The 30 Team/30 Day Report Cards: Day 29- Tampa Bay Rays

Tampa Bay Rays
Record: 96-66 (AL East Champions, one game ahead of New York).

Batting Leaders
Batting Average: Carl Crawford (.307)
Home Runs: Carlos Pena (28)
RBIs: Evan Longoria (107)
On-base Percentage: Evan Longoria (.372)

Pitching Leaders
Wins: David Price (19)
Strikeouts: David Price (188)
Innings Pitched: David Price (208.2)
ERA: David Price (2.72). Bullpen- Joaquin Benoit (1.34).
WHIP: David Price (1.19). Bullpen- Joaquin Benoit (0.68).
Saves: Rafael Soriano (45)

Highlight of the Season: On the final day of the season, the Rays were able to clinch the AL East with a 3-2, 12 inning victory over the Royals in Kansas City. A Yankees loss to the Red Sox that same day would make the Division Title an outright one for the Rays. Another moment worthy of mention was Matt Garza tossing the first no-hitter in franchise history before a nationwide television audience on July 26 against the Tigers.

Lowlight of the Season: A season that appeared to be destined for greatness came to an abrupt end on October 12, as the Rays lost 5-1 to the Rangers in Game Five of the ALDS.

The Lowdown:
The writing was on the wall entering the 2010 season, as many people knew that the window of opportunity for Tampa Bay to win a championship was closing quickly. Many of their key players were about to become free agents, meaning that it was imperative that the team get off to a quick start in order to keep those people from being jettisoned off to wealthier contenders. The Rays did not disappoint though, as they got off to a fast start and never looked back, capturing their second division title in three years behind fantastic pitching and an offense that was good, despite their times of collective instability. Keeping the mighty Yankees at bay in the AL East is no easy task for a team with a payroll as small as Tampa Bay's, and in order to make 2010 a season to remember, they had to build off of the success they had in 2008 and win the World Series.

Unfortunately for Tampa Bay, they would be stymied by the fantastic pitching of the Texas Rangers during the Division Series. Even though the series loss was disappointing, the Rays did not go down without a fight, as they came back from a 2-0 deficit to force a Game Five at home. However, waiting for them in Game Five was Rangers ace Cliff Lee, and he was on top of his game that night, going all nine in shutting down the Rays 5-1. With many of their key players gone, it will be a difficult task to keep in the cutthroat AL East once again entering 2011.

Offense:
The Rays' offense last year was puzzling, to say the least. They finished third in MLB in runs with 802, 10th in on-base percentage at a clip of .333 and 12th in home runs with 160. However, they were one of the worst teams in baseball batting average-wise, finishing 27th in the bigs at a clip of .247. Their lack of contact hitting no doubt contributed to some of the outstanding pitching performances that were tossed against them, including Dallas Braden's perfect game, Edwin Jackson's no-hitter, and Brandon Morrow's 17 strikeout outing. Despite that, the Rays featured some great offensive weapons, including left fielder Carl Crawford, who made his final season in a Tampa Bay uniform a memorable one, hitting .307 with 19 home runs, 90 RBIs and 47 steals. The other offensive threat in the lineup was obviously Evan Longoria, who had another great campaign, hitting .294 with 22 home runs and 104 RBIs.

Other than that, there weren't many other eye-catching performers in their lineup. First baseman Carlos Pena had an absolutely bizarre season, hitting 28 home runs while driving in 84, in spite of a horrific .196 batting average. Outfielder B.J. Upton flashed some power, hitting 18 home runs, but his .237 average and .322 on-base percentage make you wonder if he will ever become the player many projected him to be coming out of the minors.

I suppose the lineup is effective, when you consider that there were only two teams in baseball that scored more runs (Boston and New York), but it's almost scary to think how many runs they would have scored if they hit better collectively.
Final Grade: B+

Pitching:
Tampa Bay's strong point last year was in their pitching, and the young David Price led the way, finishing 19-6 with a 2.72 ERA and 188 strikeouts in his second full big league season. His performance last year certainly earns him the right to be mentioned as one of the best pitchers in the American League right now, and if it wasn't for Felix Hernandez's outstanding season, Price could have been the first Rays pitcher to win a Cy Young Award. Even though James Shields, Jeff Niemann and Wade Davis were fairly average last year, Matt Garza put together a good performance on the hill, going 15-10 with a 3.91 ERA in 204.2 innings, while tossing the franchise's first no-hitter on July 26.

