Shoppach was injured during a collision at home plate. The Rays were hoping for Shoppach to provide some offensive pop from the catcher position this season, but so far the incumbent Dioner Navarro has outperformed Shoppach in some aspects of his game.

Shoppach was acquired from the Cleveland Indians in a trade that sent career minor league pitcher Mitch Talbot to Cleveland.

John Jaso was called up from Durham to fill Shoppach’s roster spot.

ST. PETERSBURG — Jeff Niemann left Thursday night’s game against Baltimore after taking a shot off his right shoulder.

Miguel Tejada, leading off the Orioles’ second against the 6-foot-9 right-hander, hit a ball up the middle that caught Niemann square on the back of the shoulder. The ball then ricocheted to Carlos Pena at first for the unusual 1-3 putout.

Niemann appeared to be in some pain, bending at the waist before being tended to on the mound by a contingent of trainers and manager Joe Maddon. After Niemann threw several pitches, Maddon signaled for Andy Sonnanstine to come into the game.

Niemann threw 12 pitches, 10 for strikes, and had retired each of the four hitters he faced. He was making his first start of the season after leading the team in wins in 2009, when he went 13-6 with a 3.94 ERA in his rookie season.

Recent reports say that Niemann’s early exit were strictly precautionary, and that the pitcher is listed as day to day with a shoulder contusion.

Keep checking back with www.tampabayraysfan.com for all the latest on this injury.

Lead by a near dominating performance from Matt Garza, the Rays downed the Orioles in game two of the 2010 season by a score of 4-3.

Garza went 8 strong innings, allowing just four hits and two runs one his way to striking out 9. Newly acquired closer Rafael Soriano came in for the top of the 9th inning, and gave up two hits and one run, but was still able to notch his first save as the Rays closer.

Other news worth talking about, slugging third baseman Evan Longoria hit his second home run of the season, though this one was not as impressive as his 473 foot blast in the season opener on Tuesday night.

Carlos Pena also looked strong at the plate, going 2-4 with a double.

The Tampa Bay Rays will look to close out the series with a win tonight against the Orioles. Last years most solid pitcher for the Rays, Jeff Niemann will look to build off of the success from his strong rookie campaign, as he faces off against Orioles youngster Brian Matusz.

Upton is easily the most polarizing player currently wearing a Rays uniform. Upton is either worshiped or loathed and there seems to be very little middle ground when talking with Rays fans as well as baseball fans in general. Those who worship him are in (rightful) awe of his play in centerfield and cannot forget how he carried the team on his back through the American League playoffs in 2008 while those who loathe him consider him a lazy malcontent that never hustles and takes the game for granted. I belong in the admirer camp because to watch him play centerfield brings back memories of watching Devon White roam that ground for the Blue Jays whom I followed closely as a younger lad when he would cover half the outfield by himself. Additionally, having gone through two shoulder surgeries myself in the last six years, I can relate to what Upton went through in 2008 and trying to come back this past season.

I can respect the views of those who would rather see Upton on another team but I sincerely believe there would be some serious seller’s remorse from those same fans shortly after Upton’s departure as he is still just 25 years old and is just now entering the prime years of his career. We have only seen glimpses of what Upton is capable of doing at the plate; if he can put together a season where his bat approaches the value of his defensive work, he would easily be one of the five best players in the game.  Can Upton do that task in 2010? The early projections say no:

Fangraphs now includes an engine where Rays fans as well as baseball fans can contribute to projections which is the last field of the table. The other four projections come from our Fanball magazine as well as three of the most popular projection sources out there: Bill James, Dan Szymborski from Baseball Factory, and Sean Smith’s CHONE system at baseballprojection.com.

The fans, understandably, are the most optimistic about Upton in 2010 giving him the best power numbers, RBI, and batting average. The professional pundits are all fairly close together with their projections. The projections are indeed much better than what Upton produced last season, but everyone seems to think that Upton’s power numbers from 2007 were more of an aberration and not repeatable in 2010.

Fanball is fortunate to have Rick Wilton on staff. Wilton is publisher of the Baseball Injury Database for our fantasy players at OwnersEdge.com that catalogs all injuries on players in both notes and graphs making it very easy to track the injury history of players. I asked Rick what he thought about Upton and the shoulder and he said:

Last winter, I compared the Upton shoulder surgery (labrum) and the one Hanley Ramirez had the year before. Ramirez bounced back quickly and I expected Upton to do the same. Obviously it did not happen. I cannot see any reason why Upton should not have a solid if not great rebound season, at least physically because his shoulder has to be 100% by the start of spring training if it is not already. There are some that wonder if his ceiling is not as high as first thought.

