2012 Five Questions: Tampa Bay Rays

[celipliz (犀利痞子)]

Five questions: Tampa Bay Rays
by Lucas Apostoleris
March 08, 2012
http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/five-questions-tampa-bay-rays4/

Coming off of their miraculous charge into the playoffs last year, the Tampa
Bay Rays look to be key players in the AL East once again. Here are a few
things to keep an eye on as we head into the regular season.

去年光芒怎麼殺進季後賽的，大家都看到了，今年看來光芒應該還是會加入龍頭混戰。

Who will be in the Rays’ rotation?
        - 先發投手，誰來輪值?

The Rays have been dealing with an issue that most teams would kill to have:
There are too many young starters who are under contract. The veteran of the
group, James Shields is not even 30 years old and signed an extension with the
team last October. David Price and Jeremy Hellickson, who had fine 2011
campaigns, certainly aren’t going anywhere. That leaves four viable major
league starters—Wade Davis, Jeff Niemann, Alex Cobb and Matt Moore—for two
spots in the rotation. Pitching coach Jim Hickey said in February that they are
all going to be starters in camp and that the situation will “work itself out.
”
光芒有著每個球隊都想要的問題 - 太多年輕先發投手。最老的 James Shields 還不到
30 歲，去年十月還簽了延長合約。 David Price 跟 Jeremy Hellickson 去年打得不差
，當然會佔住兩席先發。所以現在變成四搶二的狀況： Wade Davis、Jeff Niemann、
Alex Cobb 跟 Matt Moore。投手教練打算讓他們春訓先發成績來說話。

Moore has the least experience but a world of upside (we’ll talk about this in
a bit), and Cobb is coming off of injuries that derailed his season. Davis and
Niemann have spent more time in the Rays’ rotation over the past few seasons,
with varying levels of success: Davis has had a FIP of around 4.70 over his two
full seasons, allowing a lot of flyball contact with unspectacular control.
Niemann looks to be improving, cutting down on his walks this year for a K/BB
of around 3. At the time of this writing, Niemann and Moore seem like the best
fits in the starting rotation.

木耳 ( Matt Moore ) 最年輕，但是潛力無限 ( 待會會聊到 )，然後 Cobb 去年傷很大
Davis 跟 Niemann 這起年都在光芒先發群，Davis 兩年平均 FIP 4.70，飛球過多，控球
沒有很優。Niemann 則在走上坡，把 K/BB 降到大約 3 左右。目前看來最有可能的是
Moore 跟 Niemann。

How good is Matt Moore?
        - 木耳糾竟有多強?

Probably the most exciting pitching prospect in the majors right now is
southpaw Matt Moore, who joined the Rays last September for some help down the
stretch and wound up starting the first game of the ALDS against the Rangers.
In addition to his seven-inning effort against the Rangers, Moore had a
dominant start (his only regular season one) against the Yankees on Sept. 22 in
which he struck out 11 batters in five innings.

現今全美國最令人興奮的投手新秀，應該就是左投 Moore 了。去年九月被叫上來，結果
成為季後賽第一場先發，對上遊騎兵投了七局。唯一一場正規比賽，也在五局海K 11名
洋基打者。

His arsenal is that of a pure power pitcher. He possesses a four-seam fastball
that can reach the upper 90s, a spike power-curveball in the mid-80s, and a
change-up around 87 mph that he seemed comfortable using to righties in his big
league appearances last year. He ripped through minor league hitters, posting a
K/9 of nearly 13 in just under 500 career minor league innings (94 of his 99
games were starts). Expectations are sky-high based on Moore’s minor league
track record, but it remains to be seen if he can translate his success to this
point into helping the Rays’ rotation.

他的球種一看就是強力投手。有著95+ mph的速球，85mph左右的曲球，87mph左右的變速
，而且完全不怕對右打者投變化球。生涯500局的小聯盟生涯，K/9 將近 13。他的期望
值大概有天那麼高，不過能不能把這一切帶到大聯盟，咱們等著瞧。

How good is Desmond Jennings?
        - 詹寧斯糾竟有多好? ( 編:這 Title 有夠偷懶.. )

It appears that for the first time in his career, Jennings will start the
season on the big league roster. Jennings has been near the top of Baseball
America’s top Rays prospects lists for the past few years and finally got a
few months to make an impact in the majors after the 2011 All-Star break.

終於讓 Jennings 等到開季就先發的機會了，這幾年一直在BA的光芒農場排名名列前茅，
Jennings 在去年全星星賽後完全展現自己的實力。

In his 63 games last year, he hit .259/.356/.449, showing an intriguing
combination of plate discipline (10.8 percent walks per plate appearance), some
power (10 home runs) and speed (20 stolen bases). His career minor league line:
.294/.382/.443, with 188 stolen bases in 509 games. He might not be a superstar
yet, but Jennings has a nice set of talents and looks to give the Rays more
production out of left field (at least offensively) than they got from Sam Fuld
last year.

去年63場比賽，他的數據長這樣: .259/.356/.449，有很好的耐心 (10.8% 保送率)
一些長打能力 (10HR) 還有速度 (20SB)。 小聯盟生涯則是.294/.382/.443，509場比賽
盜了188次壘包。他可能還沒長成明星，不過 Jennings 的能力值很好，應該能提供光芒
左外野手不錯的數據... 至少比去年的 Sam Fuld 好很多。

Where's the production from the middle infielders?
        - 二游有在打球嗎?

