Here’s the latest from Tropicana Field…
- Chris Archer will undergo an MRI on Monday to determine the extent of his injured groin, he told MLB.com’s Erik Erickson and other reporters. The injury cropped up during Archer’s start on Saturday, and the Rays ace said the problem was still bothering him today. Given the timeline, Archer said it was “questionable” whether he’d make his next scheduled start. Losing Archer would be another blow to a Rays team that has been scrambling for arms due to injuries and their unique usage of regular bullpen days, not to mention the potential impact it could have on Archer’s value as a potential trade chip at the deadline.
- In further ominous injury news, the Tampa Bay Times’ Marc Topkin reports (Twitter link) that southpaw Anthony Banda will visit with team doctors after being placed on the Triple-A disabled list due to a forearm strain. Acquired as the primary piece in the three-team trade that sent Steven Souza to the Diamondbacks last offseason, Banda has posted solid numbers at Triple-A this season and also made three MLB appearances for the Rays (one official start and two relief outings behind “openers” Sergio Romo and Ryne Stanek). Forearm injuries are always cause for concern, particularly since Tampa Bay has already lost youngsters Jose De Leon and Brent Honeywell to Tommy John surgery within the last few months.
- Rays senior VP of baseball operations Chaim Bloom recently spoke with The Athletic’s Juan Toribio (subscription required) about the team’s controversial “bullpen day” strategy and the usage of relievers to “start” games by pitching an inning before turning things over to a multi-inning pitcher. Bloom said the front office has been “encouraged” by the results thus far, and very pleased with how the players and coaching staff have bought into the idea. Despite the relative success thus far, however, Bloom said the Rays won’t necessarily stick with the pitching strategy going forward. “I think time will tell, but we don’t want to shoehorn a group of players into a certain model just to say that we’re doing it….I think potentially if you have a different group of players with different strengths and weaknesses, you might do something different,” Bloom said. “But what we wanted to get away from was kind of doing the opposite, where I think previously the mindset was that no matter what the strength and weaknesses are of our player group, we’re going to force them to be in the so-called traditional model. We wanted to take an approach of, let’s assess the strengths and weaknesses of our group, and then try and figure out a way to build this in a way that gives them the best chance.”
- The recent deal that sent Denard Span and Alex Colome to Seattle stands out as perhaps the biggest of the nine trades between the Rays and Mariners since Jerry Dipoto became Seattle’s GM in September 2015. The close relationship between Dipoto and Rays GM Erik Neander plays a large role, though Topkin expands on that topic as part of a larger piece about how Tampa Bay approaches trades in general. For instance, the Rays send several scouts to analyze another team’s player (or players) to get a variety of opinions before targeting someone in talks. The club also puts a particular focus on scouting the lower levels of the minors to find hidden gems; several players acquired from the Mariners, in fact, have been unheralded names who eventually cracked the big leagues.
It’s a shame the Mariners didn’t take advantage of the rays dumping this offseason if their relationship was so strong. Odorizzi and Dickerson both would’ve been good adds for SEA.
Yeah. Dickerson really fits the mold of Dipoto’s athletic outfielder who doesnt strike out often.
Archer on the Rays? Can I get an apology for this amateur article? Smfh. Ban this writer!!
What are you talking about?
Your parents need to apologize first.
I moved 150 miles away from my parents and only talk to them on accident. So I don’t care if they apologize or not.
I hate that the “bullpen day” controversial? It literally increases their chance at winning.
Using a closer doesn’t “literally” or figuratively increase the chance of the Devil Rays winning a game. What actually DECREASES their chance of winning is being too cheap to pay for even another major league average starter.
Try that “opener” thing against the Yankees, Red Sox or Astros and see what happens, rather than doing such silliness against all those fellow Rays contenders for worst team.
What also DECREASED their chance of winning was hanging on to Archer too long, rather than moving him a couple years ago when his value was at its maximum. Now, as nothing more than a league average starter with an insanely cheap contract, he holds far more value to Tampa than other teams who can actually afford to pay more for a highly quality pitcher. And now Archer would seem to be hurt.
What a way to run a franchise: nickles and dimes all year and pocket the many millions in competitive balance money received from the Big Boys, at the end of another losing season.
So just WHAT will the team owner do this off seadon, when no $15 to $20 million check rolls in thanks to the Yankees, Red Sox, Dodgers and Cubs once again over the salary limit? Declare bankrupcy?? Talk about your quintessntial Mickey Mouse operation!
The opener will always give them an advantage as opposed to not using it. It doesn’t matter who their playing. If you can’t see that you’re just trying to cling on to baseballs stupid mentality that anything new isn’t good.
I have to agree with your points. I nearly had a heart attack when I saw they took Span and his salary in the Longoria trade, but it all worked out better than planned. Span stayed healthy and relatively productive for the first two months which enabled them to pass him and that contract to SEA. Next to go will be Wilson Ramos, and his performance this year should fetch a decent return. TB seems more bent on saving money than rebuilding, though. They seem content to shift into perpetual rebuild mode with no player ever drawing more than $10M/year – trade the better ones before they get to their 2nd year of arbitration if they don’t take a lowball extension offer. Moneyball Lite.
Rays owner needs 100mm for a new stadium… did u think that was coming out his pocket?
Revenue sharing should yield that cash in 2/3 yrs. Just don’t spend it on players
I thought Seattle shouldn’t let Archer leave the city without him being on the team. I am sure we could find some players they would like not named Lewis or White. He would make the 1st place Mariners pitching staff that much better.
As for the groin strain I am not sure what was up with him and the mound. He was doing everything but flips on it after throwing a pitch. It was like he was doing dance moves at times. For some reason he was having trouble with the mound. I am sure the ground crew could fix it to his liking on his day to pitch. He would like coming to a team that is ahead of the Astros. You know the team that was going to walk away with the division and Seattle was going to finish behind them the Angels and the As. There is a lot of BB to play but we are doing this without Cano and with a lot of injuries. Will be interesting to see how it all plays out. I am not giving up on Mariners though. I said it before the season and was laughed at this team will be sneaky good as long as the pitching holds up.
I think our staff and rotation are doing fine without an Archer. Also he was obviously having difficulty with the groin, hence the theatrics. Why would you give up on the m’s? We’re 15 over .500 and now in first place… maybe renting it, but we’ll see. Big Maple is on the mound on Tuesday and really all we have to do is get a split and sweep the Rays again. We don’t need to further hurt the farm by trying to go for Archer. Bolstering the pen is the best option right now and we did that.
Whereslou and Phil253 you 2 must be M’s fans and not Rays because what you saw was the crap we see every 5 days. Archer dances and hops and shuffles and skips constantly. It is incredibly annoying and amateurish. Sure he is in the Big Leagues and has more talent on a mound then I do or ever did, but he needs to quit the antics and just pitch. He wants to be considered elite but not when he acts like this. I also believe these theatrics cut down on his stamina and help reduce his length in games as he is frequently described as “running out of gas” in 6th inning when he does have good stuff. Never see a Kershaw, Verlander, Scherzer, Arietta, Sale, Hernandez, Keuchel, Syndegaard, etc….act like that!
This is an extremely get off my lawn post. Baseball is a game and is meant to be fun, don’t try and get personality out of the game
At this point baring some giant implosion the mariners are legit contenders. At some point you need to think about acquiring a arm that can’t be used against you in the playoffs. Hammels comes to mine, as they will most likely face NYY in a WC game.
Yeah… we just have nothing to give up for him and bolstering the Rangers’ farm isn’t my idea of fun either. I also don’t think we’d end up facing him in a wildcard game so. I’m thinking the m’s end up with an arm from the central.