The 2007 Devil Rays- They'll be Good in a Few Years...

[Brewers194]

In week 4 we had just another ordinary week. We went a subpar 3-4 this week, but there were a few promising signs. However, there was also a huge loss. Delmon Young, our star rookie, damaged the meniscus in his knee and will now be out for 8 weeks. That paved the way for Evan Longoria to come back to the majors who started to re-discover his stroke in AAA. Since coming up he's only 1-7, but has the ball hard the other way and his only hit was his second homer of the year. Scott Kazmir also had a good week. His record was 1-1, but his ERA was 1.69. Another promising thing in his line for 2 starts were he only allowed 2 walks in 16 innings. Control has been a problem all year. Besides from watching all of our games this week. I also took a trip down to Clemson University and Naval Academy to get a first hand look at potential top picks. Pitcher, Ivan Garcia from Clemson went 4 and 2 thirds fanning 2 and allowed 2 runs. He reached back all the way to hit 96 MPH and did a great job locating his pitchers, keeping the ball low and away much of the time. It was probably his worst start of the year, and Don Langley's performance against Stanford wasn't great either. Langley went 1-4 with an RBI, but 3 left on base. Next week I'm off to Seton Hall to watch outfielder Micah Marshall and Binghamton to watch breakout shortstop, Nate Webster.

[Brewers194]

It was an awesome week for our club, bringing our record to 17-14 after a 5-1 week. Maybe we're just a good May team. Our lone loss came to the Twins on Wednesday and we still only lost by one run. To start the week we played 2 straight extra inning games, a 13 inning win against Oakland and an 11 inning win against Minnesota. On the offensive, Willy Taveras, Carlos Pena and Dioner Navarro have been red hot, all hitting over .400 on the week. Longoria has also began to pick it up a little, hitting .269 last week. He's coming along, we just have to be patient with him. On the hill, we're pleased with the performance of our staff. Any given day, any pitcher can give us a huge outing. Perhaps the main reason for our early success has been our bullpen, which with a 3.76 ERA is ranked 3rd in the AL. Scott Kazmir turned in another great start, going 8 strong allowing 2 runs (both in the 8th) and fanning 11. If he keeps it up, he may be looking at an extension in the near future. A disappointment this year has been Al Reyes, already blowing 2 saves in only 6 tries. A few guys that have come out of the bullpen are:


Jeff Ridgeway 2-0, 2.35 ERA, 1 S, 1.08 WHIP


Chad Orvella 1-0, 0.82 ERA, 1 S, 1.09 WHIP


Shawn Camp 3-0, 3.12 ERA, 13 G, 17 IP, 1.10 WHIP

[darkcloud4579]

So is your current goal to ride out the talent you have to eventually contend? Or to supplement those guys with free agents at some point down the line?

[Brewers194]

Week 6 wasn't so good, considering we only went 2-4 and now have a record of 19-18. It was a frustrating week to say the least, but our guys showed heart all week. On Wednesday, we scored 5 in the top of the ninth to tie it up with the Orioles. But then J.R. House hit a 3 run walk off shot in the bottom of the ninth off Brian Stokes to send us home with a loss. A similar situation happened on Saturday when we scored 3 in the top of the ninth to tie the Blue Jays, but Alex Rios's bottom of the tenth walk off solo shot once again sent us home with our heads down. So much for Dioner Navarro and B.J. Upton finally coming out of their season long slump as we expected. They went 1-20 and 3-20 this week respectively. However, on a good note, Evan Longoria has really zoned in and has started contributing nicely. He's now hitting .326 in May when he came up after hitting .391 this week. Willy Taveras has also been making me look like a genius. Here's a trade review:

We got:

Willy Taveras- .372 (.444 in May), 1 HR, 14 RBI, 12 SB, 22 R


Dexter Fowler (AA)- .273, 1 HR, 10 RBI, 10 SB


Franklin Morales (AAA)- 1-4, 4.07 ERA, 1.48 WHIP


Ubaldo Jimenez (AA)- 4-0, 2.75 ERA, 0.96 WHIP

They got:

Carl Crawford- .337, 4 HR, 10 RBI, 6 SB, 19 R


Jonny Gomes- .088 (3-34), 0 HR, 2 RBI, 10 K, 3 2B

[Brewers194]

Darkcloud,

The goal is to win within. A free agent might come here or there, but it'd be preferred to win with my farm system.

