwhile Texas has one foot in the ALCS after another win over Detroit.

We interrupt the playoffs to bring you this news from the International League:



Congrats to Omar Rodriguez, the #3 prospect in baseball. I thought Mike Harms would win this, but he finished second about 40 points behind Omar. Rodriguez is more than ready to play in the bigs, it's just that we have guys named Clark, Dominguez and Jenkins ahead of him in the OF. A trade of Dominguez is possible and he should bring a healthy return being one of the game's stars. Also Mike Harms and Alex Buitrago are more than ripe and need to be found homes or spots on the roster.

[Art Deco]

Matt Manning, who won rings in 2025 and 2026 with us, continues to be a solid playoff performer with 7 innings of one-hit ball to put Arizona one win away from knocking off the 98-win Cardinals, while the Dodgers even things up with Atlanta behind a complete-game 10-hitter from Shohei Ohtani.

[Art Deco]

What a pitiful performance...



The Rays picked a bad time to play one of their worst games of the season as they fell 6-0 to the Yankees and are now one win away from being eliminated in the ALDS for the second straight season after winning 110+ games. Andy Aparicio came up small again on the heels of his 2031 ALDS Game 5 shelling last year, single-handedly done in by Yankee superstar Mario Aguilar, who took him deep in the first inning and then added a 3-run shot in the 3rd. Also having a terrible game was Jaiden Hardaway, who dropped not one but two infield pops, the first of which prolonged that 3rd inning and allowed Aguilar to come to the plate. And we'll throw in Victor de Jesus, who was supposedly over the flu but looked ill at the plate, whiffing 3 times. Actually the entire offense looked ill, as they were amazingly shut out despite having at least one baserunner in every inning. Finally to add injury to insult, Jasson Dominguez had to leave the game with what turned out to be a minor calf injury which he can hopefully play with tomorrow because otherwise he'll have about 5 months to rest it. Now the season is in the hands of Jon Soranno, who will face a former Ray in Daniel Lynch in a must-win.

In the other ALDS:



Edwin Harty was brilliant for Texas and a couple of former Rays (Wander Franco and Carlos Perez) went deep as the Rangers swept the defending champion Tigers out of the playoffs and await the Yankees or Rays in the ALCS.

[Art Deco]

There's always next year...



Well that wasn't a very good end to the season. Jon Soranno was not ready for prime time, as he and Danny Medina combined to allow 7 runs in the first 4 innings putting the Rays in a hole they couldn't climb out of, despite the best efforts of Nate Clark who hit a pair of homers and drove in 4. Alex Beltre's last memory as a Ray will be giving up a 2-run bases-loaded single to Mario Aguilar, the series MVP that made it 7-2 and effectively ended the game. Jasson Dominguez was not available to play, and it's possible he's played his last game as a Ray as we have to make room for Omar Rodriguez and keep the payroll down, and Rodolfo Rivas took out the frustration of the team by charging Daniel Lynch after being hit following Clark's first homer. At least Christian Little went out a winner in his final Rays game. Just an ugly picture all around as the Rays will go without a championship in consecutive years for the first time since winning their first in 2023. A demonstration that the playoffs are largely random, something the run of 6 titles in 8 years made us believe we were immune to. This is farthest the Yankees have advanced since being swept the White Sox in the 2021 ALCS as they look for their first title since 2009 and end the longest drought in club history.

In the NLDS:



While the ALCS is set, the NLCS has yet to have a confirmed participant as Jeremy Bienick (acquired by the Cards from the Rays in the Victor de Jesus trade) pitched the game of his life with 8 shutout innings and 9 whiffs to keep St. Louis alive. And it's advantage Atlanta as RW Tucker's 2-run homer in the 7th gave the Braves a 5-4 win over the Dodgers with the chance to clinch at home tomorrow.

[Art Deco]

Gee thanks for that news, trainer guy. Has a real "good luck, we're all counting on you" Leslie Nielsen in Airplane! vibe.



The D-backs are in the NLCS off a great performance from two-way guy Cayden Wallace, while the Dodgers fought off a late blown lead to win in the 12th and force a deciding Game 5 back in Los Angeles.

[Art Deco]

What a performance from Justin Norwood:

[Art Deco]

With the Rays eliminated I'm not going to do daily reports, instead I'll just update this post and another one to take us the LCS round.

October 16, ALCS Game 1:



October 17, ALCS Game 2 & NLCS Game 1:



That was former Ray Carlos Perez with the walk-off 3-run homer to even the ALCS.

October 18: NLCS Game 2:



Great game from Mike "Judge" Wampler, and there's our old buddy Nick Gonzales as #3 star.

October 19: ALCS Game 3:



Bobby Owens' 3-run HR was the big hit in a 6-run 7th to break the game open for Texas as they nose in front. Also I wonder what I'd have to give the Yankees to acquire Mario Aguilar.

October 20: ALCS Game 4 & NLCS Game 3:



We're going at least 6 in the ALCS now. Daniel Lynch had to leave in the 5th with a sore elbow after pitching well for the Yankees tonight, and this just in: that Aguilar guy is pretty good. Meanwhile "Playoff Matt" Manning continues to have a great postseason.

[Art Deco]

October 21, 2032: ALCS Game 5 & NLCS Game 4:



We're on the verge of partying like it's 2001 as the Diamondbacks and Yankees both move within one game of the World Series. The big news though is that Mario Aguilar didn't homer for New York. By the way the "Bradley" who won the game for Arizona today is none other than Taj Bradley, a one-time Rays farmhand from the early 20s whom we threw in with Hunter Renfroe in a deal with Minnesota to acquire Max Kepler back in the day. He's bounced around the majors and minors, and he has 70 stuff and 70 control....but 35 movement (actually a little better than the 30 he was rated at in previous years).

October 22, 2032: NLCS Game 5:



The Diamondbacks are off to their first World Series since they only one they appeared in back in 2001 after surprisingly making quick work of the Dodgers. They had to win a Game 162 tiebreaker with the Padres, beat Cincinnati in the wild card, and then take out the top team in the NL, the 98-win Cardinals, so perhaps they're one of those "teams of destiny".

October 23, 2032: ALCS Game 6:



And to Game 7 we will go as the Rangers roughed up Dave Falco, the Yankees' most consistent starting pitcher this postseason who helped him win the Wild Card Game and shut out the Rays in the pivotal Game 3 of the ALDS.

