What Now for the Rays?
With their 5-1 loss at the hands of the Texas Rangers last night, the Tampa Bay Rays 2010 season came to an end. The Rays once again fielded a highly talented team, and although the end result wasn’t a championship, 96 wins and an AL East championship should be viewed as a successful season. But the Rays are a team with an unfortunate financial situation and a stadium which isn’t about to help that anytime soon. Now, after three relatively successful seasons and two playoff appearances, we are forced to ask the question of whether Tampa can sustain this kind of success going forward.
Clearly, the Rays have assembled a vast array of talent on their roster, but in the age of free agency, it’s difficult to hold such units together for an extended period of time. This inevitability will strike the Rays this winter, as they will lose many key players to free agency. This list includes:
Carl Crawford (6.9 WAR)
Carlos Pena (1.0 WAR, 6.8 WAR in 2008 + 2009)
Rafael Soriano (1.7 WAR, +5.0 WPA)
Randy Choate (0.5 WAR as LOOGY)
Grant Balfour (1.2 WAR)
Obviously, the key loss here is Crawford, but Soriano and Pena are both good players. Balfour and Choate both contributed to a solid bullpen as well. These players contributed over 10 WAR last season. In the hypercompetitive American League East, a ten win drop could easily push the Rays from the division lead to seven games behind the Wild Card at the end of the season. Even considering that the players that will take their place should be talented – the Rays were one of the deepest teams in the league last season – the Rays will likely drop at least 5 or 6 wins. With the Yankees strong as ever and the Red Sox looking to recover from an injury plagued year, that might be enough to hold Tampa out of the playoffs.
The Rays have also confirmed that the payroll will drop significantly after this season. That means players entering their later arbitration years such as Matt Garza and B.J. Upton could hit the trade market in an attempt to lower costs, only adding to the loss of players through free agency.
The Rays do have some assets ready to take the places of those who will exit, as their minor league system is in great shape. Desmond Jennings, who saw some action in the latter half of the season as well as the playoffs, is the heir apparent to Carl Crawford and shows that same kind of athleticism in the outfield. Jeremy Hellickson’s debut showed that he should be more than ready for a spot in the Major League rotation. The Rays have three other five-star prospects, according to Baseball Prospectus’s Kevin Goldstein and six others above a three-star ranking, showcasing the depth of the Rays’ system.
At least immediately, though, the young potential stars in the system aren’t going to be able to make up for the players who are outgoing. The loss of those players, the budgetary constraints that they will face, and the division that they are in will provide a mammoth challenge in the coming years. There’s too much still in place to call the championship window closed, and the Rays are loaded with talent both on and off the field. Still, the deck is stacked against them, and a return to the postseason will be difficult to attain.
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I’ve gotta think Colome’s stock has dropped (nearly 3.87 ERA/4.02 FIP in 22 starts at A ball). We also know #6 prospect Tim Beckham’s stock has (deservedly) dropped an incredible amount (got worse at A+ to the tune of .258/346/.361).
I’m curious about the development of some of the 3 star prospects. It definitely seems like the Rays system will be pretty depleted coming into next season when Jennings and Hellickson are likely to have big roles and Davis and Brignac have graduated. At this point (excluding Hellickson and Jennings) only Moore seems to clearly be a Four Star or higher prospect in the system.
“according to Baseball Prospectus’s Kevin Goldstein”
stopped reading here
was the extra “s” really that offensive?
Oh look, it’s Will Carroll’s supposed straw man, posting here as ‘Jake’.
So you read basically until the end.
Even if the Rays don’t get a new ballpark, they need to do something about their lighting. I’m a Yankee fan and watch when they play the Rays at the Tropicana Dome. Because of the lighting, I compare the picture quality of the game when Apollo 13 landed and Neil Armstrong first set foot on the moon. I’ve actually been to Tropicana Field a few times. Sure the lighting isn’t that bad to the human eye but to the TV cameras it is. Also when giving the score after the inning, they should have a camera on the shops along the inner concourses of the stands , restaurant, or at the Ted Williams’hitter museum. It and the fans look more lively along the gift shops or the TWHM. For those of you who have never been to the Trop, it looks like a mall with a baseball field in the middle. This will want to get people going to games and follow the Rays.
