Hernandez to Baltimore; Richard to Free Agency

Rays Index is reporting that Michel Hernandez has signed a minor league deal with Baltimore and that Chris Richard has chosen to become a free agent. My guess is that means we’ll be seeing both of them next year, just not in a Bulls uniform. But maybe, just maybe, the Rays will make Chris a better offer? After all, it’s not as if they’ve got a ton of first basemen coming up through the system.

Rays - Bulls - Rays - Bulls: Position Players

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. The second looked at the pitchers. This one will look at position players. Note that all stats are for regular season only.

Only seven position players spent time on both the Rays and the Bulls rosters this year: Matt Joyce, Michel Hernandez, Reid Brignac, Joe Dillon, Shawn Riggans, and Chris Richard got into games. John Jaso was up for 4 days, but did not come to bat.

Matt Joyce

• Bulls: 111 games, 417 AB, .273/.373/.482, OF
• Rays: 11 games, 32 AB, .188/.270/.500, OF

Matt started the year with the Rays, but only stuck with them for three appearances in which he got one hit (a home run). He went back up at the end of May and played in 8 games before coming back to the Bulls and finishing out the year. As mentioned elsewhere on this blog (more than once) the Rays are going to have to decide about right field and how they want to play it. Matt seemed to get caught up in their confusion this year.

Michel Hernandez

• Bulls: 13 games, 46 AB, .196/.273/.196, catcher
• Rays: 35 games, 99 AB, .242/.292/.323, catcher

Michel started the season with the Bulls, but he didn’t stay long. He went to the Rays on April 14 and stayed there until early August when the Rays obtained Greg Zaun from Baltimore. What the stats don’t show is his effect on the pitching staff, which appeared to be very positive for the Bulls.

Reid Brignac

• Bulls: 96 games, 415 AB, .282/.327/.417, SS (88), 2B (8)
• Rays: 31 games, 90 AB, .278/.301/.746, SS/2B

Reid spent a good bit of time with the Rays this season, mostly in response to injuries on the Rays squad. He went up in mid-May for almost a month (21 games), made a one day visit in August, and was called up on September 7 to finish out the season. This looks like a win-win for the Bulls and Rays this year. Reid is certainly an improved shortstop from last year, and he did a decent job at the plate. Looks like he did the same with the Rays.

Joe Dillon

• Bulls: 35 games, 123 AB, .244/.340/.333, 1B(17), 2B (4), 3B (13), SS (1)
• Rays: 15 games, 30 AB, .300/.400/.400, 2B/3B [note: only started 1 game]

Joe is a real puzzle when it comes to how the Rays manage their players. He came to the Bulls in early May from the Oakland system, appeared in a couple of games, and went to the Rays on May 26. From then to mid-August he mostly sat on the bench and waited to pinch hit. For the Bulls he was a critical guy in the final days of the season and in the post-season. A very solid, professional ballplayer that certainly made a difference to the Bulls. Hard to tell if he helped the Rays out or not.

Shawn Riggans

• Bulls: 11 games, 40 AB, .200/.238/.325, catcher
• Rays: 7 games, 14 AB, .143/.143/.357, catcher

Shawn came to the Bulls from Montgomery in August, having essentially been in rehab all season and he did a short stint on the DL while with the Bulls. He went up to the Rays with the September call-ups. Really hard to make any judgments on Riggans since he really hasn’t been healthy for a couple of years now.

Chris Richard

• Bulls: 100 games, 365 AB, .263/.364/.521, 1B-DH
• Rays: 13 games, 19 AB, .105/.261/.105, 1B

Chris got called up on September 7 after the Rays’ Carlos Peña was injured. He started 5 games at first, but mostly the Rays used utility man Willy Aybar at first and Chris sat on the bench. He obviously did not hit well when he got the opportunity. Hard to tell what would have happened if he’d had a chance to see a bit more pitching.

How much help were the Bulls to the Rays this year? Not much. From the look of it, only Reid Brignac and Michel Hernandez were of any real value. But there were some dynamics down there on the Bay that had an effect. The emergence of Ben Zobrist made a huge difference. Suddenly they had a guy who could not only play just about any position, but bang out hits on call. Why call up, say, Elliot Johnson, when Zobrist can handle second base for a while? And Willy Aybar, with Zobrist, covered the absence of Iwamura very well.