[Brewers194]

It was an exciting week since the draft pool was released, but we didn't play so well. We started out by losing 3 straight, extending our losing streak to a season long five. Then we won one and lost the next two to bring our record to a subpar 20-23. We can't lose hope, it's only May. The draft pool was released, and it's nothing to get too excited about, but if the draft was tomorrow, we'd maybe take outfielder Elijah Roberts out of Holy Cross. He has the upside of a Tony Gwynn-like hitter. He's a great baserunner, but not the fastest guy in the world. He's an above average corner outfielder with an average arm and average range. We love his work ethic, which according to his coaches at Holy Cross is amazing. Roberts kind of flew under the radar this year which is scary because we're not sure how he'll handle the pressure. Another possibility is starting pitcher Alex Rodriguez. Yes, his name really is Alex Rodriguez. Rodriguez, after playing all year at Texas University, already has major league caliber control, so he's more than likely the closest to the majors in the whole draft, which is really nice considering David Price has regressed tremendously. The only down side to Rodriguez is his lack of stamina and inability to hold runners on. Another bad thing is at the moment he only throws 2 pitches, something he can hopefully fix with the help of our pitching coaches. As for the current team, Rocco Baldelli has caught fire, hitting .500 this week (12-24) and doing all he could to help this team win. Navarro had another tough week, hitting only .105, lowering his season average to .177. It it continues, June may bring a new catcher in Steven Pickerell, who can at least bunt for a hit.

[Brewers194]

Week 8 wasn't a bad week at all, considering we went 4-2 to almost level our record off at 24-25. Another week passed, and another week in which Willy Taveras hit over .400. Willy hit a nice .464 this week, bringing his season average to .380 and is an early All-Star Break MVP. Dioner Navarro also had a real good week, trying to rebound from a season long slump. Navarro hit .429, only bringing his season average to .201. Hopefully Dioner can pick it up, since the last time he had such a good week, he went 1-20 the next week. No pitchers really had a week worth mentioning, which shows how well we hit this week, since we went 4-2. Kazmir is now 3-5 with a 3.55 ERA, not a bad year. A few more good outings could earn him an extension. Speaking of extensions, we resigned Carlos Pena cheaply before he becomes to expensive. The deal is $13, 780.000 spread out over 2 years.

Other than that we're gearing up for the draft which is in 18 days.

[Brewers194]

What a week for these young Devil Rays. We've been playing some real good baseball following up that 4-2 week with a great week at 5-1. Our record is now at a surprising 29-26. Not surprising for us of course. We always knew we could win, but I think the rest of the league is real surprised by our success. The stars of the week were Carlos Pena, Rocco Baldelli, Willy Taveras again and Brendan Harris. Harris overtook the starting job at short. Originally he was only playing when we faced a left handed starter, but now he's playing all the time. On the season he's hitting .358 with 4 HR in only 18 games. Taveras had a subpar week hitting only .379, lowering his average to a measly .380. Also this week we made a trade. We sent minor league infielder Jorge Cantu to Toronto for starting pitcher Shaun Marcum. Jorge was raking the ball down in AAA, but there was really no room for him in the majors. Marcum will immediately help us, and perhaps make us a contender. Hopefully this will send a message to the league that the Devil Rays are no longer rebuilding...

[Brewers194]

Not such a great week, after going 2-5, leveling our record at 31-31. No one really hit the ball well, only Willy Taveras and Akinori Iwarmura. Andrew Sonnanstine has really emerged as a bright spot in the middle of our rotation. Sonnastine is 5-6 with a 3.24 ERA. The record could be better, but records are very deceiving. That 3.24 ERA is in the difficult AL East. Shaun Marcum so far has proved to be s nice pick up, winning his first start against his former team. Meanwhile, Jorge Cantu is hitting .222 with Toronto. Speaking of transactions, we made a few this week:

First, we signed a few free agents, all of which can make an immediate impact. Singees include, left hander Tony Sipp, Craig Breslow and former Yankee great, coming out of retirement, Chuck Knoblauch. Sipp and Breslow can help our bullpen right away with their arms. Sipp will start in AAA and Breslow will report to Tampa immediately. As for Chuck, he was extremely excited to get another opportunity. He'll start in AAA and hopefully contribute soon.

Other than that the draft is in 5 days so we're extremely excited.