Meanwhile, in a fitting display of hubris, the Yankees decided to spend over $1 billion preserving all the “tradition” and “character” of a once-great stadium gutted and rebuilt in the mid-1970s — not exactly the pinnacle of architecture. They now have a ghastly concrete monolith of a stadium where an astounding number of seats directly behind home plate are empty at every game, thanks to their unspeakably ludicrous prices. At the same time, fans who can only afford to pay the only marginably-absurd price of upper-deck seats are treated to concessions worse than the average minor-league stadium (but with Yankee-inflated prices).
Does the Trop suck? Sure. But I’m not sure I’d be throwing stones if I were a Yankees fan. Don’t believe me? Go to a Mets game and see how the Yankees should’ve built their new park.
You’re right. The Yankees should build a stadium that plays to the disadvantage of their best players. Also they should completely ignore the past of their old stadium til the point where their fans complain and they have to bring back a piece of the old stadium to satisfy fans…. Now that’s a real stadium right? Also the yankees still have the best attendance in baseball… What a disgrace
The stadium with catwalks always loses. Live with it.
At the same time, fans who can only afford to pay the only marginably-absurd price of upper-deck seats
Upper deck seats are $20 during the regular season. Bleacher seats are $12. What would constitute “not absurd”?
You can also easily dip into the secondary market for non-premium (Boston, Mets, Saturday afternoons, etc) games and get upper deck seats for around $5.
You don’t really know what you are talking about.
Honestly, Yankee ticket prices aren’t too bad- they’re just too lopsided. The average fan can get access to seats in far away places, like most parks. The issue is that their premium seats are set at ridiculous prices, so high that people with season tickets probably can’t even sell any at face value on the resale market. Hence, lots of empty chairs.
Personally, I think the easiest solution would be for people to register for empty seats at the start of the game. So you get a bleacher ticket, show up. Then, if by the start of the 4rth inning if nobody has entered the park with their ticket- you can come back to a kiosk and print out a temp ticket that allows you to sit in one of those empty seats behind home plate. If the real ticket holder finally shows, they bump you and you have to go back to your original seats.
To me, that sounds like a great way to give people a better experience and deal with the ridiculous empty premium seat issue. Though it’s not just NYY that have that issue. The Dodgers seem to have some serious issues with that too sometimes. Though this strategy wouldn’t work there, since everyone starts leaving by the 4rth inning to beat the traffic…
Also, while I haven’t yet caught a game in the new Yankee Stadium, I did catch one in the new Mets park and I was unimpressed. I liked it slightly better than the old Yankee stadium (which was a big blue mess, in my opinion), but that’s not saying all that much.
Then again, I prefer nice parks with open air concourses (ex. Camden Yards) so I may not exactly be a fan of the new Yankee Stadium, which seems like they took a ballpark and plopped it in the middle of a mall.
Stadium deals are bullshit, and I’m sorry for the Rays, who are Good Guys in my book, that they can’t afford to build themselves a new one. Nevertheless, I really hope they don’t become another team to rape some tax payers of money that could have been used from a public good like better roads and education, or simply left with the taxpayers to do what each individually thought best.
@DT — really? You think a stadium should be built to cater to the skills of a team’s best players? Do you plan on building a new stadium every five years?
Also — nothing wrong with maintaining A PART of the past. Keeping the facade in Yankee Stadium II would’ve been just fine. But there was absolutely no need to hew so closely to the post-70s Yankee Stadium, which had history on its side but certainly not aesthetics.
Also also — whether or not Yankee Stadium II has the best attendance in baseball or not doesn’t really have any bearing whatsoever on my point about the empty seats behind home plate. Having the best attendance in baseball is merely an indication that:
1) you have more seating capacity, and;
2) you have a fanbase with a high proportionate income.
