The 2008 Tampa Bay Rays: Destined for Greatness

[Powderguy]

I will be managing the 2008 Tampa Bay Rays using the most current rosters from CubbyFan. I will do a brief rundown of Spring Training (when it gets here) and will review some of the trades that have happened so far.

After I set the roster, I will do a run down of each Opening Day Starter for the Rays. I hope you will be following as I try and lead the Rays from a perennial doormat to a contender.

[johnnybourbon]

good luck! I'm a dynasty "reader" and I'll keep an eye out for yours.

[Powderguy]

JANUARY

1-25: Arizona sends 3B Chad Tracy and minor league SP Ivan Cedeno to Pittsburgh for LF Xavier Nady.
1-25: Cleveland sends SS Jhonny Peralta and minor league SS Luis Alvarez to Cincinnati for 3B Edwin Encarnacion and minor league C Tyler Hauschild.
1-25: Baltimore sends 3B Melvin Mora to St. Louis for RP Randy Flores.
1-26: Oakland sends C Rob Bowen and minor league SP Ryan Webb to Colorado for minor league LF Scott Podsednik.
1-27: Kansas City sends LF David DeJesus and minor league LF Nicholas Francis to Oakland for minor league 1B Jack Hannahan.
1-27: San Francisco sends CF Dave Roberts and minor league SP Jose Valdez to Chicago (A) for SP Jose Contreras.
1-28: San Diego signs free agent closer Akinori Otsuka agreed to a 2 year, $8.4 million deal.
1-28: Seattle sends LF Raul Ibanez and minor league 1B Reed Eastley to Detroit for SP Nate Robertson.

FEBRUARY

2-3: San Francisco trades LF Fred Lewis to New York (A) for 3B Wilson Betemit and minor league C Brock Ungricht.
2-20: Philadelphia sends 1B Wes Helms to Florida for RP Randy Messenger and minor league LF Dave Foster
2-29: Cleveland sends C Kelly Shoppach and minor league 1B Chao Kuan Wu to Milwaukee for SP Chris Capuano and minor league SP Mike Ramlow.
2-29: Boston sends 3B Kevin Youkilis and minor league SP Hunter Jones to Florida for RP Kevin Gregg and minor league LF Dustin Kaats.

MARCH

3-1: Minnesota sends minor league 1B Doug Deeds and minor league SP Ryan Mullins to Houston for CF Michael Bourn and minor league SP Chris Salamida.
3-3: Cincinnati sends 1B Scott Hatteberg and minor league CF Keltavious Jones to Seattle for RP Sean Green.

[EMSoccerCoach]

Rays are an interesting team to follow. Will certainly be checking in. Good luck!

[Powderguy]

March News & Notes

3-7: Houston catcher J.R. Towles is expected to miss 8 weeks after straining his hamstring.
3-7: LA Dodgers shortstop Chin-Lung Hu is expected to be out for 8 months after tearing some ankle ligaments.
3-8: LA Angels trade LF Juan Rivera and minor league SP Kelly Shearer to San Diego for SP Greg Maddux.
3-12: NY Yankees sign SP Andy Pettitte to a 2 year, $32 million extension. This just shows that the Yankees have money to throw away.
3-16: LA Angels agree on a 2 year, $22 million extension with SP Greg Maddux.
3-17: Chicago sends 3B Joe Crede to Minnesota for 1B Mike Lamb.
3-17: Detroit trades 3B Ryan Raburn and minor league SP Lauren Gagnier to Colorado for SP Aaron Cook.
3-17: NY Yankees starting pitcher Andy Pettitte will miss 10-11 months with a torn back muscle.
3-20: LA Angels trade CF Reggie Willits and minor league SS Hainley Statia to Washington for RP Jon Rauch.
3-21: LA Dodgers trade minor league LF George Lombard and minor league SS Francisco Lizarraga to Minnesota for RP Matt Guerrier and minor league SS Eric Santiago.
3-23: Pittsburgh trades CF Nate McLouth and minor league 3B Jared Keel to Oakland for RP Santiago Casilla.
3-25: LA Angels sign closer Francisco "K-Rod" Rodriguez to a 2 year, $14 million extension.
3-30: Florida relief pitcher Daniel Barone will miss 4 weeks with back spasms.
4-2: Florida sends LF Cody Ross and minor league RF Tom Hickman to LA Dodgers for C Gary Bennett and minor league SP Wayne Renfrow.



The Tampa Bay Rays finished up Spring Training with a 9-15 record, which bested only four teams in terms of wins. New York (N), Chicago (N), and Arizona all had 8 and Colorado finished up with 5.

