Kuzul

Boston Red Sox skipper Bobby Valentine hasn't been right about a lot of things since he arrived at his new gig, but he's spot with his latest comments. Things heated up in Boston Friday night after Red Sox reliever Franklin Morales pegged Luke Scott late in a 7-4 Tampa Bay Rays win, evoking a bench-clearing altercation that showcased an unusual amount of hostility from coaches on either side. After Rays manager Joe Maddon had some interesting comments about Valentine's supposed decision to plunk Scott late in the game, Valentine fired back Saturday about the way Maddon's coaching staff conducted themselves during the scrum."They seemed immature, out of control. Coaches are supposed to stop this from happening and their coaches were aggressive, agitating and instigating." (via the Boston Herald)Valentine could not be more right. Instructing your pitchers to throw at a batter happens. Instigating a bench-clearing situation that could put dozens of players in danger of injuries ...

Sayeth Bill Chastain of MLB.com: "Joe Maddon has never been one to adhere to conventional wisdom for the sake of adhering to conventional wisdom, which leads to the topic of the Rays' No. 2 spot in the batting order. "Right now there is a good chance that either Luke Scott or Carlos Pena will fill the second spot in the batting order. Using either of the sluggers in the second spot runs counter to conventional wisdom, a fact that doesn't rattle the Rays' manager in the least. "'I just think [conventional wisdom is] all based on the perception that a No. 2 hitter has to be a guy who can bunt, hit-and-run and move the runners,' Maddon said. 'It doesn't happen anymore. That's not part of the game right now.'" Darned straight, Joe. But this isn’t anything new.As Maddon himself pointed out, Jim Edmonds started more ...

David Price is going to have to win 20 games if the Tampa Bay Rays have any aspirations to repeat as AL East Champions.In Friday night’s 8-5 loss to the Los Angeles Angels, he got put to the test and fell short...very short. It brought his record to 3-3. “I didn’t play very well at all,” Price said in reference to his outing. “You know, our offense did a great job, gave me some runs early and that’s all I can ask for, and we played good defense. I just didn’t throw the ball very well and the mistakes I made, they hit them.” “That’s why you get 33 starts. I didn’t beat myself, they beat me.” It was Price’s worst outing since getting pulled after 1.1 innings against the Texas Rangers in 2009 when he allowed six earned runs and walked five batters. Price threw 98 pitches and gave ...

The most common phrase in professional sports (also the most overused phrase) that players and coaches use to describe a recent transaction is "it's a business." As a student of business, I can confidently confirm this brilliant diagnosis.As a business, the Tampa Bay Rays must first outline their goal for the 2011 season. A successful season would entail making the playoffs, most likely as the American League wild card, and compete in the postseason. Check that off.Next, they must begin basic preparation. This is primarily training employees and allowing managers to learn the strengths and weaknesses of their people, i.e. Spring Training. Check that off, too.Finally, the club has to analyze its environment for the 2011 season. The most common tool to assess a given business at any time is with a Five Forces Analysis.The Five Forces are: supplier power, buyer power, substitutes, rivalry, and competition, but for the sake ...

The Rays' journey to becoming a constant playoff-contender took awhile, but came all of sudden when it finally happened. Contending with the power-house teams of the AL East—the Yankees and Red Sox—is the toughest thing to do for any team to have to do. It's makes it even tougher when you can't spend half the money of the those two teams. But the Rays haven't used any excuses, rather using lower-risk, high-reward pickups and their minor league system to create a nucleus for a championship-caliber squad. Two division championships and an American League pennant in three years is good for any team (except maybe if your from the Bronx), but under the circumstances of being a small-market club, it's amazing what the Rays have been able to accomplish. Here's a list of five things you may or may not expect, but have kept the Rays at, or near the top ...

The Tampa Bay Rays enter the 2011 season with lower expectations than the last few years, and for good reason. This past offseason saw the Rays lose some of their most valuable players.While the losses of players like Carl Crawford, Rafael Soriano, Matt Garza and Carlos Pena will hurt, all is not lost for this team.Here are eleven bold predictions, both good and bad, for the Tampa Bay Rays this season.Begin Slideshow

Does any other MLB fan find it weird when a team goes out and buys former superstars, seemingly anticipating that putting them back together will magically bring back the spark from seven years before?It's happening again this year, and it's certainly not the first time that two World Series champions have played on entirely different teams together. It's just weird to have it happen in the AL East and for it to not be the Yankees doing the purchasing.Today it was announced that Manny Ramirez and Johnny Damon (2004 World Series Champions) will be joining the recently depleted/farmed out Tampa Bay Rays. It's not unrealistic that Tampa Bay would sign a few players (practicality says they needed to do so after losing the talent they let walk out the door over the offseason for nothing in return), but this is not the Tampa way.As a Red Sox fan in Minneapolis, ...

This week, Bleacher Report's Featured Columnists continued our 16-part series on Major League Baseball's end-of-season awards with the results of our Rookie of the Year votes in the AL and the NL.Today, one week before the Baseball Writers Association of America names the 2010 Managers of the Year, we're unveiling our picks for the American League's top skippers.The top five vote-getters are featured here with commentary from people who chose them. The full list of votes is at the end.So read on, see how we did and be sure to let us know what we got wrong!Begin Slideshow

As a diehard Rays fan, last night's Game 5 loss hurt especially hard.  Yes, it was an elimination game that ended what I thought would be a season ending with the World Series coming to Tampa.  But it also means the likely end to 1B Carlos Pena, LF Carlos Crawford and closer Rafael Soriano.Crawford—the heart and face of the franchise for the past nine seasons, will likely (and rightfully so) seek greener pastures next season.  But contrary to popular belief, the Rays will be just fine come next season. Begin Slideshow

Major League Baseball continues to live on the edge of insanity by only having a limited numbers of plays that can be reviewed. The instances where a play can be looked at is on a home run call, and that's either did the ball go over the yellow line? Did a fan interfere and reach in to grab the ball? Finally, was the ball fair or foul?  That's it! Which, is tough to believe because there are so many close plays at any of the bases and with check swings. The two main arguments on why replay has not been expanded is because baseball is already a game that can go for three hours or more and stopping the game to review a play would add onto the time of the game, and the second argument is that baseball has had the human element involved.  In the game of the Texas ...