Tag / Rays

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Rays All Time Leaders – Through 2015

414_tampa_bay-rays-miscellaneous-2012With 5 months until baseball in Chicago returns, I thought it would be interesting to look at the all time leaders in both offensive and defensive categories for all 30 teams.  We start things off today with the Tampa Bay Rays.

The Rays began life in 1998 as the Devil Rays, dropping the Devil portion of their name in 2008.  I’ve seen them play 13 times, 5 as the Devil Rays and 8 as the Rays, including the 2008 ALDS, where they defeated the White Sox.

Home Runs

Name Total
B.J. Upton 5
Matthew Joyce 3
Ben Zobrist 2

Hits

Name Total
B.J. Upton 18
Ben Zobrist 16
Carlos Pena 9
Evan Longoria 9

Runs

Name Total
Ben Zobrist 11
B.J. Upton 9
Matthew Joyce 7

RBI

Name Total
B.J. Upton 11
Carlos Pena 8
Ben Zobrist 7

Doubles

Name Total
Ben Zobrist 3
Evan Longoria 3
Jason Bartlett 3

Triples Continue reading →

by admin

All Time Playoff Team Records

baseballs3As the Cubs prepare for tonight’s NL wild card game against the Pirates, the first post-season appearance by a Chicago team since the inception of this blog, it’s time to take our first look at the team records for the 17 playoff contests I have attended.  These contests come from the 2000 ALDS, the 2003 NLDS and NLCS, all 3 rounds of the 2005 post-season, the 2007 NLDS, and both the ALDS and NLDS in 2008.

TeamName Won Loss Winning Pctg
Florida Marlins 3 0 1.000
Seattle Mariners 2 0 1.000
Los Angeles Dodgers 2 0 1.000
Arizona Diamondbacks 1 0 1.000
Chicago White Sox 5 4 0.556
Tampa Bay Rays 1 1 0.500
Los Angeles Angels 1 1 0.500
Atlanta Braves 1 1 0.500
Chicago Cubs 1 7 0.125
Houston Astros 0 1 0.000
Boston Red Sox 0 2 0.000
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#134 – Josh Fields

Name: Josh Fields

Rank: 134

Position: 3B

Years With White Sox: 2006-2009

Josh Fields joined the White Sox organization as their first round pick in the 2004 draft.  He made his major league debut on September 13, 2006 as a defensive replacement in the White Sox 9-0 victory over the Angels.  6 days later, Fields became the third White Sox player, following Carlos Lee and Miguel Olivo, to homer in their first major league at bat.

Fields entered the 2007 season rated as the second-best prospect in the White Sox organization, and got his first chance at extended playing time in the major leagues when Joe Crede went down with a season-ending back injury.  Fields appeared to be one of the bright spots on that miserable team, finishing the year with a .244 average and 24 home runs in only 100 games, good enough for one third place Rookie of the Year vote.

With a healthy Crede back in the fold for 2008, Fields returned to Triple A, where he had a disappointing, injury-marred season.

Fields became the starting third baseman in 2009, with Joe Crede moving on to the Twins.  Fields appeared in 79 games, but struggled to hit with consistency and was eventually replaced by rookie Gordon Beckham.  The highlight of his season came on July 23, when he hit a grand slam and recorded the final putout in Mark Buerhle’s perfect game against the Rays.

Following the season, Fields, along with Chris Getz, was traded to the Royals for Mark Teahen.

Fields’ numbers in a White Sox uniform, both for games I attended and overall, were:

Continue reading →

by admin

Moving On To Next Year

MLB: Cincinnati Reds at Los Angeles DodgersMajor League Baseball released their tentative 2016 schedule yesterday and, with little more to be concerned with for this season, let’s take a look at what’s on tap for next summer for the South Siders.

The White Sox open the season with a 4 game set on the road against the A’s on Monday, April 4.  The home season begins that Friday, when the Indians come to town for a 3 game tilt.