The Yankees are very goot at a lot of things. I will never understand, however, why their fans so often assume they are the best at everything.
@DT – He wasn’t talking about the playing field, he was talking about the architecture and amenities.
I actually dislike Citi Field simply because when I look at it it appears to be a copy of a copy of a copy of a composite of every stadium built in the past twenty years. There isn’t an ounce of originality located within it. Thanks Jeff Wilpon.
That said, while the seats are small, they are reasonably priced, have great views of the field (even the last row in the upper deck) and there is a ton of stuff to do at the park. If I wanted to sit in my seat all game I might as well watch from the comfort of my couch. Going to a game in the age of television is supposed to be an entertainment experience. The Yankees fail at that.
@Graham i’ve been to citi field and it’s nice but to say yankee stadium should have look towards citifield as an example in my opinion is wrong. Honestly they built the stadium the way they felt like it would be best built. Yes they could have redesigned it be something completely different but then honestly die hard fans then would complain it’s too far deviating from the old stadium. It’s a lose-lose situation in that sense. The Yankees have to satisfy their fan base, who value “traditional” or w/e. thus had they decided we’ll just throw in these stuff randomly kind of takes away from that portion. Plus i never said the yankees had the best stadium, but the way you describe you’d think the stadium was a little league park.
@schu oh i agree to a certain point but honestly i go to a baseball game to watch the game, not to play mini-games. i guess it’s just different perspectives, i like sitting through the game and the enjoying the atmosphere.
Also also — whether or not Yankee Stadium II has the best attendance in baseball or not doesn’t really have any bearing whatsoever on my point about the empty seats behind home plate.
Which you backed up with zero facts.
A lot of those seats appear empty b/c those seats give you access to a private restaurant inside where it’s all-inclusive fine dining for the entire game, private bathrooms, etc.
We can argue over whether or not that is ridiculous, I’m not going to take a position either way, but just because those seats appear empty on TV does NOT mean the tickets were not sold and the purchaser is not in the stadium.
Re: “just because those seats appear empty on TV does NOT mean the tickets were not sold and the purchaser is not in the stadium.”
In my opinion, those are the facts that are irrelevant. What is the point of selling tickets to people who won’t show up? That’s bad for the fanbase and the ballpark. It means people that would show had to pay more/couldn’t come to games. It also means the park loses on concessions.
People not in their seats but in the stadium is different, but that raises a different stupid issue. If they have a seat at a restaurant, why the heck do they need one behind home plate? Sell tickets for seats at the restaurant then, problem solved.
Either way, the empty seats behind home plate are an embarrassment. Yankee fans should be embarrassed, Yankee management should be embarrassed. Because embarrassment leads to change.
Sorry about saying the upper-deck seats were expensive — I could’ve sworn the seats I had up there when watching Yanks-White Sox this year were a lot more expensive, but obviously I’m completely insane and totally wrong. (No sarcasm — please don’t read any in.)
I still really dislike the new Yankee Stadium, though. I think it’s objectively ugly both inside the actual field part and in the ringed concourse area, which looks exactly like O’Hare airport. The concessions are a joke (at least in the cheap seats where I sat), and I believe it’s a complete embarrassment to the organization that a team with such overwhelmingly strong fan support nevertheless appears to have a light crowd behind home plate every game. Whether those seats don’t sell or whether they’re “sold” (probably to corporations) but not actually used is immaterial — it looks bush league either way.
Most of all, I find it obnoxious that the Yankees built a park so close to their old one, because I personally thought the old one was hideous and really one of the worst parks I’ve been to (out of about nine). For me, it speaks to the general arrogance of an organization that always presumes the “Yankee Way” is the only way.
I understand that Citi is maybe a little bit crass in the way that it kind of cynically cribs from every new ballpark built since Camden. But then again, it has a lot of great features for fans of all ages, terrific concessions, and fantastic sightlines from just about everywhere. And compared to Shea, which was a running joke, it’s a huge improvement.
