Building The Rays
Every year, at least as of recently, there seems to be one team that exceeds all
expectations by having a break-through season while making some thunderous noise
in the playoffs. Following in the footsteps of the ’02 Angels, the ’03 Marlins,
the ’05 White Sox, the ’06 Tigers and the ’07 Rockies are the ’08 Tampa Bay Rays,
who claimed the American League East division and knocked the Chicago White Sox
out of the playoffs in the first round three games to one. The Rays have now advanced
to the League Championship series against their division rivals and the winners
of the 2007 World Series, the Boston SEC Sox.
Everyone knew that the Rays were accumulating an impressive wealth of talent,
but most, myself included, did not think they would enjoy the kind of success they
did this soon.
However, there is a misconception with the Rays that they have been built primarily with the help of the number of early, high profile draft picks. They certainly have
a handful to thank for their success, but like all successful ballclubs, their success
lies in their talent acquisition by almost every avenue that was available to them.
I’m going to breakdown the current 25-man playoff roster to point out where those
players came from.
The Draft
Without looking, how many players on the Rays’ 25-man roster do you think were
obtained and developed through the draft and their farm system? If I told you that
only eight of the players on their team were entirely procured from within would
you believe me?
I admit, I was surprised when I saw that number, as I would have guessed that
close to half of the team was assembled from within.
Four of those players, Roco Baldelli, Evan Longoria (arguably the favorite to
win the American League rookie of the year award), David Price and B.J. Upton were
former first-round picks, but even then only Longoria and Upton are everyday starters.
That will certainly change next year as Price is expected to be a major part of
this team moving forward.
Carl Crawford is a former second round pick, while Jamie Shields, Andy Sonnanstine,
and Fernando Perez are all later picks.
Shields and Sonnanstine’s presences are particularly impressive, serving as integral
members of the pitching staff as 16th and 13th round draft
picks respectively, showing that the Rays have a knack for finding talent a lot deeper than just the first round of the draft.
Shrewd Trades
Most of the Rays talent has come from numerous shrewd trades. Acquiring Scott
Kazmir from the Mets a few
years ago for Victor Zambrano is obviously the one that
historically could be the most impressive, and overall 12 of the players on the
roster were acquired from other teams.
Last offseason one of the biggest trades in all of baseball occurred when the
Rays swapped former first-round pick Delmon Young as part of a package to acquire
shortstop Jason Bartlett and starting pitcher Matt Garza. They have used other players
procured within their system to acquire Grant Balfour (Seth McClung), J.P. Howell
(Joey Gathright), Dioner Navarro (Toby Hall), Willy Aybar (Jeff Ridgway), Ben Zobrist
(Aubrey Huff) and Gabe Gross (Josh Butler).
The Rays bullpen this year has been anchored by Dan Wheeler and Chad Bradford,
acquired in two separate trades the past couple of seasons.
Free Agents
Tampa Bay opened quite a few eyes during the offseason before the 2007 season when
they jumped in the international free agent market to sign Japanese infielder Akinori
Iwamura, whose versatility and durability have been valuable assets to the Rays
squad.
The 2006-2007 offseason was kind to the Rays, as they also signed first baseman
Carlos Pena as a minor league free agent. Pena finally started to live up to his
considerable promise a year ago, and has evolved into one
of the game’s most patient and explosive slugger while offering Gold Glove defense.
Another left-handed slugger, Cliff Floyd, and left-handed reliever Trever Miller
were added as big-league free agents last offseason, helping to round out the entire
roster.
More to Come
If you’ve been reading this column or been following any site or publication that
focuses on amateur and minor league baseball, you know that the Rays aren’t anywhere
close to being done procuring impact talent. Most of that talent comes in the form
of powerful young arms, and many of those arms are not that far away from contributing.
Jeff Niemann, Mitch Talbot, Wade Davis and Chris Mason all finished their 2008
seasons at the AAA level, with Niemann and Talbot getting a brief taste of the big leagues this year.
Jeremy Hellickson, Jacob McGee and James Houser finished the season at the AA
level with very good success, and are poised to step up and succeed at AAA Durham
next year.
That young pitching talent is going to carry this team far for a
long, long time,
and some of it may be used to acquire young, impact bats moving forward, the one
area the team is sorely lacking in their farm system. They did add Tim Beckham with
the first overall pick in this year’s draft, and also have another shortstop in
Reid Brignac knocking at the door of the big-leagues.
We may have seen a change of the guard at the top of the American League East
division, a division that was already incredibly tough before the Rays talent all
came together this season. If nothing else, don’t expect the Rays to be drafting
among the top three to
five overall picks anytime soon.
The
thoughts and opinions listed here do not necessarily reflect those of Perfect
Game USA. Patrick Ebert is affiliated with both Perfect Game USA and
Brewerfan.net, and can be contacted via email at
pebert@brewerfan.net.