October 24, 2032: ALCS Game 7:



Texas built a big lead and hand to hang on for dear life to take Game 7 of the ALCS and give us what pundits are calling the "Southwest Series" as the Rangers will play the Arizona Diamondbacks in the World Series. It's the first World Series for the Rangers since their back-to-back losses to St. Louis and Texas in 2010-11.

[Art Deco]

October 27, Game 1:



Jeremy Odle and his power sinker may win the NL Cy Young, but he's definitely won Game 1 of the World Series.

October 28, Game 2:



Texas sent out their perennial Cy Young contender Wil Diaz and along with Bobby Owens, who's having a big postseason, the two got the series even. Bad news for the Rangers, though: Wander Franco strained his back and will miss the rest of the series.

October 30, Game 3:



Danny Kovacs' pinch-hit grand slam erased a 3-0 Arizona lead and the Rangers held on to take a 2-1 series lead.

October 31, Game 4:



The Rangers got strong pitching from #4 starter (follower) William Holmes and that man again, Bobby Owens, hit the tie-breaking 2-run HR in the 8th to put the Rangers one win away from their first-ever World Series title.

I was just mentioning him during the NLCS, and now this:



Apparently he suffered the injury during Game 3 of the World Series.

November 1, Game 5:



Congratulations to the Rangers, keeping the World Series in the AL even if the Rays haven't won it lately. It's not mentioned in the recap above, but unsurprisingly Bobby Owens was named the Series MVP after he had another homer tonight and big RBI triple. Arizona took a 4-0 lead out of the gate but the Rangers chipped away at it until they tied, and then unloaded for 7 runs in the 8th to win it. The victim in that 8th inning was none other than former Ray Danny Ceja, who can at least console himself with his 2030 ring with the Rays.

[Art Deco]

Our first bit of offsesason news is this, and all I have to say is HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!



Don't let the door hit you on the way out, or maybe you'll break something and miss 2 months again. I really am being a bit cruel here, Witt was a good player when he was on the field, but the "when he was on the field" was the rub. Nevertheless with the emergence of Bo Angeac I was going to trade Witt anyway, and might have picked up a "B" prospect with that contract. Instead, I'll probably give him the QO since it's less than what he was making and net a draft pick.

Word from the boss:



We'll come in under this $160M payroll of course. Andy Aparicio and Dane Ayers become arbitration-eligible and will get huge raises and Nate Clark is projected to go from $11M to $21M but we cleared Witt's $20M.

Players I will be shopping this offseason: Jasson Dominguez, Connor Kirkley, Alex Buitrago, Mike Harms. I may make a run at re-signing Christian Little because he is kind of a unicorn but I'm pretty sure I'll be outbid. So with he and Jon Hayes leaving, I will need a quality, young cost-controlled starting pitcher as right now the rotation is Aparicio, Sachais (coming off an arthritic elbow, will his stuff dimimish?), Jon Soranno and probably Danny Medina. The emergence of Chris Hicks means I don't need a righty reliever, but the lefty situation is shaky with Alvarado and Beltre free agents, Mooney coming back from surgery, Brad Ballmann being Brad Ballmann, etc. Bob Sirna was a revelation but he still has enough inconsistency in his game that he isn't going to be the primary option, so a shutdown lefty for the pen is also on the shopping list.

Wow, it really was Black Wednesday in MLB:



The shocker here is Lovullo, who just led Arizona to its first World Series in 31 years. Man, that's tough. Also a bit of a surprise is Gaillard as that's Dodgers, not Angels there. LA was surprised in the playoffs, but they're a perennial participant. Guess it's one of those "find someone to get us over the hump" moves.

Notable retirements: 2021 Cy Young winner Nate Pearson, who spent most of his career battling injuries, grizzled vets Ken Giles, Matt Olson and David Dahl (who always killed us with Boston), Ozzie Albies (Atlanta retired #1), Ramon Laureano, Bryce Harper (Phillies retired #3)

Former Rays hanging it up: Chris Betts, Max Kepler, Yordan Alvarez (Houston retired #44!), Blake Money (a sad story given his injuries after we traded him to Oakland in 2029).

Our first trade:



We got the power lefty we wanted for the pen in Wherry, 75-80 stuff, 55 movement, 45 control (3.5* now, 5.0 potential). He impressed as a rookie last year with Atlanta (34K in 27 IP, 1.33 ERA plus 10 whiffs in 5 scoreless IP during the playoffs) and fits our needs. We thank D'Andre Hodges for his service, he was a fine bat off the bench in the mold of Bramdon Perez, who also thrived for a while after getting regular PT and I suspect if Atlanta sticks Hodges in their lineup every day he'll hit 30-35 HR. My thought now is to hang on to Jasson Dominguez for another year and bring Omar Rodriguez up next year as a 4th outfielder. This still leaves Kirkley, Buitrago and Harms as trade bait.

And here's the biggie:



Kirkley was what the English would say "surplus to requirements" as Jaiden Hardaway has the 2B job now for the foreseeable future. It took Lovetere to get the deal done, and the scouts and BNN seem to like him a lot more than his numbers would indicate because as mentioned earlier about him, he strikes out about 4.5 per 9 IP, which would have been OK in 1975. His stuff has the potential to be better, but only up to 50. Allen is a swingman with 50 stuff, I liked him a lot more when we acquired him in the Jack Leiter deal a couple of winters ago. And Tudor was hurt most of last season and although his fundamentals are good, I was going to non-tender him at $5M or so. So in return we get Schultz, who was one of the AL's better starters last year and is basically Jon Hayes 2.0 (okay maybe 1.8):



This still leaves Buitrago and Harms to possibly deal, and I'd like to replenish our pitching pipeline as we have a lot of good hitting prospects on the way.

November 11: The Gold Gloves were awarded today and congratulations to Dayle Jenkins for winning it in RF! This will hopefully be the first of several awards Jenkins wins, as I see at least a Silver Slugger in his future and he has a very good chance (perhaps the frontrunner) to be MVP. A couple of former Rays with the World Champion Rangers (ugh) won Gold Gloves too: C Carlos Perez and 3B Wander Franco. Maybe we should have played Franco at 3B and kept Willy Adames all those years ago since Adames had a great career with Atlanta and Max Fried (whom we got for Adames) gave us only a couple of decent years in the rotation.

