Rays - Bulls - Rays - Bulls: Pitchers

A couple of days ago I started a series looking at just how much the Rays and Bulls helped each other this year. The first was a look at the rehabilitation assignment players who passed through. This one takes a look at the pitchers. Note that all stats are for regular season only.

David Price, Andy Sonnanstine, Wade Davis, Randy Choate, Dale Thayer, Jeff Bennett, Joe Nelson, and Winston Abreu each spent some time with the Bulls and the Rays this year. That’s eight of twenty-one pitchers who were on the mound for the Rays, and eight of thirty-four pitchers who wore a Durham Bulls uniform.

David Price

• Bulls: 8 games, 1-4, ERA 3.93, 34 ⅓ innings, WHIP 1.340
• Rays: 23 games, 10-7, ERA 4.42, 128 ⅓ innings, WHIP 1.348

David Price started the season with the Bulls and went to the Rays in late May. Looks like he did more for the Rays in terms of winning games than he did for us. Some of that is surely because early in the season the Rays had all starters on low pitch counts and, in the case of Price, had him working on specific tasks in each outing.

Andy Sonnanstine

• Bulls: 9 games, 5-3, ERA 4.40, 57 ⅓ innings, WHIP 1.343.
• Rays: 22 games (18 starts), 6-9, ERA 6.77, 99 ⅔ innings, WHIP 1.656

Andy Sonnanstine began the season with the Rays as a starter. He came to Durham in early July and went back to the Rays on September 1 (he spent some time on the DL while with the Bulls). On his return to the Rays he had three starts and all four of his relief appearances. Very helpful to the Bulls as we made our run for the Governors’ Cup.

Wade Davis

• Bulls: 28 games, 10-8, ERA 3.40, 158 ⅔ innings, WHIP 1.254
• Rays: 6 games, 2-2, ERA 3.72, 36 ⅓ innings, WHIP 1.266

Wade Davis started the year in Durham and stayed here until September 2. He did a superb job for the Bulls, and not too shabby for the Rays in his six starts.

Randy Choate

• Bulls: 21 games, 3-0, ERA 3.72, 19 ⅓ innings, WHIP 1.293
• Rays: 61 games, 1-0, 5 saves, ERA 3.47, 36 ⅓ innings, WHIP 1.073

Sidearming left-hander Randy Choate started the season with Durham and went to St Pete on May 25th. He stayed with the Rays the rest of the season. What’s interesting about Choate, and several other Rays relievers, is that he has considerably fewer innings than appearances, meaning that it was typical for him to face only a few batters and get only a few outs in an appearance.

Dale Thayer

• Bulls: 51 games, 2-5, 17 saves, ERA 2.27, 63 ⅓ innings, WHIP 1.168
• Rays: 11 games, 0-0, ERA 4.61, 13 ⅔ innings, WHIP 1.390

Reliever Dale Thayer made 3 trips to the Rays. He went up on May 22 and came back on May 31, appearing in three games. He went up again on July 23 and came back on July 28, after appearing in three more games. He made his third visit in September, going up September 8 and staying until the end of the season. He made five more appearances. Except for the oddity of sitting on the Tampa bullpen bench for some thirteen days in September (12th to 26th), Dale seems to have done a decent job for the Rays and been one of the few relievers that stayed in for more than a few batters at a time. Of course, for the Bulls Dale was a horse with a bunch of saves. The only problem I noted was that when he came back from the Rays it took him a couple of games to get back into it.

Jeff Bennett

• Bulls: 3 games, 1-0, ERA 4.76, 11 ⅓ innings, WHIP 1.676
• Rays: 11 games, 0-0, ERA 9.95, 12 ⅔ innings, WHIP 2.763

Bennett made his first appearance with the Rays on August 1 and came to the Bulls on August 18 after seven appearances with the Rays. He stayed with the Bulls until September 1 when he went back to the Rays. As a Bull, Jeff was a starter (mostly in those “committee” games). With Tampa Bay he was exclusively a reliever. Bennett had been with Atlanta this season before going on the DL and then being released after two rehab appearances with Gwinnett. Something of a wash on who he helped the most.