Now, onto the 25 men that will make up the 2008 Tampa Bay Rays Opening Day roster. (starters in bold)

Position Players

Catchers: Dioner Navarro, John Jaso
First Base: Carlos Pena
Second Base: Akinori Iwamura, Willy Aybar
Third Base: Evan Longoria
Shortstop: Jason Bartlett, Ben Zobrist
Outfielder: Cliff Floyd (DH), Rocco Baldelli, Carl Crawford, B.J. Upton, John Rodriguez

Starting Rotation

1. Scott Kazmir (L)
2. James Shields (R)
3. Edwin Jackson (R)
4. Jason Hammel (R)
5. Jeff Niemann (R)

Bullpen

MR: Scott Dohmann (R)
MR: Grant Balfour (R)
MR: J.P. Howell (L)
MR: Scott Munter (R)
SU: Dan Wheeler (R)
SU: Al Reyes (R)
CL: Troy Percival (R)

Rays of the Future (future call-ups): AAA SP Matt Garza, AAA CL Eduardo Morlan, AAA SP Jacob McGee, AA SS Brandon Rousseve, AA SP Wade Davis, A SP David Price, A LF Ryan Royster

[EMSoccerCoach]

Apparently Pettitte tore his back muscle by trying to life the $32 million dollars at once.

[Powderguy]

Originally Posted by EMSoccerCoach

Apparently Pettitte tore his back muscle by trying to life the $32 million dollars at once.

HAHA!

Also, I just realized I forgot to load in the actual 2008 schedule, it's too late to do this now, so I guess I'll make do with how it is, it seems to be the 2006 schedule.

[Powderguy]

Behind Kazmir and Longoria, Rays prevail 3-1 in opener.

                     1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9    R   H   E
Tampa Bay    0   0   0   1   0   1   0   0   1    3   5   1
Baltimore      1   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0    1   7   0

Win: Scott Kazmir (1-0) 7.2 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 4 BB, 7 K, 130 pitches
Loss: Erik Bedard (0-1) 6.0 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 8 K
Save: Troy Percival (1)

HR: (TB) Evan Longoria (1), (TB) B.J. Upton (1)


Rays squander multiple scoring opportunities, lose to O's 11-4.

                     1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9    R   H   E
Tampa Bay    0   0   0   1   0   2   0   0   1    4   10   0
Baltimore      2   0   1   0   2   0   3   3   x    11  15   0

Win: Jeremy Guthrie (1-0) 5.0 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 5 BB, 5 K
Loss: James Shields (0-1) 5.1 IP, 8 H, 5 ER, 1 BB, 4 K

HR: (TB) Carlos Pena (1), (TB) Evan Longoria (2), (BAL) Nick Markakis (1), (BAL) Luke Scott (1), (BAL) Matt LeCroy (1)

Rays blow 4 run lead in the 8th, Johnson's walk-off 2 run shot wins it for Orioles in 11.

                     1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9  10  11    R   H   E
Tampa Bay    0   0   4   0   2   0   1   1   0    0   0    8   13   1
Baltimore      2   0   0   0   0   1   1   4   0     0   2   10  12   0

Win: Jamie Walker (1-0) 1.0 IP, 2 K
Loss: Al Reyes (0-1) 1.2 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 2 K

HR: (TB) Evan Longoria (3), (BAL) Aubrey Huff (1), (BAL) Ben Johnson (1)

[bucketsndimes]

Tough loss, three straight homers for Longoria though, that's pretty beast.

[EMSoccerCoach]

Why is Bedard still on the Orioles, though?

[jmantemp]

The Mariner - Oriole trade never happened in CubbyFan world apparently. The Rays are certainly a young and exciting team to write about. I'll be curious to see what happens.

[Powderguy]

Originally Posted by jmantemp

The Mariner - Oriole trade never happened in CubbyFan world apparently. The Rays are certainly a young and exciting team to write about. I'll be curious to see what happens.

Correct, his rosters are as of 2/2/08, the Bedard deal went down on 2/8, so that's why hes still on the Orioles. I probably should have gone through and looked for some of these trades, but that slipped my mind as well.

Look for the Blue Jays series recap coming soon. Thanks for all your comments guys.

[floorman81]

good stuff...keep it up

[Powderguy]

Blue Jays subdue Rays 7-2 with hit barrage.

                      1    2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   R   H   E 
Tampa Bay   0   0   2   0   0   0   0   0   0    2   6   2
Toronto        0   0   0   1   4   2   0   0   0    7  15   0

Win: Ricky Romero (1-0) 6.1 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 3 K
Loss: Jason Hammel (0-1) 4.2 IP, 11 H, 5 ER, 1 BB, 2 K

MVP: (TOR) Scott Rolen 3-4, 2B, 3 RBI, SB


Rays allow Jays to rally late for 7-5 win.

                      1    2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   R   H   E 
 Tampa Bay   0   1   2   0   0   1   0   1   0    5   8   0
Toronto        0   0   0   0   2   1   1   3   x    7  11   0

Win: Jason Frasor (1-0) 1.0 IP, H, ER, 3 BB
Loss: Al Reyes (BS, 1) (0-2) 1.0 IP, 4 H, 3 ER
Save: B.J. Ryan (2) 1.0 IP, H, 2 BB, K

HR: (TB) Carlos Pena (2), (TOR) David Eckstein (1), (TOR) Matt Stairs (1)
MVP: (TB) Carlos Pena 3-5, HR, 2 RBI


Kazmir's stellar effort ends Ray's 4 game slide.

