2021 Rays: Wandervision
- Thread starter VORP Speed
- Start date
Add Josh Lowe to the group. The 3 of them are all crushing it in Durham.
Brosseau, Phillips are obvious candidates to get swapped out. Would not be surprised to see Kiermaier sent packing, if they can get anything at all in return. I'm sure he could help some NL team in need of a defensive upgrade in the OF.
Brosseau sent down as Choi is reactivated. Keeping 14 pitchers for time being. First move in the Brujan/Wander gambit?
Wander is coming up on Tuesday. I figured this would be the case a few days ago... by this point the Super 2 cutoff should be past, and it makes sense to debut him in a big interdivision series, after a day off.
View: https://twitter.com/tbtimes_rays/status/1406763946032472069?s=21
View: https://twitter.com/tbtimes_rays/status/1406763946032472069?s=21
It’s kind of amazing they have played almost .600 ball with keeping Wander, Brujan, Lowe, etc stashed down in AAA. The crazy hot streak bought them a lot of time. Surprisingly, though, even with their record, they have been pretty unlucky. 3-7 in extras, 8-13 in one run games, -1 vs their pythag, one of the most unlucky in the league on run expectancy impact from blown ball/strike calls.
Now it’s the Wander era, though. All losing streaks and bad luck and past failures are wiped away. The future arrives on Tuesday.
Now it’s the Wander era, though. All losing streaks and bad luck and past failures are wiped away. The future arrives on Tuesday.
Yup. Tampa is going to be an absolute force if Wander is as good as we think he'll be. And then there's Brujan who should be up soon as well. This is a team that's going to have a lot of dynamic two-way players. Going to really stress out opposing pitchers.
I wonder what it must be like to play with a guy like that in AAA. Everyone knows he is projected to be the next big superstar and I am sure his talent is readily apparent every time they play with him. A lot of those guys seemed to be generally happy for the man.
Most of those guys won't ever make it but they'll be able to tell people they played with Wander. From all accounts, he's a pretty humble guy and you're right that the team's response seemed to be pretty genuine.
Yup. He hit 2nd in AAA so figure they wanted to keep that consistent. Looking forward to when Brujan joins them at some point.
By season end they will have turned over approx half of the opening day lineup with called up prospects. Can’t remember a good team ever doing that before.
Brief scare as MLB app has me blacked out for the game. VPN in place and all is well. Good Wander highlight package to start Rays broadcast. Seems Wander’s advance team was able to get his white Rolls Royce SUV in place to get him to the Trop.
Super exciting debut for Wander. But this extra-inning futility thing took all the air out of it. They have failed to score in 8 of their last 9 runner-starts-on-2nd extra innings. That’s just pathetic.
Just one quibble: Joey Wendle might have fielded the hot shot in the second inning that went off Wander's glove. Is third base his best position? Or is that just where he fits best right now?
Yeah, I actually thought that ball was gettable, although it would have been a great play. I think he’ll end up getting more innings at 2nd or 3rd long-term. He’s a good fielder, but not outstanding. Taylor Walls is a better defensive SS. Rays have really bought into the multi-position thing, so I don’t think there will be any rush to pin him down to only one position. He’s a nice option as your backup SS.
They need to get rid of an infielder soon. Wendle has been great. Lowe has hit some dingers, but overall has been pretty bad. He’s got a great contract, though, if he ever gets it back together. Diaz is mediocre. Will be interesting to see how they break the logjam.
In the OF, Phillips is likely to be dumped to make room for Brujan. But Kiermaier probably should go, too, if they can find anyone to take a chunk of his contract.
It’s a nice problem to have. I was just surprised they sat Wendle first because he’s having an excellent season. Joey can play all over the infield, too. But he seems exceptional at third base.
They sat Wendle because he is the strong side of a platoon and rarely hits lefties.
