Touch 'Em All Time

Other than transactions, it was kind of a slow day on the minor league front. Apparently the uncertainty over the new CBA even has 13th round high school picks such as Tanner English holding off signing until the deadline:

He said he's got no issue waiting until the Aug. 15th deadline to decide between college and the pros. "It's got to be the right decision for me," English said this weekend. "I don't want to force myself into a decision. There's really no wrong way to go. I just want to make sure it's the right thing to do. If I decide before Aug. 15, I do. If I don't, I don't."

English enrolled for a summer school Spanish course at USC, and he's rooming with potential Gamecock freshmen teammates Grayson Greiner, T.J. Costen and Joel Seddon. The former St. James star said they are mostly getting to know the city. Exactly how long English will be there, though, is yet to be determined. He is using the Beverly Hills Sports Council as advisors during the process with the Rays.

If you don't remember much about English, here is what BA had to say about the 5'9" outfielder prior to the draft:

English is more likely to get drafted now as he's at least a 70 runner on the 20-80 scale whose speed plays well in center field. He has an average throwing arm, and some scouts think he'll be an average hitter as well. He generates surprising bat speed despite his small stature. English has signed with South Carolina and would start as a freshman, replacing Bradley in center field, so he's considered a tough sign.

Speaking of players we don't know much about, recently acquired Durham RHSP Matt Torra sounds like a nice guy:

Former Pittsfield High School baseball standout and current Tampa Bay Ray prospect Matt Torra will again be the host for the 7th Annual Conor Dillon Memorial Golf Tournament.
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Besides the lights, lawn mowers, tarps, scoreboards and other initiatives to improve the local playing fields over the years, the tournament has also established a scholarship fund for students of the culinary arts – a passion of Torra’s childhood friend Conor Dillon for whom the tournament is named.
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“I am glad that playing professional ball has afforded me the opportunity to help maintain those same fields so that today’s young ballplayers can create memories of their own,” added the Arizona Diamondbacks’ 2005 first round draft choice out of the University of Massachusetts.
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“When Matt cracks the Tamp Bay Rays’ pitching rotation, it will create great fanfare here in the Berkshires. But, to hundreds of local boys and girls, he’s been a hero for a long time,” concluded Anderson, himself a Pittsfield native.

In the most-recent Ask BA, Jim Callis described how teams tend to value players by the round they are drafted:

Picks obviously decrease in value and importance the lower they come in the draft, but I'd say most teams put significant value on picks in the first 15 rounds and less after that. Most of the best talents are going to be selected in the first five rounds (unless they fall because of signability), which is why our Top 200 highlights our draft coverage and why the commissioner's bonuses suggests varying bonuses for each of those choices.
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But there still are valuable players available in rounds six through 10, and even rounds 11 through 15.
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For the final 20 rounds, it's almost all organization players who are signing for $10,000 or less.

If the recent roster moves don't improve things, this may be next:

Eight games behind the division leaders and losing confidence, the Tampa Bay Rays today announced one of their players will have to be killed in order to inspire the team to win the championship in his memory.
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The Rays have yet to choose the death-bump player as Maddon and front office staff scour the roster to find the best candidate, ideally someone who is popular in the dressing room but not too valuable on the field. “Picking a rookie is good because the loss of a young person is always sad,” said Rays GM Andrew Friedman. “But then again a veteran in the last year of his contract is also good, since we’re probably going to lose him anyway."
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For Maddon, the player’s name is just as important as he’ll have to wield it during pre-game pep talks. “I’ve gone through our roster and we obviously didn’t draft these guys for their Gipper qualities,” said Maddon, referring to George “The Gipper” Gipp, whose death inspired Notre Dame to football glory in 1920. “I mean, ‘Win one for Andrew Sonnanstine?’ Our scouts have got to do a better job.”

Moves: BurGi covered most of them yesterday and the rest were posted in the comments. For the latest rosters as of this morning check the Depth Chart. I won't be around today to update, so please share any moves you see in the comments.

Oscar Watch: After sitting out Monday's game, Hernandez went 4 for 5 with two homers and a double yesterday. He scored twice and drove in six in the Rays 14-10 victory over the VSL Pirates. For the season he's batting .419 with 19 homers and 57 RBI in 52 games.

Trivia: Who was the first player the Rays signed out of Brazil?

Hot: Russ Canzler, Durham Bulls. Since July 6th he's 16 for 37 with seven extra-base hits and more walks than strikeouts (7-6). That's a triple-slash of .432/.500/.703 over ten games.

Stat 'O The Day: Renegades hitters.

Player                G  AB  H 2B 3B HR SB CS BB SO   BA  OBP  SLG   OPS
Jeff Malm*           29  98 31  6  0  8  1  2 19 21 .316 .468 .622 1.091
Gerardo Olivares     17  63 22  4  2  2  0  0  4 16 .349 .382 .571  .954
Matt Rice            20  73 23  4  0  3  5  0 10 17 .315 .400 .493  .893
Chris Winder         28 112 33  5  2  2  9  2 18 33 .295 .394 .429  .823
Juniel Querecuto#    28 114 35  8  1  0  5  2  9 18 .307 .355 .395  .750
Kyle Holloway        20  70 16  2  0  3  0  0 11 27 .229 .345 .386  .731
Raymond Church       22  80 20  6  1  0  1  1  6 19 .250 .318 .350  .668
Cesar Guillen        27  93 20  5  0  1  1  0 13 21 .215 .311 .301  .612
Kes Carter*           3  13  3  0  0  0  0  0  2  1 .231 .333 .231  .564
Tanner Biagini       16  60 13  2  0  0  0  0  1 12 .217 .238 .250  .488
Craige Lyerly        13  41  8  0  0  0  5  0  4  7 .195 .283 .195  .478
Brian Bryles         26  94 17  4  0  0  7  2  7 26 .181 .245 .223  .469
Diogenes Luis#       14  47  7  0  1  0  3  2  5 16 .149 .231 .191  .422
Leonardo Reginatto   26  86 15  1  0  0  2  2  5 22 .174 .228 .186  .414

Name That Minor Leaguer ===>

Hint #1: Hat is correct.

Hint #2: Middle name is Javier.

Hint #3: Venezuelan.

Hint #4: Skipped from Princeton last year to Bowling Green in 2011.