[Program note. My apologies for not posting yesterday. I was in Cincinnati on Monday and didn't get home until 2 a.m. yesterday. My day was kind of a blur.]
Last night, I was scrolling through my Twitter timeline (I read a lot more than I “tweet.” Side note, are we locked in on “tweet” as the verb for posting on Twitter? I really hate it.) and saw an interesting thought from @SternFan10:
how fast will #DavidPruce (sic) or any good SP get the f out of here at first chance? #Rays
(Sorry, I don’t know how to link to a specific tweet. For the record, I don’t like “tweet” as a noun any better than I like it as a verb. Just sayin’.)
I presume @SternFan10 is arguing that David Price, or James Shields, will LeBron the Rays and hit the free agent market at their next opportunity to find a team with a supporting offensive cast. To his point, the Rays have now scored 1, 1, 0, 9, 4, and 0 runs in Price’s 6 starts since July 4.
To be fair, Price has been pretty bad in some of those games and more runs likely would not have changed the outcome. But, I think it is at least possible to argue that the pitching staff is starting to press for perfection. And why wouldn’t they? If a starting pitcher wants a win, he is going to have to hold the opponent around 3 runs because the Rays are scoring 4.21 runs per game, 9th in the American League, .13 runs below the league average, and more than a run behind the two teams they are chasing (BOS 5.51 NYY 5.27).
My question, if I were David Price, would be: is it even possible to fix this? We all know the Rays’ model is to search for market inefficiencies and exploit them. That is the way they have been able to level the playing field. But, it’s hard to argue that the league “undervalues” offense. Perhaps there is a part of offensive performance the league is currently undervaluing (similar to the way OBP was undervalued when Billy Beane became Brad Pitt), but if it exists, I do not think the Rays have found it yet.
Today, it looks like the Rays are left to find positive arbitrage in defense and pitching. Something they have done with great success. The only hope for this offense will come from the minor leagues, where the Rays only have a handful of hitting prospects in the upper levels of their system. Does the arrival of Brandon Guyer get the pitching staff fired up? Does a full season of Desmond Jennings? Maybe Russ Canzler?
Those additions might be net gains, but they don’t strike fear in the hearts of the division. So, I don’t blame @SternFan10 for being frustrated on David Price’s behalf. Hopefully, Andrew and Joe have a long-term offensive vision they can explain to our dynamic staff to keep them together.
that string of offensive output(and i mean both definitions of “offensive”) is a lot like our season. We may average 4.21 runs per game, but there have been 35 games this year where we’ve scored 2 runs or less, and there isn’t a night where i don’t think the opposing pitcher can toss a no-no against us. I have confidence inour guys, but am never surprised when they get 3 hits and score 0 runs. I used to be, but not anymore.
Glad Jennings is up though. kid can play. that has to be exciting for this staff to see a young guy bringing it at the plate.
The only hope is that we can get major league ready (or close to it) bats for the pitchers (or defenders) we deal. This has to be the goal. The rest of the league surely realizes the importanc of solid pitching and defense. We have both in spades. So, deal from strength to acquire what we have nothing of… impact bats. Without acquiring anyone, we will continue to be boom and bust, riding the hot streaks of one or two guys, and continually frustrating fans and pitching staff alike.
It’s crazy to think that in ’08 we were the 3rd most productive offense in the AL. What’s the difference? Bartlett, Pena and Crawford. Crawford we all expected to miss, but I certainly did not envision a world where I was wishing we held on to the other two.