That last sentence sticks out because that line of thought definitely stands out in the projections from the pundits. In 2007 when he hit 24 homers, his HR/FB rate was up to 20% but since then as he fought through both the shoulder injury and the recover, it has sat around 7%.  If Wilton is correct – and I believe he is -  and Upton is fully healed in that shoulder, his timing could not be better. Batters typically see good statistical growth in their mid to late 20’s and Upton is just now getting into his peak years so if the power does not show up now, it may never come back.

The Rays have stood behind Upton throughout everything and have brought in a new hitting coach and getting Upton back on the right track has to be Derek Shelton’s top job priority as the Rays are likely losing Carl Crawford after the 2010 season which will put more of an onus on Upton to step up his own run production to help compensate for Crawford’s loss.

My own personal projection for Upton: .275, .800 OPS, 18 homers, 42 steals, and more amazing defense.

Here is what editor John Manuel wrote:

2. Rays: Talk about top-heavy. Every system would love to have two big league-ready right-handers like Wade Davis and Jeremy Hellickson, who both have stuff, command and success at the upper levels. And neither of them is even the Rays’ top prospect — that honor goes to five-tool center fielder Desmond Jennings, whose only issue is durability. In between Triple-A and low Class A, the Rays are a bit thin, but they have a bevy of power arms at the lower levels, led by left-hander Matt Moore.

The Rays were fourth in BA’s spring organizational rankings, behind the Rangers, Marlins and A’s.

Kelly Shoppach is 29-years-old, he’ll turn 30 early next season, and former top prospect with the Boston Red Sox. Throughout his Major League career – mostly with Cleveland – he’s racked up 1,043 plate appearances with a.241/.327/.449 line and .338 wOBA — a catcher hitting above league average is pretty impressive. Most of those plate appearances have come in the last two seasons, where he’s hit .241/.342/.465 with 33 homers. He knows how to take a walk and he knows how to hit for some power. Throughout his career he’s tormented left-handed pitching, batting for a .999 OPS in a small sample size of 258 plate appearances.

He’s a hitter, first and foremost, with a career caught stealing rate around 27% and roughly 0.26 passed balls/wild pitches per game. For comparison, Dioner Navarro has a 30% thievery-catching rate and averages 0.29 PB+WP/G. There’s more to catching than simply throwing and blocking, but Shoppach appears to have the edge in blocking and beats Navarro in the whole “hitting the ball” aspect. Driveline Mechanics had him in the lower-half of defensive catchers.

Shoppach is arbitration eligible and made $1.95M last season. He’ll probably receive a raise, and he is eligible to become a free agent following the 2011 season.

Welcome to the team Kelly, do us proud.

One of the larger topics this offseason has centered on what to do with Carl Crawford. Now that the Rays have picked up his $10 million dollar option they are left with a couple scenarios:  trading him now, trading him later, signing him to an extension, or let him walk and take the compensatory pick(s). While CC is and will remain the hot topic for the unforeseeable future, I have been wondering about the Rays other $10 million dollar man, Carlos Pena.

Honestly, I try and to not play favorites, but how can you not when it comes to Carlos Pena? Nevertheless, I’ve come to the realization that maybe in addition to Crawford, it’s time to explore the possibility of a Pena move. Of course, one isn’t really reliant on the other and both, one, or none of them could be traded anyway.

Obligatory disclaimer: This is merely speculation. The Rays haven’t said they are actively shopping Pena.

First, let’s look at the most important fact; Pena will make $10.25 million dollars in 2010. This makes him the team’s highest paid player. However, in terms of WAR, he was narrowly the seventh best Rays player this past season. If you want to make the argument that his season was cut short due to injury, Pena was not cracking the top five for the Rays regardless of a full season. This doesn’t mean he wasn’t valuable; a 2.6 WAR is worth $11.9 million dollars and Pena made $8 million, but the Rays highest paid player shouldn’t be their fifth, sixth or seventh best player on the team.

Pena’s three-year WAR average has him at a 4.2. If he is able to produce that at $10 million dollars then that is a bargain, but that average is also heavily skewed by his 6.2 WAR in the 2007 season. After posting a 3.8 in 2008, Pena was again down to 2.6 in 2009.

Offensively, there is little doubt that Pena can, and will, still mash. The player friendly projection of Bill James has him slugging .498 in 2010 and I think that may be a bit on the low side. It’s the other portions of Pena’s game that had me worried. While the Power remains, his patience at the plate and his sharp batting eye have wandered slightly the past few seasons.