In the bullpen, the Rays had a stable of outstanding arms, and their collective ERA of 3.33 (third in MLB) certainly shows that. Manager Joe Maddon wasn't afraid to go to the bullpen with regularity, and you can see that in the stats, as five relievers made 60 or more appearances last year. The two major standouts in this great bullpen were easily Joaquin Benoit and closer Rafael Soriano, who finished with ERAs of 1.34 and 1.73 respectively. Both also featured WHIPs under one, as Benoit led the team with a 0.68 clip, while Soriano wasn't far behind him at 0.80. Simply put, there weren't too many people getting on base late in the ballgame with those two on the hill. Soriano also finished with 45 saves, good for first in the American League and third in MLB.

Overall, Tampa Bay finished eighth in ERA (3.73), third in quality starts (95), third in WHIP (1.26) and fourth in "batting average against" (.244). Well done!
Final Grade: A+

Wild Card: Oh those hitting woes
Much like old-school Christmas lights, it seemed as if Tampa Bay's lineup would collectively go out if one key player was not performing well. They were no-hit twice, first by Oakland's Dallas Braden on Mother's Day (a perfect game) then in the following month by Arizona's Edwin Jackson, who walked a whopping nine batters in his performance. They were nearly no-hit a third time in August, when Toronto's Brandon Morrow came within one out of history before Evan Longoria broke up the party. Morrow would still finish with a ridiculous 17 strikeouts, a MLB-high in 2010. Ouch.
Final Grade: D

Overall:
Was 2010 the last hurrah for the Rays? Time will only tell.
Final Grade: A

Check back soon for the report card on the Philadelphia Phillies!

The 30 Day/30 Team Report Cards: Day 16- Tampa Bay Rays

Hello once again everybody! It's time to head south, as today's report card will be issued to the Tampa Bay Rays.

Tampa Bay Rays:
Record: 84-78 (Third place in the AL East, 19 games behind New York).

Batting Leaders:
Batting Average: Jason Bartlett (.320)
Home Runs: Carlos Pena (39)
RBIs: Evan Longoria (113)
On-base Percentage: Ben Zobrist (.405)

Pitching Leaders:
Wins: Jeff Niemann (13)
ERA: Jeff Niemann (3.94). Bullpen- J.P. Howell (2.84).
Strikeouts: Matt Garza (189)
Innings Pitched: James Shields (219.2)
WHIP: Matt Garza (1.26)
Saves: J.P. Howell (17)

Highlight of the Season: Carl Crawford's record-tying six stolen bases against Boston on May 3. He joined Eric Young (1996), Otis Nixon (1991) and Hall of Famer Eddie Collins (twice in 1912) as the only ones to turn the trick. Tampa Bay won the game, 5-3.

Lowlight of the Season: An 11-game losing streak from September 3-13 that took the team out of contention.

The Lowdown:
With the dawn of the 2009 season came high expectations for this young franchise that experienced glory for the first time in 2008. Their pennant run that year could easily rank as one of the most improbable stories in baseball history, as they shocked the world by winning the AL East and by taking care of the White Sox and Red Sox to win their first-ever American League Pennant. Even though the Cinderella season would end abruptly at the hands of the Phillies, things had to be looking up for this team as 2009 began. With the Yankees beefing themselves up by adding more big name free agents, and with the Red Sox determined to avenge their ALCS loss, the AL East was shaping up to be a battle of epic proportions.

The Rays stumbled out of the gate in 2009 though, as they went 9-14 in the month of April. In a division that is as unforgiving as the AL East, this is unacceptable if you want to win it. They made up for this slow start by going 35-21 in May and June to get back into contention. They were still hovering around contention in July and August, going 27-24 before crumbling in September with a dismal 11-17 record. Adding insult to injury, first baseman Carlos Pena broke two of his fingers after getting drilled by a pitch against the Yankees on September 7. With their best hitter down to injury and with the Yankees and Red Sox running on cruise control once again, Tampa Bay's season was over.

Offense:
The recipe to the Rays offense had a little bit of everything in it. They featured heaping doses of power (Evan Longoria, Carlos Pena and Ben Zobrist) and speed (Carl Crawford, B.J. Upton and Jason Bartlett), to go along with a substantial amount of contact hitting (four of their regulars hit .280 or better). As a whole, this team scored 803 runs, which was good enough for seventh in MLB. This was thanks in large part to the overall versatility in the lineup, which was mentioned earlier. Having that much diversity in your lineup means that you can beat teams in several different ways, instead of being one-dimensional like many other lineups in baseball. They are practically the 1980s St. Louis Cardinals reincarnated, with more power.