November 13: As befitting an offense which scored 1009 runs last season (but sadly only 10 total in their last 3 playoff games), we took several Silver Slugger Awards (or Platinum Stick as OOTP is calling it): 2B Jaiden Hardaway, SS Ricky Widmar, CF Jasson Dominguez, RF Dayle Jenkins and DH Victor de Jesus. Old friend Joe Barker won the NL 1B award off his 40-HR debut season in Washington.

It was unanimous, as it should have been, with Bo #2:



Also unanimous, with Jon Hayes taking the silver:



I'm going to at least make a half-hearted effort to re-sign him once he declares free agency (the pre-FA demands are always over the top). St. Louis's Leo Ortega won the award in the NL, and I'm the only one who kept it from being unanimous as I voted for Arizona's Jeremy Odle. Ortega has stamina issues, so he rarely goes more than 5-6 innings per start. They're 5-6 great innings, but I thought Odle was more valuable.

And there it is, the biggie. Congratulations to Dayle Jenkins!



I thought Christian Little would get a few more votes given that he did lead MLB in WAR, but it wasn't a case like last year when Aparicio was head and shoulders above all the hitters. So this gives us a clean sweep of the major awards (MVP, Cy Young, Rookie) but alas no championship trophy to show for it. Over in the NL, the winner was....Nick Gonzales! It was a close and fragmented vote as you can see below (I voted for C.Rodriguez):



But congratulations to Nick, whom we dealt to LA for Gavin Lux in 2028. Lux had the one MVP-caliber season with us that year and we did win the title, so flags fly forever, etc. but LA ended up with the best of that deal.

[Art Deco]

I had forgotten Alexander Beltre wasn't a free agent, he was eligible for arbitration. So he went through it and got an $8M contract, more than I really want to keep him for especially as he kind of underwhelmed since being acquired from the Padres, with his left-handedness being his main selling point for me. Instead I dealt him for an even better reliever, and one who's going to come $1.6M cheaper since Texas is retaining 25% of his salary:



Connors has been one of the better relievers in the league in recent years and his platoon splits are excellent as he's slightly better-rated against lefties than righties, so there's less concern about making the bullpen imbalanced.

Well this is tough to see but I wasn't going to commit $34M/year for 7 years. Good luck in Anaheim, Mr. Little:



December 7: Francisco Alvarez inked a huge deal with San Diego, 4/68.8 after playing well for us last year and old friend Brandon Marsh, in his second go-round of free agency, signed a whopping 4/104 deal with the Dodgers. He's about to turn 35 so we'll see how that works out.

December 10: The Mets signed former St. Louis (and Texas) SS Jacob Gonzalez to a 6/180 mega-deal. He had a 3-WAR season last year but is one year removed from a 5.5 WAR season.

Holy crap, Angels:



We'll just call the Tampa Bay West, but man I'm not sure a team has signed two ace starting pitchers in the same free agency window. Best I can think of is the Yankees signing C.C. Sabathia and A.J. Burnett in 2009. Angels are going to be tough this year, although their lineup is pretty creaky with age. Also the Braves re-signed 37-year-old Willy Adames to a 3/73.4 deal. His numbers are remarkably consistent:



He's like the new Khris Davis, only at .278 instead of .247.

December 13: Well two more of our free agents signed elsewhere. The first is kind of sad because after 15 years Jose Alvarado is wearing another uniform as the Phillies signed him to a 2/13.4 deal. I thought he'd sit on the shelf longer and I'd offer him a 1-year deal but so be it. The irony here is that it's Philadelphia who acquires him when in the winter of 2020-21 IRL he was traded there. The other former Ray seeking greener pastures is Bobby Witt Jr., who signed a modest 2/34 deal with Colorado. That's less than the $20M he opted out of and barely more than the $15M QO I gave him. Nevertheless we're getting a draft pick, making it 3 compensatory picks after Little and Hayes signed with LA.

Wowza!



I saw that Vlad Jr was on the trading block, but I'm still shocked to see it as I guess the Yankees wanted out from under the 2/82 he had left on his big contract. Still we're talking a Hall of Famer here, a 7-time MVP who isn't showing any atrophy of skills. He did injure his hamstring last year which forced him to miss the last couple of months including the playoffs, and the Yankees did get to Game 7 of the ALCS and upset us without him, but still. Among the 4 minor leaguers going to New York, Lara looks the best, a slugging 1B with potential 70 power. Vaszquez has some intrigue but he's already been traded twice and the other two didn't jump out at me.

Caveat emptor, Rockies, caveat emptor:



We made another trade:



Kerstetter is the #75 prospect in baseball, a quality lefty who pitched well in middle/long relief last year for Seattle, and will become our "6th starter", either used in long relief with the big club or he'll be part of the Durham rotation. The price wasn't too bad: Tuley can hit (he'd probably hit .280 with 25 HR if he played every day) but he's a lousy OF. Larsen had a big year at A+ Charlotte, hitting .303 with 21 HR and is an excellent glove at CF and 3B but the scouts are down on him and his potential ratings are all in the 45-50 range, and Parsons was a late-round pick who's unlikely to amount to anything. My assistant GM didn't like it (I guess the AI likes Larsen because of his numbers).

December 22: Added Ps Steve Bloom and Felix Bejerano, Cs Mike McKee and Ricky Limongelli, 1B Jon Jimenez and 2B Robbie Salazar to the 40-man roster.

It's Rule 5 Draft time again, and the guys added all are prospects I wouldn't want to lose. Bloom and Bejerano are live bullpen arms, McKee and Limongelli are two of the best catching prospects in baseball (especially McKee) as both played in the Futures Game last year, Jimenez is a pure hitter who was a July 2 signing awhile back, and Salazar was our first round pick in 2028 who had 27 HR, 90 RBI and drew 98 walks between Class-A Bowling Green and A+ Charlotte. Who might we lose? OF Danny Roush is considered a decent prospect, but I'm not sure he's worth carrying for a full year on the big league roster, 3B Stan Melton is a decent prospect, and OF Jose Sandoval, another first round pick from 2028, has MLB-ready power.