This year’s inter-league slate is against the NL East, with the Nationals, Braves, and Phillies making trips to US Cellular Field, while the Sox hit the road to visit the Mets, Marlins, and Phillies.  A 2 and 2 set with the Cubs occurs the last week of July.

The White Sox finish the 2016 season at home against the Rays and Twins, with 23 of their final 29 games coming against the Central Division.  Should make for a great pennant race if the team can be in contention.

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Franchise Four – AL East

Major League Baseball is asking its fans to vote for the four most impactful players who best represent the history of each franchise.  The winners will be announced in July at the All Star Game in Cincinnati.  Today, I will give my Franchise Four picks for the American League East.

F4OriolesAt first glance, my picks for the Orioles were easy.  Upon further review, though, I find myself with 5 players for only 4 slots.  Cal Ripken Jr., Frank Robinson, and Jim Palmer take my first 3 slots.  The last one comes down to Brooks Robinson and Eddie Murray.  While Murray was by far the better offensive weapon, Robinson was quite possibly the best defensive third baseman of all time.  I’m going to stick with my initial gut feeling and go with Robinson.

F4RedSoxPlenty of Hall of Famers to choose from for the Red Sox, as 6 of the 8 have been elected to Cooperstown.  The first two slots have to go to Cy Young and Ted Williams, both of whom would be in the conversation for a league wide contest.  The final two slots would have to go to Carl Yastrzemski and newly elected Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez.  Conspicuous by his absence is Roger Clemens.

F4Yankees

Continue reading →

by admin

#152 – Ken Griffey Jr.

griffeyName: Ken Griffey Jr.

Rank: 152

Position: CF

Year With White Sox: 2008

As the White Sox made their run towards the World Series title in 2005, general manager Kenny Williams attempted to acquire Ken Griffey Jr. from the Reds, but was rebuked when Reds ownership decided to veto the deal.  3 years later, with the White Sox again looking to make a run at a division title, he was able to get the aging superstar, acquiring Griffey at the trade deadline in exchange for pitcher Nick Masset and second baseman Danny Richar.  At the time of the trade, the White Sox held a tenuous 1.5 game lead over the Twins.

Griffey, who had spent most of the previous few seasons in right field to lessen the strain on his body, moved back to center field for the White Sox, displacing the disappointing Nick Swisher.  Griffey appeared in 41 games for the White Sox, hitting a decent .260 with only 3 home runs and 18 RBI.  His most important contribution came defensively, during the tie-breaking game 163 between the White Sox and the Twins, when he gunned down Michael Cuddyer, who was trying to score on a fly out to center, preserving the shutout and helping the White Sox win the division and advance the playoffs.

In the ALDS, Griffey appeared in 3 games against the Rays, garnering only 2 hits as the White Sox fell 3 games to 1.  Following the season, the White Sox declined Griffey’s $16 million option for 2009, making him a free agent.

Griffey’s numbers in a White Sox uniform, both for games I attended and overall, were:

Continue reading →

by admin

Goodbye To The Q

Former White Sox outfielder Carlos Quentin, who finished 5th in MVP voting in 2008 despite missing the final six weeks of the season with a broken wrist, announced his retirement after 9 seasons.  After being released in spring training after being acquired by the Braves in a trade, Quentin had been playing with the Mariners’ Triple A club, but was hitting only .176 in 17 at bats.

After spending parts of the 2006 and 2007 seasons with the Diamondbacks, Quentin was acquired by the White Sox in a December 2007 trade.  He earned the nickname “The Carlos Quentin” after general manager Kenny Williams was quoted saying that the team’s goals for the winter meetings were to “acquire Carlos Quentin, and not a guy like him but actually Carlos Quentin.”

Quentin played immediate dividends, breaking through in a big way for the 2008 White Sox.  He was leading the American League in home runs and was third in slugging percentage, OPS, and RBIs when he broke his wrist following a strikeout against Cliff Lee.  The injury likely cost him the MVP award, and certainly impacted the White Sox as they battled the Twins for the AL Central title before eventually losing to the Rays in the ALDS.