It just seems like the Mets made an effort to make their new park fan-friendly, while the Yankees spent an ungodly amount of money to rebuild their old stadium without really addressing many of the problems the old one had. Why bother?
In my opinion, those are the facts that are irrelevant. What is the point of selling tickets to people who won’t show up? That’s bad for the fanbase and the ballpark. It means people that would show had to pay more/couldn’t come to games. It also means the park loses on concessions.
Actually, it’s the opposite. Those tickets INCLUDE food and non-alcoholic drinks. So, the Yankees are not really losing on concessions.
But that’s not what I meant, my sentence was poorly written. I meant that those people are probably in the ballpark, just not in their seats.
Like I said, we can argue if that set-up is silly or not. I think it kindof is, but it’s also not really this huge disgrace. People pay a ton of money for those seats, which they are then able to come and go as they please into a fancy restaurant/bar as they schmooze clients. Not really my cup of tea, but it does put a ton of money into the Yankee coffers, which allows them to field a better team, which IS my cup of tea.
Either way, this isn’t a large percentage of seats, and I am finding it hard to see how it’s “bad for the fanbase” if this business model allows them to field a stronger team.
Also, those seats are not really as empty as they were when the stadium first opened. They cut those ticket prices drastically (yes, from doubly insane to only singly insane) this season, and those seats are not as empty as was reported/overblown on opening day.
I would guess that they are doing fine with this business model.
This team deserves to be broken up and their best players deserve to play where they’ll be appreciated. A 96 win team that averaged 23K per game is a joke.
The fans came out for the last playoff game, but could not come out during the regular season. Just pathetic.
Say bye bye to a bunch of all-star calliber players, and enjoy wating them play for the Yanks, Red Sox, etc.
You are absolutely correct. It’s pathetic and the Rays should be broken up. And while we’re at it the Reds and Padres (similar attendance for a division winner and a team that was in it until the final game) need to be disbanded as well. Heck, those two teams even new parks that are easy to get to. They have to go. While we’re at it, the Braves had a huge number of empty seats for Game 4 against the Giants, obviously a must-win and their final playoff game of the Bobby Cox era. So let’s eliminate the Braves as well.
Eventually we’ll get down to 162 games of the Mets vs. the Phillies to determine the NL winner, which will face the winner of the 162-game series between the Red Sox and Yankees. I guess only then will the teams with the ‘true fans’ be happy.
I agree with you completely. When Padres fans start to whine about losing Gonzalez we can both tell them to look in the mirror and tell them to go out and support their team at the ball park (which is my favorite of all the parks I’ve been too).
The Padres have had years with very strong attendance 30K+ per game. The Reds have not excuses an exicting team, and an offensive team, with some really good young super star players. 30K a game should not be unreasonable for them either. Lets hope the fans from those cities buy back into the teams next year.
The Rays have had 97, 84, and 96 wins in the last 3 years, and their attendance hasn’t gotten any higher than 23K per game. The fans down there do NOT deserve that team. They don’t care about baseball. I’m not sure why that is so hard to understand. You can give them a pass in 2008 cause the fans were unlikely to belive in their team or were suprised, whatever, but after 3 years of competing in the AL East and still getting no support, that is pathetic. Disband them, move the team.
To come out and say “X number of people in Y city should be going to each game” is ridiculous. You should be praising fans in these cities for spending money wisely and selling out playoff games.
It’s the owners’/MLB’s fault for overexpanding into markets that can’t support a team in an attempt to make more money. The ownership of these teams bear a bulk of the responsibility for attendance – if they don’t want to market and retain talent to cut costs, then attendance is going to drop unless they cut the costs to the consumer. Instead, they want to cut costs on payroll/marketing while maintaining or raising ticket prices. See the Pittsburgh Pirates financial documents.
Did you know the Padres did not market Adrian Gonzalez or Heath Bell this season because they expected to trade them? They had Everth Cabrera and Clayton Richard bobblehead days.
The bottom line is the owners of most of these teams are out to make money first, win second. If I’m a fan of a “small market” team, why should I bear the risk of loss and purchase tickets in advance of when I want to attend? No one is obligated to attend baseball games.
