Can the Rays Escape Last Place? Tampa Bay Devil Rays 2007 Season Preview

In the world of baseball, every spring before the season gives hope for a new start and perspective and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays are proof of that. Every year since their inception, the Devil Rays have managed to be a second division team and end up in American League East basement. However, in light of their finish in 2006 and the past, with their young talent, they have hope for future.

Therefore, the question remains, when does it happen?

In the nine year history of the team, the team has only 70 games once. Will 2007 usher a change? That yet remains to be seen, but with the improvements the Baltimore Orioles made, a strong Blue Jays team, and the big-market, super-star laden New Yankees and Boston Red Sox, last place for the Rays may be all bit pre-determined.

However, the Rays boast a plethora of young talent that rivals any with up-and-comers Rocco Baldelli, Jorge Cantu, Carl Crawford, Delmon Young, B.J. Upton and Japanese import Akinori Iwamura. That being said, for the most part, the Rays will still be on the outside looking in terms of being a contender.

The 2007 season ushers in changes for the Devil Rays, as Tyler Walker, Brian Meadows, Damon Hollins, Travis Harper & Travis Lee were jettisoned, while Akinori Iwamura, Al Reyes, Stephen Andrade, Tony Peguero, Hee-Seop Choi, Jorge Velandia, Dustan Mohr, Yamid Haad, Scott Dohmann, Brendan Harris, Gary Glover, Jason Grabowski were added. As well, during the 2006 season, Toby Hall, Aubrey Huff and Julio Lugo were traded for talent.

The starting pitching was a source of angst and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays once again heading into 2007 are fairly weak in this department outside of Scott Kazmir. The ace of the staff, Kazmir, went 10-8 with an ERA above 3 before he ended up on the DL in August and didn’t pitch at all for the rest of the season. If he do better than what he did in ‘06, he might give the Devil Rays a few more wins and perhaps push the team closer to .500.

As well, the Rays hope he can stay healthy – first and foremost.

James Shield should be slotted as the second starter, as he won 6 games and had an ERA under 5, so maybe he improves on those numbers. Occupying spots in the rotation as well are Jae Seo and Casey Fossum, two veteran pitchers under 30. Casey Foassum has never had a winning season in his career, and Jae Seo had a great year with the Mets in 2005, where he was 8-2 with a 2.59 ERA, but has been mediocre since. If these two guys can improve on their numbers from ’06, the team will inch that much closer to a .500 record.

Other potential starters for the Rays include Tim Corcoran, J.P. Howell or Edwin Jackson. In ’06, Corcoran was 5-9 with a 4.38 and could do slightly better, Howell was 1-3 with an ERA a tad above 5, and Edwin Jackson pitched 36.1 innings to an ERA of 5.45. If any one of these guys breaks through during spring training or the season, they could wind up in the rotation, or perhaps even replacing a starter who does poorly.

As with the starting pitching, the bullpen also has its own problems to overcome. For now, I see the only pitchers slotted for the bullpen being Dan Miceli, Shawn Camp, Seth McClung and new additions, Ruddy Lugo and Al Reyes. At times, Miceli and McClung were brought on to save games, and its unknown who the closer will be, although McClung closed out several games towards the end of ’06. The rest of the bullpen may be slotted with starters who did not get a rotation spot or call-ups from the minors.

Let’s move onto the offense and starting lineup. The Devil Rays lineup has a bevy of potential young stars who are good hitters or show that potential, but also some who are sub-par, and in ’06, a few who suffered down years. The offense can hit for power; however, overall, it lacks plate discipline, does not draw many walks and has a poor on base percentage. The Rays had big problems with the offense in ’06, and hopefully with the changes made, plus another year of seasoning for guys like Upton, Young, Baldelli and Crawford, 2007 can show some promise at the plate.

The outfield is stacked with talent, and is particularly strong. Carl Crawford, Rocco Baldelli and Delmon Young should be starting trio out there. Out of the bunch, Crawford is probably the furthest ahead, as he hit .305, slammed 18 homers and stole 58 bases last season. The talk of trade rumors in ’06, he put up great numbers and the Rays expect the same from him and more. With a combination of speed, power and great fielding ability, Crawford seems to have no limit as to how far he could go.

The Rays organization will be expecting big things from centerfielder Rocco Baldelli in ’07. Although he missed all of 2005 and 2006 with injury, he managed to hit 16 homers, 58 RBI while playing the entire second half of last season.

The wild card in the outfield is Delmon Young. Touted as one of the top prospects in baseball the last couple of seasons, he was called up at the end of 2006 and made an immediate impact on the team. Blessed with all many tools, he hit .317 in his first tour of duty in the major and will be expected to build upon his success in the minors.

Also playing in the outfield will be Elijah Dukes. Blessed with ability, he’s faced some off-the field incidents that may cloud his year potentially, but much like Delmon Young, he’s a highly touted prospect who’s also a 5 tool player. He’ll probably be on the bench to start off with, but expect him to platoon or play for someone who’s got an injury.

Jonny Gomes also could play some outfield, but most likely will be the DH. He had a down year in 2006 where he only batted .216, but had 20 homers and 59 RBI. He’ll need to revert back to his 2005 form where he hit .282 with 21 HR and 54 RBIs in 101 at bats. It will be critical that he does well in ’07 for the Rays to have chance to move up in the division.

The infield for the Rays will be relatively young and with little MLB experience, except for Jorge Camtu. The big addition to the infield is Japanese import, third baseman, Akinori Iwamura. In Japan, he was a career .300 hitter who slammed at least 30 homers during the past few seasons. He’ll be a mystery heading into the ’07 season, and it is unknown what he numbers might be power wise, but he should be a fairly good hitter who’ll show some pop and has a slick fielding glove.

The middle infield situation is shaky, as right now, the shortstop position is wide open. The leading candidate for the position is Ben Zobrist, who only hit .224 in 52 games and came via the Aubrey Huff trade. He’s got a lot of upside, as he’s got a good bat, although he struggled in ’06. The Rays expect him to break through. The other candidate for shortstop may be B.J. Upton, who’s been up and down between the majors and minors.

Second base will most likely be manned by Jorge Cantu, who struggled in ’06 only hitting .249 with 14 homers, while in ’05 he hit .286 with 28 homers and 117 RBIs. He’ll be the wild card in the infield, and the Rays will need him to revert back to his 2005 form. He was injured in ’06, missing some time, so he’ll need to be healthy and help out the Rays’ offense.

At the moment, first base is a position up for grabs, as Travis Lee was released by the team in August. For now, it looks like Ty Wiggington will get most of the starts there, and Greg Norton will be his backup. Veteran Hee-Seop Choi may also come into play at first base if he makes the club. Wiggington was solid with the bat, as he hit .275 with 24 home runs and 79 RBIs, and the team will need him to produce as he did in 2006 for next season.

Dioner Navarro will be the everyday starting catcher for the Devil Rays. In 2006, he batted .254 in 81 games. He came to the team from via the Dodgers’ trade for Mark Hendrickson, and his tangibles are that he calls a good game & he’s a great defense catcher. He may or may not improve at the plate, but he brings a good presence to the team. Backing up Navarro will be veteran Josh Paul.

For the near future, it does not look like the Devil Rays will have much of a shot at contending in the well-stacked American League East, but the team has several building blocks for the future. It looks like the team is making progress in terms of being a competitive team under new ownership, but as Tampa is a small market team, the new few years may also be growing pain, as they will have to build from within and develop talent than obviously improve on the free agent market. The young core of the team may surprise, but it may be last place of for the Rays again in ’07 in the AL East.