The sheer stubbornness of Rays management can’t be discounted. Long after several approaches were clearly not effective (Upton as leadoff, platooning RF, Burrell as DH) they stuck with them. However, looking at the Bulls for help in any of those areas (other than RF) didn’t find much help. Justin Ruggiano had, for him, a very difficult year. The Rays clearly don’t think that Jon Weber is a major leaguer, so they won’t use him. There are systemic problems at catcher, third base and first base all down through the Rays system, so there should be no surprise that there’s no “star” in Durham at those positions.

On the other hand, the Bulls did great! Guys that the Rays wouldn’t call up on a bet (and some that they did, such as Chris Richard) sure showed that they know how to play the game. Henry Mateo, Ray Olmedo, Joe Dillon, Jon Weber, Craig Albernaz, Brandon Chaves, and Rashad Eldridge. Then there were a couple on the 40-man that never got a shot this year, Justin Ruggiano and Elliot Johnson who did just fine or us.

I must, reluctantly, admit that we did just fine by the Rays this year.

The Best Team in AAA — Your Durham Bulls

Durham Bulls 5, Memphis Redbirds 4

Wrap, Box

I figure that almost anyone who reads this blog watched the game, so don’t expect anything new here. Still, a lot of things happened that deserve more than the cursory comment I was able to provide last night. And there are a few odds and ends certainly worth mentioning.

Jeremy Hellickson pitched a terrific five innings. He left the game with a decent 4-0 lead and I thought he was in line for the win. He was also, in spite of what I said last night, deserving of the MVP award.

Jason Cromer had a bad night. Joe Bateman wasn’t much better in his 1 ⅓ innings. If not for three spectacular catches of pitches behind the batters’ backs, it would have been worse. He left the bases loaded for Calvin Medlock and we were lucky to get away with a tie game. Calvin did fine through the 8th. Julio DePaula struck out the side in the 9th, but the 10th got really scary. Bases were loaded with one out when he got a dribbler right back to the mound that allowed him to start a 1-2-3 double play. Mitch Talbot slammed the door in the 11th, setting up the win.

Here’s a tidbit: Mitch Talbot got the first (April 9th) and last (September 22nd) wins of the season. He and I may have been the only guys who knew that before it went up here.

Offensively, the guy who stands out is the veteran Ray Olmedo. Two doubles his first two times at bat (one for a RBI). Two runs scored, the second being the hallmark of a veteran ballplayer and baserunner. Olmedo had doubled in Elliott Johnson and was on second base. Jennings beat out a bunt that moved Ray to third. The Memphis pitcher, who had made the play at first, had his back to the field and Ray (with Montoyo’s encouragement) took off for home.

In the end, Memphis’ manager allowed chaos to reign (or created it?). Michel Hernandez doubled, was pinch run for by Rashad Eldridge, who was then wild pitched to third. Ray Olmedo was intentionally walked, a new pitcher came in, and an outfielder was brought in to the infield to set up a five-man defense because there were no outs and not even a double play would save the game. But the pitcher hadn’t pitched in something like two weeks. The catcher had just come into the game. A wild pitch brought Eldridge home for the win.

Counting last night, the Bulls won five games in a row in the playoffs (and 7 for 9 overall). That’s pretty spectacular.

Six different pitchers won playoff games. Talbot, Hellickson, Cromer, Phillips, and Medlock each won a game. The winner of two games (are you ready for this?) was Joe Bateman.

Don’t know what you may have thought of it, but I thought the ESPN2 coverage of the game was pretty awful. Camera angles were poor; commentary, with a couple of exceptions, just didn’t say much. And Wool E. Bull got no camera time at all!

On the other hand, Neal Solondz and his counterpart from Memphis were doing the broadcast for 99.9 and that was terrific. Once I discovered them about the 5th inning I turned down the TV volume and had a decent night of it.

