Rays to sign Burrell?

[FromWayDowntown]

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3811501

Kind of an interesting signing in the AL East's smaller-markets. At first blush, Burrell strikes me as something of a poorly-productive power hitter -- lots of HR but relatively few RBI and lots of strikeouts to counterbalance the power. But at 2 years, $16 million, he brings good power and another fairly patient hitter who can draw walks. His RBI numbers have probably been diminished a bit by playing in a lineup that included Howard and Utley -- his best RBI years were before Howard joined the Phillies for good.

Add to that the fact that he's going to DH in Tampa (he's certainly not going to play LF or CF regularly) and the fact that he's been pretty reliable from an injury standpoint, and he might actually be able to make the Rays offense a bit stronger, I suppose. The Rays' DHs in 2008 were .246/.322/.428 with an OPS+ of 94, producing 24 HR and 78 RBI while drawing only 56 walks.

I just keep thinking that it will be interesting to see if TB can hang in there against the economic behemoths in NY and BOS in 2009.

[sribb43]

Rays had a choice of Giamibi or Burrell....I wonder if this means Giambi back to the A's since there is no other option for him really in the AL

[JamStone]

Not a bad signing. Not a great signing either. As mentioned, his power numbers are ok but might have been helped by batting behind Utley and Howard and hitting in a small ballpark. Rays needed a right handed bat more than a left handed bat. And, his slowness and defensive liabilities are neutralized by being able to hit DH in the AL. Good signing. Really sets up the left-right basically all the way through the line-up for the Rays.

[AFBlue]

I think the best signing would've been Bradley, but he and the Cubs clearly had hard-ons for eachother.

Burrell is the next best thing. He bring consistent power, he gets on base (despite high strikeout totals), and he's a righty who hits left-handed pitching really well. The last part is important because the Rays were absolutely terrible against lefties in '08...and the Yankees just signed a BIG ONE.

The Rays now have four guys who could/should hit 30 home runs (Pena, Burrell, Longoria, Upton) and don't surrender anything in defense or speed. This move, along with the others this off-season (Nelson & Joyce) have quietly kept the Rays in the hunt while everyone has their focus on the big-spending Yankees.

[AFBlue]

As mentioned, his power numbers are ok but might have been helped by batting behind Utley and Howard and hitting in a small ballpark.

And you think his numbers will drop in Tampa?

I'm guessing he sees about the same pitches and maintains the same production, because the offense he'll be surrounded by in Tampa, while not MVP-winning is pretty damn good.

Pena and his 77HRs over the past two years, Longoria with his 27 in just 122 games, and Upton who flashed his power potential in the post season...all there to assure that Burrell continues to see good pitches and take advantage of them.

You disagree?

[JamStone]

Don't necessarily disagree. We'll have to see. Also realize he'll be facing traditionally better pitching in the AL, even more so in his own division for another 35 or so games against the Yankees and Red Sox. As for hitting behind Longoria and Pena, if they hit well again next year, it will help Burrell. Pena goes through slumps as well. We all know he still struggles with off speed pitches. And, quite frankly, you can't compare hitting behind Pena with hitting behind Ryan Howard. But, sure, we'll see how it goes.

If he puts up .250, 25 HR, 75 RBI, that should be fine if the rest of the line-up hits well.

[AFBlue]

Don't necessarily disagree. We'll have to see. Also realize he'll be facing traditionally better pitching in the AL, even more so in his own division for another 35 or so games against the Yankees and Red Sox. As for hitting behind Longoria and Pena, if they hit well again next year, it will help Burrell. Pena goes through slumps as well. We all know he still struggles with off speed pitches. And, quite frankly, you can't compare hitting behind Pena with hitting behind Ryan Howard. But, sure, we'll see how it goes.

If he puts up .250, 25 HR, 75 RBI, that should be fine if the rest of the line-up hits well.

Agree that he'll see better pitching, but I think the Rays lineup and depth of power hitting is actually greater than Philly. And I'm not going to concede the point on Howard v. Pena...

Both are streaky, strike out alot, hit for low average, but still manage to get on base and hit for power. I'll agree that Howard has more raw power, but they both likely see the same pitches because both are equally able to put the ball out of the park if the pitcher makes a mistake.

[AFBlue]

So this is what Buster Olney says the Rays lineup could look like next year...

