Nostalgia on Chris Ray

[Barnaby Graves]

Hope ya'll will pardon me, we're in the long winter between season end and season begin and I just felt like talking about one of my favorite all-time Orioles, Chris Ray.  And there's nothing important I'm gonna kick off the forum's front page so here I go.

Ray never got any glory and was never on a team anyone really cared about.  He never pitched in a postseason.   He came up young and threw some big innings and got anointed with heir-apparent closer status over such stalwarts as Jorge Julio, partially because he threw hard, and partially because his hard throwings didn't necessarily immediately end up in a bullpen somewhere.  And we all rejoiced for that.

As a kid I was transfixed by his hideously violent delivery,  contrasting with the boyish smile of his first MLB profile picture, which always seemed at odds.  Case in point:

Look at this guy!  You'd buy insurance off him, he's so innocent and handsome.  Then he does this to you:

Granted this video was well after his first MLB photo but he never really changed his delivery.  It was always some kind of cringe-inducing, shoulder-breaking, wrenching delivery.  As far as I remember he was a fastball, splitter, slider guy, and they all looked max effort.  I cannot remember a delivery that ever looked so intense, and I don't have access to the kind of biomechanical analytics that are now available, but to me it looked punishing.  Maybe that had something to do with his Tommy John surgery in August 2007.  I couldn't tell you.  But as a baseball fan I really loved watching him pitch and was glad to do so in person.  Just the way he cocked his body, hands brought together off himself at the middle, and let the whole thing unwind until he twisted himself into a throw.

Chris had a particularly gutsy outing on April 21, 2006, at the Yankees.  With the Orioles leading 6-5, he loaded the bases, only to get Hideki Matusi called out on strikes on a very borderline called strike 3.  He threw a ballsy slider in a 3-2 count that was called a looking strike and ended the game.  I vividly remember watching it, and no one else does, and that's part of why I love it.  All these moments, like tears in the rain.  That's what most of baseball history is, as there's far too much of it to remember.

Unfortunately Chris peaked early and never really recovered off his injuries.  But not to worry, he landed on his feet, started a brewery, and made it back to the Orioles' media desk to talk about it.  And I call that a success story.

And that's all she wrote

[ShoelesJoe]

My primary memory of Chris Ray is him trying to close out an April 2007 game at Yankee Stadium with the Orioles up 7-6 in the 9th. With two outs and the bases loaded Arod hit a high fly ball off him, and Ray pointed straight up as if it was a pop up to the infield. Unfortunately the ball landed about 450 feet away in the right-center field bleachers for a walk off grand slam.

I also remember the first time I saw Chris Ray pitch and remarking to a fellow fan that with that kind of delivery he should book his Tommy John surgery now. I think his short, injury plagued career was a surprise to pretty much nobody.

[Frobby]

7 hours ago, ShoelesJoe said:

My primary memory of Chris Ray is him trying to close out an April 2007 game at Yankee Stadium with the Orioles up 7-6 in the 9th. With two outs and the bases loaded Arod hit a high fly ball off him, and Ray pointed straight up as if it was a pop up to the infield. Unfortunately the ball landed about 450 feet away in the right-center field bleachers for a walk off grand slam.

I also remember the first time I saw Chris Ray pitch and remarking to a fellow fan that with that kind of delivery he should book his Tommy John surgery now. I think his short, injury plagued career was a surprise to pretty much nobody.

I remember that game vividly.   I was on a long car ride with my wife and had a plastic bottle cap in my hand when ARod hit the homer.   I screamed and flung the bottle cap against the windshield and it ricocheted all over the car.    My wife looked at me as if I was insane (which I temporarily was) and said, “are you okay to keep driving?”

The other thing I remember is that the O’s actually had a 7-3 lead going into the 8th but Danys Baez allowed 3 runs in 0.1 innings to make it a 7-6 game.     Just horrible.  The prior offseason the O’s spent a lot of money on Baez, Walker and Bradford trying to shore up their bullpen, and it was already blowing big leads the first week of the season — to the Yankees, no less!    Makes me sick thinking about it.   