Other commentary on the game:

Indy Week was at Tyler’s Taproom. MiLB had this story. Marc Lancaster of The Tampa Tribune had this, with some Joe Maddon comments. And the AP, as reported by WRAL had a good story with some good quotes from Charlie Montoyo.

I’ll try to do a retrospective on the season soon. It was a great one. And it has been an enjoyable experience interacting with all the Bulls fans out there. Thanks for looking in, commenting, and keeping me honest (or at least trying to).

Bulls Win Game 1

Durham Bulls 4, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees 1

Bulls lead in Governor’s Cup 1-0

Wrap, Box, Indy Week, Scranton Times-Tribune

I’m beginning to have a hard time keeping from using the same words over and over again on the nights that Jeremy Hellickson pitches. He is really, really good. The only time he appeared to be in the slightest bit of trouble was when he gave up a single to the leadoff batter in the 4th and then walked the next batter. But he then struck out the next batter, and got a double play ball from the one after that. A two-out, bases-empty home run in the 7th accounted for the only run charged against him.

DePaula was sharper than usual for his inning and a third, Abreu wasn’t. Have to say that I got concerned when he walked two guys in a row in the 9th (with one out), but then he re-discovered himself and struck out the next two to close out the game.

I’d like to talk some about Henry Mateo. He kicked things off the first by drawing a walk, blowing past second on a Joe Dillon single to end up standing on third. He was either stealing or Charlie’d called a hit and run. Either way we had a man on third with one out and waiting for Sean Rodriguez’s RBI single. Then as leadoff in the 6th Henry puts a beautiful bunt down towards third and a few seconds later is standing on third. Clean bunt single, bad throw, poor back up by the right fielder. He then scored on another Joe Dillon single.

And I’d like to talk about Michel Hernandez. Scranton intentionally walked Justin Ruggiano to load the bases with one out (this was still in the 6th, after Mateo had scored and Matt Joyce had doubled Joe Dillon to third). Elliot Johnson struck out, so it began to look like slow-running Michel was in trouble. But he really slammed one up the middle for 2 RBIs. Looked to me like it was old guys night at the plate, Henry Mateo, Joe Dillon, and Michel Hernandez showing the youngsters how the game is played.

Mitch Talbot’s on tomorrow. I’m encouraged. He just went one inning longer than he should have the last time and we only used DePaula from the pen, so we’ve got a full crew there.

Last home game of the year tomorrow. Let’s go out on a high note, guys. There may not be a huge crowd in the DBAP, but we’re the ones who really care. Brilliant season. Let’s keep it up!

We’re Going to Five

Durham Bulls 7, Louisville Bats 10
Wrap, Box, Indy Week, N&O, Courier-Journal

Well, it finally caught up with us. I had my hopes that somehow, someway the fact that we only have two starters wouldn’t make a difference. But it did, and does. Of course, the fact that we haven’t had one of our multi-homer games in what seems a very long time made a difference as well.

Raynor Oliveros and Mike Wlodarczyk bookended a night where three of the four pitchers who appeared in the game were new arrivals from Montgomery. Our guys gave up six runs in the first two innings, but we stayed in the game when their guy gave up six runs in the first three innings. So up until the 6th things weren’t all that bad. But we coughed up two in the 6th, off of Heath Rollins, and only got back one in the 8th. Meanwhile they got two more in the 8th off of Mike Wlodarczyk.

In defense of Oliveros, he had not pitched since September 5th, when he went seven innings and got a win against Norfolk. I’d be the last person to claim expertise on how pitchers’ fitness should be monitored, but that sure seems to me like a long time to go between starts. Did we get enamored with the “comeback” of Mitch Talbot? Or is this “rotation” hopelessly screwed up and Charlie and X. just have to figure it out an inning at a time?


Michel Hernandez hit a home run in the 2nd inning. Why is that a big deal? Because, unless I missed one, that was the first home run of the playoffs for the Durham Bulls. Oh, if only Chris Richard had been here these last couple of days, but, of course, he’s desperately needed to sit on the bench up in Boston. He’s got good company — Reid Brignac (1 game, 4 plate appearances) and Shawn Riggans (1 game, 1 AB).

