Curt Casali
The GBT - The Good, The Bad and The Telling sandwich, where The Bad is nice and lean and the The Telling is ripe.
RAYS 6, Orioles 6 (boxscore)
THE GOOD: The Rays are 18-21 stealing bases this Spring. That’s a nice sign for those of us who miss the days when the Rays ran all over the place. Meanwhile, back-up catcher hopeful Curt Casali is 5-7 throwing out baserunners.
THE BAD: Why in the world are the Rays playing a split-squad game this late in the Spring? Split-squad games are for when there are a million players in camp and you want to get extra ABs and innings. In this case, the Rays cut 8 players yesterday dropping the Spring roster down to 36 and yet all 8 will stay in camp because there are not enough players to fill out 2 rosters today. In fact, both Everett Teaford and Jim Miller will start today even though they were cut yesterday.
THE TELLING: The 8 cuts yesterday: RH Brandon Gomes, RH Jhan Marinez, RH Jim Miller, LH Everett Teaford, C Mayo Acosta, OF Corey Brown and OF Joey Butler…The Rays won’t announce rest of rotation after Chris Archer until later in the week as there is a potential to add somebody from outside the organization and that pitcher may be on a different pitching schedule (via Marc Topkin)…Drew Smyly and Alex Colome are both targeted for late-April returns (via Marc Topkin)…Jake McGee and Matt Moore will both throw bullpen sessions today. Alex Cobb played catch yesterday, his second outing since being sidelined.
THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA…
- The revised proposal between St. Peter Mayor Rick Kriseman and the Rays will not be voted on Thursday as Kriseman did not feel he had gained enough votes from the St. Pete City Council. Stuart Sternberg issued a statement (see below). [MLB.com]
- Rob Manfred said what we already knew: Montreal is not getting a new team without a new stadium. [TBO.com]
- Sean Rodriguez got mad after a strikeout and told the pitcher to meet him in the parking lot after the game. No surprise. We didn’t call him Hot Rod because of his good looks. [Big League Stew]
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5 Comments
The City Council needs to have a collective appointment with an eye doctor to test for myopia.
They are suffering from Bill Fosteritus of the Butt
When the Rays management jams a player on service time costing him millions of $, it is deemed smart and praise worthy. Just "playing smart and within the rules."
When the City Council plays within the rules of the Use Agreement and doesn't wish to walk away from years of major league baseball in its City, it too should be considered smart and praise worthy. If the Rays want out so bad, if it is really the City's "fault" the Rays don't draw well (hint: it isn't), then pay up, don't lowball them like you lowball everyone else.
The irony here is that by the end of the Rays lease, the demographics may have changed that St. Petersburg may, in fact, be the better location for the team but years of hectoring by the team itself about the location will have made a new stadium deal in central Pinellas County almost impossible.
Time is a funny thing. What every Rays fan should not want is the team to make a bad stadium deal that cripples its ability to be competitive (see the Marlins and their inevitable fire sale in 2 years). As counter-intutitive as it may seem, a half-empty older stadium with virtually no rent isn't the worst outcome for the Rays.
On the topic of split squads: There needs to be consideration of either shortening the spring training season entirely, or cutting back on the amt of games. With players training more and more in the offseason, the necessity of spring training, I feel, has lessened. The real benefit here is to see who is healthy, who should be given a shot on the 40 man, and get the fine tuning done before April hits. Make spring training 3 weeks perhaps..but cut it down.
Straight cash rules.
But I saw one idea to have the report dates staggered later for certain vets (2 years plus or so) so you have the first week of games just rookie and prospect games. So the cash is in, but the vets aren't so spottty in their attendance throughout.
Robertson's 2 HR game today may be one of those you are glad they split the squads and let him show it on the bigger stage; he sounded like a great kid at Fan Fest interviews.