Joe Nelson

• Bulls: 13 games, 2-2, ERA 6.23, 17.1 innings, WHIP 1.904
• Rays: 42 games, 3-0, ERA 4.02, 40 ⅓ innings, WHIP 1.463

Nelson was optioned to Durham on August 4 after spending the season with Tampa (and doing what appears to be a decent job). With the Bulls in the regular season he never seemed to get on track. Have to note, however, that he had three appearances in the playoffs (two against Louisville and one against Scranton) and didn’t allow any runs.

Winston Abreu

• Bulls: 37 games, 3-1, 15 saves, ERA 1.94, 51 innings, WHIP 0.765
• Rays: 2 games, 0-0, ERA 2.45, 3 ⅔ innings, WHIP 1.365

I saved the best for last. Winston Abreu was arguably the most important pitcher on the team to not get a real chance with the Rays. He started the season with the Bulls and appeared in 23 games before going to Tampa Bay in mid-June. He made two appearances with the Rays and was traded to Cleveland where he made three appearances before managing to get back to the Bulls for a game on August 7. We could not have been happier. He was in 14 games and picked up four saves. Then he made 6 appearances in the Bulls 9 post-season games, picking up 4 saves. In his last appearance he only faced one batter before coming out because of an injury.

So, what can we say overall about how well the Bulls-Rays relationship worked in the pitching department this year? Looks like a win-win for the starting pitchers. We did OK and so did the Rays. As far as relievers are concerned, the Bulls did fine with the ones who began the season in Durham, but only so-so with the ones who were sent down. I think it’s fair to say that the Rays bullpen was their most significant weakness this year and that it was a matter of both talent and management, particularly late in the season. It sure looked like the Rays were trying to trade/buy relief talent rather than take a close look at what they had in Durham. That’s OK with me.

Next: Position players.

Bulls on the Bay*

Game 53: Bulls 2, Mud Hens 5
Season: 34-19
Wrap, Box, Herald-Sun Story, Indy Week Story

I don’t have anything particularly worthwhile to write about yesterday’s game, except to point out amid all the talk about Durham Bulls pitchers’ strikeouts (17, a season high) that the Mud Hen’s OPS was 1.018, implying one of the worst overall pitching performances this year.

Instead let’s take a look at the players who started the year with the Bulls and are now with the Rays.

• Michel Hernandez, catcher. Michel’s last game with us was on April 13 (boy, that seems like a long time ago). He was called to the Rays to fill in for backup catcher Shawn Riggins, who remains on the disabled list. His first appearance with the Rays was April 15 and he’s played in a total of 13 games since then. At bat he’s hitting .289. Not a single passed ball. And he’s stolen 5 bases. Riggans seems to be a fragile guy. I’m not sure we’ll see Michel back here again.
• Reid Brignac, infielder. Reid was essentially our starting shortstop and played in 36 games, his last being May 21. His first game for Tampa Bay was on May 22 where he came in the game for Rays shortstop Jason Bartlett. Since then he’s appeared in 11 games (2 at second base, 9 at short), but only started 6 games. He’s hitting .231 with 1 walk and 5 strikeouts. Not sure he’ll stay there once the Rays sort out the health of their infield crew.
• David Price, pitcher. David started 8 games as a Bull. His record was 1-4 with an ERA of 3.93. He got his first start as a Ray on May 25, filling in for DL’d Kazmir. He has now started 2 games. His record is 1-0 and his ERA is 3.00. Assuming he stays as a starter, the Rays have to figure out who to send to the bullpen, trade, or send to us. Given the various complexities of how that works, I don’t figure to see him back in Durham.
• Randy Choate, pitcher. Randy was doing a terrific job as a short reliever for the Bulls (21 appearances, usually only a few batters, 3-0, ERA of 3.72). His first appearance for the Rays was on May 25 and he’s had a total of 4. 3 innings pitched. 2 saves. The Rays have three relievers on the disabled list, one of whom (Chad Bradford) is likely to transit Durham on a rehab assignment soon. Can’t knock his performance with the Rays, but I’m betting we’ll see him back here.
• Joe Dillon, infielder. Joe played 14 games for us (part of the Adam Kennedy deal, I think), and played every infield position (and dh’d) while he was here. His first game with the Rays was on May 27. He has not started in a single game, but has appeared in 5 and is hitting .182 in 11 at bats. He was hitting .262 with us. I don’t understand the business of baseball well enough to guess if he’ll be back, but he sure isn’t seeing much playing time with the Rays.
• Matt Joyce, outfielder. Matt started the year in Tampa, then came to Durham where he was a regular (41 games), playing all the outfield positions and dh’ing a couple of times. Solid numbers with us, but clearly a young man on his way to a permanent spot with the Rays. His first game with Tampa Bay was May 31. He’s played in 3 games so far and is doing very, very well. Tampa Bay has been playing a very odd game all year with their right fielders, a “platoon” system that doesn’t seem to be working very well. I don’t think we’ll see Matt back here. Happy to have him, mind you, but the Rays are smarter than that (I think).
• Dale Thayer, pitcher. Got to mention reliever Dale Thayer. He’s already back, but he had three appearances with the Rays in late May and picked up a save. Happy to have him back. With Dale and Winston Abreu in the bullpen, we’re not likely to lose a game that we’re ahead in the 8th or 9th.

