Niemann was drilled on the ankle by Adam Lind’s line drive with runners at first and second in the first inning. He recovered to make the out, but limped around the mound and was checked by the trainer before finishing the inning.

The Rays are going to call up either Alex Cobb, or Chris Archer to take his spot in the rotation, so I think the Rays will be just fine. Niemann is important, but losing him for awhile is less of a hit than it could have been.

Hopefully he’ll recover soon and return to the club.

Getting hit by a line drive is one of the worst things in the world. Most of the time, you can’t even see the ball coming back at you, so at least he was hit in the leg, and not the face. Maybe that’s a bad way to look at it, but it could have been a heck or a lot worse for him.

We wish him a speedy recovery!

Then the fifth inning happened.

Will Rhymes fouled off an 88 MPH fastball and took a 90 MPH fastball for a called strike. That basically baited Morrow to throw the slider in an effort to throw him off. Rhymes took his slider to left field for a lead-off double.

After a sacrifice fly from Chris Gimenez moved Rhymes to third base, Elliot Johnson came in and drove him in with a single to center.

Johnson got to Morrow the same way that Rhymes did in the beginning of the inning. The only difference is that Morrow’s first two pitches were four-seamers for balls. After that he had to resort to his breaking ball and it end up being an RBI single.

A Ben Zobrist fielder’s choice and a B.J. Upton walk later and Matt Joyce comes up to bat. Like Johnson, Joyce puts Morrow’s splitter in play. Adam Lind‘s error was to blame for the second run.

Morrow did strike Carlos Pena out, but even that didn’t end well. His slider

From Luke Scott to Sean Rodriguez and back to Will Rhymes, Morrow simply could not get a pitch past the Rays hitters.

Thankfully for Marrow, Rhymes flied out to right in his second plate appearance of the inning to end the nightmarish inning.

The difference between the fifth inning and the previous four was Marrow’s pitch selection.

In the first four innings, Marrow utilized all five of his pitches in various times. However in the fifth inning, he went with just his fastball and splitter. Thus becoming predictable.

Jennings was out of the lineup Sunday and missed his sixth straight game due to the knee injury. The Rays are expecting to place Jennings on the disabled list since the progress on his knee is indeed stalling. Maddon told reporters Sunday that the team is not seeing progress nor is he seeing regress.

For right now you are probably going to see Ben Zobrist take over the left field duties and Will Rhymes to fulfill the second base duties while Zobrist is in the outfield. Rhymes has been batting .243 in 11 games so far for the Rays, while Zobrist is batting below the Mendoza Line at .198 in 33 games this season but is leading the league in walks with 33.

As for Jennings, he will definitely be missed by the Rays since Zobrist is batting so low. Jennings was batting .265 in the 31 games that he has played. Jennings also had stolen eight bases before being injured. Jennings also hit three home runs and drove in 11 RBI so far this season.

The Rays this year have had a lot of pitching help in their wins. They are currently in second place in the American League East division and are 1.0 games behind the Baltimore Orioles for first place.

Follow Ryan Gaydos on Twitter @RyanGaydos or like him on Facebook.

What a dumb decision. I mean honestly, what goes through the head of some of these guys? He has never hit over .275 in the minors, so he figured hey- I’m in AAA, let’s get high. Yeah, smooth move ace. What is this idiot thinking?

I don’t think Beckham will ever be whom the Rays thought he should be, and that’s a major disappointment. The Rays aren’t exactly loaded at SS unless Hak Ju Lee stays there, but ugh.

Beckham said in a statement, as Topkin tweeted, “I regret that my poor judgment resulted in me letting my teammates and the Tampa Bay Rays organization down.”

I don’t even want to bring it up, but Josh Hamilton was a top pick in the Rays organization and his problems are well told at this point. I’m not saying that Beckham is going to go down the road Hamilton went down, but you have to wonder if the Rays are just snake bit when it comes to first overall picks.

Hopefully Beckham learns how to figure it out, because it would be a shame if his career was derailed by such poor decision making.

At this point nobody knows how much time Longoria is expected to miss. In his tweet Marc Topkin speculated that Longoria could miss up to 6 weeks. General Manager Andrew Friedman responded to Topkin’s suggestion and argued:

Rays executive VP Andrew Friedman said it was “premature” to say how Longoria would be out and they would see how he felt when he reported to Tropicana Field today to make their move, and that it was not automatic Longoria would go on the DL. If he does and they make an internal move, the most likely choices are Reid Brignac (with Sean Rodriguez potentially moving to third) or Will Rhymes.

Losing Longoria for an extended period of time would be a huge blow to the Rays. For the 2012 season Longoria is hitting 329/433/561 with 4 homers, 19 runs driven in and 2 steals. He’s a powerful right handed bat in a lineup loaded with lefties, and this could make the Rays very vulnerable to lefties late in the game.

Having Sean Rodriguez and Reid Brignac on the left side of the infield isn’t an ideal situation. Longoria is significantly better with the bat, and is a gold glove calibre third baseman. If Rodriguez or Brignac struggle it’s possible that Elliot Johnson, who filled in for Longoria last night, could be called on to be the third baseman in Longoria’s absence.