And in the gift that keeps on giving department, probably the best hope the Rays have of plugging in another ace next year is....Shane Baz. The "throw-in" in the infamous Archer trade.
Rays: “Matt, throw only sliders”
Matt: “But, but…”
Rays: “All your other pitches suck”
Matt: “OK”
The bullpen arm to watch is Chargois. Pretty bold move to dump Castillo for this dude. Prob more a comment on a lack of confidence in Castillo, despite him being reasonably good lately.
I'm hoping that the 3 way dogfight for the 2nd WC spot between TOR, NYY and BOS is where all the excitement ends up being....but, yes, should be exciting no matter what!
In 1978, five teams from the AL East won at least 86 games in the regular season. NY and Boston finished with 99. Milwaukee had 93 and Baltimore won 90. Detroit finished with 86. Four of those franchises would win WS titles between 1977-84. I see that kind of strength in the top four teams in the East this season. But will they beat up on each other and let the second WC land somewhere else?
I hate the AL EAST and the extremely unbalanced schedule. Just another hill for the Rays to climb.
Seattle has been even luckier than BOS, but Oakland will be in the mix
You've been under extreme pressure all season, VORP. Try to relax for the final two months and enjoy the pennant race. My dad used to tell me the pennant race doesn't begin until August. Even more so now with the late trade deadline. In his day, the final trades had to be done by June 15. He compared pennant races to horse races. The horse who leads early rarely keeps running down the backstretch. I think the Rays are peaking at a good time. They've been running under control so far.
While the Yankees have been on a dominant stretch since the ASB, the Rays are also 24-11 since the ASB. Wander Franco has an .866 OPS since the ASB while Arozarena has a 1.039 OPS since the ASB. After a terrible June, 25 year old Francisco Mejia has an .888 OPS since the beginning of July(post ASB .879). The only starter listed on baseballref with a below league average OPS is Kevin Kiermaier but with Meadows returning and the addition of Nelson Cruz, the lineup just has no black holes. I really don't understand how they do it year after year but it is really impressive.
Brandon Lowe has the second highest OPS in the league (just a tick behind Ohtani) since early June.
Lowe had a ridiculous regular season last year, then went into a horrific slump for the playoffs that lasted through the first 2 months of this season and now he’s back to playing at borderline MVP level. Even with the dogshit first 2 months, he’s now up among the league leaders in offense. 5th in HR, top 10 in oWAR and OPS+. Very similar to Devers, to give a relevant frame of reference for this board. If what we saw last regular season and the last 3 months is the real Brandon Lowe, in year 3 of a 6yr/24m contract + 2 club options at ~11m per, he’s one of the most valuable players in baseball.
Also promoted to President of Baseball Ops. Good for him and great move by the Rays. Will be interesting to see what they’re paying him. He would have been in line for a big contract if he left.
Shane Baz being called up to make his major league debut against the Jays on Monday. Talk about getting thrown right into the fire!
I think he gets two more starts to finish out the season, and if he looks good he’ll be in the playoff rotation. Wacha can be left off the playoff roster and Yarbrough will be a mop-up guy.
McClanahan, Rasmussen are 1, 2 and then Patiño and Baz.
I think he gets two more starts to finish out the season, and if he looks good he’ll be in the playoff rotation. Wacha can be left off the playoff roster and Yarbrough will be a mop-up guy.
McClanahan, Rasmussen are 1, 2 and then Patiño and Baz.
Baz talked to a group of us in the crowd before the Futures Game when he was doing his arm exercises. He had a great sense of humor and came across as a fun kid. His stuff was also dominant that day.
Don't let up especially next weekend. You don't want to see Cole and a bunch of lefties in the playoffs.
There’s no way the Rays are going to give the Yanks a peek at Baz. It’s going to be cruise control city.
The worst thing about all this for you, though, is that you may find yourself needing to root for NY when they play the Jays.
If the Red Sox can't go at least 4-2 against the O's and Natinals, it won't matter