James I like your style.
If you don’t want to go to baseball games until you are absolutely convinced your team is a winner then don’t go. If you are convinced your team is a winner and you still don’t want to go to the games (and if the masses agree with you) then that team should not be in that city. And also the fans of that team should not whine about losing star players then.
Instead, they want to cut costs on payroll/marketing while maintaining or raising ticket prices. See the Pittsburgh Pirates financial documents.
Eh? The Pirates haven’t raised their ticket prices since 2002.
It’s kind of absurd to simply throw the Reds and Padres in there because they had good seasons that quite honestly no one saw coming.
You need to chill out on your overzealous judgment.
I agree that the Rays attendance record is abysmal, but I’m more than willing to cut the Reds and Padres some slack.
re: “Did you know the Padres did not market Adrian Gonzalez or Heath Bell this season because they expected to trade them? They had Everth Cabrera and Clayton Richard bobblehead days.”
Seriously? Why not just have a retro night and give away Tony Gwynn bobbleheads or something if you’re so concerned about marketing Bell or Pena?
Not to mention the Rays had one of the highest TV ratings this year.
..when they were playing the Yankees or Red Sox
Joe, the Rays TV viewship was 5th in MLB for the season, not just the Sox and Yanks games. The biggest problem with Tampa and SD isn’t the team, or ballpark, of prices, it’s the competition in the city. What would you rather do on a Saturday afternoon in April in Tampa, go to an INDOOR stadium to watch a ballgame (of a team that has been crappy until a couple years ago), or hang out on the beach?? Most people in Tampa and SD will pick the beach.
Well, Kanosha, there’s your problem. If your fanbase would rather be relaxing at the beach than watching a baseball game, then your fanbase really doesn’t deserve a quality team. It’s not complicated. Because of the nature of transit in NYC, it takes many fans more than two hours of travel in each direction to see a baseball game, and yet they do it. In droves.
Sure, but what else is there to do in New York besides watch baseball?
/Poe’s Law.
I wouldn’t be so pessimistic.
Jennings should replace a lot of Crawford’s value, and realistically he’s not a 6.9 WAR player. B-Ref has him at 4.8, and historically he’s averaged around 4.5. I wouldn’t project him at more than 5 for next year. Jennings should be worth 2 WAR easily.
At first base, Pena sucked (1 WAR). It should be relatively easy to pick up a couple of wins at less than his salary. The DH position was also bad.
Brignac is ready to play SS, and Hellickson is ready for the rotation, so they should have trade chips in Bartlett and one of the SPs to help fill some of the other holes.
Given that their biggest holes were offense at 1B and DH, they should be able to add several wins pretty easily to offset Crawford’s departure. That leaves the pen to fix, which is an area very amenable to cheap fixes.
Also, there’s recently been a glut on the 1B/DH market, and this offseason shouldn’t be any different. It’s probably easier (read: cheaper) to get wins there as opposed to a premium position on the FA market.
Snapper, I completely agree. They will trade one of their SPs (probably Garza or Davis) and be able to get back some very good MLB-ready talent. They also have one of the best 6th starters this season in Sonnastine who could easily be a solid 5th starter if they wanted to trade Garza and Davis. A rotation of:
Price – who will be a year older and better
Shields – can’t be any worse than he was this year
Hellickson – developed really nicely this season in the minors
Niemann – solid
Sonnanstine – better than AJ Burnett
Garza and Davis trades should solve the bullpen & offense issues.
Should have traded for Cliff Lee. (Just as Philly never should have traded him.) You only get a shot at the world series every so often.
Is it a surprise when a team built on talent development is staring down the barrel of a reload every few years? The Reds finally made the post season and five minutes after the last out of game 3 of the LDS we’re discussing Votto’s impending arbitration. It’s a fact of life for these teams. As long as they continue to spend their money wisely (sign Longo, let Crawford and Pena walk), they’ll be fine.
