Any Ray of Hope in Tampa?
A few days ago I took a look at a team with high expectations coming into this season who stumbled out of the gates. While the Red Sox have not yet found the win column, I think that they are in much better shape than the Tampa Bay Rays. I usually do not like putting too much stock in early starts, but the Rays are in trouble.
The Rays have been a team that has thrived off of its home grown talent and shrewd trades. The team rose suddenly to prominence during the 2008 season and has been a contender in the tough AL East ever since. The team has played well under manager Joe Maddon, relying mainly on strong team defense and pitching.
This past season saw continued success for the Rays as they won another AL East title and finished with the second best record in baseball. The Rays were knocked out of the playoffs by the Rangers who went on to represent the AL in the World Series. Though the season was successful and the team's roster boasted young talent galore, the Rays had many questions entering this past offseason.
As the winter turned to spring, the Rays lost piece after piece of their AL best team. Their lineup saw the departures of Carlos Pena, Jason Bartlett and longtime Ray Carl Crawford. The three were not only important to the team's lineup; they were all important parts of Tampa's defense. Starter Matt Garza was traded to the Chicago Cubs for several minor leaguers. While these were all certainly great loses, the area most affected this offseason was Tampa Bay's bullpen. They lost All Star closer Rafael Soriano and other prominent contributors Joaquin Benoit, Grant Balfour and Dan Wheeler.
While many saw the significance of these loses, how far could a 96 win team truly fall in just one season? They still had one of the best rotations in the AL, returning phenom David Price along with their collection of other young arms. Bullpens can be replaced year to year and they still had one of the best young bats in the game in Evan Longoria. They brought in vets Manny Ramirez and Johnny Damon to plug holes in the lineup and looked to young up and comers to fill in other spots left void by their offseason loses. While they didn't have the lineup of the Red Sox or Yankees, the Rays couldn't possibly drop off that much, could they?
Apparently they could. Though it is only a week into the season and some may think this is overreacting I would disagree. While I think it is WAY too early to give up on the Red Sox, the Rays are really looking vulnerable. This vulnerability was recently compounded by the loss of Longoria. Their lineup is not pretty and doesn't look all that much better with Longoria back. Last night Maddon had Dan Johnson as his cleanup hitter while Manny Ramirez was on the bench sporting a whopping .059 batting average. The Rays are last in runs, batting average, on base percentage, slugging, and pretty much every important offensive category out there. Here's a stat for you, the Rays have scored a TOTAL of 8 runs so far this year. 14 teams have scored 8 or more runs in a SINGLE game so far this year.
I still like their pitching staff, but when you know you have an offense that is well, offensive, you know you have to be on your game every night. This pressure to be perfect could affect their performance as the season goes.
I can also see defense becoming an issue for the Rays. They will certainly miss the gloves of Pena, Crawford and Bartlett, and in order to get both newcomers Manny Ramirez and Johnny Damon in his lineup, Maddon must put one of them in the field. This is a decision I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy.
I know many will say that it is still way too early in the season, but the outlook is not very sunny for these Rays.
The Rays have been a team that has thrived off of its home grown talent and shrewd trades. The team rose suddenly to prominence during the 2008 season and has been a contender in the tough AL East ever since. The team has played well under manager Joe Maddon, relying mainly on strong team defense and pitching.
This past season saw continued success for the Rays as they won another AL East title and finished with the second best record in baseball. The Rays were knocked out of the playoffs by the Rangers who went on to represent the AL in the World Series. Though the season was successful and the team's roster boasted young talent galore, the Rays had many questions entering this past offseason.
As the winter turned to spring, the Rays lost piece after piece of their AL best team. Their lineup saw the departures of Carlos Pena, Jason Bartlett and longtime Ray Carl Crawford. The three were not only important to the team's lineup; they were all important parts of Tampa's defense. Starter Matt Garza was traded to the Chicago Cubs for several minor leaguers. While these were all certainly great loses, the area most affected this offseason was Tampa Bay's bullpen. They lost All Star closer Rafael Soriano and other prominent contributors Joaquin Benoit, Grant Balfour and Dan Wheeler.
While many saw the significance of these loses, how far could a 96 win team truly fall in just one season? They still had one of the best rotations in the AL, returning phenom David Price along with their collection of other young arms. Bullpens can be replaced year to year and they still had one of the best young bats in the game in Evan Longoria. They brought in vets Manny Ramirez and Johnny Damon to plug holes in the lineup and looked to young up and comers to fill in other spots left void by their offseason loses. While they didn't have the lineup of the Red Sox or Yankees, the Rays couldn't possibly drop off that much, could they?
Apparently they could. Though it is only a week into the season and some may think this is overreacting I would disagree. While I think it is WAY too early to give up on the Red Sox, the Rays are really looking vulnerable. This vulnerability was recently compounded by the loss of Longoria. Their lineup is not pretty and doesn't look all that much better with Longoria back. Last night Maddon had Dan Johnson as his cleanup hitter while Manny Ramirez was on the bench sporting a whopping .059 batting average. The Rays are last in runs, batting average, on base percentage, slugging, and pretty much every important offensive category out there. Here's a stat for you, the Rays have scored a TOTAL of 8 runs so far this year. 14 teams have scored 8 or more runs in a SINGLE game so far this year.
I still like their pitching staff, but when you know you have an offense that is well, offensive, you know you have to be on your game every night. This pressure to be perfect could affect their performance as the season goes.
I can also see defense becoming an issue for the Rays. They will certainly miss the gloves of Pena, Crawford and Bartlett, and in order to get both newcomers Manny Ramirez and Johnny Damon in his lineup, Maddon must put one of them in the field. This is a decision I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy.
I know many will say that it is still way too early in the season, but the outlook is not very sunny for these Rays.