I did like Chris Ray, though.   

[Can_of_corn]

5 minutes ago, Frobby said:

I remember that game vividly.   I was on a long car ride with my wife and had a plastic bottle cap in my hand when ARod hit the homer.   I screamed and flung the bottle cap against the windshield and it ricocheted all over the car.    My wife looked at me as if I was insane (which I temporarily was) and said, “are you okay to keep driving?”

The other thing I remember is that the O’s actually had a 7-3 lead going into the 8th but Danys Baez allowed 3 runs in 0.1 innings to make it a 7-6 game.     Just horrible.  The prior offseason the O’s spent a lot of money on Baez, Walker and Bradford trying to shore up their bullpen, and it was already blowing big leads the first week of the season — to the Yankees, no less!    Makes me sick thinking about it.   

I did like Chris Ray, though.   

On the bright side those forfeited draft picks did free up enough budget for the O's to sign Wieters and Arrieta.

[Enjoy Terror]

15 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Danys Baez allowed 3 runs in 0.1 innings to make it a 7-6 game.

Easily my least favorite Oriole player ever. That season was unbearable to watch and he accounted for like 60% of the unbearableness.

[Just Regular]

I remember him as a draft pick who met expectations to a T.  I'm not sure why in 2003 we were using 3rd round picks on guys with relief only profiles, but he fulfilled his reputation as a closer to be.  The 2004 offseason was the Tejada one, so maybe I'm overreading into it, but I guess during 2003 there was a Roberts/Bigbie/Matos/Gibbons/Ponson core (lightly using that word) and the vision was to build out from that.

If we use a 2020 3rd round pick on a guy like this, I would have to imagine our core would have to perform super promisingly in April/May next year.

He's also another brick in the wall that went toward building my notion relievers are only good for a little while.  Not even years, sometimes months.  Daniel Hudson might become a local legend in the next few weeks, but he's a regular guy on the run of his life and not someone I'd expect to be good even next year.  I'm about 50/50 on whether I think Josh Hader will still be good three years from now.  As I think about building the good 2022 team, I won't even really think about what relievers we need for it until say December 2021.

A longtime Orioles pal of mine went to William & Mary, so there was good Tribe banter during the Ray era.

[Can_of_corn]

12 minutes ago, OrioleDog said:

I remember him as a draft pick who met expectations to a T.  I'm not sure why in 2003 we were using 3rd round picks on guys with relief only profiles, but he fulfilled his reputation as a closer to be.  The 2004 offseason was the Tejada one, so maybe I'm overreading into it, but I guess during 2003 there was a Roberts/Bigbie/Matos/Gibbons/Ponson core (lightly using that word) and the vision was to build out from that.

If we use a 2020 3rd round pick on a guy like this, I would have to imagine our core would have to perform super promisingly in April/May next year.

They picked Olson 4th overall.

I'm in favor of picking relief profile guys early in the draft.  Preferably rounds 4-5 but third would be fine for a guy with the right profile.

[Just Regular]

14 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

They picked Olson 4th overall.

I'm in favor of picking relief profile guys early in the draft.  Preferably rounds 4-5 but third would be fine for a guy with the right profile.

I agree there's a time and place for that kind of pick, but if we did any next year, I'd take it as a sign of irrational exuberance about the talent at hand.   Would be a good problem to have, but I think good problems to have are a luxury we're still a couple years away from.

Oversimplifying they're good if you know your team will be good 18 months from now and you want that guy in your pen for the second season after they're drafted, otherwise not as much.  I'm hopeful by June 2021's draft circumstances will fit to start popping some of those guys for the mid-2020's bullpens.  

 

[Can_of_corn]

1 minute ago, OrioleDog said:

I agree there's a time and place for that kind of pick, but if we did any next year, I'd take it as a sign of irrational exuberance about the talent at hand.   Would be a good problem to have, but I think good problems to have are a luxury we're still a couple years away from.