December 22: Lost 1B Jose Escobar to Cleveland in the Rule 5 Draft.

This was kind of strange, I wasn't expecting him to be taken especially after he only managed 2 HR in 221 AB at Durham last year. His ratings are great (70 gap, 65 power) but only 45 contact, so he looks good on paper but has yet to translate that into HRs in games, with 15 the most he's hit in a season. He was only one of two players taken in the entire draft.

December 23: The Cardinals signed former Ray Daniel Espino to a 1-year, $9.8M deal to be their closer.

December 25: Claimed SS Andy Vazquez on waivers from Oakland, waived SS Melvin Gutierrez and designated him for assignment.

Look at us, working on Christmas. Vazquez was a minor leaguer of ours we threw into the cursed Marc Wagner for Blake Money/Jhon Diaz deal in 2030 and actually came up for a while with Oakland last year. He's a 65 SS, has excellent power potential, although he will have contact issues. Anyway, with 2 options remaining he's an upgrade on Gutierrez, who is a slick fielder but is never going to hit at all and is 4 years older than Vazquez. If he clears, we'll still send him to Durham, which is where Vazquez is bound.

December 29: Old friend Evan Godwin signed a 2/21.6 deal with the Pirates as he's resurrected his career as a halfway-decent starting pitcher. He missed the last 2 months of last season with an elbow strain but seems healthy now.

December 31: Gold glover but light-hitting Kyren Paris signed a 5/65 deal with Baltimore while former Ray Spencer Torkelson is back in Detroit after leaving there the year before to sign as a free agent with San Francisco. He was dealt today for a package of 4 minor leaguers.

[Art Deco]

January 5: The Hall of Fame results were announced and only one inductee this year: first-timer Jose Altuve with 76.5% of the vote. It was a cruel turn of events for Joe Mauer, though. Last year he just barely missed with 74% of the vote, and with this being his final year on the ballot it seemed a fait accompli he'd get elected. But for some reason he dropped to 71% and falls off the ballot. Joey Votto was at 64.6 in his 3rd year and Craig Kimbrel 62.7 in his 2nd. Outside of Altuve, it was a weak class for newcomers with Yasmani Grandal the next-highest finisher at a paltry 8.0%, the only other one to exceed the 5% cutoff.

January 6: The Yankees signed old friend Aaron Ashby to a 2/2.5 deal, he pitched well as a swingman for Columbus last year with a 3.14 in 103 IP.

January 12: Not sure I get the Yankees. After getting out from under the $41M owed Vlad Jr the next two years and trading him for a bunch of prospects, they turn around and sign 38-year-old Andrew Benintendi for 3/90 (!). He is coming off a career year at 38, but we're talking about guy whose normal year is .270-15-70, not the .286-27-91 he turned in last season. And did I mention he's 38?

January 13: Speaking of old guys going to New York, the Mets signed Ray-for-a-season Corbin Martin to a 2/19.8 deal. He resurrected his career as a starter in St. Louis and Detroit after his year in relief for us in 2030. Seattle did well signing Hans Crouse to a 1/9 deal, if he stays healthy he'll give them good innings. And the peripatetic former Ray Daniel Lynch is now in Los Angeles, signing a 1/1.12 deal with the Dodgers.

January 14: Mike Trout and his 701 career homers will be staying in Anaheim as he signed a 3/42.6 extension with the Angels to keep him there through 2036. Trout is now 41, but had another fine season earning 3.5 WAR primarily as a DH. He should pass Babe Ruth this year on the HR list, and if he stays healthy and relatively productive he could eventually pass Aaron and Bonds but let's remember he's already 41. Meanwhile the Pirates made a splash, signing SP Efrain Polanco to a 6/40.8 deal. Polanco is a decent starting pitcher, a 4th starter or if you squint real hard a 3rd, but they're not really going anywhere so this reminds me of the type of free agents signings they made in the 1990s and 2000s.

February 3: Lewin Diaz, who famously flopped the with the Rays five years ago, got a healthy 2/50 deal with the Dodgers. He's 37 and coming off a .272-19-61 season, so this seems like a massive overpay.

Feburary 5: The White Sox sent five minor leaguers to Milwaukee for slugging 1B Parks Harber. Harber hit 53 HR in 2030 although he tailed off to 29 each of the last 2 seasons. He's a real 3-true-outcomes guy, having walked 83 times and whiffed 213 last season. His 2030 season earned him 4.9 WAR; the last two have combined for that amount.

February 11: The Reds signed C Luis Campusano, the long-time Padre, to a 4/68 deal. Campusano was the top catcher on the market after Francisco Alvarez signed, and he's a decent hitter and a 70 receiver.

February 14: Hunter Greene resurrected his career as a starter in St. Louis and did well, and today he did very well by signing with Milwaukee on a 5/90 contract.

February 15: The Angels continue to beef up their rotation (having signed Christian Little and Jon Hayes) by swinging a deal for Boston's Nelson Berkwich, who was 15-8 with a 3.30 ERA on a bad Red Sox team.

February 19: Long-time Orioles ace Bryar Johnson signed a 4/56.8 pact with the Columbus Lightning.

We signed a free agent! (And this guy looks very interesting)



He also caused quite a stir at his press conference:



So what's all the fuss about? The guy is a unicorn:



He's 6'7", 235, and I don't think I've ever seen a reliever so highly-rated in the game. In the editor, the best relievers are projected to be 1.5-2 WAR guys, with the occasional guy over 2. Kawase is rated at 4.3 WAR with an 0.64 FIP. And the contract isn't too bad. We're only on the hook for $11.5M, $10M for this season and a $1.5 buyout next year if we don't exercise the team option. He has a player option in the 3rd year. Did we really need him with righty relievers like Jordan Diaz, Jim Connors, Tim Siqueiros and Chris Hicks? Probably not. But this guy looks better than all of 'em. Expect a Jon Whiteleather deal to make room for him.

And here is the Whiteleather trade:



Hable hit .285-20-84 between A and AA ball last year and looks to be a solid hitter and an average outfielder. He's only a 2031 draftee so he didn't need to go on the 40-man.

February 24: Having already signed Jose Alvarado the Phillies turned to one of our former lefty relievers again, inking Mike Mooney to a 2/11.2 pact. Mooney is still recovering from Tommy John surgery and will be ready to pitch again in mid-April.