2B Iwamura (L)
CF Upton (R)
1B Pena (L)
3B Longoria (R)
LF Crawford (L)
DH Burrell (R)
RF Joyce (L)
C Navarro (S)
SS Bartlett (R)

Talk about balance...damn that's rediculous.

[EricB]

The AL East this year is gonna be freaking unreal.

[ATRAIN]

The AL East this year is gonna be freaking unreal.

Its going to be interesting thats for sure.

[FromWayDowntown]

I think the Rays are going to be very interesting to watch in that division -- they might push the Yankees or Red Sox to the point of $300 million/year payrolls.

Lots of ifs in TB, but:

IF they get full years out of Crawford and Longoria and IF they get continued production from Pena and Burrell and IF Upton's shoulder is right and IF Dioner Navarro is in shape and comes close to what he was in 2008, that lineup could actually be the most dynamic offense in the division. The Yankees have more power, but they can't put the same kind of pressure on a defense that the Rays can with their speed; the Red Sox have a bit more speed than the Yankees, but might not have as much pop as the Rays do.

It seems extremely likely that the Rays will continue to boast the best defense in the division.

And IF Shields and Garza can be something close to their 2008 form, and IF Kazmir looks more like his 2007 version than his 2008 and IF Price is the real deal, they might also have the best rotation in the division, too.

I think the Rays need to shore up their pen and find a more reliable closer than Percival before they head to camp, but IF they do that, they might actually be the most complete club in the AL East. With a fraction of the payroll.

[JamStone]

Tampa's line-up looks good, very balanced, has both speed and power. But, up and down, I don't believe they have great batting averages. That's one of the very few things missing. Yankees probably still have the best balance of average and power in a line-up, but they don't have first to third, hit and run, steals speed in their line-up. Boston has a very good blend of right to left, power and decent speed at the top of the line-up, but doesn't really have the intimidating power it used to have. It remains to be seen whether Ortiz can not only be healthy but be as effective without Manny as protection despite Youkilis becoming one of the better hitters in the AL. I don't think it's clear any of the three are much better than the other two line-ups. It's a toss-up which of the three will be the best line-up in the AL. They're all pretty on par, and obviously we'll have to wait and see if some of the younger Tampa hitters can perform up to what they did last year, particularly Longoria and Upton.

Johnny Damon
Derek Jeter
Mark Teixeira
Alex Rodriguez
Hideki Matsui
Xavier Nady
Jorge Posada
Robinson Cano
Nick Swisher

Jacoby Ellsbury
Dustin Pedroia
David Ortiz
Kevin Youkilis
JD Drew
Jason Bay
Mike Lowell
Jed Lowrie
whoever catches

[AFBlue]

Tampa's line-up looks good, very balanced, has both speed and power. But, up and down, I don't believe they have great batting averages. That's one of the very few things missing.

Trust me I'm not arguing just to argue, but batting average is a very overrated stat. The Rays just added a guy who will draw around 100 walks to a lineup that was already one of the most patient in the league.

They might strike out alot, but they'll also get on base far more often than their batting averages suggest.

[JamStone]

Last season's OBP of each player on each team:

TAMPA
Iwamura .349
Upton .383
Pena .377
Longoria .343
Crawford .319
Burrell .367
Joyce .339
Navarro .349
Bartlett .329

BOSTON
Ellsbury .336
Pedroia .376
Ortiz .369
Youkilis .390
Drew .408
Bay .370
Lowell .338
Lowrie .339
Varitek .313

NEW YORK
Damon .375
Jeter .363
Teixeira .410
A-Rod .392
Matsui .370
Nady .357
Posada .364
Cano .305
Swisher .332

There's a decided difference in the hearts of those line-ups, particularly the 3-4-5-6 batters of Boston and New York compared to Tampa's 3-4-5-6 hitters.

[AFBlue]

Rays added another right-handed bat today in OF Gabe Kapler. This is a guy who retired from baseball, but came back in 2008 and played very solid ball for the Brewers.

Going into Spring Training the RF platoon figures to be the two Gabe's (Gross and Kapler) with an outside shot for Joyce to win the job on the left side of the platoon. If he doesn't both he and Fernando Perez will get more "seasoning" at AAA.

Kapler is 33yrs old and figures to only work against lefties in a platoon situation, but he could prove very valuable in that role...especially with the loss of Baldelli to the Sox .

Given Kapler's ability to play solid defense and stay on the field, I'd say he's probably an upgrade at the position.