First Cuts of Spring Training, and more ...

Days to first Durham Bulls Game (@ Gwinnett) — 26

Days to Home Opener — 33

The Rays sent eight players from their spring training roster over to the minor league camp yesterday, seven pitchers and one outfielder. Stories here and here.

Pitchers: Brian Baker, Jonah Bayliss, Matt Bush, Dan De La Rosa, Rickey Orta, and Albert Suarez

Outfielder: Brandon Guyer.

Of the pitchers four are on the Rays’ 40-man: Bush, Torres, De La Rosa, and Suarez. Thus they are automatically on a short list to move up within the Rays’ system. Brian Baker spent all of 2010 with the Bulls and did a fine job. We saw a little bit of Alex Torres at the end of last season, and he looked pretty good.

Left handed batting outfielder Guyer is also on the Rays’ 40-man. He’s had very little playing time with the Rays (7 games, 40 AB, and only 1 hit). Will probably start the season with the Bulls.

My guess is that all of the pitchers will start the year in Durham or Montgomery.

WebWorld:

• Nifty feel-good story about a lady baseball pitcher Justine Siegal throwing batting practice. |MLB.com|
• Good story on Chris Richard's retirement. Did not mention proposal to retire his number. Still think that's a good idea. |MiLB.com|
• Jeremy Hellickson got in his first inning yesterday. He's recovering from a reportedly minor injury.|MLB.com|
• Two new vendors of pizzas and hot dogs at the DBAP were announced. Although I am essentially agnostic regarding hot dogs, pleased to see a change in pizza vendor.
• Very pleased to see that a sponsor has continued free admission for active duty military program.
• Lastly, very good news that Akinori Iwamura is OK. We saw Iwamura in Durham a couple of times in his last year with the Rays. He is now playing for the Rakuten Golden Eagles who are based in Sendai, the town in Japan hammered by yesterday's earthquake and tsunami.

How're They Doin' — Update

Days to first Durham Bulls Game (@ Gwinnett) — 30

Days to Home Opener — 37

At the end of February we set up a players to watch list based on some really simple math. In our first update we cribbed off some of Cork Gaines’ work over at Rays Index. Cork has updated his table based on playing time, but I thought it might be interesting to look at some basic stats.

This table is sorted by Plate Appearances (at bats, walks, hit by pitch). Stats are from the Rays website, here.

A couple of things jump out.

• Recently signed infielder Felipe Lopez is having one heck of a Spring. You’ve got to think that injured Elliot Johnson is worried about an infielder job if Lopez keeps this up.
• Justin Ruggiano is doing OK, but if this article is accurate, there’s not a lot of room for him on the Rays’ roster.

“If I do go back to Durham, it will be my fifth year there,” Ruggiano said Sunday. “I don’t know if there’s any other player who has spent five consecutive years in Triple-A with the same organization.”

Suddenly, the Rays are pretty well stocked in the outfield behind their projected starters and platoon players. Desmond Jennings, 24, stole 37 bases last year at Durham while hitting .278 and is getting closer. And the Rays added Sam Fuld and Brandon Guyer from the Cubs organization.

• We Bulls fans really like J.J. Furmaniak. Sure wish he were having a better Spring.
• Leslie Anderson is getting very little playing time. Sure looks like he’s on the verge of being cut loose.

On the other hand this is a really tiny sample and the Rays are doing really poorly as a team this Spring (they’ve only won two games out of ten). Nevertheless, every reason to think that most, if not all, of these players will be in Durham this April.

RaysProspects Releases 2011 Prospect Guide

What could be more timely after yesterday’s reset than to have in hand Kevin Gengler’s 2011 Prospect Guide? This is 156 pages of very cool stuff on the 200+ baseball players in the Rays system. What’s more, it’s free! Gotta love those guys over there.

Now, to get to the important stuff, what does it have to say about the Durham Bulls?

Potential Bulls players are sprinkled throughout the guide with solid profiles (particularly pitching prospects) of the young guys coming up. In addition, he’s got affiliate previews of all the Rays full-season minor league teams.

As a teaser, here’s a short quote from their Durham Bulls preview:

This years crop of Bulls are in charge of defending their division title as they attempt to win a fifth straight South Division crown....

There’s much, much more (page 67) but, really, you should get your own copy.

In general, there are some very exciting guys downsystem. This could be a really interesting year.

For that matter, RaysProspects is one of those key websites for those who follow the Bulls. Gotta keep an eye on who might be coming along.

Reset — 2011!

