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"In Tampa, that play you saw was a good, hard baseball play," Maddon said, referring to the play that injured Yankees catcher Francisco Cervelli. "What you saw today was the definition of a dirty play. There's no room for that in our game. It's contemptible. It's wrong. It's borderline criminal. I can't believe they did that."

 

I agree with Maddon. Taking out a catcher blocking the plate is real baseball. Sliding spikes up is dirty,

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This only confirms my (rather misguided) feelings about my previous prediction. They aren't afraid of anyone and are willing to duke it out. The mighty Rays are fightin' mad! Look out AL East!*

 

 

 

And sadly, Evan Longoria is no relation to uber-hot Eva. I was really hoping for big sis to be attending lots of games, giving the networks yet one more reason to show her in the crowd at sporting events.

 

 

 

*Why in the hell am I getting all rah-rah about the Rays?

 

Baseball Prospectus has them finishing 86 wins and 3rd place, I believe. The SOx are down for 89 (I think?). A few things go their way and you might not be too far off.

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Yeah, good call in saying TB will be better than the odds mrkinsley.

 

TB is going to be a popular preseason darkhorse, but they will finish no higher than 4th place in that division. As always, it comes down to pitching and, as usual, the Rays have none. Yes, Scott Kazmir should be an ace and definitely has all of the tools to be one, but he hasn't been healthy enough to get the experience he needs to be an ace, and he's been hury in camp already. Shields is OK, but we'll see in his second year. the rest of the rotation is a question mark at best, especially Garza, who puts a lot of runners on base. Rotation aside, its the bullpen that has always been the worst part of the Rays, and thats saying something. This year, the back end of their pen is Reyes, a journeyman to be kind, and Troy Percivel, who is not exactly in his prime. Yeah, they have a lot of exciting young players and things are looking up, but they will still be struggling to stay out of the basement in the AL East. I'm sure I will get to see a few games this year, since my folks are season ticket holders at Tropicana, easily the worst stadium in any sport.

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There was a rumor circulating at the Mets game yesterday about a BOS/NYM Coco Crisp-for-Angel Pagan 1-for-1 deal... anyone hear anything more about this, or was it just smoke?

 

edit: found the answer, it was just smoke

Nah, I don't like that trade. Pagan is apparently the best athlete in the Mets camp this year. As we held on to Mr. Pees on His Hands Yet Can't Stay Off the DL, Pagan and Chavez will probably get a lot of playing time this year.

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TB is going to be a popular preseason darkhorse, but they will finish no higher than 4th place in that division. As always, it comes down to pitching and, as usual, the Rays have none. Yes, Scott Kazmir should be an ace and definitely has all of the tools to be one, but he hasn't been healthy enough to get the experience he needs to be an ace, and he's been hury in camp already. Shields is OK, but we'll see in his second year. the rest of the rotation is a question mark at best, especially Garza, who puts a lot of runners on base. Rotation aside, its the bullpen that has always been the worst part of the Rays, and thats saying something. This year, the back end of their pen is Reyes, a journeyman to be kind, and Troy Percivel, who is not exactly in his prime. Yeah, they have a lot of exciting young players and things are looking up, but they will still be struggling to stay out of the basement in the AL East. I'm sure I will get to see a few games this year, since my folks are season ticket holders at Tropicana, easily the worst stadium in any sport.

 

A top three in the rotation of Kazmir, James Shields, and Matt Garza is formidable, and should be able to match up with almost any in the league. I think you are severely underselling Garza. I don't see how a guy with a career 1.09 WHIP in the minors allows too many baserunners.

 

Their offense is going to score a lot of runs, and if they can get even league average pitching, they'll compete. I definitely think they are better than the Blue Jays, who didn't get any better in the offseason. I don't think the Rays will be anywhere close to the basement. That will be the Orioles by a wide margin.

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The Cardinals signed Lohse for 1 year/$4.25 million

 

This was something we had to do, with only Wainwright and Looper locked into the rotation to start the season.

 

If the rehabbing guys continue to improve ahead of schedule, our July rotation may look like this...

 

Carpenter

Wainwright

Mulder

Clement

Lohse

 

Of course it would take some luck for all to heal with no setbacks, but that's an impressive starting 5!

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That's not really all that impressive. Thats like 1 great pitcher who hasn't seen a mount in over a year, one probably good pitcher, and a whole lot of not too much.

 

I have to disagree. If Carp comes back this summer healthy and ready to go, he's one of the top 2-3 in the NL. Wainwright has developed into one of the better pitchers in the NL. He had a 2.xx era last year after the all-star game, throwing QS after QS...with any run support he would have won 18+ last year. Mulder is a question mark but he says he feels better than he has in 3-4 years. He now has the full range of his shoulder, so we'll see where that takes him. Clement is building stamina and should start a game next week. He'll benefit from returning to the NL. Lohse averages 30 starts/200 innings which will help the bullpen.

 

We're basically exchanging Lohse for Wells/Maroth...that's a good plus 6 right there. We have Looper, Thompson, Reyes and some rookies to help out in April. If all return as hoped, there aren't many rotations better in the NL.

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Nah, I don't like that trade. Pagan is apparently the best athlete in the Mets camp this year. As we held on to Mr. Pees on His Hands Yet Can't Stay Off the DL, Pagan and Chavez will probably get a lot of playing time this year.

 

Agreed, I was thrilled that they didn't make that deal. We already have a Coco but our Coco is named Endy.

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