The 2020 (and beyond) Tampa Bay Rays

[Art Deco]

Here we go again....



Bad starting pitching has been story of 2040 and it bit the Rays in the opener as Danny Romero was flat-out terrible allowing 6 runs on 3 homers in the first 3 innings and the Rays couldn't recover. Now they'll have to win 3 of 4 against Boston and Brad Jackson is charged with making sure they won't have to win 3 in a row.

[Art Deco]

Whew...



The Rays answered back with 4 homers and a decent start from Brad Jackson to even up the ALDS before heading to Boston. Jackson put the Rays in an early 2-0 hole and it was "here we go again" before Jose Mendez turned things around with a 3-run homer to put Tampa Bay ahead to stay. 3 more homers including solo shots from Danny Ayala and Mike McKee in the 8th to give them some insurance led the way. Jackson settled in and pitched well, and the bullpen came up with some clutch outs. Ed Pretty got Jackson out a man on 2nd, 2-out situation in the 7th and Joe Trader retired two righties after Pretty left with 2 on and 1 out in the 8th. Trader was brought in to face lefty Rays-killer Mario Aguilar but Boston pinch-hit for him and it didn't faze Trader. Jeff Brockman will try to put it all together in Game 3.



Houston is one game away from the ALCS, the Pirates lost their first playoff game in 25 years to Columbus and the Rockies started their World Series defense with a rare pitchers' duel triumph in Coors Field.

[Art Deco]

Columbus pitching is just too much for the Pirates once again, and yes that's former Ray Ben Hill homering for the Lightning. Meanwhile the Padres get even with Colorado before they head back to San Diego.

Also this bit of news:



Forbes of course struggled at the big league level but he still remains a big part of our future and a potential rotation member in 2041.

[Art Deco]

Backs to the wall again...



An excruciating loss in which yours truly was outmanaged by the AI. Now things may have turned out the same way had I not made some questionable decisions, but maybe they wouldn't have. First of all we had 4 men thrown out on the bases. 2 of them I had no say in as Danny Ayala was thrown out going to 3rd on his RBI double in the 3rd, and Jaiden Hardaway was gunned down trying to stretch a single into a double. But I had two caught stealings on pitchouts in counts where I should have anticipated them and the second one really backfired. That's because in the 7th Mike McKee led off with a single and I decided to pinch-run Mike Willis for him. Willis was thrown out of course and the decision to remove McKee turned problematic in the 9th when after Jimmy Leonard led off with a double but only advanced to third with two out, McKee's spot in the order came up and instead it was .210-hitting Kevin Morley at the plate. I could have pinch-hit for him but then we'd have to play a non-catcher at the position, plus Morley is great at drawing walks so I was just hoping he'd get on and pass the baton. He took the count to 3-2, but popped to short center to end the game. So now it's up to Vinny Willard to save the season tomorrow or it's yet another upset loss in the ALDS.



High drama in Chicago as the White Sox got a Bobby Guaman walk-off homer in the bottom of the 11th to keep their season alive. Sean D'Alena threw 8 innings of 1-hit ball for the White Sox.

In some good news:



Williams of course is the heir apparent to Jaiden Hardaway and the unanimous pick as IL MVP. Doug Johns finished second.

[Art Deco]

It's the same old song...



Another year, another division series exit. For the second straight season and sixth time in ten years, the Rays bow out in the opening round. It was another tough loss which saw the Rays get another good start but the offense was the culprit in the two games at Fenway, managing only 2 runs in each. Danny Ayala put them up 2-1 with likely his last homer as a Ray but Ken Burgess served up a 2-run shot to Bobby Owens in the bottom of the 7th and that was that, despite a fine start from Vinny Willard. Looking forward to seeing what we can get from Willard with a full year in the rotation next season. We did put two men on with one out in the 9th but instead of delivering a 3-run pinch-homer Pat Moyer bounced into a 6-4-3 double play to end it.