March 13: Spring Training games started today (I only play 3 weeks of games) with a 5-4 loss to Cleveland. Andy Aparicio had a rough first inning allowing 3 runs, while Luis Corpus, Jasson Dominguez and Emilio Mireles all homered for the Rays. Kikuo Kawase made his stateside debut and was everything as advertised, striking out the side in the 8th on 14 pitches. Starting prospect Gil Wayne had to leave after two batters with shoulder bursitis and will miss 5-6 weeks.

INCOMING: One of the biggest trades in years to come down the pike.....



Well, that homer Jasson Dominguez hit in the Spring Training opener was the last one he'll be hitting for us as he's now headed to St. Louis in exchange for the reigning NL Cy Young winner, Leo Ortega. While trying to find a new home for Alex Buitrago the thought occurred to me is maybe we keep him and trade Jasson Dominguez instead. As great as J-Dom is, he only has one more year of control left and he'd likely get $22M or so in arbitration. Meanwhile we have Buitrago and Omar Rodriguez to man the position at the minimum and neither is a huge dropoff. And in exchange we get a legitimate ace to replace Little/Hayes, someone even better than Nate Schultz. And the Cardinals are picking up 45% of his salary, meaning we have him for this year and two more after that at only $13.4M/year. We had to throw in Beasley (who cares, he stinks) and Burnett (a B prospect) to get the salary relief but it was worth it as the bills are really going to come due next year. Our payroll is $119M now but is projected to go over $200M next year, which it obviously won't. Some of that is clearly not happening (Jordan Diaz and Jim Connors aren't going to get $18M each next year, so lop off $36M) but we're going to have to be tight with spending.

Now as I've mentioned, Ortega isn't a guy who throws deep into games, his stamina is 45 and he's a 5-6 inning pitcher (although he still threw 202 innings last year). But with the extremely deep bullpen we have, I don't see that as a problem, especially as the bullpen got deeper with Danny Medina now moving back into it. Meanwhile, a look under the hood at our new ace:



March 15: Alec Sachais made his first appearance since missing the second half of last season with an arthritic elbow. The good news? He went 4 shutout innings on only 39 pitches. The bad news? He only struck out 1, and OSA and Metzler (my scout) both downgraded his stuff from 70 to 60 and his movement from 45 to 40, which I was afraid of. This makes the Ortega acquisition all the more important.

Speaking of Ortega, OSA took another look at him and for a change I had a guy's ratings improve after acquiring him rather than go down:



Also Metzler has upgraded Kikuo Kawase's control from 40 to 45 so his one weakness got a little stronger.

[Art Deco]

Well we made it through Spring Training without any real injuries, with only Gil Wayne's shoulder bursitis so we'll count ourselves lucky (for now). The starters all pitched well but Jordan Diaz had a horrible spring so hopefully that doesn't carry over to the regular season (thankfully we have other closing options like Connors and Kawase). So here is the Opening Day roster:

C-Corpus, Quintana*
1B-Rivas, Harms
2B-Hardaway
SS-Widmar
3B-Angeac
IF-Ayers
OF-Clark, O.Rodriguez*, Buitrago*, Jenkins, de Jesus
SP-Aparicio, Sachais, Ortega, Schultz, Soranno
MR-Medina, Siqueiros, Hicks, Sirna
SU-Connors, Kawase*, Wherry
CL-J.Diaz

*rookies

The plan is to semi-platoon Buitrago and Rodriguez in center (actually Jenkins will slide to center and Buitrago will play RF when he plays) although Rodriguez will play against righties too since I don't want him getting only like 180 AB. I don't see a path to meaningful PT for Harms and if something happens to Ayers (or Hardaway/Widmar/Angeac), he'll go down for an infielder. But we'll get him in from time to time and I'm sure he prefers to it to a third season at Durham where he's already hit .350 twice. Moves to get down to 26:

April 3: Waived P Brad Ballmann and IF Melvin Guiterrez and designated them for assignment.

Had to drop these two, who were out of options, hopefully they clear and go to Durham. The scouts diminished Ballmann's stuff and control this spring although he didn't pitch that badly.

The preseason predictions (Spoiler: We're supposed to be pretty good), notice all the former Rays projected for big years in the NL (and some in the AL too):



Surprised to see the Yankees this down, although they did make some questionable offseason moves like trading away Vlad Jr. for minor leaguers.

[Art Deco]

Game 1: Opening day is always exciting, and it was a picture-perfect way to start the 2033 MLB season in a nationally-televised game under sunny 72-degree skies at Publix Park as the Yankees came to town. The storylines were all there with New York having upset the Rays in last year's ALDS, and it was Andy Aparicio on the mound against Yankee ace Eric Peterson. But the hero today amongst the Rays' galaxy of stars was a rookie, Alex Buitrago. Finally getting a shot at regular playing time after three years in Durham and two cups of coffee in previous seasons, Buitrago homered twice today, including a tie-breaking 2-run shot to put the Rays ahead to stay in the 6th on their way to a 9-4 win. Buitrago got them in front with a 3-run jack off Peterson in the 2nd, but the Yankees chipped away against Aparicio, tying things up in the top of the 6th before Buitrago answered again. AA ended up 6 7 3 3 1 8 and picked up the win, and although he might have stayed in on only 84 pitches the top of the dangerous Yankee order was up, so what better time than to bring in our new lethal weapon, Kikuo Kawase? And he was everything as advertised, whiffing Victor Robles and Andrew Benintendi and getting Mario Aguilar to ground out. I was so thrilled with him that I brought him back for the 8th and he whiffed two more Yankees. But he was pushing 30 pitches and gave up a solo homer to make it 5-4. Jim Connors came in and got the last out, and then Luis Corpus gave us insurance and then some with a grand slam in the bottom of the 8th. With the big lead and Connors only having faced one batter, he stayed in for the 9th and picked up the save.

Here's the commemorative box score:



MLB notes: Christian Little won his first start for the Angels, going 8 6 2 2 1 7 on an strangely-efficient 83 pitches, while things did not go well for another former Ray as Corbin Martin made his Mets debut and tore his UCL after 3 innings, so he's done for the season and possibly his career given his age.