Oversimplifying they're good if you know your team will be good 18 months from now and you want that guy in your pen for the second season after they're drafted, otherwise not as much.  I'm hopeful by June 2021's draft circumstances will fit to start popping some of those guys for the mid-2020's bullpens.  

 

I understand your viewpoint but I don't agree.

I have no problems at all churning out quality bullpen pieces no matter the overall state of the team.  They are always good trade pieces.

[OFFNY]

o

 

My most vivid memory of Chris Ray was when I was at OPACY for Opening Day, in 2009. It was Ray's first game/time back on the team since he had Tommy John surgery in August of 2007, and he, along with the other 24 Orioles on the roster, came running down the orange carpet on the field during the introduction ceremonies ........ we all cheered wildly for him when he was announced, and he came running/trotting out.

The game itself was even more memorable, as Mark Teixeira and CC Sabathia were playing in their first game with their new team. Early in the game, we were up big. But then the Yanks came back to within one run at 6-5, with 2 of their runs coming off of Ray. In the bottom of the 8th inning, we had a runner on first base, and up stepped Cesar Izturis. Izzy sent a ball to deep left-field. The person behind me yelled, "Get out ...... PLEASE, get out !!!" About a second and-a-half later, OPACY erupted when the ball just barely cleared the wall. Our precarious 6-5 lead was suddenly a comfortable 8-5 margin, the Yankees pitcher (Phil Coke) was taken out, the Yank relievers continued to get pounded, and we had our big Opening Day win against Sabathia, Teixeira, and the Yankees ......... possibly the biggest win of that entire 2009 season for us. )  

 

 

 

o

[Tx Oriole]

2 hours ago, Enjoy Terror said:

Easily my least favorite Oriole player ever. That season was unbearable to watch and he accounted for like 60% of the unbearableness.

I liked him. 

[Barnaby Graves]

I neglected to mention Ray's involvement in the Mother's Day Massacre (with an assist from Danys Baez).

[weams]

1 minute ago, Barnaby Graves said:

I neglected to mention Ray's involvement in the Mother's Day Massacre (with an assist from Danys Baez).

I was being kind and chose not to post exactly that. 

[Barnaby Graves]

1 hour ago, OrioleDog said:

I agree there's a time and place for that kind of pick, but if we did any next year, I'd take it as a sign of irrational exuberance about the talent at hand.   Would be a good problem to have, but I think good problems to have are a luxury we're still a couple years away from.

Oversimplifying they're good if you know your team will be good 18 months from now and you want that guy in your pen for the second season after they're drafted, otherwise not as much.  I'm hopeful by June 2021's draft circumstances will fit to start popping some of those guys for the mid-2020's bullpens.  

 

 

1 hour ago, Can_of_corn said:

I understand your viewpoint but I don't agree.

I have no problems at all churning out quality bullpen pieces no matter the overall state of the team.  They are always good trade pieces.

To be fair I don't think it's ever a certainty you're drafting a starter vs. a bullpen guy.  There's always guys who profile more strongly as one or the other, but once they get to double A and you see how their secondary stuff plays, all bets are off.  We've seen LOTS of apparent starters who became completely different pitchers in the bullpen.  Zack (née Zach) Britton and Tommy Hunter are perfect examples.  It takes a special player to become even a mediocre starter, and the game is responding accordingly, with bullpens taking on evermore innings and becoming evermore intricate and complicated.  And I think that argues for Can of Corn's approach.  It's more economical and tactically advantageous to try to grow a bunch of pen arms rather than shoot for one Justin Verlander and four Jeremy Bondermans (if you're lucky to get four Jeremy Bondermans).

[Barnaby Graves]

5 minutes ago, weams said:

I was being kind and chose not to post exactly that. 

We are the sum of our positives and negatives my friend.

Wasn't his fault anyway, he was in the pen on his fifth Bloody Mary thinking it was a vacation day when Sam Perlozzo said, what in the wild world o' sports is going on here, I can't allow Jeremy Guthrie to toss a shutout in under 100 pitches.  We found a lot of creative ways to lose.