After posting a lovely 17.4% walk rate in 2007, Pena’s BB% has declined in the past few seasons. Coinciding with the decline in walks is an increase in strikeouts, and not surprisingly an increase in swings on pitches out of the zone.

Walking 15% of the time is still pretty good, but the K’s are at an all time high. Even though we know this is part of his game, it’s still not a trend you want to see.

Defensively, Pena had a pretty rough season finishing with a UZR of -4.6. However, his three year average is ever so slightly above average at 0.4. Odds are he will be right at average or slightly below in the field next year, unless 2009 was just the beginning of a defensive avalanche.

Beyond the high salary and some production concerns, there are also the compensation issue. Trading Pena won’t net the same type of return as Crawford and nobody should expect such a thing. However, for a team who’s looking for power, can accept a few flaws, and afford the price tag, Pena is very attractive option even if it’s for a one year rental. I’m not going to speculate on a return, but I’m guessing the Rays could do pretty well in any potential deal.

What I do want to look at is the return if Pena is retained and then walks at the end of the season. According to Eddie Bajek’s Elias Projections, Carlos Pena is a type B free agent. Remember, this is based on his 2008 and 2009 seasons. When/if Pena hits the market next season, his compensation will be based on 2009 and 2010. Usually players who have declined over a three-year period while getting older don’t improve from one season to the next, however, there are always exceptions. Nonetheless, a Type-A ranking for first basemen doesn’t come easy; none of the 2009 free agent first basemen have Type-A status and only Mark Teixiera earned it in 2008.

I have no idea how the Elias rankings are created, but over the two years before he hit free agency, Teixeira averaged a slash line of .307/.406/.557 with nearly 32 home runs. Over the last two seasons, Pena has averaged .237/.367/.515 with 35 bombs. I’m going to assume that to obtain a Type-A status, Pena’s going to need to regain his 2007 form and then some, which is unlikely.  What’s more than likely to happen is Pena will retain Type-B status and his former team will receive a supplemental pick instead of the potential two picks a Type-A would.

This raises another issue. Getting draft picks for potential free agents is not necessarily a good thing for the Rays. Sure, adding young talent is always welcomed, but even late first round picks cost money (see LeVon Washington). The Rays already have four high picks in next year’s draft. If they aren’t able to sign all four they will receive an addittional compensatory pick(s) in 2011. This will be in addition to their regular pick and any potential picks received from free agents with “type” status( Crawford, Pena, etc.). That could end up as a lot of money for unproven talent; or on a few picks not wasted, per se, but picks not maximized due to budget restrictions.

Once more, Pena is still a good player and even at $10 million dollars should still provide value, but for a Rays team looking to cut corners in places to improve others, a look in his direction is smart business. Replacing Pena wouldn’t be easy, but it wouldn’t be as hard as say, replacing a Carl Crawford.

For example, Russell Branyan is a free agent. Coming off a 2.8 WAR season, Branyan could give you similar production for probably half the cost. Branyan is also looking for a two-year deal, so he may not be ideal. The Rays could go the platoon route and find a dance partner for Willy Aybar. Another former Ray, Eric Hinske could work well with Aybar. Or the Rays could go the unconventional route and move Ben Zobrist to first allowing Sean Rodriguez to get the bulk of the time at second base. I could go on rosterbating, but you get the point.

There are the intangibles: leadership, smile%, pre-game dances, and between pitch mound meetings, but in terms of things we can measure, exploring a deal involving Pena seems prudent for a team that is constantly working around the big payroll elephant in the room.

Montoyo will be honored, along with Minor League Baseball’s four other major award winners during the Winter Meetings Dec 7-10 in Indianapolis. Montoyo, a manager in the Tampa Bay Rays minor league system for the past 13 seasons, led the Bulls to their third straight Southern Division crown on their way to the International League title. Durham also won the Triple-A National Championship.

“I am very humbled and honored to win this award because of what he represents,” Montoyo said.

“Charlie has been a hard working, loyal staff member for the Rays since 1996,” said Rays Director of Minor League Operations Mitch Lukevics. “He is a dedicated teacher of our game with a passion to help players both on and off the field. Charlie exemplifies everything that the Mike Coolbaugh
Award stands for. We are proud and thrilled that he is receiving this award.”

Ken Davidoff Intruding on territory of @sportswatch – Dewayne Staats has signed a contract extension with the #Rays. Will call 5,000th game in ’10.

This is great news. Staats began calling games for the Rays when they originally began play. His voice (and hairdo) are trademark with the team. I don’t think it’s a stretch to call him the Voice of the Rays. More Staats is good Staats, although hopefully he lessens the amount of fly ball outs that receive the home run call treatment.