The Tampa middle infield combo was a severe weak spot in 2011. Shortstop Reid
Brignac, in particular, struggled mightily; in 264 plate appearances, hit just
.193/.227/.221 with only five extra-base hits. Second baseman Sean Rodriguez
had some more pop in his bat; his .303 weighted on-base average isn’t much to
write home about, but isn't bad for a second baseman.

二游去年是光芒的弱點之一。尤其是游擊手 Reid Brignac，264 次打擊機會，繳出了
.193/.227/.221，而且只有五次長打。二壘的 S-Rod 還有一點長打能力，雖說 .303 的
wOBA 實在沒甚麼好稱讚的，不過以二壘手來說還算能看。

Really, having two middle infielders without a whole lot of offense isn’t the
biggest problem to have, though certainly the Rays will want Brignac to
improve, as his performance last year was among the league’s worst. At the end
of January, the Rays picked up utility infielder Jeff Keppinger on a small
contract, and he might take some playing time away from both Brignac and
Rodriguez. Keppinger is an extreme contact-hitter with limited plate discipline
or power, and he doesn’t project to make a huge impact offensively, but he
could give the middle infield a little bit of a boost. The corner infielders
have plenty of pop, with Evan Longoria patrolling third base and Carlos Pena
returning to Tampa as the first baseman.

說實話，二游打不出甚麼進攻數據，不是太大的問題，不過光芒應該會希望 Brignac
能夠成長，畢竟去年他的表現是吊車尾的。光芒一月簽下老人 Jeff Keppinger，可能
會跟 Brignac / S-Rod 分些時間。Keppinger 是個安打型打者，沒甚麼耐心跟長打，
也大概沒辦法在進攻端提供太多，不過至少有點幫助。一三壘有龍哥跟回鍋的Pena，
基本上不用擔心火力。

Will the new Farns continue to lead the bullpen?
        - 放肆火能繼續領導牛棚嗎? 

The Rays are keeping Kyle Farnsworth around to be their closer for the second
year in a row. This, in itself, is rare for the Rays: the last time they had
the same closer two years in a row was 2004-2005, when Danys Baez took the ball
in save situations. Joining Farnsworth as returning relievers are Joel Peralta,
J.P. Howell and Jake McGee. Burke Badenhop has entered the fold and will
probably pitch mostly to righties to get the most out of his side-arm,
sinker/slider repertoire.

光芒今年打算讓 Farnsworth 當終結者。光芒史上沒幾個連當兩年的，上次發生是在
04-05 年的 Danys Baez ( 編: ... ) 然後去年的牛棚當中，Joel Peralta、J.P.
Howell、Jake McGee 都會回來。新加入的 Burke Badenhop 大概只會對上右打，然後
靠側投 + 伸卡/滑球 來吃打者。

But let’s go back to Farnsworth. He’s a particularly interesting case, as he
has changed his pitching style quite a bit over the past few seasons.
Previously extremely homer-prone and reliant on his four-seam fastball,
Farnsworth has been throwing more cutting and sinking fastballs since 2009, and
it resulted in a career-high 50 percent groundball rate last year. He also
brought his walk rate down to 5 percent, another career best. Farnsworth might
not have the reputation due to his fiery personality and high-profile struggles
with the Yankees, but he appears to have made tangible improvements to his
pitching style as he has gotten older.

鏡頭轉回放肆火，這幾年來他的投球型態一直在變，從之前的極端飛球投手，還有靠球速
吃飯的放肆火，到最近開始使用卡特球跟會下沉的快速球，去年滾地球率更是生涯最高的
50% ，他的保送率也降了五個百分比，來到生涯最低點。放肆火可能是惡名昭彰沒錯，不
過隨著年紀增長，他也做出了很大的進步。

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

With their late charge last year, the Rays ended up as one of the best teams in
the major leagues. With the addition of Pena and the youngsters Jennings and
Moore, Tampa might even be more talented this year than last.

去年殺進季後賽的光芒，可以說是聯盟最強的球隊之一，今年靠著潘仔，詹寧斯，跟木耳
，光芒應該會只進不退。

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

最後為大家送上，放肆火的歷史紀錄片一枚:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mt0_0k40t4


--
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◆ From: 137.82.7.43
推 scatman:推放肆火 XD
推 KS23:純推放肆火
推 catsondbs:純推光芒
推 lothc:純推火哥 ~~
推 ckevint:zoby也是二遊呀XD
推 externaload:2B不是大多是zoby在守?
我覺得應該是選擇性的噹這兩隻XD 不然就是 Zoby 被無視...
推 Tyrone:只進不退是指…坐2望1!?
應該是指球隊本身的進步，不是排名 XD
推 rip1202:Benz:
推 mdfh:神盾竟然是最老的先發...
推 BLEAKman:放肆火!!!!!!!!!!!!!
※ 編輯: celipliz        來自: 96.48.247.175        (03/09 15:05)
推 lovecszoo:光芒必推!!!
推 rayven:舊金山表示光芒沒資格上來
推 conan805:未看先猜 長矛衝刺XDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD
推 beving:純推放肆火
推 ckevint:S-rod其實還滿雖的...