[Brewers194]

2007 Draft Recap
One of the most anticipated days of the year for any GM, the First Year Player Draft. This year had a good clump of talent in the field. Here's a recap of who we drafted:

1. Alex Rodriguez, SP-Texas, 22 Years old
With the first pick obviously comes a lot of scouting. It was a hard pick, we had Rodriguez on our board, sinker baller Cristobal Lopez and some position players on our board. But in the end we went with all our scouts recommendations and went ahead with Rodriguez. Rodriguez is developing two more pitches to include a changeup and a splitter. Rodriguez will start the year in short season A, where the season starts in 5 days. Since Rodriguez is out of Texas University, he could be on the fast track to majors. It wouldn't be crazy to see him in September if all goes according to plan.

2. Jed Garner, C-Oregon State, 22 Years old
Garner wasn't the best catcher in the draft, third overall pick Julian Sanchez was, but Garner wasn't a bad second. We were shocked to have Garner fall to us. Garner is an above average catcher defensively and could develop into a middle of the order hitter. Despite coming out of college he is still very raw and can be expected by opening day 2009 or mid year 08.

3. Victor Lopez, 1B (DH)- Louisiana Tech, 22 Years old
We continued our trend of college draftees with Lopez. Lopez could turn out to be a big time hitter. Lopez isn't much of a fielder or runner, so comparisons have been drawn to Travis Hafner. Lopez had a huge year at LA Tech, hitting .458 with 8 homers. Lopez will start his career in rookie ball and if he hits like he can could be on the fast track to the majors.

4. Pete Powell, P- Geogia, 22 Years old
Yet another college player, this time a left handed pitcher. We're not sure what to do with Powell yet. His arm isn't used to starting, nor is it used to closing. He'd be a great middle reliever, but normally you wouldn't draft a guy to be a reliever. We'll try to stretch him out in rookie ball and if that doesn't work he may become a closer. Any lefty that throws 95-97 mph is obviously has a huge upside. He also gets a ton of ground balls, about 75%.

5. Ivan Marrero, SS- HS (Phoenix, AZ), 19 Years old
Finally a high school draftee. Marrero is projected as an offensive shortstop. His below average defense may have him moved to second or third. Marrero won't hit many homers but he has great discipline. His disciple yet lack of speed makes him a possible future #2 hitter.

6. Pancho Cisneros, P- HS (Dallas, TX), 19 Years old
Our second high school draftee in a row has the same problem as Powell, yet with less stuff and less stamina. Pancho is projected to be a rare non-fireballer closer in future years. He's a lefty, but still throws close to 92 with nice control.

7. Manny Cardoza, 2B- HS (Central Islip. NY), 19 Years old
Cardoza, ironically enough drafted from my home town ((really)), has the ceiling of a Rey Ordonez-type player. He'll hit .200 but win a gold glove. Cardoza also moves very well, and can steal many bases. He'll start the year in rookie ball like almost all the other draftees.

8. Jaime Hernandez, 2B- HS (Halawa, HI), 16 Years old
Yep, he's only 16. They're smart out there in Hawaii, he graduated school early. Hernandez is just a younger, almost identical Manny Cardoza. In future years the two may be fighting it out in spring training for the second base job. But for now, they'll be teammates in Princeton.

9. Michael Cramer, SS- Alabama, 22 Years old
Another middle infielder, Cramer a little different. He can play defense for sure, but he'll burn anyone in the 60 yard dash. Cramer can flat out fliy. He can also hit the ball to the gaps pretty well, but overall offensively he's weak. He'll need a lot of work in the minors to become an everyday shortstop at the show.

10. Ernie Maxwell, SP- San Jose St., 22 Years old
Maxwell was one of the last quality starting pitchers left when we got to him and he doesn't project to much except maybe a middle reliever some day down the road. But who knows, guys try something new in the minors and turn around their whole careers. He could be our future ace for all we know.

[Brewers194]

I've changed the format a bit obviously, I'm just going slow, taking my time and kind of updating for myself. Sorry if anyone was following closely.

2007 was an interesting year for sure. We made a run at the postseason in late August, but folded in mid-September. At one point we were a game and a half back of the eventual AL champion Orioles. The Orioles eventually fell to the Arizona Diamondbacks in 7 games. Game 7 actually went to extra innings and was won by Arizona.

I was informed by the owner I have $53.2 million this year to spend. Money shouldn't be a real problem since our payroll was only $26 million. But now for the baseball, we finished with an 82-80 record, the best in team history. Andrew Sonnanstine emerged as a potential ace for next year. Next years looking real bright if Kazmir and Sonnanstine can pitch together well. Kazmir got red hot in both August and September and did everything he could to propel us into the playoffs. Sonnanstine finished with a 14-10 record with a 4.03 ERA and Kazmir, 11-14 with a 3.30 ERA. Down on the farm our pitchers could have fared better, but one of baseball's top prospects, Alex Rodriguez did a pretty good job in the minors and may be in the opening day 2008 rotation.

