Rays Of Hope

As I sit here on Monday evening and watch the final few innings of a ballgame between the Angels and Devil Rays, it becomes more and more evident that Tampa Bay is on its way to putting an end to its reputation as the laughing stock of the American League.

With all of the young talent the Devil Rays possess on the offensive side, one would think how it is possible to still lose so many games. The answer is very simple for this young team.

Their weakness, and it is quite glaring, is their lack of pitching. The starting rotation needs quite a bit of work, and the bullpen needs at least one or two more relievers to rely on. That being said, there are many pieces in place for Tampa Bay to compete within, say, realistically, three seasons.

On the offensive side, I am not sure that there is a more impressive collection of young talent than there is in Tampa. With Carl Crawford, Delmon Young, and B.J. Upton looking like the starting outfield of the future, there should be very few balls dropping anywhere in that outfield. Each one of those guys brings speed to the outfield, and scary offensive weapons to the plate.

Crawford is the only star of the bunch, for now. The only thing separating Upton and Young from being stars is simply experience in the major leagues. Upton is showing a bit of a breakout season, as he is hitting .306 with 84 RBIS, and somewhere over 20 homeruns (recently checked, but can't confirm). Young has just gotten his feet wet this year and will take a little more time before he emerges.

Rocco Baldelli is getting lost in the mix down in Tamp Bay and is way too good to be considered a fourth outfielder. If Upton or Young take some unexpected turn for the worse, Baldelli could emerge once his opportunity is presented. The most likely solution that roadblock is trading Baldelli for some type of pitching. The D'Rays should be able to get a couple good relievers for that young outfielder.

Throw top prospect Evan Longoria into the mix as the starting 3rd baseman in 2008 and that lineup is appearing more and more like strong dose of novacaine. Just give it time, and it always works.

On the pitching side, which is what we are most concerned with in this conversation, there is a staff ace in Scott Kazmir. Kazmir has been showing dominant stuff for a couple years now, but needs a little more polish before enters the elite group of American League Starters. Kazmir will undoubtedly win the strikeout crown in the AL this year, and that confirms his potential.

After Kazmir, the rotation will pick back up with Jamie Shields who came out of nowhere this year to make a strong case for All-Star recognition. Shields may be pitching a bit above his talent level as the number 2 starter, but it doesn't matter when you can pitch effectively and get outs.

Within the next year or two, the rotation will get a huge jolt of energy from the farm system when prospects Jeff Niemann and David Price make their way to big leagues. Both of them have number 1 starter potential and are showing the capabilites of being considered an ace-- of any rotation.

That would give the Devil Rays three legitimate number 1 starters in their rotation with a very solid number four. Throw a couple solid pieces in the bullpen and you can count on that lineup to produce plenty of runs. It seems like many things must come to fruition, and they do, but the point is that Tampa Bay is not going to the easy series-win like they have been in recent years. The American League may have a new sheriff coming to town come 2009.