I think they should look to deal Garza and/or Bossman Jr this offseason
Garza could be attractive to a lot of pitching starved teams (Mets come to mind) who are out of the Cliff Lee sweepstakes, and with Hellickson ready to step in they probably wouldn’t lose much
I know Upton is still good and valuable but I think they have enough depth to lose him and Crawford (could go Joyce-Jennings-Zobrist next year), it would be helpful for them to clear his salary and I think they could return some good young talent at another position of need
It’s true that they have a lot of high end depth in their system, but they are really, really thin on position players who are anywhere near ready. They could conceivably cover even with the losses, but then you’d have Rodriguez/Zobrist at one of the corners, Dan Johnson at 1B/DH, Jaso DHing a lot with a double black hole at C.
They need to put Bartlett and Upton on the block for economic reasons, and that’s just going to add up to a lot of question marks. They can shrewdly fill vacancies because those are at the corners. It will be interesting to see if they role the dice with a guy like Johnson, then add a couple more like him. As noted above, they are perfectly positioned to do so since fan interest is really not a factor. But then I’m guessing the front office will see this playoff run as an opportunity to add to the fan base, and wind up trying to placate them through moves that don’t keep them on course with the plan that has been so effectively executed.
I think they can move Shields to a team with a big outfield, Upton, and Bartlett, but not to fill holes on offense. They need to stick with the plan and keep adding talent that fits with the vision of their team, guys like Rodriguez and Torres, etc. Plan B should be moving on down the line with trades of Garza and Zobrist. Then they’d be really reaching and filling holes with guys like Elliot Johnson and Torres. All of those five guys are flawed, but they have enough upside or value to some teams to get back give B level prospects in the low minors or better, along with a few pieces. Their low minors is actually looking really good, especially with the two first rounders they had this year. They can add a haul of good prospects to that group and bring in another wave in two or three years, while hanging in there because of their great pitching.
If they are going to bite the bullet on payroll, I think they should get out front as the market movers the day after the WS ends and get these guys moved.
The interesting thing about the Rays is that even though they’re cutting payroll significantly, so many of their key players aren’t arbitration eligible so they’re in a better position then one would assume.
Suppose the Rays are forced to trade Garza, they’d still have a rotation of Price, Shields, Niemann, Davis and Hellickson. It’s a pretty good rotation especially considering it will make 6.7 million total. Zobrist, Aybar, Jennings, Longoria, Brignac, Rodriguez and Jaso only will make 10.3 M total. The bullpen will lose pitchers, but Ekstrom, Cormier, Sonnastine and McGee will still be under contract and will be cheap(2.7 M total).
For sure, the Rays will still have some holes to fill, but they’ll have 30 million in which to do it with. Provided they use that money efficiently, they should easily be able to bring Upton and Bartlett back, while using free agency to add a 1B, a closer and a bullpen arm or two. They can bite the bullet on payroll and still keep most of their team intact.
Rays need to re sign the NL version of Pat Burrell and not the AL version of Pat Burrell
Move to Montréal.
Please.
The Rays, of course, exist because the (totally unsuitable) stadium had been built, and because the state threatened legal action if they were contracted out of existence – it’s all a hopeless can of worms. Most smaller-market teams would draw decently if they fielded winning teams (and had competent promotion), so the very poor attendance in TB is a bad sign. Montreal was indeed a better place for a major league team.
It’s a shame, for baseball, that this team cannot or will not stay together. There is always a team that has a young core that is assumed to “get better with age” and “really dominate” … but that rarely works out (possibly the 2011-2013 Reds) … so for this group of Rebels to stand up against the Empire so well is something that we should be able to watch annually (especially as an NL guy).
The Rays have to be nearing the point where the talent they draft combined with the prospects they receive in trades/compensation will no longer be better than the players they lose. I don’t think any one team is consistently that much “smarter” than all of the other teams that also draft and trade. I think they were in a unique situation.
If going to a WS, having great, young talented players, an interesting manager, and well … winning a lot of games doesn’t do it, why the heck would “going to the mall” at the Trop do it?
