The Rays signed a first baseman to a minor league contract and picked up a pitcher off of waivers. |The Durham Bulls|
Casey Kotchman has great defensive stats and below so-so batting numbers (stats), but he's a local (i.e., St Petersburg) guy. He's also the first among the signees who might be considered a threat to Chris Richard's job at first base. I'd hoped that Chris would be at the Raleigh Hot Stove League gathering the other night, but he wasn't. So I wasn't able to ask him if he was going to be back in a Bulls uniform this year. Kotchman and Leslie Anderson are, so far, the only first basemen with invitations to spring training likely to be headed in the direction of Durham. |The Process Report|
Rob Delaney is out of the Twins system and we probably saw him pitching for Rochester last year. But, to be honest, I have no memory of him. Pretty good minor league stats as a reliever. Because of the way waiver claims work, he's got to go on the Rays 40-man, which means that with the Damon/Ramirez signing, a couple of current Rays are on the cusp of being waived/traded as this is being written. |The Process Report|
Here's the current Rays 40-man roster. Who would you put on waivers to make room for Damon and Ramirez?
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Haven't seen some of these guys, don't know enough about them. Probably Shoppach, for one.
ReplyDeleteDave
As a Rochester Red Wing, Delaney gave up a memorable, game-winning 3-run HR to Angel Chavez back in May 2010 (http://bit.ly/gWjPJo). The Kotchman signing probably ends the Chris Richard Era (2007-2010) at the DBAP. Overall, the Bulls are probably going to be much less potent than they were last year with the bats. The Cobb/Torres duo, plus De Los Santos (if he can reproduce the 2010 magic), may have to carry the team, despite Tampa-imposed pitch-count limits.
ReplyDeleteMemorable to folks with better memories than me. Thanks, Adam.
ReplyDeleteI'm afraid you could be right about Chris Richard. Nevertheless, we started 2010 with an abundance of first basemen as well. Kotchman could have one of those opt-out contracts and a little back up might be in order. We can hope.
Some more comments on Rays' 1B situation.
ReplyDeletehttp://theprocessreport.com/2011/01/30/keys-to-contention-first-base/