The GBT - The Good, The Bad and The Telling sandwich, where The Bad is nice and lean and the The Telling is ripe.
Twins 6, RAYS (boxscore)
THE GOOD: Well, it seems like the trade for Matt Duffy has lit a fire under Brad Miller’s arse. If you recall, Miller wasn’t terribly happy that the Rays went out and traded for a new shortstop as it seems like Miller’s future is now at another position, possibly first base. Well, in the 7 games since the trade, Miller has 8 hits and 4 walks, including 3 home runs. Admittedly it is a small sample, but he is hitting .320 with a .433 OBP and a 1.113 OPS in that stretch. He even has 2 stolen bases. Now if we can just figure out how to light a fire in his defense.
THE BAD: Corey Dickerson has once again gone ice cold. He has just 3 hits in August. He has just 2 home runs since the All-Star break. I guess saying “again” is not fair. He has pretty much been ice cold since April. His .279 OBP ranks 152nd out of 154 big league hitters with enough plate appearances to qualify for the batting race. That’s not good.
THE TELLING: Chris Archer picked up the win on Saturday which means he is stuck on 15 losses. He has 9-10 starts left depending on how the team uses the rotation down the stretch. It is starting to look like he will avoid the dubious mark of 20 losses…Desmond Jennings went on the DL and Mikie Mahtook has been recalled. In addition, Enny Romero went on the DL and Danny Farquhar is back.
THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA…
- Alex Rodriguez has announced that he will play his final game with the Yankees on Friday against the Rays. [BI Sports]
- One of the prospects received in the Matt Moore trade is injured and now the Rays may seek more compensation from the Giants. [TampaBay.com]
Evan Longoria catches a ball after it hits the roof.
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9 Comments
Dickerson for McGee hasn't been a good trade for either franchise, but definitely worse for the Rays who sacrificed quality bullpen depth for a deeply flawed hitter when cannot field a lick.
Watching Souza and Dickerson flail around this week as Guyer was shipped out for no good reason makes it hard to be a Rays fan. If Mahtook wins the job -- great. I like him. But at .167, he's hardly earned the right to have the 4th OF/top OBP guy shipped out, especially when Guyer himself was cheap.
More than anything the Rays need to get an experienced baseball man in the front office with gravitas to counter-balance the quants and the nerds who have total control now. Since Hunsicker left, it has been pretty much a sh*t show, trending down:
Post-Hunsicker:
2016 TBD 5th
2015 80 82 .494 .4th
2014 77 85 .475 4th
2013 92 71 .564 2nd
With Hunsicker:
2012 90 72 .556 3rd
2011 91 71 .562 2nd
2010 96 66 .593 1st
2009 84 78 .519 3rd
2008 97 65 599 .565 1st
2007 66 96 .407 5th
I hope Miller can make the adjustment to LF. His bat has to be in the lineup mosr days. Dickerson and Souza are major disappointments. Both have nice power, but Souza doesn't swing at obvious strikes and Dickerson may as well swing with his eyes closed.
Somebody has got to tell Dickerson to stop swinging for the fence at everything. Even with two strikes... even late in the game with the tieing run on deck... this guy is swinging like every pitch is hanging curve. It's almost comical.
As Madden use to say sometimes... try easier. For the love of Pete.
Only this front office would pull off a last minute trade for not one, not two, but three players on the DL. Tarnished Silverman strikes again.
Brad Miller could do well to see what happened with Alex Gordon. Moving to the outfield (from third) seemed to work out okay for him and wasn't too bad for the Royals either. Be bad at SS or really good in LF next season. I don't think 1B is going to stick.
Why are the Rays wasting time with Milller at first? its an insult.. A mediocre SS is still a valuable midde infielder.
Why isnt he spending time at 2nd? This season is long over. The 2nd or 3rd worst team in MLB is not suddenly going to compete with the playoffs the following year. Its not 2007 this team has huge hitting and defensive deficienies and 2017 will not be a .500 team regardless.
Forsythe is gone after 2017, get Brad some reps at second.
2nd SS and 3rd are kind of blurred positions with the shifts. A large percentage of the time they are not in the traditional spots so they have to be vesratile.
Unless the Rays are imagining a new hybrid athletic 1st baseman that covers the right side of the infield like a mirror SS for severe RH pull batter shifts with the pitcher becoming the de facto first bagger glove man, I just dont get it.
Short armed relative midgets like Beckham and Franklin are just stopgaps obviously and Brad is more lanky but the Rays present is over and should be in a planning for the future mode and I dont mean 2017 where even .500 is a pipe dream.
Miller will not play 1B next year. He'll be firmly entrenched in LF unless we face a particularly tough lefty. Duffy we hope lives up to his hype at SS, Longo's got the hot corner. KK mans CF leaving C, RF. DH, and 1B to cover. Baring a trade or a FA signing, the internal fight will be Souza, Dickerson for right (neither option encouraging.) The loser probably gets a piece of the DH job. No clue who gets the C job. Hopefully Scafer or Gillespie win the position. If not there must be a 7 M free agent out there. More on this tomorrow.
Benching Forsythe would hurt his trade value. He is also one of the few good payers on the team. What makes you think Miller will be a good 2nd baseman?
Well shortstop is regarded as the best infielder, so they usually transition especially well to third.
Second traditionally is regarded with a greater different skill set but the Rays shift more often than not so all 3 are now hybrids. How many times do you see Longo in the SS area? Forsythe will be gone in the off-season thats a mortal lock. Who will replace Forsythe next year?
Platoon him with Forsythe with each DH on the nights off with some OF for Miller sprinkled in.
That leaves zero benching of Logan. I am not advocating that. His bona fides as a defender have been established.
Dickerson is the guy who should be auditioning for 1st. He's a borderline career minus defensive outfielder and at 27 he's not going to improve.
To go from SS to First is a slap in the face. The only place usually left to go from 1st as you decline is DH and oblivion.