Tuesday, November 11, 2003
Around this time of year, everyone in baseball is wondering which team is in the best position for the free agency period. I'm going to go out on a limb and pick a team that I believe will be .500 next year, a vast improvement over last season and a step further in building a contending squad. Ready for this one?
The Tampa Bay Devil Rays.
Here's why: don't ever count out a team with Lou Pinella as manager. There are a group of players out there who swear by him and would love to play for him again. They also finally have their young guns starting to show that they'll be stars in a few years. Aubrey Huff (.311, 34HR, 107RBI) is their centerpiece and future (if not present) star. Rocco Baldelli and Carl Crawford had great seasons for players who are that young; they're bound to improve, as well as add speed to a lineup that has some pop in it. If Travis Lee comes back, he'll be a good fit late in the order his 17HR and 70RBI. Add a few cheap bats (Reggie Sanders?) and you've got a diverse lineup filled with different types of threats. And there are rumors of a Tino Martinez trade in the works. Perfect thinking: this young team could use a veteran or two.
The problem is the Rays' pitching staff. Victor Zambrano showed promise, but the rest of the staff was dismal. If the Rays are willing to spend a little bit of money, they could search for the next Esteban Loaiza among this year's crop of cheap veteran pitchers. Rumors are also swirling about the Rays interest in Cuban defector Maels Rodriguez.
I like the Rays chances for a huge improvement next year because their young lineup will be a year older, and they're starting to get serious about free agents who aren't leftovers from other teams (Marlon Anderson and Julio Lugo are great examples). However if they run into another offseason as they did a few years ago, when they acquired Fred McGriff, Greg Vaughn and Vinny Castilla, who all vastly underproduced, it could spell another five years of basement baseball for the Devil Rays. If that happens, we'll be seeing a lot more clips of Pinella's hat-kicking rants than usual.
posted by Charles Curtis 2:00 PM
