Tampa Bay Devil Rays:

Piniella pushing D-Rays to contention

The Tampa Bay Devil Rays haven’t exactly been the model expansion franchise that the Arizona Diamondbacks have been. The two teams came into Major League Baseball in the 1998 season and since then the Diamondbacks have been competitive every year and even won a World Series in 2001. On the other hand the Devil Ray have been the litmus strip for being a bad team. They’ve averaged 98 losses a year for their entire franchise history including two 100 loss seasons. There are signs of life in the franchise despite their poor performances to this point. The Rays management brought in manager Lou Piniella last season who managed the Mariners to a record tying 116 wins in 2001and to four postseason appearances. Piniella is a fiery manager that will squeeze the most out of each and everyone of his players. They didn’t capture the American League East crown last year but the team did seem to play a great deal of inspired ball that Piniella managed teams are known for. The Rays ended up finishing in the cellar of the AL East with a 63-99 record but they still managed to not have the worst record in the AL which belonged to the Detroit Tigers who disappointed their way to a 43-119 record.

The Devil Rays aren’t a team in rebuilding mode because there has never really been anything built there to this point. So the Rays are just in plain old “building” mode right now. The team is being very deliberate with trying to stockpile young guys and bringing in a few seasoned veterans to help the young guys shine. In the off-season they traded for Cardinals first baseman Tino Martinez who played a big role with the Yankees of the ’90s that dominated all comers. The team also traded for Mark Hendrickson of the Toronto Blue Jays. The Rays also picked up free agents outfielder Jose Cruz Jr., shortstop Ray Sanchez, left handed pitcher Damian Moss, and relief pitcher Danys Baez.

The Tampa Bay Devil Rays have a few guys on their team that will be multiple time All-Stars on their roster and some of them are already realizing their potential. Center fielder Carl Crawford is one of the few who have stood above the rest. He batted .281 with 55 stolen bases and 80 runs scored from the lead off spot during the 2003 campaign. Their big time slugger is designated hitter Aubrey Huff. He hit for a .311 average last year and hit 34 home runs and drove in 107 runs.

The pitching staff is full of young live arms like their staff ace Victor Zambrano who is 28 years old. He’s joined in the rotation by Mark Hendrickson, Paul Abbott, Doug Waechter, and Jeremi Gonzalez. Danys Baez is slated to close out the 9th inning for the Rays.

The Devil Rays play all their home games at the state of the art Tropicana Field. The 43,772 seat stadium was features the “Rays Bullpen Café” that offers picnic style seating and in-seat service at the park.

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