Game 2: It's Alex Buitrago's world, we're all just living in it. Not content to drive in 5 runs on Opening Day, the Rays' CF went one better and drove in 6 today, 4 of which came on a 5th inning grand slam to break open a 4-3 game, his third homer in two days in an 11-6 Rays win. I don't know if 11 RBI in the first two games of the season is a record, but given the record for any two consecutive games is 15, I'm going to guess it is. Buitrago had a pair of sac flies to help build the early 4-3 lead with the key hit a Dayle Jenkins infield single with two out in the 4th to nose them ahead. Nate Clark followed Buitrago's slam in the 5th with a 2-run shot of his own to cap a 3-RBI day and Jenkins singled in another run afterwards. Alec Sachais started in his first appearance since missing the second half of last season with an arthritic elbow, and with his stuff down to 60 from 70 the Yankees were able to tag him for some runs and he ended 5.1 6 6 6 0 5 but still picked up the win. Danny Medina took over and went 1 2/3, while Chris Hicks and Tim Siqueiros had impressive single-inning stints to finish the game.

MLB News: Like Christian Little yesterday, Jon Hayes was impressive in his Angels debut, going 8 2/3 and allowing 2 runs on 5 hits in a win. The bigger news in the game is that 40-year-old Mookie Betts hit HR #500 to back Hayes. Speaking of ancient sluggers in Los Angeles, the Dodgers signed 39-year-old Joey Gallo to a 1-year, $9M contract.

April 6: Assigned IF Melvin Gutierrez and P Brad Ballmann to AAA Durham.

Both cleared waivers, and Gutierrez could come up if we have an infield injury.

Game 3: A wild game at Publix Park that saw a miracle comeback by the Rays in the 9th to tie it unfortunately ended in defeat, 11-9 in 11 innings. Did Alex Buitrago homer again? You bet he did, a 2-run shot in the 2nd that put the Rays up 2-1 to give him 4 HR and 13 RBI in the season's first 3 games. And Victor de Jesus hit his first of the year, a 3-run homer to make it 5-1 in the 3rd. With Leo Ortega on the mound in his Rays debut it seemed like the Rays were on their way to 3-0. But Ortega didn't have it today, giving up back-to-back-to-back homers in the 4th, and then he left two on with Mario Aguilar due up. Bob Sirna came on and Aguilar took deep to cap a 7-run inning making it 8-5 New York. The Yankees added a run off Chris Hicks (who otherwise pitched well in a 3-inning stint) but the Rays offset it with Omar Rodriguez's 1st MLB homer in his debut. Mike Wherry also made his Rays debut with a scoreless 9th and then with one out and one on yet another debutant, Mike Harms, drilled a 2-run homer to cut it to 9-8 before Rodriguez followed suit with 2nd homer in as many innings (as part of a 4-hit day) to improbably even it up. Wherry allowed the leadoff man on in the 10th, but Kikuo Kawase got through the inning. And for the second time in a row I got greedy with Kawase and brought him back for the 11th only for him to give up a couple of hits. Jordan Diaz then made his season debut and carried over his poor spring, walking two straight batters to force in a run with another one scoring afterwards, and that was that.

Team record: 2-1. Next up: 4 at home vs Toronto.

[Art Deco]

Game 1: The Rays topped the Jays 6-4 in Nate Schultz's Tampa Bay debut but it was the power bats which stole the show. Schultz started off strongly with 3 scoreless innings and 4 whiffs and only 1 run allowed through 5 but began to get hit hard in the 6th and he left going 5.1 10 3 3 0 6 as it seems whenever we have a batted ball against it's a 50-50 chance it's a hit instead of the normal 30-70. Danny Medina came in and pitched great through the 7th, but ran into some trouble allowing a run in the 8th and Jim Connors got the final out then stayed on through the 9th for save #2 as he might just be our 9th inning guy now. Schultz still got the win, though. Having blasted 10 homers as a team through the first 3 games, they added 3 more today. Dayle Jenkins hit his first in the first to make it 1-0, and after a Jaiden Hardaway fielder's choice doubled the lead in the 3rd, Rodolfo Rivas had the game's big hit, a 2-run shot in the 5th, his 1st of the year as well. And after the Jays pulled within 4-3 in the 6th, Luis Corpus hit his 2nd round-tripper with a man on in the bottom of the inning. No homer for Alex Buitrago today as he didn't play with Toronto starting a lefty. I know it seems cruel to have benched him after 4 HR and 13 RBI in his first 3 games but Omar Rodriguez was 4-6 with 2 HR in his last game as well.

Game 2: One thing I neglected to mention at the outset of the season is that I tweaked the offensive settings to add a little more, about 10% in the home run department. Apparently this now means we're going to have to win slugfests almost every night as today the ball was flying out of the park again in a 10-6 Rays win. Either that or our starters are still not stretched out enough because once again a Rays starter looked great through the first 4 before imploding. Tonight it was Jon Soranno who held the Jays to one run through 4 before giving up 4 runs in the 5th, including back-to-back homers. He finished 4.1 6 5 5 3 2 before giving way to Tim Siqueiros, who was outstanding in a longer outing than normal, whiffing 5 in 2 1/3 scoreless. As he tired with two out in the 7th Jordan Diaz came on and promptly put the first two men on before getting a strikeout to get out of it. Mike Wherry started the 8th, got a couple of outs but gave up a homer of his own, so enter Kikuo Kawase who got a whiff for the third out and two more in finishing the 9th for his first MLB save. Diaz picked up the win when the Rays went back ahead in the bottom of the 7th. The star on offense today was Nate Clark, who was 4-5 with 2 HR and 4 RBI. He had solo shots in the 1st and 7th (#s 2 and 3) and a 2-run single in the 8th to make a 7-6 game a 9-6 one. Rodolfo Rivas hit his 2nd HR of the year in the 7th back-to-back with Clark, and Dayle Jenkins was 2-4 with an RBI. No homer for Alex Buitrago, although he did hit a double, draw a walk and steal a base. 3 Jays errors at key times also contributed to the 10-run total.

MLB News: Jose Alvarado had a very rough outing in his Philly debut, facing 6 batters and failing to retire any of them allowing 4 hits, 2 walks and 3 runs. The Phillies still won the game 15-9, hitting 7 homers. Did I mention I turned up the offense? And Jose Escobar, the guy we lost in Rule 5 that looked like a power hitter but only hit 2 HR at Durham last year in 221 AB, hit his 2nd HR already for Cleveland as part of a 7-RBI day.

