SP Scott Kazmir and RP Troy Percival were both placed on the 15 day DL Friday.  Kaz was shelved for a strained right quad due to poor mechanics.  Percy was placed for right shoulder tendonitis.  Kaz will continue to throw off flat ground and does not expect to be out long.  Percival was frustrated and flew home to be with his family and discuss his future.  Called up were IF Reid Brignac and RP Dale Thayer.

Interesting situation wouldn’t you say? Love this move by the Rays – this needed to happen!  Kazmir was losing confidence by the bucket.  Kazmir hopefully will be talking to the sports psychologist during his time off and getting his head together before his return! 

Percy may be done.  My thought is the Rays may have pulled him and his 6.35 ERA aside after his awful performance last night and told him he has reached the end.  They may have given him the choice of DFA, retirement or coaching.  My hope is he will stick around to coach if he was given that option.  He is a fiery competitor with a lot of heart, the body is just no longer able.  He has a lot to teach our young pitchers.

An interesting call up of Brignac as well and no SP yet.  A few thoughts on this, Maybe the release of one of the Gabe’s thus allowing Ben Zobrist more playing time, he’s earned it.  In that case they would need an additional backup infielder.  Or maybe a trade of Akinori Iwamura is looming to gain a SP.  Aki is due a new contract and if the Rays don’t think they can afford him for the right price they may deal. 

Kaz would not be due to pitch again until Monday so hang on to your hats kids, the moves are not finished!  Price? Davis?

It has been reported that Evan Longoria will be out the following 2 games due to a death in his family.  The Rays organization has known about this for a few days.  Willy Aybar will be holding down 3rd base for Longo while he mourns with his family at home in California.   

Joe Maddon was quoted as saying that Evan wanted to keep this private but was not able to due to technology.  Writers, bloggers and others made incorrect inferences in articles after it was originally reported Longo would be gone for a few days for “family matters”.   Maddon felt it necessary to protect Evan by admitting there was a death in his family. 

Evan has gotten off to a torrid start this young season earning AL Player of the Week honors last week.  We will certainly miss him in our lineup the next few games (Willy will bridge that gap nicely) but nothing is more important thatn family.

My condolences to Evan and his family during this difficult time!

Hope everyone is enjoying their holiday season so far. Personally, I’m bored without baseball! Football is a distraction but its 1 day a week. Anyway our Rays finally made some moves we can talk about!

SP Edwin Jackson has been traded to the Detroit Tigers for home grown OF Matt Joyce. Ok, so we kinda figured E-Jax was going to be the odd man out with SP David Price looking so good after his call up. Price pitched well in some pressure packed situations and proved his future worth. Jackson struggled with his focus throughout the season and into the 2nd season. Granted he won 14 games BUT we have to remember wins and losses belong to the team. They may get credited to the SP but if he did not have the defense behind him and the BP to bail him out of a few situations he very well could have finished with a lot less than 14 wins. A victory earned by Jackson did not come without its issues usually. Jackson did not have the mental strength to come out of the BP which is unfortunate. He has the stuff to be a great closer. Personally I think Jackson will be one of those players that never can get over that hump and live up to all the potential he clearly has.

So, that being said lets look at Matt Joyce.

Joyce is a 24 year old LH OF. He had decent numbers in 92 games with Detroit (.252, 16 2B, 3 3B, 12 HR and 33 RBI). He has been blowing up his BA to a healthy .292 in the Mexican Winter League. Joyce has pop in his bat, has a gun for an arm and has a little bit of speed. Matt can play all 3 OF positions as well. And equally important is the Rays will control him for 6 years and he has options. I can see Joyce beginning the year in AAA as Gross and Perez alternate in RF until he is called up midseason. I like the outfield of Crawford, Upton and Joyce at some point in the season. I think this deal is another Andrew Freidman gem!

The only other big name item to cover is the non-tender of crowd favorite, Jonny Gomes. Ok, let’s not act surprised here. We all knew this was going to happen. Gomes may be a great team player but he is not worth $1.275mil or more. His salary would have probably gone up in arbitration even though he hit only .182 with 8 HR and 21 RBIs in 77 games this season. People love to argue that Gomes wasn’t given a fair shake, Maddon didn’t give him time, yada, yada, yada. Fact is folks – he was given plenty of opportunity and failed PERIOD. Gomes did a great job being a great teammate but between the lines he was less than spectacular. Being a poor fielder Gomes best hope is that a team may look at him for the DH role. Good Luck Jonny!

So folks…..that’s all to report as the Rays have been fairly quiet so far. But it’s still not over! They have spoken to a few potential DH – Milton Bradley (who is also being courted by the forever cursed Cubbies), Jason Giambi, and Bobby Abreu with a few others still looking for work, Adam Dunn and Pat Burrell to name a few.

So folks – keep checking back!!

Go Rays!!!

With the trade deadline fast approaching the RFO will tell us what their take on this season is:

1. If no trades are done — the RFO has an unrealistic view of what’s been happening between the lines and feel we have all we need. Well here are some numbers for you:

Team BA — .258 — 18th in MLB and LAST in the AL East

Team ERA — 3.81 — 3rd in the AL East (this one isn’t too horrible however Reyes and Miller need to disappear and Perci needs to become Balfour’s setup man).

The RFO could not possibly think this is good enough to get it done. If no trades are made I feel the RFO is telling the team we’re playing for next year.

2. If trades are done I think you’ll see a rejuvenated team. The message that “here is the last piece of the puzzle for you to make that stretch run” would send a vote of confidence into the players.

Needs are pretty obvious: RH hitter with average and some pop and bullpen help (see above). I’d love to see Price promoted to AAA to get ready for his stretch run call up. Place Jackson in the BP and call up Birkins (his ERA was less than 1 during his stint with the Rays). Otherwise need to acquire lefty BP help –Miller is a disaster and not to be trusted.

 I hate to think the RFO is counting on Rocco to be the RH savior — I love Rocco just as much as the next and hope he can make it back someday — but it seems management may be leaning a little hard on this actually happening this season.

Message to the RFO – This team can get it done this year – go get some help!

Just my humble opinion!

The Tampa Bay baseball team is no longer called the Devil Rays, they are now called the Rays and the means there is a new blog about the team!  Rayshomeplate will be blogging about the new team and hopefully be talking about much better succes as well!  The team is stock piling quite a bit of young talent, now it is just the matter of keeping it around, and signing a few veterans for leadership etc that can help get this team going in the right direction.

What are your opinions on the 2008 season for the Rays?  Will they be at the bottom of the league, or move up towards the middle of the pack?  I’d really like to see them move up to be honest.  It would be awesome to see more fans at the games, but they have got to start winning to make that happen.  Leave a comment and let us know what you think!