RIPEXPOS

f***ing Janssen with the 3 pitch K! hahaha Delabar that's how ya do it!

haha some blonde got nailed by the ball there

Dammit. Bring in Janssen.

That V-Mart K was an example of being effectively wild...

If he wasn't throwing a curve, why did he say he was throwing a curve? And it sure as hell looks like a curve...

Got the text too. Who gets sent down?

I could be wrong, I'm guessing as much as anyone, but the best way to identify what a pitch was intended to be is by looking at it's velocity. Sometimes a pitch can be intended to be one thing, and react like an other. I'm trying to guess what the pitch was intended to be, as in, what Stroman would call the pitch. For Stroman, according to pretty much every scouting report, there are 5 pitches he can throw: Fastball- Mid 90s Cutter- High 80s/Low 90s Slider- Mid/High 80s changeup- Mid 80s Power curve- low 80s The bolded pitches are easily identifiable, Stroman even said it was a curve that was doing the damage, and when you watch the tape you see the nasty pitch we are all raving about was consistently in the low 80s, so it was a curve. The Changeup/Slider/Cutter can be confusing though, since all three sit in the same general range of velocity (and excluding the slider down and out of the zone which he didn't throw much on saturday since his curve was so effective) they all generally have similar type movement and stay in the zone (cutter, change, and slider for a strike). The main reason I am guessing the high 80s pitch for a strike was a slider is that I know historically Stromans slider is his second most used pitch after his fastball, and I know one of the strengths of it is that he is capable of throwing it for strikes. It seems unlikely to me that Stroman wouldn't throw a single slider, so I'm guessing the pitch that read electronically as a changeup (the pitch he historically uses the least of the 5), was in fact his slider being thrown for a strike. And when you watch the tape, that's what it looks like, it bends and moves alot more than a common changeup (look at that horizontal break). So looking back at his Saturday performance, it appears to be Stroman was generally Fastball/Curveball, with some Slider/Cutters mixed in for variety.

The lack of speed in the OF could pose a problem though. While each as an individual is not bad, the trio of Cabrera, Rasmus, and Bautista is probably the slowest in the Majors. Well hit balls to the outfield are doubles waiting to happen. Having Gose in there is huge, he can steal those extra base hits away.

I posted this before, but might have missed so I will post it again: Stroman employed 2 breaking balls during his start. A low 80s curve (which is the one everyone is raving about that fell off a table to his gloveside), and a high 80s slider (which read as a changeup electronically and was thrown for strikes).

I hope each Ray fanboy forever has this reaction upon just hearing the word "baseball" :

Bottom line is Melky and Jose as a tandem are below average in terms of range in the corner outfield spots. Having a guy with Gose's range patrolling center helps more than it would normally.

You can jump ship once, and even that is debatable. But to jump off and jump back within a year? HELL NO. That's some flake s*** right there, they must go down with the moneyless Rays ship!

Pretty sad, he was one of my fav players when I was a kid...

Nola to me seems to have supplanted himself as the 4th best arm in the draft due to his floor and major league proximity, so I think he goes in the 4-6 range along with Gordon and Jackson. After that is when I think it gets interesting.

I think the top 6 is all but set, but yea, I'm going to be stressed when the Phillies and Rockies are picking...

Sucks we're gonna miss out on Nick Gordon, but I'm all for taking Hoffman. Sure he needs to recover from TJ, but once he does he'll still be further along, while having better projectability and stuff, than the prep arm options. Hoffman and Turner are the 2 guys I'm hoping for at #9 and #11.

Thats the list of the current lineup, 1 through 8. Lawrie brings those qualities as well, but he's the only one.

I agree, it also helps that Tolleson hits lefties pretty good. It's like a perfect 3 man platoon over 2 positions...

No doubt he has ugly at bats, but he's always done a pretty good job of getting on base. In AA-AAA since 2011, he's put up an ISO OBP in the .090 range. So even if he only hits .250, he should be able to still get on base at a respectable rate, something in the .330s and he's fine (and through my observations, iso obp while a strange stat, translates from the minors to the bigs almost every time). And that doesn't even count the speed forced errors that he creates that get him on. Bottom line, when I look at the position players/lineup on this team outside of CF (Reyes, Cabrera, Bautista, Lind, Edwin, Francisco, Lawrie, Catcher), I see a lack of defence, a lack of speed, and a lack of youth. Gose can help address all 3 of those qualities and just fits perfectly as a #9 hitter as well.

I'd keep Gose over Rasmus, I think he's a better fit for this club. It's no coincidence our run has happened with Gose playing, he complements the rest of the the team better. His speed/range in CF helps make up for Cabrera/Bautista in the corners, and overall our D has been a bit of a sore point so his glove really helps our mediocre pitching staff. He's also built to be hitting 9th, his OBP and speed works perfectly for turning the lineup over. He lacks the pop of Rasmus, but this lineup has more than enough pop, especially with Francisco playing almost regularly. Not to mention his youth being an asset for a kind of aging club.

I think the org really needs to make a point of not rushing Sanchez. I know he's got enough stuff to survive in the bigs (at least in patches) in the not too distant future, but let this kid develop for at least through 2015. He's a wildcard, but if we're patient he could be special. The org must be patient though.

I'd look to move Rasmus and a reliever/b prospect for rotation help. Might not get us a stud, but should get us a solid, veteran mid-rotation guy and wouldn't hurt us long term, while we would be getting younger at CF.

The key for Stroman is how well he can command the fastball down in the zone. He's got a low release point, and while his fastball is generally flat , when he can pound the bottom of the strikezone with it, it is very effective. Also to clarify, Stroman has two breaking balls, both are slurvy, but I'm guessing the low 80s one is the one he calls the curve, and the high 80s one is the one he calls the slider.

This is why minor league stats can be misleading. For a guy like Gose, someone who is knocking on the door of the bigs and has had a couple of cups of coffee already, the minors are like spring training, and players approach at-bats to work on specific things as opposed to trying to get results...