May 25: Traded 21-year old minor league RHP Ismael Rivera to the San Francisco Giants, getting 23-year old minor league RF Jared Richardson in return.
A trade of prospects. I was doing some shopping and saw Richardson's name come up so I decided to see what the Giants would take for him. Richardson was the #3 overall pick last season and is ranked as the #32 prospect by BNN, a toolsy OF with power and who can play a 60 RF. The price turned out to be Rivera, whom my assistant GM didn't want to give up. Rivera has 75 stuff in relief and 65 stuff as a starter, but 25 movement and 40 control with potential for 50. Incredible stuff, but hittable. Not sure a guy with 25 movement would ever work in Publix Park, as I discovered with Rayhmer Costa.
Game 1: Memorial Day at Publix Park, and maybe someone should lay a wreath in remembrance of our bats, which were absent today in a tough 2-1 loss. Jim Gebers' 3rd-inning solo homer, his 2nd of the year, was it for the scoring and one of only five hits on the day. As a result, Jeremy Curtis's fine debut start as a Ray (6.2 3 2 2 3 9) was wasted. Fortunately the Jays lost as well, so the deficit remains 1/2 game.
Game 2: The Rays took a wild back-and-forth 9-6 win over Seattle behind a monster game from Omar Rodriguez, but lost another starting pitcher in the process. I'll go with the bad news first as Ron Adams tore a meniscus and will be out until about mid-September. This occurred in the 3rd inning after he gave up a couple of solo homers to put Seattle up 3-1. That's when O-Rod went to work. Having already tripled in a run in the first, he hit his second triple of the game to drive in two more to put the Rays up 4-3 in the 4th. And after Seattle got within 5-4, he homered (#11) to make it 6-4. But Tim Siqueiros gave up a couple of solo homers (Rays pitchers allowed 5 solo homers in total today) in the top of the 7th to allow Seattle to tie it up again before Jim Gebers homered for the second straight day in the bottom of the frame to put Tampa Bay back on top. Jim Golunski ran into some trouble in the 8th, so Kikuo Kawase had to get a 5-out save (#10) and he was helped by a pair of insurance runs in the 8th including a Rodriguez RBI single, his 4th hit and 5th RBI of the day. Siqueiros rather undeservedly ended up with win #4. Tim Gates, who went 2 1/3 scoreless in relief of Adams, will be taking Adams' place in the rotation. Oh yeah, and after all that Toronto lost again so the Rays are finally back on top in the AL East by 1/2 game, the first time in 3 weeks they've had sole possession of the division lead.
In response to the Adams injury, a trade:
We turn Nethercutt, just claimed off waivers about a week ago, into Cotton, a solid reliever who can go multiple innings and still has untapped potential as a starter. Once again, I ignored my assistant GM who didn't like the deal.
Game 3: It was another tough game but the Rays ended up prevailing 4-3 in 12 innings on Bo Angeac's RBI single off former Ray Willie Bertone. Not only did they rally against ex-teammate Bertone but a key play in the inning came when another former Ray property, Ricky Loya, dropped a line drive and allowed a man to reach. The big news early was that Jon Soranno actually turned in a decent start for a change, going 6 4 2 2 4 5 but the Rays were down 2-1 into the 7th when Mike McKee doubled home the tying run and one of Omar Rodriguez's 3 more hits tonight was an RBI single to put the Rays on top. But with the bullpen short-handed Chris Toombs was pressed into action in the 8th and allowed the tying run. Mike Wherry ended up with his first win of the year after pitching a scoreless 11th and 12th. Toronto got back in the win column to stay 1/2 game back.
Team record: 33-15. Next up: A much-needed off-day to rest the bullpen from all these early starter exits and extra-inning games before we head to Baltimore for 3.