It’s also worth noting that even when Longoria returns, he likely will still suffer from the hamstring injury. This might make him less likely to steal bases, or prevent him from snagging balls that he might otherwise have caught up to before the injury. So even if he returns before the 6-8 week period, he could still feel the effects of the injury throughout the 2012 season.

At 15-8, the Rays currently hold a one game lead in the AL East over the Baltimore Orioles. Game two of their four game series against the Mariners continues tonight at 7:10 PM (EST) with Matt Moore (0-1, 4.68 ERA) taking on Hector Noesi (1-2, 8.83 ERA).

Matsui has seen better days since his time with the New York Yankees where he finished his tenure there with a World Series ring and a World Series MVP award, the first Japanese player to win such award. In 2010, Matsui agreed to a deal with the Los Angeles Angels. There he played in 145 games and batted .274/.361/.459 for the team and hit 21 homers and drove in 84 RBI.

Angels did not re-sign Matsui though as he moved to the Oakland Athletics organization splitting time between the left field position and designated hitter slot. Matsui played in 141 games for the team and batted .251/.321/.375 which is considerably lower than his 2010 numbers. He also managed to only hit 12 homers but drive in 72 RBI, which may have turned some teams off to him along with his age. Matsui is 37-years-old.

Matsui has the chances now to make an impact on the Rays team if he makes the Major League roster. The possible plan for him is to come off the bench as an extra bat or split designated hitting duties with Luke Scott as their is no room in the outfield for any 37-year-old ball player nowadays.

The Rays are 9-7 so far this season and are in fourth place in the American League East division.

Follow Ryan Gaydos on Twitter @RyanGaydos or like him on Facebook.

#Rays Maddon says Farnsworth likely to need 4-6 weeks rest, Upton close to going on rehab assignment

April 6, 2012 11:58 am via Twitter for BlackBerry®ReplyRetweetFavorite

@TBTimes_Rays

Marc Topkin

Losing Farnsworth for any length of time is bad news for the Rays. Last season Farnsworth was absolutely dominant, going 5-1 with 25 saves, posting a 2.18 ERA and striking out nearly a batter an inning. The addition of a cut fastball has been critical to his success, allowing him to cut down on the number of homers allowed.

While Farnsworth is on the disabled list Tampa’s manager Joe Maddon will likely use a closer by committee. Joel Peralta becomes the favourite for the 9th inning, as he was previously the set up man for Farnsworth. And Peralta isn’t a bad option to have, as he posted a 2.93 ERA with 61 strikeouts against 18 walks last season for the Rays. CC Sabathia

In some positive news for the Rays, Maddon also said that BJ Upton would be close to playing in a minor league game soon. Upton would make a huge impact on this lineup, as in the short term the Rays are forced to use Ben Zobrist in right and Desmond Jennings in center. Upton’s return would give them another quality bat against lefties, and you despite how well they hit against  last night this team is fairly vulnerable against southpaws. His return would also improve the outfield defence, which would be among the best in the game.

The Rays continue their series against the Yankees tonight at 7:10. Hiroki Kuroda (13-16, 3.07 ERA in 2011 with the Los Angeles Dodgers) makes his debut for the Yankees against David Price (12-13, 3.49 ERA in 2011).

Just because Davis got moved to the bullpen doesn’t mean that the Rays won’t use him as a starter this season. Niemann threw 135 innings last season, and has never pitched more than 180 2/3 innings in any season. He’s likely to miss a significant amount of time due to injuries, meaning that Davis should get an opportunity to start sometime in 2012.

This is a bit of a disappointment for Davis, as he was once considered a top 30 prospect according to Baseball America. However his performance has declined each year he’s been in the majors, which is not a positive sign for the Rays. Niemann gives them a much better chance to compete this year, and with plenty of rotation depth in the minors it’s likely that Davis’s future is in the bullpen.

In 2011 Davis went 11-10 with a 4.45 ERA, striking out 5.1 per 9 while walking 3 per 9. His inability to strike out hitters, combined with his lack of control makes him a poor option for even the #5 spot in a rotation.

Meanwhile Niemann is coming off one of his better seasons, even though it occurred in limited time. In 135 1/3 innings, Niemann went 11-7 with a 4.06 ERA, striking out 7 per 9 while walking 2.5 per 9. When you combine Niemann’s success in the majors and stronger Spring Training, it’s not surprising that he earned the #5 spot in the rotation.

One of the top left handed starters in the game, David Price is the focus of part 6 of our series previewing the most important players for the Tampa Bay Rays. Despite a surprisingly poor win/loss record (12-13), Price was a fantastic pitcher in 2011, striking out nearly a batter an inning (8.75 K/9), while posting a 3.49 ERA (3.32 FIP) and earning 4.7 WAR. Price is just another example of why win/loss record is meaningless to evaluate pitchers with – despite putting up good numbers across the board, he had a losing record for the Rays.

