2018 Rays: No Mo Longo

jon abbey

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I don't want to step on VORP Speed's territory, but I'm wondering what he (or anyone) thinks about Archer's future now.

My take is that he is signed through 2021 at a reasonable price and when you couple that with what I'm sure is a high asking price and his odd issues in September (over a 7 ERA, the dreaded 'forearm strain'), I think he stays with TB until at least the trading deadline.
 

E5 Yaz

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Longoria taped a farewell announcement that was played over the intercom during Shoney's buffet hours
 

VORP Speed

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Jon, I hope this thread goes as well for you as starting Yankee game threads does for me!

All indications are that they are shopping Archer hard. They’ll be their usual disciplined selves, and they can credibly take the position that they’re happy to wait until the trade deadline, but I’d be surprised if he’s not traded this off-season. Colome will be gone, too. They made the coldly rational decision that they couldn’t hang with the big boys and are moving to address that the only way they are able. No room for sentiment or starry-eyed optimism in the land of the minnows.
 

VORP Speed

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jon abbey

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The tear down continues, Souza sent to ARI for minor leaguers.
 

VORP Speed

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Per reports everywhere, Rays close to signing a $1.25 billion TV deal. It’s a 15 year extension from Fox Sports Net at an average of $82m/yr, roughly 3-4x their current deal. They consistently get good ratings and their current deal was shit. This should help with financing a new stadium. New TV deal + New Stadium and come the early 20’s, the Rays may start sniffing medium market status.
 

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That's a massive TV deal. With the money from the TV deal and selling all those hats they'll be making bank.

What do fans think of the Ybor location they picked for the new stadium? Although personally I prefer St Pete as a city, anywhere in Tampa is better than St. Pete for having a baseball team. I kinda wish the location was in downtown proper instead of Ybor adjacent to downtown. Post-game will be great on weekdays but a complete shitfest on weekends.
 

VORP Speed

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That's a massive TV deal. With the money from the TV deal and selling all those hats they'll be making bank.

What do fans think of the Ybor location they picked for the new stadium? Although personally I prefer St Pete as a city, anywhere in Tampa is better than St. Pete for having a baseball team. I kinda wish the location was in downtown proper instead of Ybor adjacent to downtown. Post-game will be great on weekdays but a complete shitfest on weekends.
I think it’s a pretty good location. Lightning have been extremely successful drawing good crowds not too far away. The spot certainly has a lot more character than the old toxic dump where the Trop is. A World Series game on Guavaween would be good for some craziness. Plus, maybe the Rays will get a little advantage from opposing teams partying too hard when they come to town.
 

jon abbey

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Now Eovaldi is hurt again, 'loose bodies' in his elbow, arthroscopic surgery likely, expected to return at some point this year.

Three man rotation and two bullpen days? :)
 

VORP Speed

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Now Eovaldi is hurt again, 'loose bodies' in his elbow, arthroscopic surgery likely, expected to return at some point this year.

Three man rotation and two bullpen days? :)

You joke, but they just announced that Joe Bullpen and Jim Bullpen will be starting games 3 and 5. Shifts, 3 man infields, flyball swings, all bullpen staffs, flying cars, cats and dogs living together. The future is here.

#Rays will open season with this rotation: Thursday: vs. #RedSox: Archer Friday: Snell Saturday: TBD Sunday: Faria Monday: TBD
 

glasspusher

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That's a massive TV deal. With the money from the TV deal and selling all those hats they'll be making bank.

What do fans think of the Ybor location they picked for the new stadium? Although personally I prefer St Pete as a city, anywhere in Tampa is better than St. Pete for having a baseball team. I kinda wish the location was in downtown proper instead of Ybor adjacent to downtown. Post-game will be great on weekdays but a complete shitfest on weekends.
Ybor? Awesome. I did not enjoy driving to The Trop for games, although, if I was going to see Pedro pitch against Tampa, not a problem.
 

jon abbey

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Another big concern is Chris Archer, who has started off the season just as poorly as he finished last season, a 7.65 ERA since the start of last September.
 

VORP Speed

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The Rays have dragon energy or something now. Have won 6 in a row and 7 out of last 8. Pitching has continued to be suspect but they’ve started mashing. All they need is a sweep this weekend and they’re back to .500!
 

jon abbey

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It's got to be infuriating that the Braves can bring up Acuna and the Yankees can bring up Torres now that the extra year of control line is past, but the Rays still won't bring up Adames, tearing up AAA with 9-16 in his last 4 games including 2 doubles, a triple and 2 HRs.
 

VORP Speed

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It's got to be infuriating that the Braves can bring up Acuna and the Yankees can bring up Torres now that the extra year of control line is past, but the Rays still won't bring up Adames, tearing up AAA with 9-16 in his last 4 games including 2 doubles, a triple and 2 HRs.
He hit for the cycle the other night, too. He’s been ridiculous but Hechevarria has been pretty good and I think they are committed to not rushing him since he’s the crown jewel of the farm right now.
 

jon abbey

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Hell, Yankees just got their butts kicked at Fenway, you guys are the class of the division.
 

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With win over OAK last night, Rays climb over .500 for first time since Opening Day. Since the disastrous 3-12 start, they have been playing .630 ball (24-14).
 

jon abbey

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TB loses another guy to Tommy John, Anthony Banda, the main guy they got back for Souza this winter.
 

jon abbey

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They seem to be building up a pretty insane system again, though.

