Posted by  Matt, odessa on 04/25  at  02:22 PM

Eugene, My main problem was the fact Ruggiano was given no real chance to show what he may be able to do. He was only allowed to face LHP and only got in 2-3 games in the 10+ days he has been here. The guy has over 400 games in the minors and had a .300+ avg. Last season he hit 20 HR and stole over 20 bases while hitting .309. I just feel he deserved more of a chance than Haynes or some scrub they just picked up. If he was a 1st rd draft pick of this team he would be in the starting line-up and have a 6 year extension by now going on his minor league stats. Ask Longoria..... And it’s obviously not me who thinks Gross can’t hit LHP just look at his career stats in the minors and bigs.

Posted by  Eugene McColgan, Lutz on 04/25  at  12:10 PM

Strange comments on an article about sending a young player down so he gets more actual playing time!  You guys wanted Ruggiano to sit on the bench here?  Matt, how about letting Joe, and more importantly, the hitting and bench coaches see if they can notice something in Gross’ swings against LHP?  He just arrived and no amount of video can tell you what your naked eye can see.  You think that the improvement in the bullpen ERA has nothing to do with JM getting the people there he wants and using them properly?  My only complaint is not keeping Mike to catch.  Lack of game awareness cost us another run last night, but Navarro is hitting better than this time last year!  Would be hard to be worse!

Posted by  Frank Ferreri, New Port Richey on 04/25  at  11:36 AM

Joe Maddon probably was the right guy for the transition of ownership and philosophy. He is not the right guy to manage a winning team.  Even last year, the team was much better than the record showed.  It is early, however, look at Baltimore.  They play good baseball with a roster that can not compare to the Rays.  The one constant of a Maddon team is bad fundalmentals and lack of a winning feel.  Yes, he is out managed over and over.  Lou had us out of last place one year with a roster that Maddon would have lost 100 plus games.

Posted by  Matt, odessa on 04/25  at  09:49 AM

Great, now that leaves only 5 right-handed hitters on the team. I suppose it doesn’t matter, Madden has been getting out managed the whole year. The Rays may have won, but it had zero to do with the moves Madden made and more to do with the talent on the field. Im pretty sure a monkey could do what Madden has done. Gross has a .095 lifetime avg against LHP yet Madden has him face a lefty 2 times with runners on base and he got out both times… Shocker, what part of .095 didn’t he understand?  Madden’s line-up is set up perfectly for an opposing manager to matchup pitchers late in games. It’s like he’s doing them a favor. Pathetic.