But that is just whimpering, I suppose. We’d be in good shape if we could just get a hit off Louisville’s relievers. Our team OPS wasn’t all that bad (.736). We’ve won with worse, but not when the RISP is only 2-9. Louisville’s OBP was a whopping .436. Ugly things are gonna happen if almost half the opposing batters get on base and then if their RISP is 6-11, it can get worse.

Charlie Montoyo sort of says it all, as quoted in the N&O (The N&O covering a Bulls game? An away game?)

“It wasn’t a crazy game, it was just bad pitching,” Montoyo said. “Really there are no excuses. The pitching was just not very good.”

Shake it off, guys. New game tomorrow. We don’t have a regular starter available, but we do have the heart of our relief corps. The series is in your hands.

By the way, game starts at 5 o’clock.

Not Quite Enough

Game 127: Bulls 3, Knights 4
Season: 70-57
Games Left in Season: 17; Home Games: 7
Wrap, Box, Indy Week

The Durham Bulls 29th pitcher of the year, Jeff Bennett, started the game last night. If that sounds like we’ve had a lot of pitchers, we have. To be fair (not that being fair is my forte), three of the 29 were position players thrown to the wolves when we’d run out of relievers. Three more were rehabbing Rays. Nevertheless, 29 is more than we had in 2008 (27) and we had a couple of rehabbers last year as well. The Rays have used 20 pitchers this year.

At any rate, Bennett had a shaky start, giving up two runs in the first two innings. But the next two innings were just fine. Is Bennett a starter or reliever? Darned if I know. Guess we’ll find out.

Two big disappointments in the game for me was the performance of two of my favorite Bulls, Jon Weber and Jason Childers. Weber had the bases full in the 1st and hit into an inning-ending double play. He struck out with a runner on second in the 3rd. He hit into another inning-ending double-play with runners on first and second in the 5th. On the other hand, his single with Mateo on first in the 7th, moved Mateo to third and set up the go-ahead run when Mateo scored on Dillon’s ground out. So, he redeemed himself. Unfortunately, Jason Childers gave up a walk and then a home run in the 8th. And this coming just after he was profiled on the Bulls website.

Scary moment:

• Akinori Iwamura, bad knee and all, being waved home in the 3rd. It was always going to be a close play and, as it turned out, the ball got there well before he did. By the way, Iwamura drew three more walks last night. He’s got a stunning OBP of .600 since he’s been here.

Fun moments:

• The phrase, “baserunner caught in a run-down” was demonstrated in the 6th. Charlotte’s Josh Fields got way too far off second base and our pitcher, Julio DePaula, came off the mound and literally ran him down and tagged him out.
• In the 8th Michel Hernandez was coming to bat and I was ranting about who was available to pinch hit (Michel hasn’t had a hit since he came back). Michel comes to the plate and gets a leadoff single. Didn’t pay off, unfortunately, since like so many others last night, pinch runner Fernando Perez got stranded on second.

Bulls hit the road. Plan to do a post about that later in the day.

Only seven more games at home!

What’s Going On?

Game 116: Bulls 3, Braves 6
Wrap, Box, Indy Week

Game 117: Bulls 4, Braves 5
Wrap, Box, Indy Week

Game 118, Bulls 1, Braves 2
Wrap, Box
Season: 67-51

I’ve just been able to catch bits and pieces of games the last couple of days. The parts I’ve caught early in a game were interesting, such as Ruggiano getting tossed out for looking at an umpire last night or the lightning and thunder the night before. The bits I’ve caught late, unfortunately I was listening in the bottom of the 9th on both nights, have been painful.

Just to summarize: We went into the bottom of the 9th of Tuesday’s game leading 4-3. Winston Abreu gave up two home runs to the first two batters. We went into the bottom of the 9th last night with a 1-0 lead. Dale Thayer got to two outs, but also let two on base. Walked a man on a 3-2 pitch, and gave up a two-run hit on a 3-2 pitch. Two blown saves by two accomplished relief pitchers.

