The Quick Demise of the Tampa Bay Rays

The Tampa Bay Rays were last season’s leading headline.  The team that went from complete obscurity to a World Series appearance was THE story of Major League Baseball and had most everyone drooling over the future that their young talent could ensure.

How quickly they fall.

The Rays stand at 23-27 right now but numerous factors show that their best baseball this season might already be behind them.  Their level of play has deteriorated lately due to a complete fallout in both the rotation and the bullpen and a number of haunting injuries. 

While the bullpen is currently the group specifically under fire due to what is now being called the “Memorial Day Massacre,” in which they took a 10-2 lead into the 8th inning only to lose 11-10, the troubles have begun with a lackluster starting rotation. 

The Rays possess two of the three statistically worst pitchers in baseball this season in Scott Kazmir and Andy Sonnanstine.  That alone is something that does not exactly transpire the idea of a pennant-contending team.  Kazmir has been placed on the disabled list with a strained quadricep and wasted talent Sonnanstine still remains up in the majors serving batting practice to eager hitters such as Ben Francisco (who is 8-for-9 with 5 homers against Sonnanstine). 

Kazmir will likely be kept off of the active roster for a while to work on mechanics but those are far from the only rotation troubles for the Rays.  Matt Garza has been the only consistently good pitcher on the staff as last year’s ace James Shields has proven inconsistent and can not seem to avoid the big innings this season.  David Price still has a lot to learn as a major league starter as we have seen why management was so uncomfortable with bringing him up this early.

The stars of last year’s team, the bullpen is already in shambles 50 games into the season.  Pitchers like Grant Balfour and J.P. Howell that made games seem six innings long for opposing hitters last year are now struggling with control issues and permitting comebacks.  Troy Percival looks to be on the brink of retirement but that has only shifted Joe Maddon’s old-closer man crush to Jason Isringhausen who looks to be in as bad of shape as Percival was. 

Maddon has declared new long reliever Lance Cormier as the “savior” of the bullpen so far this season.  It is never a good sign when your junk time, “we’re losing by ten runs just throw somebody in there to get this over with” pitcher is getting enough appearances to be a “savior.”  Last year’s long reliever was Jason Hammel and if you did not have seats by the bullpen, you probably forgot that he was even on the team as his appearances were extremely rare. 

The list goes on as I could likely write a novel about the struggles of the Rays bullpen thus far, or maybe even about how pathetic it is to have a “closer-by-committee” crew that includes Joe Nelson, Dan Wheeler, and Isringhausen.  Things do not look bright in this area to say the least. 

Much was said last year about how defensively sound the Rays were and how a strong defense was something that never goes away.  So much for that.  The Rays have lost games on errors this season, kicked balls around the infield, and looked indifferent about it along the way. 

Injuries will certainly be a factor as the season progresses as well.  The defense will not get any better with second baseman Akinori Iwamura out for the season and a committee of misfit utility infielders filling in for him.  Pat Burrell seems unreliable as a suddenly injury-ridden designated hitter and the bullpen is already complaining about being worn down and tired IN MAY. 

The Rays are really going to have to battle through all of these negatives if they plan on being relevant in the AL East again this season.  If they have not overcome these obstacles by mid-July, expect to hear plenty of trade talk going around on some of their marquee players. 

B.J. Upton is the most likely to get traded as it is highly unlikely that he will be playing in St. Petersburg after this season anyways.  Upton is making just $435k this year and repeatedly refused a major contract extension last year when the Rays were getting players like Shields, Longoria, and Kazmir to commit.  They might as well get something out of Upton rather than allowing him to depart for free agency with nothing.

Regardless, this is simply not the start that the Rays were hoping for on the long, somber flight home from Philadelphia after game five in October.  They are definitely being tested and a hole has been dug that will make success in the AL East just that much more difficult to attain.