Five More Bulls?

*** 17 Days! ***

Five more players were sent to the Rays minor league camp and, from a Bulls fan perspective, it was all good news. I’ll be happy to see Tim Beckham, Stephen Vogt, Dane De La Rosa, Brandon Guyer, and Matt Bush in Bulls uniforms.

• We saw a good bit of shortstop Tim Beckham at the end of last year and we’re happy to see him back this year. Taking a look at Rays’ manager Maddon’s comments, it looks like they will be expecting Beckham to spend some time at 2B this year.
• We saw Stephen Vogt in 31 games last year, but only 6 as a catcher. It sounds like the Rays want want to see Vogt spend more time behind the plate. That means that our lineups could be wrong.
• The Bulls will unquestionably benefit from having Dane De La Rosa in the bullpen. He was in 52 games for the Bulls last year and did a terrific job.
• We also really like the idea of Brandon Guyer being back in town. He played in 107 games for the Bulls last year. Great to have him in a Bulls uniform.
• We’ve never seen RH reliever Matt Bush pitch. This is his third year in the Rays system and, if he sticks with the Bulls, it will be his first in AAA. He's got a bit of a back-story that we'll get around to telling one of these days.

Note that all except Beckham are on the Rays 40-man roster.

What's Next?

How are we going to get through the winter?

First, if you want the 2011 South Division Champions T-shirt you need to check with the DBAP store, because they only had a few printed up. Not sure how many, if any, are left.

Then we can speculate on who might get called up to the Rays. Rays Index is reporting a statement by Joe Maddon that one or two Bulls might be called up right away, mentioning, tongue in cheek I am sure, Dan Johnson and Matt Bush. The Tampa Tribune blogger Roger Mooney also mentions Matt Moore as a possible call-up.

After that, we might watch a couple of Rays games, assuming the local TV folks deign to put them on the air.

About call-ups:

Current Durham Bulls on the Tampa Bay 40-man roster are: Pitchers Chris Archer, Jay Buente, Matt Bush, Dane De La Rosa, Rob Delaney, Mike Ekstrom, and Alex Torres; Catchers Robinson Chirinos and Nevin Ashley.

Not on this list are a couple of well-regarded Bulls, notably Russ Canzler and Matt Moore (and the third Matt, Matt Torra). If the Rays want to call them up (or anyone else on the Bulls roster) then they’ve got to do a bit of roster manipulation — something they are more than capable of doing.

Here are a couple of guesses. The Rays are going to want to divide up these guys into players they want to look at right now and players they are willing to wait until spring to look at. I see a big decision coming up regarding Alex Torres and a lesser decision regarding Mike Ekstrom, so take another look at them. All but Chris Archer on this list got a “taste” this year, so maybe give him a look.

Who could actually help them? For that they might want to give Jay Buente a real test before putting him back on waivers. Robinson Chirinos has already been up and Jose Lobaton reportedly tweaked his knee again, so look for him to go up. Russ Canzler might be a good guy to give a look, because he will surely be a solid candidate for a different team if he goes back into minor league free agency.

Again, please remember that the possibility that I don’t really understand the business of baseball is very high. I could easily be very, very wrong. Notably, I don't understand the "Rule 5 Draft" rules at all and there could be someone in the system the Rays need to look at before exposing them to that process.

See also other folks' comments over here.

Last note: I loved this year's fan appreciation video until I realized it was missing something — Baseball!

Roster Updates and More

Two of the three Biscuits who came up to Durham from Montgomery have gone on the Bulls' roster.

We reported earlier that that RHP Jim Paduch and RHRP Matt Bush were on their way but that there was not, at that time, a place for them on the roster. Now there is, Brian Baker and Lance Cormier had been "assigned" to Montgomery.

What does this do for the Bulls? Potentially quite a bit. It does not solve the lack of a left-handed relief pitcher — the Bulls don't have one. But Paduch is a solid replacement for the reportedly arm-weary fifth starter Baker and Cormier has not been all that sharp while Bush can be a very scary guy on the mound. Besides, I'll bet that both Cormier and Baker are going to be hanging out in Bulls' uniforms for the series. If needed, they'll likely be back on the roster.

Surfing around I found this post by a Cleveland blogger. Pretty good, even if he, like most, thinks that Russ Canzler is a third baseman. Heck, that's what he made the IL All-Star team as. We'll just stay quiet about that. OK?

Tarp is still off the field. Weather radar is quiet. Looking good!

Hitting Ending

Game 142, Monday, September 5, Harbor Park, Norfolk, VA
Norfolk Tides 8, Durham Bulls 5
Season: 80-62
Wrap, Box

The Bulls went out with a bang, 18 hits, but they left most of them on base (11). The optimist in me says that the hitting on Monday, along with the 10 hits on Sunday, says good things about the playoffs. As yesterday's table showed, most of the Bulls have been having trouble at bat the last couple of weeks (the table didn't include Monday's game). What we can hope for is that this game shows them beginning to connect. Certainly J.J. Furmaniak's 4 for 4, Stephen Vogt's 4 for 5, and Russ Canzler's 3 for 5 are good signs.

As for the game itself, the Tides came out swinging and Brian Baker wasn't ready. They jumped on him for six runs (two home runs) in the first inning and that would be enough.

According to Stacy Long over in Montgomery, three Biscuits will be joining the Bulls for the playoffs. [Biscuit Crumbs] They are pitchers Jim Paduch (stats) and Matt Bush (stats), and infielder Cole Figueroa (stats). As regular readers will surely have learned by now, I am no expert in such things, but I think that these fellows will dress out, but will not play unless someone were to go on the disabled list during the playoffs. They way I read it, the Bulls roster is currently full and I think I heard Neil Solondz say that pitcher Ryan Reid (on the DL) is ready to play. Nevertheless, as noted several times, the Rays are past masters at manipulating the roster system. Maybe we will see one or two of these guys.

Speaking just for myself and my own superstitions, I really want to see Jim Paduch around. He was the starting pitcher for the Bulls back on July 21 up in Rochester. The Bulls scored 18 runs in that game on 20 hits, 7 home runs, and 44 (!) total bases. [story] He was sent back to Montgomery the next day.

I've been waiting to see Matt Bush for a long time. I'd give up at least one of our relievers (e.g., Lance Cormier) to see what he could do for the Bulls in the playoffs.

Don't know a thing about Mr. Figueroa, but will chase him down if he gets in a game.

Stats and charts coming up soon.