For the life of me I can’t figure out why the Rays decided to go with Gabe Gross over Matt Joyce as the lefty side of a platoon in RF. The 29-year old Gross played in 113 games for the Rays this season and he was 64 for 276 (.232 avg, .694 OPS) with 31 runs scored, 6 homers, 36 RBIs and 6 stolen bases. The Rays just can’t afford to have a black hole offensively in RF and for that reason Gabe Gross should be looking for a new team in 2010.

The Rays have decided to shut down lefty closer J.P. Howell for the remainder of the season due to fatigue. He pitched in 69 games for the Rays this season and he was 7-5 with 17 saves, a 2.84 ERA and a 1.20 WHIP. He only allowed 47 hits in 66 2/3 innings with 79 strikeouts this season. Those are amazing numbers when you consider that he doesn’t have great stuff. Lefty Randy Choate and righty Dan Wheeler will probably close for the Rays the rest of the year. Choate has pitched in 56 games for the Rays this season and he is 0-0 with 5 saves, a 3.62 ERA and a 1.05 WHIP. Wheeler has worked in 65 games for the Rays this season and he is 4-5 with 2 saves, a 3.44 ERA and a 0.89 WHIP. Choate and Wheeler should be able to do a decent job at the end of the games for the Rays the rest of the year.

19-year old righty swinging SS Tim Beckham was the Rays’ #2 rated prospect heading into this season according to Baseball America and he showed why this year. He played in 125 games in A-ball this season and he was 136 for 491 (.277 avg, .721 OPS) with 58 runs scored, 5 homers, 63 RBIs and 14 stolen bases. He does have some work to do on his plate discipline as he walked 34 times while whiffing 116 times this year. But he has time as the Rays have Jason Bartlett, Ben Zobrist and Reid Brignac ahead of him on the organizational depth chart.

31-year old righty reliever Dan Wheeler has been pretty solid this year for the Rays. He has pitched in 64 games out of the bullpen for the Rays in which he is 4-4 with 2 saves, a 3.33 ERA and a 0.87 WHIP. He has only allowed 39 hits and walked only 8 batters in 54 innings this season which is pretty darn good pitching. But, he has allowed 10 homers this season and that’s way too many for a reliever. Still, he has been the Rays’ 2nd best reliever this season behind J.P. Howell.

24-year old lefty starting pitcher David Price has not had the season everyone predicted him to have. He has started 21 games for the Rays this season and he is 9-7 with a 4.41 ERA and a 1.38 WHIP. He has allowed 111 hits in 116 1/3 innings this season and he has whiffed 93 batters so the stuff is there. But, he has also allowed 16 homers and walked 50 batters so he needs to learn how to pitch. Price still has a bright future for the Rays but he has some work to do if he wants to develop into a All-Star type of pitcher that many predicted he would be.