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2008 Tampa Bay Rays Picks & Predictions

May 22, 2008


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The Tampa Bay franchise finally realized that there was nothing devilish about getting beat up on season after season so they dropped the “Devil” from there name all together. Find out in Dave Price’s 2008 Tampa Bay Rays predictions is the name change will do any good.

Pitching

The Devil Rays have three solid starters and two they’d like to trade in for something better. Southpaw Scott Kazmir is 33-26 the past three seasons on a team that it 162-266 during that span. Kazmir went 13-9 last season with a 3.48 ERA. He could have been a 20-game winner for the Yanks as he often suffers from lack of run support. Number two pitcher James Shields is the only pitcher in baseball with a 5-to-1 strikout-to-walk ratio. He went 12-8 last season with a 3.85 ERA. The Rays brought in Matt Garza, the Twins number one pitching prospect to further bolster the starting rotation. He has a big upside. Edwin Jackson and Andy Sonnanstine are the bottom two guys and that’s where the big drop off happens. Jackson has the second highest ERA in baseball since 2004 and Sonnanstine is the master of meltdowns. Still, both are young and the Rays will stick with them for now. The Rays brought in Troy Percival to close and will look to Dan Wheeler and Al Reyes to be the main setup men. David Price is, of course, my favorite Rays pitcher. He is listed as the eighth best prospect in baseball. The Vanderbilt lefty was the number one overall draft pick in 2007 and I look for him to be making noise in the bigs sometime soon.

Offense

The Tampa Bay Rays have an excellent outfield. Centerfielder B.J. Upton hit .300 last season with 24 homeruns, 82 RBIs, and 22 steals in 129 games. Leftfielder Carl Crawford hit .315 with 11 round trippers, 80 RBIs, and 50 steals. Rightfielder Rocco Baldelli had an injury-plagued 2007, but averages 19 homeruns, 85 RBIs, and 22 steals per 162 games. First baseman Carlos Pena busted out the whooping stick and hit 46 bombs and added 121 RBIs last season, becoming just the 11th AL player ever to have a 45-homer/120-RBI/100 walk season. The rest of the infield sticks are unproven, but the Rays are expecting big things from third baseman Evan Longoria. He was the 2007 Double-A Southern League Player of the Year and is listed as baseball’s number two overall top prospect.

Defense

The middle infield could struggle for the Rays as Akinori Iwamura is expected to move from third to second. He set an AL rookie record for fielding percentage at third and will eventually be alright at second after he masters the nuances of the spot. The real problem will likely be at short. Ex-Twin Jason Bartlett has an AL-high 26 errors in 2007. How Longoria does at the hot corner in his first full season is yet to be seen. The outfield is stacked with speed and talent. These guys can do it all in every facet of the game.

Tampa Bay is overflowing with young talent and one would think at some point that it would have to be enough to compete with the Red Sox and the Yankees. I like Tampa Bay to get out of the AL East cellar this season and they could challenge the Blue Jays for third if the ball bounces the right way in a few games.

Dave Price has been baseball’s elite handicapper the past decade as his innate ability to pick underdogs allows clients to win more while risking less. Make sure you’re along for another profitable ride in 2008.

Odds to win AL East: 22/1

Odds to win AL Pennant: 30/1

Odds to win World Series: 80/1

AL East

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