The former first overall pick has come a long way in a very short amount of time. Price debuted towards the end of the 2008 season, pitching only 14 stellar innings with a 1.94 ERA before being thrown into the playoff roster. Sound familiar? Price’s success during both his September debut and the playoffs may have been one of the reasons the Rays felt comfortable taking a similar approach with Matt Moore in 2011.

Price’s signature moment of the 2008 season was when he bailed the Rays out of a huge jam in game 7 of the ALCS against Boston. With the bases loaded and two out in the top of the 8th, Price was called in to relieve Chad Bradford. With JD Drew at the plate, and the season on the line, Price got a swinging strikeout on a nasty slider. It was a sign of things to come, and only two years later Price would be the best pitcher on one of the most dominant pitching staffs in the game.

David Price voided his rookie contract in order to be arbitration eligible for the first time this season. The Rays agreed to a one year deal worth $4.35 million so that they didn’t have to go to arbitration. Since Price isn’t signed to a long term deal at this point it’s unlikely that the Rays will be able to afford him. So there’s a chance that in a few years the Rays will have to decide whether they are better off trading him a year early, or taking letting him play out his final year only to receive a couple of draft picks as compensation. But that decision won’t come for a few years, so for now the Rays should simply enjoy seeing one of the best southpaw starters in the game take the mound every 5th day.

It’s interesting to note that Price, a former first overall pick back in 2007, is the first member of our series who was drafted in the first round. One of the arguments about the Rays success revolves around the fact that they struggled for a long period of time, which allowed them to build a strong team off of first round picks. However, we can see this isn’t the case, as players like Ben Zobrist, James Shields, Matt Moore, Desmond Jennings and Matt Joyce were all acquired through trades or late in the draft.

What can we expect from Price this season? His 2011 season was fairly impressive, and he should be able to duplicate those numbers with ease. If he can increase the number of groundballs or continue to improve with his command we could see numbers that approach his 2010 season. However it’s more likely that Price will be a 3.30 or so ERA pitcher, and that’s pretty valuable given that he’s pitching in the AL East. The Rays have a great shot at the playoffs, and their ace David Price will need another strong season in order to give them a fighting chance.

2012 Prediction: 3.25 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, 8.5 K/9, 2.3 BB/9, 17-8.

Part 1: 2B Ben Zobrist

Part 2: OF Desmond Jennings

Part 3: SP James Shields

Part 4: RF Matt Joyce

Part 5: SP Matt Moore

With a grand total of 9 1/3 innings in his major league career, Matt Moore of the Tampa Bay Rays was tasked with starting game one of the playoffs against the Texas Rangers. The move was risky, insane, and brilliant all at the same time. Having faith in your young players is one thing, but Joe Maddon and the Rays made a bold statement about Matt Moore, and he redeemed their faith in him by throwing 7 innings of shutout baseball. The Rays would go on to win 9-0, and while they didn’t win the series Moore showed the world what he was capable of.

Moore was an 8th round pick in the 2007 draft, and right from the beginning you could tell the Rays had picked a winner. His career strikeout rate in the minors was 12.7 K/9, which is simply unbelievable for a pitching prospect. He struggled with command throughout his career, at times looking like Rick “Wild Thing” Vaughn from Major League. However the Rays were careful with Moore’s development, typically letting him spend a year in each level before challenging him with a tougher environment.

In the offseason the Rays signed Matt Moore to an absolute bargain of a contract. He’s guaranteed 14M over 5 years, and if all the options are used he could make as little as 40M over the next 8 seasons. Considering he could be one of the best pitchers in the American League as early as 2012, that’s simply an incredible bargain. I wrote about his contract back in December, and it shows just how much the Rays could save if Moore turns out to be an Ace on the level of Tim Lincecum, Felix Hernandez and Justin Verlander.

So what can we expect from Matt Moore? Moore’s innings were built up enough in the minors so that unlike most younger pitchers he should not be on an innings restriction. Even in his first season he should be one of the best strikeout artists in the American League, keeping up with Justin Verlander or even Brandon Morrow. If anything will hold him back, it’s his lack of control. Moore walked 3.1BB/9 in his stay at AAA and the walk rate was fairly similar in the majors. However if Moore can post an elite strikeout rate, the walks won’t be a major problem.

Moore might already be the best pitcher on the Tampa Bay Rays, which is a bold statement considering their staff is led by David Price and James Shields. He’s one of the best young pitchers in the game, and the likely Rookie Of The Year winner in 2012. The Rays should be in fantastic shape during the season, and no team would want to face Price, Shields and Moore in the playoffs. The sky is the limit with the young southpaw, and the Rays cannot wait to unleash Mooreon the rest of the American League.

2012 Prediction: 3.3o ERA, 16-7, 8.8 K/9, 3.2 BB/9, 1.18 WHIP.

Part 1: 2B Ben Zobrist

Part 2: OF Desmond Jennings

Part 3: SP James Shields

Part 4: Matt Joyce