Game 3: At last, an outstanding effort from a Rays starter in a game that looked like regular baseball and not arenaball as Tampa Bay made it 5 of 6 with a 5-1 win over the Jays, who are still looking for their first win of the year in 5 outings. Ironically it didn't start that way at all as Toronto got its run after the first two batters of the game. But Andy Aparicio gave Toronto nothing after that, finishing 7 5 1 1 1 9 to make it 2 wins in 2 starts. Bob Sirna whiffed a couple of lefties in a scoreless 8th and Jordan Diaz got the 9th and snapped back with a 2K 1-2-3 inning. The Rays only had 8 hits on the night but did a great job of sequencing in the 3rd inning when they scored 4 times. After the bases were loaded with nobody out, Nate Clark had an RBI single, Rodolfo Rivas a 2-RBI double, and Jaiden Hardaway added a sac fly. Clark added an RBI groundout in the 7th for the final run and he now has 9 RBI in 6 games.

MLB News: Talk about getting paid. Former Ray Nick Gonzales, coming off an MVP season, saw his salary raised from its current $9M/year to $36M/year as he received a 5/180 extension from the Dodgers who seem to have an unlimited budget.

Game 4: The Rays lost to Toronto today 9-7 in what seems to be a typical 2033 game. The score is a bit misleading since the Rays trailed 9-3 going into the bottom of the 9th but managed to bring the tying run to the plate in the person of Dayle Jenkins, who unfortunately grounded into a 3-6-3 double play to end the game and give the Jays their first win of the season. Alec Sachais fell into the 5th inning trap so many Rays starters have this year as he had limited the Jays to 1 run in 4 innings before the walls came down in the 5th. He allowed 2 runs and left with 2 on as Bob Sirna came in to face the lefty Dan Phipps, who took Sirna into the RF bullpen to make it 6-0. And the Jays had 6 runs before the Rays had their first hit as Forrest Whitley was pitching a no-hitter until Omar Rodriguez singled with two out in the 5th. Will Quintana doubled him home to get the Rays on the board, and while Danny Medina pitched well in relief for 3 innings with 6 whiffs, he did give up a run, and then the Jays tacked on 2 more against Chris Hicks in the 9th which turned out to be decisive. That's because Quintana came through again with a 2-run double in the 7th to add runs 2 and 3, and in the 9th Mike Harms and Omar Rodriguez did it again, each homering as they did on Wednesday to get the Rays closer, Rodriguez's coming with a man on to make it 9-6. And then Quintana hit his first MLB homer to cap a 3-hit, 4-RBI and cut it to 9-7, and Ricky Widmar walked to bring Jenkins up as the tying run which didn't work out. It was funny as regulars Victor de Jesus, Jaiden Hardaway, Alex Buitrago and Luis Corpus were all rested today but the regulars who stayed in the lineup didn't hit as Widmar, Jenkins, Clark and Rivas were a combined 0-15 while the four subs went 7-15 with 3 HR and 7 RBI. Meanwhile it's two bad starts in two outings for Sachais, and hopefully we don't have a problem there.

Team record: 5-2. Next up: 3 games over 4 days in New York to play the Yankees as Game 1 is their home opener.

[Art Deco]

Game 1: The Rays traveled to Yankee Stadium for New York's home opener, their first visit since they walked off the field dejected after losing Game 4 of the ALDS and being eliminated from last year's playoffs. The result was much different today as the Rays got the Leo Ortega they thought they acquired in a 5-0 win. Ortega, the reigning NL Cy Young winner, was tagged for 3 consecutive homers in a bad outing against these same Yankees at Publix Park but today he completely shut them down, going 7 5 0 0 1 6 to get his first Rays win. New York never had multiple runners on against him as he kept them in check all day. Tim Siquerios struck out the side in the 8th (and now has 10 whiffs in 4 1/3) and Mike Wherry finished the shutout in the 9th. The offense wasn't exactly relentless, but Alex Buitrago singled in a run in the 2nd and then they had a big 6th, scoring 4 times on Victor de Jesus's RBI double and a massive 471-ft 3-run homer to dead center from Bo Angeac, his first of the year.

Game 2: The Rays got another masterful start from one of their big off-season starter acquisitions as Nate Schultz dominated the Yankees to the tune of 7 2 0 0 1 9 in a 2-1 win at Yankee Stadium. He went to 2-0, 2.19 and had New York off-balance all day. After Schultz walked the leadoff man in the 8th, Kikuo Kawase came in and got a double play and a whiff to end the inning. Things didn't quite go as well for Jim Connors, though, as after retiring the first man in the 9th he gave up a single and double to plate a Yankee run (their first in 18 innings at home). With the dreaded Mario Aguilar looming, Mike Wherry got the call to go lefty-on-lefty and he got Aguilar to ground out and whiffed pinch-hitter Pat Todd to end the game and grab his first Rays save. Yankee starter Pedro Avila pitched well enough to win, but also did just enough to lose as he yielded solo homers to Ricky Widmar (#1, leading off the game) and Victor de Jesus (#2) in the 5th to account for both Tampa Bay runs. Rays batters only managed 5 hits on the day but thanks to Schultz & Co., it was enough.

Game 3: The Rays swept the Yankees with more dominant pitching, taking an 8-0 decision and allowing New York only 1 run in the 3 games in the series, which is probably the fewest runs allowed in a 3-game series I've managed here in this 14th season of my save. Today's effective starter was Jon Soranno, last seen getting shelled by the Blue Jays, who went 5.1 5 0 0 0 4 to get his 1st win of the year. It looks like an efficient line but in reality he threw 98 pitches and came out for Tim Siquieros who was his usual overpowering self, whiffing 3 in 1 2/3 and now has 13 in 6 innings this season. Bob Sirna struck out the side in the 8th and Chris Hicks had a 1-2-3 2K 9th to finish off the whitewash. The offense came early via the solo longball as Nate Clark hit #4 in the 1st, Mike Harms #3 (in 3 starts!) and Jaiden Hardaway (#2, back-to-back with Harms) went deep. Hardaway added an RBI double in the 4th and they scored again on an error in the 8th before Victor de Jesus hit a bases-clearing double in the 9th to really break it open.