On offense Rocco Baldelli was our team MVP. He hit .309 with 24 homers and 30 stolen bases. Another candidate was speedster Willy Taveras. Willy stole 70 bases while hitting .326 so you could easily make a case for him for MVP too. If he played a full year, Delmon Young would've been a solid RoY winner. He played in 104 games, hit .322, hit 14 homers and stole 26 bases. Also he hit 30 doubles in only 104 games.


Later on I'll come up with a Baseball America-style prospect report.

[Brewers194]

Tampa Bay Devil Rays

Top 10 Prospects:
1. Alex Rodriguez SP, 22 Years Old
Last Year: 1-4 1.60 ERA (S A), 1-1 2.20 ERA (A), 1-2 7.40 ERA (AA)
Rodriguez, last year's number one overall pick, was stellar until he got to AA Montgomery last year. Rodriguez already has major league caliber control but his maturation and stuff need to improve a little. He has a fastball that tops out at 96 and hits his corners great. Alex will probably start the year in AA and make his way up the ranks in 08 and scratch the surface. In many other organizations he may be on the opening day roster, but a crowed Tampa Bay rotation may make that difficult.

2. Ubaldo Jimenez SP, 24 Years Old
Last Year: 9-5 4.23 ERA (AA), 0-2 9.31 ERA (AAA)
Ubaldo was called up to AAA for a brief time in '07 and struggled. He found himself back down in AA where he pitched real well. This November, coaches made a minor adjustment in his windup and now his stock has shot up because of it. Ubaldo has the stuff to be a closer but is profiled as a starter, so what Tampa does with him is still a mystery.

3. Jed Garner C, 22 Years Old
Last Year: .345, 3 HR (S A), .331, 8 HR (A)
The Rays were shocked when Garner fell all the way to the second round and quickly grabbed him with the 33 overall pick. Garner is a solid defensive catcher and a real good all around hitter. His main strength is his plate discipline and ability to put the ball in play. Garner is one of the more talented catchers to come into baseball in a long time.

4. Franklin Morales SP, 22 Years Old
Last Year: 3-7 5.46 ERA (AA), 3-5 4.69 ERA (AAA)
Morales was the main feature in the Crawford trade back in February and so far hasn't impressed. Despite his shaky numbers, scouts in Tampa are still excited about Franklin. He's a smart pitcher with good command and good stuff and profiles as a front end starter in the future.

5. Dexter Fowler OF, 22 Years Old
Last Year: .281, 9 HR, 33 SB (AA)
Dexter was another part of the Crawford trade and still has a bright future in this organization. However, a young crowded outfielder may turn Dexter Fowler into trade bait. Fowler is a great defensive outfielder with good speed and a potentially good bad.

6. Pete Powell P, 22 Years Old
Last Year: 2-7 3.67 ERA (R)
Powell had a rough time in Princeton but his strikeout numbers were still impressive. His strikeout numbers and the fact that he's a southpaw may make him the ideal future closer of the Rays, but he still could make it as a starter. He's already a capable pitcher after spending most of '07 at the University of Georgia.

7. Joe Benson OF, 21 Years Old
Last Year: 309, 10 HR (S A)
Benson was acquired from the Twins in a March trade for Minnesota for Ty Wigginton. Benson had a solid year is the New York Penn League, but it's going to take a real impressive show to win him a job in Tampa. Benson is a legitimate five tool player and if he plays the way he can, he may open a lot of eyes.

8. Reid Brignac SS, 22 Years Old
Last Year: .240, 11 HR
Reid had a tough year in AA but he is expected to bounce back and some day be the starting short stop up with the big club. Reid has the potential to be a solid all around player with good baseball instincts. Jack Wilson is no Derek Jeter, so expected Reid to scratch the surface soon.

9. Jacob McGee SP, 21 Years Old
Last Year: 1-9 4.74 ERA (S A)
McGee rounds out Tampa bulk of left handed pitching prospects. McGee reaches pretty good stuff since he throws about 95 and also has a real nice breaking ball. McGee projects mainly as a back end starter, but a strong one indeed.

10. Wes Blankston OF/1B, 25 Years Old
Last Year: .283, 36 HR, 109 RBI (AA)
It's hard to leave Wes off the list after last year's performance. He even hit .429 in a ten game September stint with the big club. If Carlos Pena has another off year like last year, We could take over first base.