32 Days to First Game @ Gwinnett

39 Days to First Home Game

Welcome to a blog about the best team in minor league baseball:

The Durham Bulls!

Watching Durham Bulls Baseball is a place to have a conversation about our favorite team.

Major League Spring Training is pretty much in full swing. The Rays have played a few games (not doing too well), but we aren’t going to know much about the Durham Bulls until April. That makes March a good time to “reset” this blog. By “reset” I mean that I’ll sort of start over from where we were about this time last year and not assume any of our readers have been here before. That way I’ll get a chance to re-visit and maybe come to a better understanding of the Bulls, minor league ball, AAA, and stuff such as just what the heck the International League really is.

Just for background, this blog started out in early 2009. At the time I really didn’t know all that much about the Bulls, the Rays, or minor league baseball. On the other hand, I figured that I was pretty much like most of the folks in the stands at any given Bulls game. As should have been clear, I also didn’t know much about blogging.

Some would say that not much has changed in the last two years. Nevertheless, I wanted to learn more and I knew that the best way to learn something was to try to describe or explain it to someone else. Plus one of the nifty things about the web is that if you don’t know something, there’s someone out there who does.

When it comes to the specifics of the Durham Bulls, I am a real newcomer to following the team. After all, I’ve only been going to games regularly for a few years, which makes me by far the junior person (along with my wife) among the regulars in front row of Section 208. They have been a wonderful source of trivia and anecdotes.

Looking back I seem to be following a couple of principles. I don’t think I’ll change them much with this reset.

• Keep the focus on the Bulls and their competitors in the International League as much as possible. That’s another way of saying this is a blog about the Durham Bulls, not the Tampa Bay Rays.
• Don’t worry too much about being wrong ... and don’t get upset when someone tells you that you are.
• The business of minor league baseball can be more than a little arcane. Explain if you must, but don’t let it get in the way of the game.
• Have fun.

Chris Richard Retires

I sat down this morning intending to just do a bit of web-surfing. Then I was going to go out and do a bit of yard work before taking a shower and going over to Durham for a look at the Fanfest.

But then I ran across Adam Sobsey’s story in Indy Week and now I’m trying to put together a few words about my all-time favorite Durham Bulls baseball player.

My hope was that Chris would get a call down to minor league camp as the kind of guy the system needs to steady the youngsters coming up. And it’s not as if the Rays system is overloaded with first basemen anyhow. But, so far, my hope has not been rewarded. I’m guessing that Sobsey has had his article ready to go for a while, waiting to see if a call would happen, and it didn’t.

So thank you, Chris, for the thrills you've provided over the years I’ve been watching the Bulls.

To mention just the most recent, the fourth inning of last September’s playoff game against Louisville, when you whacked a grand slam to sew up the game.

Chris set a bunch of Durham Bulls records. His two grand slams in one game with Durham has to be a highlight.

I’m sure I’ll have a few more thoughts as the idea of not seeing Chris Richard hitting home runs and covering first base sinks in, but let me just put up an idea for readers to consider:

What about retiring number 27, Chris Richard’s number?

Fanfest!

I figure that almost everyone who reads this blog checks in with the Durham Bulls website as well. However ...

The Bulls 2011 Fanfest started today (Friday) and will continue tomorrow (11:00 to 2:00).

How're They Doing?

Days to first Durham Bulls Game (@ Gwinnett) —35

Days to Home Opener — 42

Several days ago I developed a list of players to keep an eye on who are in the Rays Spring Training camp. Now that the Rays have played five games, how are they doing?

Well, I was deep into the throes of developing a table for this post when I came across the one that Cork Gaines had already done over on Rays Index. Cork's contention is that you can make some educated guesses simply by taking a look at playing time. Further, playing time in early innings is more important than later innings. So, if you wonder where I've gotten my numbers from, take a look at Cork's work.

For our purposes, however, I can narrow the look down to just those players on my initial list.

Here's my guess: The fewer innings on this chart, the greater the chances we'll be seeing the ballplayer in Durham this year.

Now, here's hoping that Cork updates his chart from time to time. If so, I'll be passing it on.

Web World:

• Elliot Johnson has not seen much playing time (only 4 innings) due to a left quad tightness and the Rays have signed RHP Edgar Gonzales to a minor league contract, according to Joe Smith of the St Petersburg Times.
• This is sort of history, but if you'd like to get an update on what the Rays did in the off season, this is a pretty good summary over at MLB Trade Rumors.
• For a wife's perspective on Spring Training in Florida or Arizona, check this out.