And the Red Sox will be playing Houston in the ALCS after the Astros left no doubt about Game 4 by scoring 10 times in the first 3 innings on Chicago. Meanwhile the first playoff game in Pittsburgh in 25 years was quite a thriller with the home crowd sent into a frenzy by Bobby Roesner's 2-run walk-off homer in the bottom of the 10th after Columbus had gone ahead in the top of the inning and was 3 outs from the NLCS. The Padres got revenge for their 2-1 Game 1 loss by getting a 2-1 Game 3 to take a 2-1 series lead.

[Art Deco]

They raised the Jolly Roger again in Pittsburgh as the Pirates forced a Game 5 back in Columbus, while the Padres assured us we won't have a repeat World Series winner as they eliminated the Rockies behind a rare (these days) postseason shutout from Rogelio Espinoza and a 2-run game from veteran catcher Bardanes Chibukhchian, whom I'm glad is not on the Rays since typing out that name is a chore. (I'd probably call him B-Chib or something if he was.)

[Art Deco]

Well at least the Ben Hill & Ray Cervantes for Jordan Perez trade worked out for somebody. We knew we were giving up two good young hitters from a position of surplus and thought we were getting a solid #2/#3 starter in return. That didn't happen and our loss was the Lightning's gain as Hill hit a 2-run homer in the first to erase a quick 1-0 Pittsburgh lead and Cervantes went back-to-back with him to lead Columbus to the NLCS against San Diego. Hill was series MVP while Perez ended up in long relief.

[Art Deco]

October 13, ALCS Game 1:



October 14, ALCS Game 2 & NLCS Game 1:



October 15, NLCS Game 2:

First, a little bit of trivia:



What do these pitchers all have in common? You guessed it, they're former Rays who got to boost their win totals playing on 100+ win teams.



October 16, ALCS Game 3:



October 17, ALCS Game 4 & NLCS Game 3:



In the final game of our ALDS with Boston, the Red Sox lost their starting CF Glen Campe to a high ankle sprain so they called up rookie Jared Idle, who had never before played in MLB. He made his debut in Game 1 and was the hero today in Game 4 as you can see above.

[Art Deco]

October 18: ALCS Game 5 & NLCS Game 4:



The Red Sox and Padres are now each one game away from meeting in the World Series.


October 19: NLCS Game 5:



The Padres book their place in the World Series.

October 20: ALCS Game 6:



We will have a Game 7 in the ALCS! The Astros came from behind to stave off elimination, and Game 7 will get its own post.

[Art Deco]

The Astros did it, coming back from 3-2 down to take Games 6 and 7 at home and advance to the World Series against San Diego. Anthony Siegler, the hero of Game 6, was the hero of Game 7 as his RBI single in the 6th broke a 1-1 tie. And yes that was former Ray Jon Soranno picking up the win in relief.

[Art Deco]

Another former Ray made good in the World Series opener as Ted Hadley (traded for Pat Moyer) picked up the win in relief of Alex Fundora who had to leave with back stiffness in the 3rd. Bo Angeac has a shot at another ring, one for the thumb after picking up 4 with the Rays.

[Art Deco]

Big night for former Rays in a wild back-and-forth affair as Bo Angeac was 3-3 with a homer and Angelo Romo (a former Rays prospect) also went yard. Houston was one out away from evening up the series but Bardenes Chibu....er, B-Chib singled in the tying run and despite allowing a run in the top of the 10th the Padres got two back with still another former Ray, Jon Soranno, giving up the winning hit.

[Art Deco]

The Astros held serve with a home win and are now back in it, thanks to a brilliant effort from starter Juan Tenorio.

[Art Deco]

We now know we're going back to San Diego and this one could go the distance after Houston tied it up at 2 tonight.

[Art Deco]

The Padres are one win away from their first-ever World Series title thanks to tonight's 6-4 win in which they hung on after grabbing a 4-0 lead.

[Art Deco]

We're going the distance thanks to Ian "Reptile" Rhodes' 2-run homer in the 8th off Danny de Jesus which gave Houston a 3-1 win.

[Art Deco]

Congratulations, Padres!



San Diego wins its first World Series in club history in their 72nd season and it represents the first Big 4 Championship in city history. Bo Angeac now has that fifth ring.

[Art Deco]

As always these offseason posts are not posted all at once but updated as the offseason goes on, so refresh for updates.

