Where Do The Tampa Bay Rays Go Next?
After a rough 2014, where do the Tampa Bay Rays go next?
The Tampa Bay Rays are coming off of their first losing season since 2007 and have traded away the future of the offense in outfielder Wil Myers.
There is confusion on which direction the Rays are heading in the near future. The Rays have had a rough offseason losing manager Joe Maddon to the Cubs, general manager Andrew Friedman to the Dodgers and trading Wil Myers to the Padres.
Tampa Bay had no control over Maddon and Friedman leaving, however there is confusion amongst what the Rays can control. Trading young outfielder Wil Myers for catcher Rene Rivera and power-hitting outfielder Steven Souza is a gamble. Myers showed he has the potential to be a superstar through his first 88 games and winning Rookie of the Year by hitting .293 with 13 home runs and 53 RBI’s. In 23 at-bats, Souza hit .130 with two home runs and two RBI’s. Rivera played 103 games with the Padres and hit .252 with 11 home runs and 44 RBI’s.
Souza, 25, will enter his first full season with the Rays in 2015 and is projected as the starting center fielder. Souza is inexperienced and his sample size is small, but the Rays are optimistic that their team in 2015 have as good of a chance to get to the playoffs as they did in 2014, if not better, according to the Tampa Bay Times. However, Myers had experience and proved the potential he has a future star. With Myers coming off of an injury, it is not clear how he will recover and if he will return to his 2013 form.
Rays’ general manager Matthew Silverman hired former catcher Kevin Cash as the Rays new manager. Cash spent eight seasons as a backup catcher and played for five different teams, including one year with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Cash has no managerial experience, but many believe he will succeed as the manager. He has big shoes to fill with the departure of Maddon, who is arguably the best manager in baseball, and filling those shoes will be difficult for a first-time manager. Cash has a young and talented roster to manage in 2015.
Kevin Kiermaier, Brandon Guyer and Steven Souza join Desmond Jennings in the Rays outfield and will likely use Guyer as the designated hitter. The Rays’ lineup will be anchored by star third baseman Evan Longoria who hit .253 with 22 home runs and 91 RBI’s and played in all 162 games last season. First baseman James Loney and utility man Ben Zobrist also return to the Rays lineup. Their veteran leadership will be a key to the Rays’ offensive successes with a young outfield.
Tampa Bay’s pitching staff was in the top half in 2014 with an ERA of 3.56 and with opponents hitting .234, which was good for third in baseball. The rotation gets stronger with left-hander Drew Smyly who had a 1.70 ERA in seven starts with the Rays. Talented starters Alex Cobb and Chris Archer return to the Rays’ rotation. When the Rays get Matt Moore back from recovering from his injury, their rotation will be much-improved with the hard-throwing left hander returning to full health. The pitching staff could use improvements to the backend of the rotation and the bullpen, but the offense needs to have the most attention.
The Rays need to improve their offense. Relying on the young rookies will put them in a high-risk high-reward situation. As a team that struggled to score runs last season (27th in baseball), the Rays need to find options to improve their offense at a cheap expense. They will be in trouble if they suffer the same injury problems they had in 2014.
2015 will bring many challenges for the Rays, including drawing the interest of their fans after their worst season since 2007. They also suffer from losing fan-favorite manager Joe Maddon and trading star players in David Price and Wil Myers. It will be difficult for the Rays to keep their fans engaged, and may only be able to do that by winning. The Rays may be optimistic about their chances at making the postseason, but on paper it appears they are trying to save money and re-tool with younger players.