Now that we’re past these games (and the fact that we left an awful lot of guys on base), here’s hoping that things can get back on track. We can take some cold comfort in the fact that the stands were virtually empty for both games (paid attendance was 3,800 for one game and 3,300 for another, which means maybe 2,500-3,000 actually at the games).

DRR in a recent comment and Adam Sobsey are reporting that Michel Hernandez is heading back to the Bulls. Good news.

Other reporting indicates that Joe Dillon is coming back as well. That’s gonna make a crowd at second base: Aki Iwamura on his rehab assignment, Henry Mateo, Elliot Johnson, and now Joe Dillon (although it’s hard to say what “position” Dillon played at TB). Plus the Bulls will have to make some roster adjustments to account for Hernandez and Dillon.

As usual, when the Bulls make it home, it will be a different team. Is there a pattern here? Make sure the Bulls are on the road and then change the team?

Looking At the Changes

(click on chart for larger view)

First, here’s an updated chart on the pitching with additions (Abreu) and deletions (Julio and DeSalvo). Nelson really jumped up, but that is surely for the short term.

The Rays acquired a catcher (Gregg Zaun from the Orioles) and Michel Hernandez has been designated for assignment. That means that if no one claims him he could come to Durham. I sure hope so, because I really like Hernandez and I think our pitchers could use an experienced catcher. By the way, catcher Shawn Riggans is on the 15-day disabled list.

Marc Lancaster of the Tampa Tribune reports that the Rays have claimed a left hand relief pitcher from Milwaukee named R. J. Swindle. Terrific season in Nashville (AAA, Pacific Coast League), but not good (terrible) numbers when he went up to Milwaukee in July (appeared in 3 games, 4 innings, gave up 8 runs). Swindle could be coming to Durham, which would complicate our pitching situation a bit.

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?

Where the Bulls Are — Coca-Cola Park

(Photo Courtesy of Brian Merzbach)

This is Coca-Cola Park in Allentown, Pennsylvania. The park is so new that the Google satellite shot doesn’t show the location. I found the photo, and several more, on Brian Merzbach’s fascinating website. He’s got photos and reviews of more than 400 ball parks there and clearly he loves what he does.

His comments on Coca-Cola Park are here.

Coca-Cola Park is a nice enough new venue, resembling many other new ballparks built in the past decade. It is on the small side for a AAA park, which does make it more intimate.

If you’re interested, he visited Durham in 1997 and commented on the DBAP and the old DAP. By the way, does anyone know how the renovation’s going?

Most AAA teams don’t have any bloggers following them. Phillies’ affiliate, the Iron Pigs, has three that I’ve found: The Pork Roll, the Hog Blog, and Ironpigpen. Only Ironpigpen, so far, has taken note of the Bulls coming town.

As you will recall, their daddy beat our daddy in last year’s World Series. As far as I can tell, the only Bull on our roster that was on the Rays’ roster for the series is David Price. Not sure about their roster.

Former Bull, Jorge Velandia, one my all-time favorite Bulls, is on the Iron Pig roster.

Webworld:

• Adam Sobsky has a terrific story on Monday afternoon’s game and the last home stand. Recommended reading. Very good on clubhouse dynamics as he observed them. I was particularly interested in the comments by pitcher Carlos Hernandez and catcher Craig Albernaz. I’m having second thoughts about my posting on that battery that I made earlier. In the larger view, it seems to me that Albernaz is in a particularly tough spot. Jaso’s having a crummy year (at bat, doing fine behind the plate), but he’s a “prospect” and on the 40-man. The persistently injured Shawn Riggans is on Tampa Bay’s disabled list, and Michel Hernandez is doing a fine job at Tampa Bay (a better job than their first stringer Navarro). So that’s five catchers between Tampa and Durham, and I’m not counting Alex Jamieson, our “Hudson Valley” player. This is a huge puzzle for the Rays to figure out. My hope is simply that “our” catchers, John, Craig, and Alex, can keep their focus.
• I’m a big fan of local radio guy Dick Gordon, who hosts a nationally syndicated interview show called, The Story, produced across from the DBAP at WUNC’s studies.. One of his shows captured the story of some serious LA Dodger fans. They collect and recycle the debris from around their seats to pay for their tickets. Interesting podcast.

