Tampa Bay Devil Rays

Tampa finished with a 67-95 record last year and once again finished dead last in the AL East. Only once in the teams eight year history have they avoided this 'honour'.

Pitching

Lets kick things off with the good and that’s Scott Kazmir is back and will be heading the rotation and if he can cut down on the walks he could have a great year. The bad is Jeff Niemann and Edwin Jackson probably still need more time in the minors to fine tune their talents. If all three come out of Spring Training (that’s a huge ‘if’) then Tampa could have the best rotation in franchise history and it will get better as it matures with time.

The ugly is that Mark Hendrickson, Doug Waechter and Casey Fossum are likely going to be integral to any success the team might have and none has ever really done much.

The bullpen is also sketchy especially with Danys Baez and Lance Carter both gone in the off season. Dan Miceli has been brought in and long before he got hit with the injury bug he was a good closer in Arizona but the club hope he will be setting up rookie Chad Orvella and while he looked good after his call-up last year, it might be a bit much to expect him to close in his first full season.

Trever Miller is a solid lefty specialist but the rest of the pen looks unconvincing to say the least.

Defence

Take your pick of Carl Crawford, Rocco Baldelli, Joey Gathright, Aubrey Huff and Delmon Young and you’ll have a good outfield shame the same thing can’t be said about the infield. Sean Burroughs and Travis Lee are solid citizens at the corners but Jorge Cantu is a prototypical “he’s there for his bat” type guy. Julio Lugo is a solid shortstop but the club will be hoping BJ Upton can finally lay claim to his spot in the bigs and he’s not so good. Round here we call him ‘E6’ Upton.

Kevin Cash could be a Gold Glover if he could hit and as a result he’ll be backing up Toby Hall who calls a good game but is straight average across the board.

Offence

The Rays have been very protective of their blue chip prospects (overly so to be honest) and this should be the first year when all those guys finally play together in Tropicana Field. Carl Crawford is stupid fast and with his maturing body and improved patience his power numbers should go up and he is not far from just exploding.

Jorge Cantu surprised everyone when he hit 28 homeruns and drove in a team high 117 RBI and he’ll be looking to prove it wasn’t a fluke and his double play partner could be equally productive. BJ Upton has been held back because of his defence but his bat has been ready for a couple of years. He has tremendous speed and great hands that should see him produce a truckload of offence when he gets the call.

Aubrey Huff is another guy who could have a strong year with all this added support this year and when you mix in Rocco Baldelli back from injury you have an offence with the potential to score a lot of runs both through power and with speed. Tampa won’t be a pushover this year.

Rookie Watch

Where to start? Delmon Young has started slowly at every level he has played at and then has soon made the adjustments and dominated. He has such a great approach to hitting for someone his age and he can still get better. He has a good eye and drives the ball to all fields with authority and is a good bet for Rookie of the Year honours when he finally gets his shot. There is nothing he is not capable of doing on a baseball field.

Chad Orvella has a lively fastball and a good changeup and the mentality to be an effective closer one day and that day might have to be opening day with all the personnel changes in the off-season.

Before Scott Kazmir was acquired Jeff Niemann was the future of the D-Rays rotation but injuries have slowed his progress considerably. He has all the stuff, including a nasty slide piece, but with all the time he’s missed he still needs fine tuning and you’re never sure how long it will be till the next injury. He likely will start the year in the minors but should see time in Tampa some time this year.

Management

With the club under new ownership the whole front office was totally gutted and revamped and the clubs desire to finally start moving up in the world was most evident when the club announced that Gerry Hunsicker would be the new GM.

Hunsicker made the Astros perennial contenders on a budget and is one of the most savvy executives you will find. You can also be sure he won’t sit on his big time prospects like the previous regime did.

Sadly the club could not hold onto Lou Piniella’s services during the shake up. Rightly fed up with the way the club was run he got out of dodge and has been replaced by Joe Maddon who has been plying his trade as Mike Scioscia’s bench coach in Anaheim which is not a bad place to be learning.

Outlook

Their pitching is still too thin right now but the pieces are starting to look like they are about to start falling into place. The offence (particluarly after the inevitable mid-season call ups) should see them up their win total from last year and don’t be surprised if they go through a spell here or there where they start beating a lot of good teams but they are still a side looking just to not finish last in the East.