The news from above is that we can spend up to $180M on payroll again which will give us a lot of flexibility. The owner wants me to re-sign Jaiden Hardaway of course, and although I'd like him back in a vacuum it's Seth Williams' time. J-Hard is also now 35, and declined quite a bit last year even though he was still a 5-WAR player. Danny Ayala is also a free agent and his elite power bat will be missed as 45 HR, 140-150 RBI guys don't grow on trees. We have capable replacements (Jose Mendez should get more PT) but they won't be as productive as Ayala, who is asking for an 8/320 extension which he ain't gonna get. The other major free agent is Kikuo Kawase, whom I'm already trying to bring back for another 2 years and should be able to afford. Joe Trader is also a free agent and he put together a great contract year (1.4 WAR for a lefty specialist). I'd like to bring him back as well if his demands are reasonable.

And...Kikuo remains in the fold:



Here are the projected salaries for 2041 with Kawase aboard:



Everyone not listed of course is making the minimum, and the total currently stands at $132M. The one name that stands out here that likely isn't coming back is Jim Gebers. He lost his job (or at least the long side of a platoon) to Josh Beckett, and I'm not going to pay him $9M to be the 3B against lefties. Jordan Moore was an interesting waiver claim last year but he's going to be non-tendered or traded. Ramon Ruiz is pricey for a backup infielder but his versatility and glove and the fact that we need cover for the "wrecked" Jeff Baez means we keep him, as well as Baez who will earn the money with Gold Glove D and decent hitting as he was worth almost 4 WAR despite playing about 105-110 games. We just have to hope his next injury isn't one that puts him out for several months.

The top 4 in the rotation of Romero/Jackson/Brockman/Willard looks set with the 5th spot up for grabs among Jose Mendoza (if he comes back from bone chip surgery with his stuff intact), Jordan Perez (we'll give him another shot), Sean Forbes (his ratings and #s at Durham were great, I'm hoping his MLB struggles were a sample size thing) and possibly Jon Harbour, 2039's 5th starter for a while.

The bullpen looks solid again with the big 3 of Kawase, Pretty and Burgess, although if I can't re-sign Joe Trader priority #1 this offseason will be finding a top-notch lefty reliever. Chris Toombs will be back and hopefully last season's struggles are a blip rather than a trend. Dan Anderson was a revelation and whoever loses the 5th starter derby will end up in long relief.

McKee and Morley are back at catcher, the infield looks like Alexander-S.Williams-Baez-Beckett and OF/DH is a Mendez-Malone-Leonard-Ruggles-Willis combo. With Ruiz backing up on the infield, this leaves one spot I'd like to use on a RHB that can back up at the corner IF positions.



This is the 5th time in his 8 seasons Kawase's won the award and he probably deserved in the other 3, which is why I had no problem re-signing him even though his K/9 dropped from 17.3 to 13.7 last year. He didn't allow a single homer for the 2nd time in his career and has only surrendered 11 in 419 career IP.

November 13: Silver Sluggers were awarded and this year we "only" had 3: Josh Alexander (1B), Jaiden Hardaway (2B) and Danny Ayala (LF).

November 15: Houston's Elias Gomez won the AL Cy Young off a 13-8, 3.52 season with a league-best 256 Ks in 189 IP. Danny Romero finished 5th and Vinny Willard 6th in the voting. San Diego's Rogelio Espinoza took home the NL version with a 14-8, 3.23 record and 242 whiffs in 200 IP.



An impressive showing from Alexander this year, winning MVP in his first full season as a regular. I thought the voting would be closer but the combination of his big traditional HR/RBI numbers and his league-leading 6.3 WAR did the trick. Dodgers 2B Steve Cholette won in the NL off a .292-42-131, 6.6 WAR in a close vote over Milwaukee CF Dan Gregory.

We have a trade!



We kind of kill two birds with one stone here, moving Gebers and his salary while acquiring a stud lefty reliever who will replace Joe Trader if we have to. Quincy Siegle (and a marginal prospect) got the deal done, and although I liked Siegle and he contributed well in 2039 when we had infield injuries he was taking up a 40-man spot and wasn't needed at all last season. If he could hit lefties he'd probably be on the team but although he's a nominal switch-hitter he really only hits righties. Williams meanwhile saved 85 games for LA the last 3 seasons and has a career K/9 of 14.3.