Quentin continued to struggle with injuries for the remainder of his White Sox career, never appearing in more than 131 games.  A shoulder injury ended his 2011 season, and his White Sox career, at the end of August.  That December, just over 4 years since he was acquired, Quentin was shipped to the Padres.

In 3 years with the Padres, injuries continued to plague Quentin, as he failed to appear in 90 games in any season.  His most famous (or infamous) moment with the Padres was the April 11, 2013 brawl against the Dodgers, where he broke Zach Greinke’s collarbone after being hit by a pitch.

This spring, Quentin was traded to the Braves, who promptly released him.  He had signed on with the Mariners in the hopes of working his way back to the major leagues, but his history of injuries had finally caught up to him and caused him to call it a day.

Quentin’s numbers in a White Sox uniform, both for games I attended and overall, were:

Continue reading →

by jim

Tamper Free

joe-maddonNearly 6 months after word first leaked that the Cubs were going to hire Joe Maddon as their new manager, Major League Baseball announced that there was no evidence of tampering by the Cubs while Maddon was still under contract with the Rays.  After signing Maddon to a 5 year, $25 million contract shortly after opting out of his deal with the Rays, the Cubs were accused of reaching out to Maddon and letting him know that their managerial position, still occupied by Rick Renteria at the time, would become available should he opt out.

The result is somewhat surprising, if only because of the length of time it took to come to the finding.  MLB had originally promised that the investigation would be quick, and then announced that it would be wrapped up prior to the start of the season.  If there was no evidence of tampering, what have the investigators been doing for the past 6 months?

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Crosstown Competitors

cws-chiLast Saturday, Geovany Soto and Jeff Samardzija became the 25th and 26th people I’ve seen play in person for both the Cubs and the White Sox.  Here’s a look at those players, in alphabetical order.

DavidAardsma2David Aardsma

After posting a decent season with the Cubs in 2006, Aardsma was traded to the White Sox for Neal Cotts.  Aardsma lasted one season with the Sox, where he was unable to duplicate his success from the year before.

Jason Bere

Drafted by the White Sox in the 36th round in 1990, Bere debuted with the big league club in 1993, finishing 2nd in Rookie of the Year voting.  After an All Star selection in 1994, injuries marred the remainder of his tenure on the South Side, which ended in 1998.  He resurfaced with the Cubs in 2001 and had a decent season, but he went 1-10 in 2002 before being let go.

Neal Cotts

Acquired by the White Sox in the Billy Koch trade, he debuted with the team in 2003.  He was a key contributor in the bullpen during the 2005 championship season, and was the only relief pitcher to appear in all 3 rounds of the playoffs that season.  Following the 2006 season, he was traded to the Cubs for David Aardsma, and he spent the next 3 injury filled seasons on the North Side.

scott_eyre_autographScott Eyre

Joining the White Sox organization in a 1994 trade with the Rangers, he debuted with the big league team in 1997.  He split the next 4 seasons between the rotation and the bullpen, not to mention between Chicago and Charlotte, before being moved to the Blue Jays following the 2000 ALDS loss to the Mariners.  He joined the Cubs as a free agent for the 2006 season and enjoyed 2 seasons of relative success, before falling apart in 2008, when he was traded to the Phillies.

Kosuke Fukudome Continue reading →

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All Time Team Records

MLB: Cincinnati Reds at Los Angeles DodgersAnother exciting baseball season is upon us, and it is time once again to look at the all-time team records for games that I have attended.  Another disappointing season dropped the winning percentage for the White Sox 7 points, giving them a 16 point drop over the past 2 years.

All-Time Team Records

TeamName Won Loss Winning Pctg
California Angels 1 0 1.000
Arizona Diamondbacks 13 2 0.867
Florida Marlins 15 8 0.652
Philadelphia Phillies 10 6 0.625
Toronto Blue Jays 10 7 0.588
New York Yankees 11 8 0.579
Colorado Rockies 7 6 0.538
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 15 13 0.536
Chicago White Sox 234 204 0.534
San Francisco Giants 8 7 0.533
Chicago Cubs 194 172 0.530
Continue reading →