                       1    2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   R   H   E 
 Tampa Bay     1   0   0   1   0   1   3   0   4   10  14  0
Toronto           2   0   1   0   0   0   0   0   0    3   6   1

Win: Scott Kazmir (2-0) 7.1 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 5 K
Loss: Brian Tallet (0-1) 1.0 IP, 2 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, K

HR: (TB) Carlos Pena 2 (4), (TOR) Alex Rios (1)
MVP: Carlos Pena 3-3, 2 HR, 3 RBI, 3 R

[Powderguy]

Rays rally to tie up game, Dohmann can't keep it that way.

                      1    2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   R   H   E 
Baltimore      0   0   0   0   2   0   1   1   0    4   6   0
Tampa Bay    0   0   0   1   1   1   3   0   0    3   6   0

Win: Randy Flores (BS, 1) (1-0) 2.1 IP, 4 H, 3 K
Loss: Scott Dohmann (0-1) 0.1 IP, 2 H, ER
Save: Jamie Walker (2) 0.1 IP, K

MVP: (BAL) Jeremy Guthrie 6.1 IP, 2 H, ER, 3 BB, 7 K


Rodriguez's double wins the game for Rays 10-9.

                      1    2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   R   H   E 
Baltimore       1   4   2   0   0   1   1   0   1    9   13  0
Tampa Bay    0   0   3   4   0   2   0   0   1   10  11  1

Win: Troy Percival (BS, 1) (1-0) 1.0 IP, H, ER, K
Loss: Jamie Walker (1-1) 1.2 IP, 2 H, ER, K

HR: (BAL) Ramon Hernandez (1), (TB) Dioner Navarro (1)
MVP: (TB) Dioner Navarro 2-5, HR, 3 RBI, R


Bynum's pinch-hit 3 run triple in ninth lets Orioles seal up win.

                      1    2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   R   H   E 
Baltimore       0   0   2   1   1   0   0   0   4    8   14  3
Tampa Bay    0   0   0   0   0   0   0   4   0    4   8   2

Win: Chad Bradford (BS, 1) (1-0) 2.0 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 2 BB
Loss: J.P. Howell (0-1) 3.0 IP, 4 H, ER, 3 BB, 2 K

HR: (BAL) Luke Scott (2)
MVP: (BAL) Troy Patton 6.2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 5 K

Roberts paces Orioles offense to 9-4 victory with 4 hits.

                       1    2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   R   H   E 
Baltimore       1   1   1   1   3   2   0   0   0    9   12  1
Tampa Bay    0   1   1   0   0   0   0   0   2    4   6   2

Win: Erik Bedard (2-1) 7.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, ER, BB, 7 K
Loss: Jeff Niemann (0-1) 3.2 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 6 BB, K

HR: (BAL) Nick Markakis (3), (BAL) Luke Scott (3) (TB) Evan Longoria (4)
MVP: (BAL) Erik Bedard 7.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, ER, BB, 7 K

[Powderguy]

Currently, the Rays are 27-30, good for 4th place, but only 3.5 games back of the Baltimore Orioles.

The Yankees currently occupy last place in the division, 6 games back.

James Shields and Matt Garza each have 7 wins on the year. Shields is 7-2 with 3.48 ERA. Garza is 7-0 with a 2.30 ERA and won Pitcher of the Month for May.

MAY 5th
Demoted: P Scott Munter (9 G, 13 IP, 8.31 ERA, 20 HA)
Promoted: P Eduardo Morlan (since callup, 2-1 record, 12 G, 17 IP, 4.24 ERA)

MAY 30th
Edwin Jackson and 2b Willy Aybar were both traded to the Cardinals for starter Adam Ottavino and closer Carlos Perez who has great potential. Both were sent to AAA-Durham.

Troy Percival has saved 15 out of 19 games while having a 4.24 ERA.

The Rays called up prospect Jacob McGee and in 7 starts, he has a 2-4 mark with a 6.08 ERA. He might not be ready for big league hitters just yet.

Carlos Pena and B.J. Upton are the only Rays with 10+ homeruns. Pena has 15 and Upton has 12.

Upton also leads the AL in steals with 22 and the Rays lead all of baseball with 82 as a team.

In the bullpen, besides Munter's disaster. Al Reyes and Grant Balfour have both been horrendous. Reyes is 0-3 with a 10.38 ERA in 13 games. Balfour has a 8.25 ERA in 13 games, but is 1-0.

[STL10WC]

As a Cardinal fan, I am offended that you would rip us off to badly in that trade. I revolt! I am reading...good luck!