Best thing for the Rays, and Marlins would be to get the hell out of Florida. It’s obvious folks have other things they would rather spend their time on. Seriously TB, no retractable roof? I know it rains every day between 3 and 4 pm, and then it’s humid as heck … but a team actually built, from scratch, one of the worst stadiums in existence. The only team that didn’t learn something from Camden yards.
Seriously, compared to teams in the NFL and NBA, their salaries are “in the middle” of teams who play 42 and 8 home games in stadiums that are either comparable in seating or much less. It’s embarrassing.
It’s hard to compare salaries with the NFL on that basis because the NFL is set up to share all of their television revenues (because every game is nationally televised). It’s harder to share regional TV revenue equally because there are “fairness” issues on both sides. Further, NFL stadiums hold 30-50% more people, and the average ticket prices is much, much higher – ten home games (because ST holders have to buy pre-season and full price) drives up the price by restricted supply. The Rays have their issues, but to compare their salaries to NFL and NBA teams is unfair, because we’re talking about completely different games.
Seriously TB, no retractable roof? I know it rains every day between 3 and 4 pm, and then it’s humid as heck … but a team actually built, from scratch, one of the worst stadiums in existence. The only team that didn’t learn something from Camden yards.
The Trop was built BEFORE Camden Yards. It was built well before the Rays actually existed.
It was built as a multi-function dome with the hope of luring a team there. They eventually did, but the Rays did not build the Trop.
Good points, Kevin and Steve.
I cannot figure out why Tampa is such a poor MLB city, it’s a hotbed for prospects. The prep ball there is, or at least was, phenomenal.
Good analysis but what you failed to note is that the Yankees are looking pretty vulnerable. Yes, I know they can afford to buy almost anybody they want, but at this point I see them as a team in decline more than the Rays.
Jeter and Posada and A-Rod are all slipping. Burnett and Vazquez and Pettitte also appear to be past their prime, so except for Sabathia and Hughes, the rotation looks shaky.
Considering that the Rays have a younger nucleous (Longoria, Jennings, Bartlett, and Upton) and a deeper, stronger starting staff, I think they’ll be very competitive with New York in the next few years.
Yes but the yankees have the money to replace their pieces immediately without the need of waiting for development. With that said they still also have a good farm as Posada will be replaced by Montero most likely. Vazquez will be gone and they can easily decide to overpay for Cliff Lee if they need pitching. Jeter is pretty much a non-factor this year and the yanks still managed to get to the ALCS due to other players such as cano, gardner swisher and granderson coming up big and those guys aren’t pass their prime yet. As for ARod i have no clue what his performance maybe but his hip will probably determine how much value he will bring. He can still be a 5 WAR player if he was healthy as he has been injured for the last two years and still managed to avg 4 WAR
back in 2006 I was at a game in Wrigley Field (I’m a White Sox fan) and sat right behind the Diamondbacks Bullpen. I was bored and hammered and trying to find the perfect player to heckle.
I chose Randy Choate.
His inclusion on a list alongside Crawford, Balfour, Pena and Soriano makes me want to go back in time and yell louder.
Randy Choate Sucks.
I do find it rather odd why Choate was included and Benoit wasn’t.
It should be noted that not only do the Rays have prospects/young players capable of stepping in next year for Crawford, Bartlett, and one member of the rotation in Jennings, Brignac, and Hellickson, respectively, but they also have some young arms ready to takeover in the bullpen, including one of their top prospects, Jacob McGee.
Also, they have the return of J.P. Howell to look forward to as well. Between Howell and McGee, I think they’ll be able to weather the loss of Rafael Soriano(and if Dan Wheeler’s 2011 option is picked up, which I suspect it will be, I see a “closer by committee” approach for the first few months of the season with all 3 of Wheeler, Howell, and McGee getting save chances.) In addition, they’ll probably be able to afford to bring back at least one of Balfour or Choate, if not both, so the bullpen is already looking pretty good in 2011. 🙂