Gathright to Norfolk

Game 28: Bulls 1, Braves 7
Season: 16-12
Wrap, Box, Indy Week Story

I wasn’t going to write anything today since the game has been well-covered over at Indy Week (see link above). Then I checked Stacy Long’s blog and noticed something of great interest to Bulls fans — Joey Gathright’s going to the Orioles organization and likely to show up playing for Norfolk. Probably a good thing for our catchers and third basemen, cause he’s really going to test their throwing arms. I’d lost track of Joey after he went to the Kansas City organization. Didn’t even know he’d been traded to the Cubs. So guess he’s become one of those guys who can’t quite stay in the majors. It will be fun to see him run, as long as it isn’t from third to home, or snagging chip shots into the outfield.

So since I’m writing, might as well say something about Adam Kennedy. Pretty sure this will end up being played as yet another bright move by Andrew Friedman, the guy who calls the shots for Tampa Bay. He grabs Kennedy, hangs on until someone really needs him, then does a deal. Potentially a win-win for the organization and, hopefully, only a temporary loss to the Bulls. He sure was doing a good job for us in the field and at the plate.

“It’s an extended opportunity for Adam and we weren’t going to stand in the way,” said Rays executive vice president Andrew Friedman. “We feel like we’re going to get a guy that’s going to help us some depth-wise, and that was our understanding with Adam coming in – we’re not a group that’s going to stand in the way of someone, especially someone that hadn’t played in the minor leagues in 10 years.”

See preliminary stories by Marc Lancaster and Marc Topkin. Notice that Shaw Riggans’ rehab isn’t going well, which means that Michel Hernandez isn’t coming back any time soon, which may mean that our “ghost catcher” Jamieson might see some more playing time.

I’m wondering what the story is on Ruggiano. He’s missed the last couple of games.

Michel Gets Some Love

When I started this blog I promised myself that I would write as little as possible about the Rays and do my best to focus on the Bulls. But today I’ve just got to spend a bit more time on Michel Hernandez. If there’s anyone on our team who fits the profile of “journeyman” it’s Hernandez. At least I can hope that he’s on our team — after last night he just might stay with Tampa Bay.

In ten years in professional baseball he’s played with 6 different AAA teams, including stints with the Bulls in 2007 and, briefly, 2008. I think I mentioned some time ago how pleased I was to see him on our roster because I thought our young pitchers could use an experienced hand calling the game (and, for that matter, our young catchers could learn something from him). But the Rays’ rather fragile catcher Shawn Riggans gave Hernandez yet another chance at the big leagues. Michel was called up for last year’s run into the World Series because of Riggan's aches and pains. The same thing happened in the middle of this April, for the same reason.

Then came last night, his fourth game since being called up. First at-bat, 3rd inning, strikes out. Second at-bat, 4th inning, first pitch, home run (his first major league home run), RBI. Third at-bat, 5th inning, single and RBI. Fourth at-bat, 7th inning, single. Fifth at-bat, 8th inning, double, RBI. What a night!

Here comes the love:

• First, You can watch a video of his home run here.

• Marc Topkin in the St. Petersburg Times quotes Rays manager Joe Maddon, “He had a good month tonight.”

• Joey Johnston in the Tampa Tribune backgrounds Michel’s escape from Cuba and adds a bit more locker room color.

• Tommy Rancel on DRaysBay compares him to the regular Rays catcher Dioner Navorro and Michel comes out looking very good.

By the way, buried in the Marc Topkin piece is the note that rehabbing Rays right-handed reliever Jason Insringhousen didn’t pitch last night because of a mild abdominal strain he suffered while playing catch (how do you do that?).

Hernandez to Tampa Bay

According to Marc Lancaster in the Rays Report, catcher Michel Hernandez has been called down to Tampa Bay. Shawn Riggans, the Rays’ #2 catcher has been put on the disabled list with right shoulder tendinitis. That probably means that my candidate for this year’s “ghost” catcher, Alex Jamieson, may get some playing time.

Hernandez is one of the two Bulls (by my count) in line for a championship ring. So maybe he’ll still be there when they get handed out.