I get that you don’t make decisions but would you trade Blake Snell to NY for something like Andujar or Frazier (your choice) plus four younger high-ceiling arms? That’s the kind of deal I think Cashman should be looking to do, and Snell would be a top candidate if TB would consider it.
 

VORP Speed

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They seem to be building up a pretty insane system again, though.

I get that you don’t make decisions but would you trade Blake Snell to NY for something like Andujar or Frazier (your choice) plus four younger high-ceiling arms? That’s the kind of deal I think Cashman should be looking to do, and Snell would be a top candidate if TB would consider it.
Are you sure I’m not Stu Sternberg’s burner SoSH account??

I think Snell would be the hardest guy to pry out of there right now. He’s probably the ace when their window opens again in the early 20’s and all that insane talent hits the majors. He’s controlled through 2022 and looks to really be hitting his stride. I’d be really hard pressed to move him unless it was a blow you away type offer with multiple ML ready types. I don’t think swapping him out for volume is motivating right now. I’m sure we could work out a deal for Archer, though.......
 

jon abbey

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Heh, you can keep Archer and his 2-12, 5.27 ERA career record against Boston, but thanks.

On a related note, if I ran a team, I would prefer to trade veterans in division all else being equal, it's great that Boston got E-Rod for two months of Andrew Miller but it's even better for them that the Orioles don't have him anymore.
 

VORP Speed

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Heh, you can keep Archer and his 2-12, 5.27 ERA career record against Boston, but thanks.

On a related note, if I ran a team, I would prefer to trade veterans in division all else being equal, it's great that Boston got E-Rod for two months of Andrew Miller but it's even better for them that the Orioles don't have him anymore.
That’s a good strategy, but it’s even better to bait your division rivals into handing out huge albatross contracts to your veterans when they hit free agency.
 

VORP Speed

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Rays announcing the plans for their new Ybor stadium at 2pm today. Plans, renderings, etc etc. No word yet on how exactly it will be funded. Stu is going to dangle a big fat juicy carrot out there, though, and ratchet up the pressure on local governments to kick in.
 

jon abbey

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The only time Boston has been swept this year was this weekend at TB.
The only two times NY has been swept this year were the four game demolition at Fenway and right before the ASB at TB.

Impressive.
 

VORP Speed

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9-1 over last 10.

Deadline deals are looking outstanding:

Archer deal is a fleecing—Glasnow has been superb, Meadows is tearing it up at AAA (3 HR last night), and oh by the way the PTBNL is a top 100 prospect, 2017 #12 overall pick in the draft Shane Baz, who is young (19) but has top of the rotation upside. And Archer is still mediocre. Can’t locate his slider anymore.

Beeks is settling in after a shaky first outing to be very solid. 6 years of control for an OK rental in Eovaldi.

Pham had some fluky injuries right after the trade but continues to hit the ball very hard and looks like he will be a good long-term piece.


Tough to make up the necessary ground this season, although, if they stay on fire for the next week and a half, the upcoming series against the A’s at the Trop could actually get interesting.


3 stud pitching prospects coming back from TJ mid-2019, one of the top farm systems in MLB, young talent starting to jell at MLB level second half of this season, revolutionary pitching staff management......good time to be the Rays fan.....
 
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VORP Speed

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EPILOGUE

Prior to the season, you could get 2 to 1 odds on betting the Rays to win 78 games. Fire sale, tanking, 100-loss season, it’s what’s wrong with baseball, go throw some money at free agent starting pitching, you cheap bastards!!!

But while the aristocrats of the east rode their riches to 100-win seasons and the Jays and the O’s flailed away—overpaying for underperformance, trying to fight raging fire with tiny flames—some former Goldman bankers, a bunch of math nerds, a supercomputer and Kevin Cash were scheming. And dreaming. Imagining and re-imagining. Putting “the book” and “the unwritten rules” through the shredder. They made bold trades. Dumped heroes and stars. Longoria’s bat is slowing down? Gone. Archer has lost his slider? Gone. Trusted their scouting and their analysis. Pham’s exit velocity is still elite despite some bad batted ball luck early in the season? Glasnow has electric stuff but the Pirates have totally mishandled him? Beeks had a couple bad starts in the town where pitching development goes to die? Buy low.

Payroll was last in the league. Expectations were non-existent. 75% of the players were unrecognizable. They had one healthy starting pitcher. They got off to a horrendous 3-12 start. And yet....

They put players in the best possible positions to succeed. They made the most of what they had. THEY REINVENTED PITCHING. And it worked. Wow, did it work. They broke the phalanx.

It was so much fun to watch. Sometimes moral victories really are the sweetest ones. I mean, a World Series would be nice, 2008 was certainly a blast, but watching a bunch of baseball guérillas live by their wits is pretty satisfying, too. Maybe this resonates with me more than most, just given my own interests and history, but the last 6 weeks of the season were a pure, love of the game type experience. There was no real hope of a playoff spot, but there was this wonderful run, a plan coming together, a young kid who came up through the system chasing a CY and becoming a stud in real time.

This team is headed in the right direction. The farm is loaded. Next year will bring dreams of contention. They will sneak up on no one. But for now, this season stands on its own as an unqualified success.




(And major credit to jonabbey for starting the season thread. That was good for at least 5 wins, right there.)