Team record: 8-2. Next up: A 4-game weekend wraparound series at Fenway concluding with the traditional 11AM Patriots' Day game.

Elsewhere in MLB we had this:



The Bengals beat the Packers with three touchdowns I guess. Our former farmhand Victor Barillas had himself a big game with 3 homers in the slugfest.

Minor League Note: Durham opened their season with a 4-3 walk-off win over Charlotte. The notable performance came from Kevin Kerstetter, acquired in the off-season from Seattle, who went 6.1 3 0 0 3 9 in an impressive organizational debut. He's our first option should we need another starter.

[Art Deco]

Game 1: A sloppy, not well-pitched game by the Rays today saw them lose 8-6 to Boston, another of those games in which they rallied in the 9th and brought the tying run to the plate but fell short. Andy Aparicio started today and after a brilliant start last time out was clearly off his game today, finishing 4 6 6 6 4 3 and falling to 2-1, 5.29. Danny Medina took over and allowed the last of his runs to score but did OK, only allowing an unearned run after that in 3 innings while whiffing 6 (he has 19 Ks in 10 IP this season), and Chris Hicks pitched the 8th allowing a solo homer. Down 8-3 going into the 9th the bats finally did get something going as Alex Buitrago tripled, was singled home by Ricky Widmar, Dayle Jenkins walked and Rodolfo Rivas hit a 2-run double. That brought Victor de Jesus up with a chance to tie, but he flew to center to end the game. Earlier Rivas and Bo Angeac had RBI singles.

MLB Note: St. Louis shut the Yankees out 12-0, meaning New York has scored just once total in its four home games this year. Also Detroit lost their ace Kumar Rocker for 5-6 weeks with a bone spur in his elbow.

Game 2: The Rays got 6 1/3 excellent innings out of their bullpen today in a 5-2 win over Boston after Alec Sachais had to leave the game in the 3rd inning with a torn fingernail. They first took a 2-0 lead in the 3rd on a Jaiden Hardaway RBI double and Victor de Jesus' RBI single and it could have been more but Nate Clark was twice thrown out at the plate by Boston OF Steve Burns, once in the 1st and again in the 3rd. Sachais got through the first two innings unscathed, but he gave up 5 straight base hits in the 3rd. The 2nd and 3rd of those both featured runners thrown out on the bases, so he was one out away from getting out of it but gave up a 2-run homer to Cody Schrier to tie it and then surrendered a double. He then had to leave and it's described as moderate and for a week, so he'll likely go on the IL and we'll see Kevin Kerstetter come up. This left over 2/3 of the game for the pen to cover, and they did it in style. Bob Sirna went the first 2 1/3, striking out 5, Tim Siqueiros the next two perfect with 3 whiffs and this got us to the top of the 8th when the offense finally broke the 2-2 tie after hitting into some key double plays and the aforementioned Clark baserunning outs. And it was Clark who broke the deadlock with a 2-run homer (#5) with 2 out and Rodolfo Rivas went back-to-back with #3. Kikuo Kawase came in for the 8th, striking out the side around a single (the only hit allowed by the bullpen today!), and Jim Connors picked up save #3 in the 9th with what will look like a perfect line in the box score except for the fact he hit 2 men to bring the tying run to the plate before ending it. Siqueiros was credited with win #1 of the season. An impressive performance by the pen, and here's hoping Leo Ortega will give most of them a rest tomorrow.

April 17: Placed P Alec Sachais on the 15-day IL with a torn fingernail, recalled P Eric Carter from AAA Durham.

Carter gives us a fresh arm for a few days until we need to call up Kevin Kerstetter to start in Sachais' place.

Game 3: Leo Ortega was excellent again and the Rays got just enough offense to take a 3-1 win over Boston. Ortega went 7 6 1 1 2 7 to improve to 2-0, 4.08 as he gradually recovers from that rough opening start. Kikuo Kawase did his strike out the side around a hit thing once again, and Jordan Diaz was given the save opportunity today and as his wont, made it interesting. He retired the first two on fly balls before giving up a single and a double to put the tying runs in scoring position before whiffing Thairo Estrada to end the game and pick up save #1. The offense came on an Alex Buitrago homer in the 2nd, his 5th of the year and first since he hit 4 in the opening 3 games, a Bo Angeac RBI double in the 4th, and a Jaiden Hardaway blast to deep center which traveled a mere 481 feet (his 2nd) to make it a 2-run game. Mike Harms was 0-4, so he finally made an MLB start in which he didn't homer. We did lose Dane Ayers today, though, after he was beaned in the 7th inning and suffered a concussion which will sideline him for 3 weeks.

April 18: Placed IF/OF Dane Ayers on the 10-day IL with a concussion, purchased the contract of IF Melvin Gutierrez from AAA Durham.

Gutierrez is back on the 40-man as he's seemed to be on and off the last few years several times. He'll give us quality defense at 2B, SS and 3B (65-75) either a late-inning replacement or giving one of the regulars a day off.

Game 4: The Rays took the 11AM Patriots' Day matinee from Boston 8-6 to win 3 of 4 in the series in a game where the hitters were ready for the early start but the pitchers weren't. Tampa Bay scored 6 times in the top of the 1st on 3 homers: Nate Clark's 2-run shot, a solo blast from Victor de Jesus (#3) and a 2-run jack from Alex Buitrago (#6, he likes to homer in bunches). But Nate Schultz couldn't get anyone out to start the game and gave up 3 runs, with the third coming on the first out he got, a sac fly. He whiffed a pair after that and settled in nicely, and Clark added a 2nd 2-run homer in the 5th to make it 8-3, his 7th (tied with several others for the MLB lead). Schultz ran out of gas in the 7th, and Boston got a couple of runs with the help of a Ricky Widmar error to cut it to 8-5. Schultz ended 6.1 9 5 4 1 6, not an impressive line on its own but pretty good considering how bad his first inning was. Tim Siqueiros got the final 2 outs of the 7th and Mike Wherry had a scoreless 8th. Jim Connors got the call for the save and after retiring the first two batters he allowed a Julio Rubalcava homer before getting the third out and his 4th save.

Team record: 11-3. Next up: Back home for 3 vs Detroit.