Listing all of the standout performers in the Rays' lineup will take a substantial amount of time, so I'll just narrow it down to the two most vital players in their lineup. In my opinion, those two important figures are Carlos Pena and Evan Longoria. Even though some of you who may be reading this are thinking "why not Carl Crawford," I truly believe that this lineup would be substantially weaker without the presence of those two. Pena, despite his low batting average of .227, put together another fine season of power at the plate, drilling 39 home runs and driving in 100, all while missing most of the final month of the season. Longoria, on the other hand, put together a fine sophomore season of his own at the plate, going deep 33 times while driving in 113, to go along with a solid .281 batting average. While Tampa Bay's lineup features good contact hitting and a lot of speed, the power is what makes the engines really churn. Put all of that together, and you have a lethal lineup that pitchers cannot relax against during any point of the order, one through nine.

In addition to finishing seventh in total runs scored, the Rays also finished sixth in MLB in homers (199), tied for 11th in batting average (.263), and tied for sixth in on-base percentage (.343). As far as overall completeness goes, this is arguably one of the five best lineups in baseball. Makes Mark Buehrle's perfect game against them all the more impressive, does it not?
Final Grade: A+

Pitching:
Alas, we have reached the Achilles' heel of Tampa Bay in 2009, and that was their pitching. The key to their success in 2008 was the progression of the young starters, to go along with a vastly improved bullpen. However, this year's rotation regressed a bit, probably due in part to overall fatigue from the amount of innings they threw last year. Their staff ERA, as a whole, fell from third in 2008 (3.82) to 14th (4.33), and the total amount of runs they gave up increased to 754, up from 671 last year. The two biggest drop-offs in the starting rotation were Andy Sonnanstine and Scott Kazmir, who each saw their ERAs balloon to over five. In Kazmir's case, his regression was probably a deciding factor in him getting traded to the Angels on August 28, in one of the more puzzling moves during the season.

Despite the regression of their staff as a whole, one pitcher in their rotation only got better, and that was rookie Jeff Niemann. He was part of their rotation from day one, starting in 30 games and compiling a 13-6 record with a decent 3.94 ERA. His performance was good enough for him to receive Rookie of the Year consideration, and it was certainly good enough to ensure him of a spot in the rotation for 2010.

Their bullpen was still pretty solid, as J.P. Howell and Dan Wheeler led the way this past season. They each made 69 appearances, while recording ERAs of 2.84 and 3.28, respectively. While the blown saves were conspicuously high for Howell (he had a whopping eight of them), this also came from a guy who is ordinarily not a closer. The lack of a true "lights-out" guy to close out games in their 'pen is just another thing that hurt their pitching last year.

Another thing that hurt their 'pen last year was the regression of hard-throwing righty Grant Balfour. In 2008, he was one of the best relievers in baseball, putting together a 1.54 ERA in 58.1 innings. This year, he was significantly worse, as he recorded a 4.81 ERA in 67.1 innings. If there is any evidence as to how relievers can be unpredictable from one year to the next, this certainly has to be it.

Overall, Tampa Bay's pitching staff was not bad by any means. In fact, I wouldn't even call them mediocre, because they were still pretty solid as a unit. However, they play in the AL East, which is very unforgiving. If there is any tiny slip-up in any part of your team, chances are you will be on the outside looking in once the postseason starts.
Final Grade: B-

Wild Card: Team Speed
Playing a game against Tampa Bay is like coming out for a track meet. They led the majors in stolen bases this year with 194, a staggering 45 more than the next-fastest team, the Texas Rangers. Also, once they steal, they don't get caught much either, as their 76 percent success rate tied for fourth in MLB, too. Left fielder Carl Crawford led the team with 60 steals, followed by center fielder B.J. Upton's 42. Shortstop Jason Bartlett even got in on the act, stealing 30 of his own. Having this much team speed can certainly get into the head of just about any pitcher in baseball.
Final Grade: A+

Overall:
Don't let this team fool you by their final record; this is a really good team. Their pitching might have slipped a bit, but their lineup was still fantastic this past season. If their pitching bounces back, expect this team to be right in the thick of things next year. They are not going anywhere.
Final Grade: B

Check back tomorrow for the report card on the Seattle Mariners!