So, here’s a trivia question: Who’s on Tampa Bay’s 40-man roster who is still with the Durham Bulls? Just three players: Pitcher Mitch Talbot (on DL), outfielder Justin Ruggiano, and infielder Elliot Johnson (currently on DL). In other words, there ain’t hardly anyone left for them to take away from us. We can plan on going with what we’ve got for a least a few more days.

*As a former resident of the Tampa Bay area, in that time when the City of St Petersburg was in its “If we build it, they will come” phase (note: they did and they did), I am aware that Tropicana Field isn’t on the Bay. But what is on the Bay besides a port terminal whose major export is phosphates and whose major import is, get this, orange juice?

What a Rotation!

Game 40: Bulls 6, Iron Pigs 2
Season: 25-15
Wrap, Box

This time through the rotation (Talbot, Price, Davis, Hernandez and Houser) has been nothing short of spectacular. We’ve won 4 games out of the 5 and the one we lost was only by one run. Two of the starters (Davis and Hernandez) got wins (relievers Choate and Day got the other two, Childers took the loss). If you chart our pitching staff’s performance over the rotation, every game is better than the season average to date. Just great work on the mound.

And the hitters have been no slouches either. Joe Dillon got his first home run last night, Brignac, Joyce and Nowak all got doubles (Joyce got two). Durham leads the International league in home runs and doubles, is second in total bases, and has the league’s second best slugging percentage.

Webworld

• The Bulls GM has this cryptic comment in his twitter feed, “+@#” and *#@+;!“ just got called up to the bigs”. I don’t have any more information. Will post it when I do.
• In the meantime, Rays Index speculates as does DRaysBay.
• An Iron Pigs blog is really not happy with Phillies’ management.
• Rays starting pitching has been a problem this year. Rays the Stakes thinks Scott Kazmir should be sent down to the Bulls. John Romano of the Tampa Tribune thinks Andy Sonnanstine should be sent to the Bulls.
• If you are a fan of ACC baseball (I'm not), the N&O has a blog that is following the games.
  

Matt Takes One For The Team

Game 20: Bulls 6, Clippers 3
Season: 13-7
Wrap, Box

Matt Joyce took one for the team and scored the winning run in the 7th.

Not that he had much choice in the matter. Clippers’s reliever Zach Jackson hit him in the back. Ruggiano then singled him to second. He went to third on a Chris Richard walk. He came home on a Chris Nowak sacrifice fly, and the Bulls went ahead 4-3.

The Bulls then scored two more runs when John Jaso singled.

I was once again impressed with our relievers Randy Choate and Winston Abreu.

Worried about Jon Weber leaving the game in the 8th. Could not see exactly what happened from where I sat, but radio reported he fouled the ball into his foot. In obvious pain.

Other notes:

• Listening to Neil Solondz on the radio during the game I heard him say that pitcher Jeremy Cummings will be coming back to the Bulls later in May. That’s really good news.

• Rays reliever, rehabbing right-hander Jason Isringhausen did not make an appearance.

• Looks like the Tampa Bay took Her Rays’ admonishment to heart. They beat the Boston 13-0 tonight. Catcher Michel Hernandez went 4-5 with a double and his first major league home run!