[Art Deco]

We start with another trade:



I like our return in this one (well duh if I didn't I wouldn't have made it) as it helps fill some needs. Phillips, the vet, is an elite defensive 3B who bats right. He'll take Jim Gebers' role as the platoon 3B (although it won't be a strict platoon as Josh Beckett will some starts against lefties) and can serve as a defensive replacement when we're defending a late lead. He's not the hitter Gebers is but he'll work in his role. Frick was Oakland's 2039 #1 pick from nearby UCF and is also an elite defender (rated 75 at SS). He's not a great hitting prospect but he's not terrible either, he'll probably hit .250-.260 with the occasional homer. He can also pitch and is a potential 65/60/50 reliever although he's primarily going to play short. And Laboy is the most intriguing of the lot, a 3B who is potential 55 contact, 60 gap power and 60 HR power and can play a decent 3B (50). He could be the long-term solution at 3B. To get you have to give, and Abeles was brilliant for us in 2039 but not as much in 2040 and couldn't hold onto the 5th starter role. He did pitch better in long relief later in the season and I'd imagine Oakland gives him a rotation spot. Ramos is a marginal C prospect who could have some pop but has contact issues.

December 4: Jon Jimenez will be haunting us 18-19 times a year now after he signed a 5/131 deal with the Yankees following a couple of big seasons with Colorado after we dealt him. He's the first of the big free agents to sign.

December 5: Whoa! Not only did Danny Ayala and Jaiden Hardaway sign, they signed quickly. And not only did they sign quickly, they signed with the same team! That would be the Houston Astros, which will make getting out of the AL into the Series that much tougher, assuming we ever make it out of the ALDS again. Ayala went for 6/217 while Hardaway signed a 3/102.5 pact. We'll get a couple of compensatory draft picks in return which given our track record I might end up trading.

We made a mega-trade:



Our biggest problem over the years has been team defense. And after SS (where we already have Gold Glover Jeff Baez) the most important position is CF. Daniel Malone has been a fine player the last several years, one of the better at his position in the game but he's become a very mediocre fielder. He had a -7.8 Zone Rating and only a 2.44 Range Factor and was a big factor in our BABIP against being almost .330. So in return we get Gregory, a truly elite defender in CF and the guy who was #2 in the NL MVP voting after a 7.6 WAR season. Gregory had a ZR of 14.4 (!) and an RF of 2.92 last year. So what's the catch and why does Milwaukee make this deal? A few reasons:

1. Malone is a better hitter than Gregory, about 70 points worth of OPS. Gregory's a good hitter, a natural .300 guy and isn't just a singles hitter but he doesn't have Malone's power.

2. Salaries. Gregory is under contract until 2046, he's making $18.8M this year and $24.2M/year for the five years after that. Malone has just hit arbitration and got a $6M contract for this season although he's projected for $14M and $19M in the two years after that so the salaries get much closer after this year. Despite Malone just hitting arbitration, he's actually older than Gregory (30-29).

3. Recinos. We also sent Milwaukee Marco Recinos, who's potentially a first-division starter at 1B. He could be a 40-double, 30-homer, 100-walk guy. What made him expendable for us is that he was utterly and completely blocked by Josh Alexander and is a lefty hitter as well.

It's going to be an interesting season as we (hopefully) become a more defensively-responsible team even if we do sacrifice some hitting.

December 13: Alex Padilla, one of the mainstays of Houston over the last decade, signed a 4/117 deal with the Angels. The OF is a career .326 hitter and has accumulated 50 WAR over his 10 seasons with the Astros.

December 21: Added 1B Joe Flores, 2B Seth Williams, 3B Tomas Laboy, OF Randy Rappaport and IF Jon Callahan to the 40-man roster, designated P Steve Beaver for assignment and placed him on waivers.

