9 responses to “Congrats, Rays!”

  1. daveinexile

    Chip Carey – World biggest benefactor from not being Buck Jr.? Martinez and Darling didn’t get in the way of enjoying the game that much for me so over all I thank them.

    I think the Phillies have a better back end of the ‘Pen right now and recently (say past 10+ years) that seems to be the critical factor in most postseason series. I will be interested in seeing how both bullpens play out. It should be a fun series!

  2. waxpack

    I have to say that I’m really pleased the Red Sox won’t be in the World Series this year, and that they didn’t once again crawl out of the 3-1 hole. I know they’re a good team and they’re probably good guys, but that whole narrative was getting so played out for me. Did anyone besides Red Sox fans want to see them win? I guess it’s more a fact of the “buzz” around them than anything else, but I find that whole organization immensely annoying. Anyone else agree?

  3. daveinexile

    WaxPack: Just to because I am contrary I wouldn’t have been crushed by a BoSox win. They traded the biggest name ( for people outside of their fan base) and had a guy with a bad back and who had been on 2 trades this year playing out of position at first base. It would have been interesting to see if they had enough left in the tank. That said I will be immensely happy that next season when I get to see the Royals or the O’s or the M’s ( insert any other lower division team for ‘09) on a national feed it will not always be them playing the Red Sox!

  4. obsessivegiantscompulsive

    “Guys like Cliff Floyd (114 OPS+), Gabe Gross (104 OPS+), and Eric Hinkse (111 OPS+) were all acquired for very little resources. Defensive position excluded, all three guys out hit Aaron Rowand soundly and will cost the Rays $55M less. And, the Rays won’t have to deal with them for 4+ years. Good teams do this.”

    Good teams hire a frequently injured player like Floyd who hasn’t been reliable for years, a utility OF like Gabe Gross, and Eric Hinske, a utility corner fielder so bad already at age 30, when supposedly most players are at their physical peak, that he was with his third team in less than a year when he signed with the lowly Rays? And with them you compare Aaron Rowand?

    I think you hit on it right, just stated it wrong: good teams, when they are ready to compete, hire extraneous vets to support the young crew in place.

    The Giants were not in that place in 2008, or are you really suggesting that it would have been better if the Giants had signed Eric Hinske instead of Aaron Rowand?

    Nobody was complaining about Rowand when his OPS was above 900 at the end of May. Nobody goes from above 900 to 600 OPS unless there was some sort of injury affecting him. I think his 2009 will be more representative of what he will deliver to us, for good or bad.

    I think you should also include their astute acquisition of Iwamura, he has been a very economical acquisition and can play both 2B and 3B well enough.

    As much as I would hate to see Feliz win a ring (I take solace that he did so poorly he didn’t play a full season and basically was in a platoon of some sort with Dobbs and Bruntlett after the ASG, giving the ring a bittersweet taste), I think have to root for the Phillies over the Rays because I can’t stand all the media commentators point at the Rays and mew about how “that’s the way to do it”.

  5. Cookyman

    “Nobody was complaining about Rowand when his OPS was above 900 at the end of May. Nobody goes from above 900 to 600 OPS unless there was some sort of injury affecting him. I think his 2009 will be more representative of what he will deliver to us, for good or bad”

    Rowand also had a really high BABIP during the first 2 months – the decline wasn’t that surprising. And his line, when considering his age, home park, and tendency to run into walls, wasn’t that much worse than his career line. I hope he will surprise me, but I’m afraid that this is pretty much the Rowand that we’ll be getting for the next 4 years.

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