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.
去年光芒怎么杀进季后赛的，大家都看到了，今年看来光芒应该还是会加入龙头混战。
Who will be in the Rays’ rotation?
- 先发投手，谁来轮值?
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.
”
光芒有着每个球队都想要的问题 - 太多年轻先发投手。最老的 James Shields 还不到
30 岁，去年十月还签了延长合约。 David Price 跟 Jeremy Hellickson 去年打得不差
，当然会占住两席先发。所以现在变成四抢二的状况： Wade Davis、Jeff Niemann、
Alex Cobb 跟 Matt Moore。投手教练打算让他们春训先发成绩来说话。
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 ) 最年轻，但是潜力无限 ( 待会会聊到 )，然后 Cobb 去年伤很大
Davis 跟 Niemann 这起年都在光芒先发群，Davis 两年平均 FIP 4.70，飞球过多，控球
没有很优。Niemann 则在走上坡，把 K/BB 降到大约 3 左右。目前看来最有可能的是
Moore 跟 Niemann。
How good is Matt Moore?
- 木耳纠竟有多强?
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.
现今全美国最令人兴奋的投手新秀，应该就是左投 Moore 了。去年九月被叫上来，结果
成为季后赛第一场先发，对上游骑兵投了七局。唯一一场正规比赛，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.
他的球种一看就是强力投手。有着95+ mph的速球，85mph左右的曲球，87mph左右的变速
，而且完全不怕对右打者投变化球。生涯500局的小联盟生涯，K/9 将近 13。他的期望
值大概有天那么高，不过能不能把这一切带到大联盟，咱们等著瞧。
How good is Desmond Jennings?
- 詹宁斯纠竟有多好? ( 编:这 Title 有够偷懒.. )
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.
终于让 Jennings 等到开季就先发的机会了，这几年一直在BA的光芒农场排名名列前茅，
Jennings 在去年全星星赛后完全展现自己的实力。
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场比赛，他的数据长这样: .259/.356/.449，有很好的耐心 (10.8% 保送率)
一些长打能力 (10HR) 还有速度 (20SB)。 小联盟生涯则是.294/.382/.443，509场比赛
盗了188次垒包。他可能还没长成明星，不过 Jennings 的能力值很好，应该能提供光芒
左外野手不错的数据... 至少比去年的 Sam Fuld 好很多。
Where's the production from the middle infielders?
- 二游有在打球吗?
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点之一。尤其是游击手 Reid Brignac，264 次打击机会，缴出了
.193/.227/.221，而且只有五次长打。二垒的 S-Rod 还有一点长打能力，虽说 .303 的
wOBA 实在没什么好称赞的，不过以二垒手来说还算能看。
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.
说实话，二游打不出什么进攻数据，不是太大的问题，不过光芒应该会希望 Brignac
能够成长，毕竟去年他的表现是吊车尾的。光芒一月签下老人 Jeff Keppinger，可能
会跟 Brignac / S-Rod 分些时间。Keppinger 是个安打型打者，没什么耐心跟长打，
也大概没办法在进攻端提供太多，不过至少有点帮助。一三垒有龙哥跟回锅的Pena，
基本上不用担心火力。
Will the new Farns continue to lead the bullpen?
- 放肆火能继续领导牛棚吗?
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.
光芒今年打算让 Farnsworth 当终结者。光芒史上没几个连当两年的，上次发生是在
04-05 年的 Danys Baez ( 编: ... ) 然后去年的牛棚当中，Joel Peralta、J.P.
Howell、Jake McGee 都会回来。新加入的 Burke Badenhop 大概只会对上右打，然后
靠侧投 + 伸卡/滑球 来吃打者。
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.
镜头转回放肆火，这几年来他的投球型态一直在变，从之前的极端飞球投手，还有靠球速
吃饭的放肆火，到最近开始使用卡特球跟会下沉的快速球，去年滚地球率更是生涯最高的
50% ，他的保送率也降了五个百分比，来到生涯最低点。放肆火可能是恶名昭彰没错，不
过随着年纪增长，他也做出了很大的进步。
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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.
去年杀进季后赛的光芒，可以说是联盟最强的球队之一，今年靠着潘仔，詹宁斯，跟木耳
，光芒应该会只进不退。
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最后为大家送上，放肆火的历史纪录片一枚:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mt0_0k40t4