Rule 5 Draft is tomorrow, and while Williams was obvious, Flores has developed as a power-hitting 1B, Laboy of course came over in the Abeles deal above and Rappaport has 70 MLB power. Callahan came over with Josh Beckett in the Bo Angeac deal a couple of years back and is the next infielder up, while Beaver hasn't panned out and has mediocre stuff. We're actually going in with 39 players so if someone really interesting pops up available we could make our first-ever claim. Doubt it though.

December 23: The Rule 5 Draft saw only a couple of players selected, and no Rays were taken.

December 24: Well we didn't lose anyone in the Rule 5 Draft but Steve Beaver was claimed by the Tigers, who always seem to claim our pitchers (see Mike Thomas). We were going to need his 40-man spot for when Jose Mendoza comes off the 60-day IL anyway.

December 26: The Astros really are becoming the team to beat in the AL. After signing Hardaway and Ayala to big contracts, they went out and dealt 3 prospects (including a top-100 guy) to the Orioles for star SS Kevin Kane, who led the AL in HR last year with 48 (although he is kind of a lousy defensive SS). They're going to score runs like we have over the years.

December 31: Former Ray and big-time power bat Eric Titcombe is headed for Hollywood after signing a 3/70.8 deal with the Dodgers.

[Art Deco]

January 2: The Hall of Fame voting is in:



Going to be a quiet ceremony at Cooperstown this year. I voted for Machado, Devers, Will Smith (the highest-voted 1st year guy), Jose Ramirez and Tyler Glasnow. As much as I love what Jose Alvarado did for us over the years, I couldn't bring myself to vote for a middle reliever.

January 3: Thought about trying to bring Joe Trader back, but that went out the window as he wanted too much for me to pay and he ended up in Anaheim on a whopping 3/33 deal. They paid that much because they see him as a starter but to me he looks like a league-average one. Meanwhile Houston is going all out after losing in the World Series last year and today they added reliever Nate Corder, who had 26 saves between San Francisco and Cincinnati last year, on a 3-year deal.

One amusing sidenote: The AI, knowing that I lost Jaiden Hardaway, keeps coming up with trade offers from various teams trying to send me 2B of varying quality. Seth Williams getting no respect.

January 9: And...the Astros are at it again. They inked Hisaaki Otani, the top international free agent, to a 3/17.4 deal. Otani is a power reliever (70 stuff) who will make their deep bullpen even deeper. In case you were wondering they now have the 3rd-highest payroll in the game now at $247M. By comparison we're 16th at $135M.

January 18: Former Rays ace Nate Schultz is headed to the desert on a 3/49.8 deal with the Diamondbacks.

January 26: The Astros continue to sign everybody and their latest is former Rays two-time 20-game winner Kevin Kerstetter to a fairly modest 4/16.2 deal. Kerstetter's not quite what he was for the Rays in the mid-'30s but still sports 70 control and was 7-7, 4.33 with the White Sox last year.

February 12: The 2041 schedule just came out and we're opening with - you guessed it - Houston at Publix Park for 4 games.

February 19: Hey remember Damani Cotton? Our former middle reliever bounced around from the Cubs to the Cardinals to the Rockies, where he joined their rotation last year and went 15-5, 4.35, not bad for Coors. He just parlayed that into a big 3/65.4 deal with San Diego to join their rotation.

February 20: Claimed P Willie Briones off waivers from Philadelphia, designated P Ian Cowles for assignment and placed him on waivers.

Briones is a power righty reliever who had a brilliant 11/87 BB/K ratio in 47 IP for the Phillies last year, earning 1.4 WAR. He is somewhat homer-prone (gave up 8) and I'm not 100% convinced he's going to make the team but it was worth a shot. Cowles is nothing special and should clear.

February 26: On the eve of the exhibition season beginning, I made an offer to one of the game's best relievers in lefty Mike Barkley. He was asking for a 1-year $7M contract and I submitted that offer. Barkley is a 5-time All-Star, was the 2037 Reliever of the Year in the NL and has averaged 3.2 WAR per year over his career. If I can get him for under $10M I'll be thrilled - he'd give us a ridiculous bullpen of Kawase, Pretty, the newly-acquired Chris Williams, Ken Burgess and himself.