June 1, 2008
IT IS easy, even with the best two months in Tampa Bay's history now logged, to make the Rays about the future. To make them about 2009 and '10 and beyond.
The Rays entered yesterday with the AL's best record. Yet it is so new to think of Tampa Bay as anything but the franchise that has never won more than 70 games. It is still easier to think of these two months as a nice indicator of where it is heading in years to come rather than imagine that maybe it is heading some place positive for September and October. This September and October.
So consider this: Say every Yankee and every Ray were made available in a dispersal draft and you had to pick 15 simply for 2008. Forget about salaries and who might be better in years to come. You just want to pick the 15 you imagine helping the most the rest of this year.
Now pick. What you will learn is the Yanks do not have a slam dunk even if you decide the future is now. One of five executives polled picked just five Tampa Bay players. But two of the executives actually gave Tampa Bay a majority of eight.
The unanimous picks were Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, Chien-Ming Wang and Joba Chamberlain for the Yanks, and Scott Kazmir, James Shields, Carl Crawford, B.J. Upton and Evan Longoria for Tampa. If you accept those nine, the battle was over the other six slots. Mariano Rivera, Robinson Cano and Andy Pettitte were on four ballots. So let's give the Yanks those, as well. So we are down to three spots. Jorge Posada, Johnny Damon, Hideki Matsui, Bobby Abreu, Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy all received votes for the Yanks. Dan Wheeler, J.P. Howell, Carlos Pena, Matt Garza, Edwin Jackson and the ultimate wild card, David Price, received votes for Tampa.
My extra three would be Garza, Price and Posada. That would give the Yanks an 8-7 edge. But also would emphasize the point of this exercise: The Rays are a challenge to the Yankees and the entire AL. Now.
"I see no reason why they are not real," said Yankees GM Brian Cashman, who was not part of the survey. "They have a defense like the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. They don't give away much. They have excellent pitching. And they can put points on the board. If you have pitching and defense, to me, you are in the race, and they have pitching and defense."
What they don't have is much experience, and one AL executive said, "Let's see how they handle pressure as the season goes along. And let's see how they endure a long season of meaningful games, especially the pitchers."
But being a young team such as Tampa Bay in 2008 might be less detrimental than being an old team such as the Yankees. That is where I begin my five reasons why I think the Rays are in the race to stay:
