ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Spring training hardly went
according to the script for the Tampa Bay Rays, especially against the backdrop
of all those glowing World Series projections that greeted the club at the
start of camp.
Instead, one of the AL East’s lesser but promising powers, the Toronto Blue
Jays, played the starring role with baseball’s best record at 24-7.
The Rays? Not so much.
There was the unrelenting wave of injuries almost from the outset and
continuing through this week, with the announcement that closer Kyle Farnsworth
will be heading to the 15-day disabled list with a recurrence of elbow
soreness.
There were the frequently quiet bats — with the Rays ranking last among all 32
MLB teams this spring with an average of .231 and second-to-last in runs scored
with 114. With a 10-16 spring record, the Rays were second to last in the AL
and fifth worst in the majors.
Of course, it’s dangerous to read too much into won-loss records during spring
training. Fortunately for the Rays, nothing counts until Friday, when they open
the 2012 season against the potent division rival New York Yankees — the team
they caught from behind 8-7 in Game 162 last September to clinch the AL wild-card
berth.
More telling are individual spring-training trends. So should there be a concern
that first baseman Carlos Pena, making his triumphant return to the Rays after
a season with the Cubs, hit only .107 (6-for-56) with 23 strikeouts and just one
homer? Will those struggles carry over – or will Pena get back in the long-ball
groove?
From a sheer physical perspective, the spring took its toll on the Rays as they
prepared for the new campaign, hoping to reach the playoffs for the fourth time
in five years under manager Joe Maddon.
Centerfielder B.J. Upton, still experiencing back stiffness from his collision
with left fielder Desmond Jennings three weeks ago, will miss the first 15 days
of the season on the DL. Farnsworth’s absence is an initial setback for the
bullpen. Plus, there’s the loss of backup outfielder and resident speedster Sam
Fuld, who will miss the four or five months because he required wrist surgery
on Tuesday.
The Rays did manage to play markedly better during the final week of Grapefruit
League action. Key players such as Evan Longoria, who missed 10 days early in
camp after his hand was struck by a practice-game pitch, regained his power
stroke. Jennings, bothered recently by a sore throwing shoulder, returned to
health and showed off his own power with three homers in one game last week. New
DH Luke Scott, a prized free-agent pickup in the offseason, started hitting
more consistently in recent games.
“The last week was huge for us, to all get out there together,” Longoria said
Wednesday. “You learn a lot when you’re all out there on the field together. So
it was definitely a huge, growing week for us, and a step in the right
direction for the season.”
Meanwhile, Tampa Bay’s vaunted pitching staff began gelling as well – not just
rotation ace James Shields, who enjoyed a standout spring on the heels of his
career year in 2011. There were strong end-of-spring efforts from the rest of
the starting five: David Price, AL Rookie of the Year Jeremy Hellickson, hot-shot,
left-handed rookie Matt Moore and Jeff Niemann, who edged out bullpen-bound
Wade Davis for the final spot.
The adversity the Rays have faced in the past month is nothing compared to the
obstacles that marked the start of the 2011 season. They lost free-agent
slugger Manny Ramirez to retirement and Longoria to an oblique strain out of
the box, en route to the 0-6 and 1-8 hole – before digging themselves out and
eventually earning the AL wild-card berth with a torrid September, a Red Sox
collapse and a storybook season-finale.
Not surprisingly, their immediate goal is to avoid a poor start now – something
that could prove particularly damaging given the difficulty of their early
schedule. After the opening weekend series against the Yankees, they face a
daunting road swing with three games in Detroit, four in Boston and three in
Toronto.
“There’s no denying that, we want to get off to a strong start,” Maddon said.
“It’s very important. We proved that we can do it another way last year like we
did. However, it’s not the easy or the right way to do it. We prefer getting
off to a good start. Our schedule is not easy, but that’s OK, because I really
believe it brings out the best in us when we play the better teams.”
As usual, Maddon will have plenty of moving parts with the lineup — most
notably at shortstop, where Sean Rodriguez, Reid Brignac and even Elliot
Johnson could divide the role.
Here’s a look at how the team shapes up:
RIGHT FIELD: The Rays are in good shape. It should be another time-share
with Ben Zobrist and Matt Joyce, with likely more of Zobrist while Upton is out
of the lineup. The switch-hitting ultra-utility Zobrist is an important cog in
the Tampa Bay engine, coming off a .269 season with 46 doubles, six triples, 20
homers and 91 RBI.
Expect to see Zobrist getting ample work at second as usual this season. Joyce
is hoping to build on All-Star season in which he .277 with 19 homers and 75
RBI. What he wants is more chances to prove he can hit lefties and he may well
get it this season, playing both in right — at least for the short term — and left.
Defensively, both players more than hold their own.
CENTER FIELD: This is Upton territory when healthy, but for now,
Jennings is leasing the property. Judging how well he played left after his
July call-up, the Rays will be in good hands, though Jennings’ recently sore
shoulder might affect his arm strength, at least initially. Jennings is an
exciting player to watch in the field, on the bases and at the plate. He’s the
quintessential leadoff hitter and has power as well. After he red-hot start
last summer, Jennings tailed off and finished at .259 with 10 homers in 247 at-bats.
But he got on another tear in the playoffs and has followed with an excellent
spring (.327 average with a .531 slugging percentage).
Upton missed out on about half his normal number of at-bats, so he’ll likely
spend some time in Durham during his rehab to get back on track. He still hits
for a low average (.243 and .231 respectively in the last two years) but Upton
is still a key man in the lineup, having hit 23 homers with 27 doubles and four
triples last year, while also stealing 36 bases. During his absence, it’s
possible that Zobrist and Johnson could also fill in a bit in center.
LEFT FIELD: Until Jennings returns, Joyce should see ample action in
left. But newly called-up rookie utility man Stephen Vogt could play there,
too. Vogt is capable of playing multiple spots, including first and catcher,
where he could enter games late to replace Jose Molina or Jose Lobaton. According
to Maddon, Vogt runs well and he’s shown he can hit. During the spring,
he was 10-for-31 with three doubles and a triple, and he has a .305 lifetime
average in five minor league seasons.
SHORSTOP: Though the aforementioned triumvirate of Rodriguez, Brignac
and Johnson will all play short, the starting job belongs now to Rodriguez,
Maddon said Wednesday. Rodriguez came on strong late last season after moving
over from second, and impressed the skipper throughout the spring with his
strong defense. “You’ve seen it already this camp, how well he’s played
shortstop,” Maddon said. “I’ve always felt that Reid was the best defensive
shortstop that we had in the organization and would still probably have to give
the edge overall to him. But Sean’s really closed the gap on him.”
How much either player can contribute offensively remains to be seen. Rodriguez
hit .223 last year, but enjoyed a decent spring at .260. Brignac plunged to
.193 in 2011, and because of a painful foot condition (plantar fascia) this
spring, he only had 30 at-bats, but hit .333. Both players fared better
offensively in 2010 (.251 for Rodriguez; Brignac .256 as a rookie) and some
improved work at the plate would certainly make a difference for the Rays this
season. Johnson, a switch-hitter, hit .194 last season and .169 in spring
training, so don’t expect much impact, aside from some occasional power bursts.
THIRD BASE: The last thing Longoria wanted after missing the first month
of the season last year was to get hurt this spring. But that’s what happened
when a Matt Bush fastball nailed Longoria in an intra-squad game at the start
of camp. -- Who knew that it would be the least of Bush’s troubles? Three weeks
later, he’d be in jail charged with DWI in Port Charlotte, Fla., leaving a
motorcyclist in a coma. Bush was slapped with $1 million bail after leaving the
scene of the accident.
Longoria, however, has slowly regained his feel at the plate. He closed camp
hitting .283 with three doubles and four homers. “I felt really good over the
past week,” he said. “The productivity has been there. But really, that’s not
what I’ve been looking at. I’ve been looking at the quality of at-bats and how
my body is feeling going seven and eight innings. And all of that is positive.”
Longoria made some uncharacteristic errors defensively this spring, but he
remains one of the best fielding third basemen in the game.
SECOND BASE: It will be interesting to see what kind of contribution
newly acquired Jeff Keppinger will make. Conventional wisdom is that he’ll
split time with Zobrist and start against lefties. Keppinger hit .290 facing
southpaws last year and is a career .324 hitter lifetime against them.
Keppinger is also one of the toughest players in baseball to strike out,
ranking No. 2 among active major leaguers with only one K in every 16.1 at
bats.
FIRST BASE: Pena’s return has been widely acclaimed by teammates and
many Rays fans. He’s a natural team leader, a top-tier defender and a player
capable of hitting 30 homers. But the Rays’ all-time home run leader has hit
.225, .196 and .227 in three consecutive seasons. Maddon attributes Pena’s low
average, in part, to the heavy shift defenses employ against him. “In spite of
Carlos’ batting average, and I’m not even worried about that because he’s
always skewed by the defenses, I think he looks good,” the skipper said. If
Pena hits his normal range of homers (28 apiece in 2010 and 2011, 39 in 2009
before CC Sabathia broke two of Pena’s fingers with a misplaced fastball on
Labor Day), then he’ll be the power player the Rays need at the position.
CATCHER: Molina gives the Rays something they haven’t had in a long
time, a catcher who can play good defense — and also hit. He’s coming off a
.281 season with Toronto and possesses a great arm. But Molina also scored high
marks for his work with pitchers this spring, especially youngsters like
Hellickson and Moore. The only down side is that Molina hasn’t caught 97 games
in a season since 2008 (only 48, 56 and 49 the past three seasons).
That means the Rays will need a solid contribution for Lobaton, whose Rays
debut was derailed by injury soon after his call-up last year. He’s received rave
reviews in Durham, and had a good spring at the plate (14-for-50, .280),
including 4-for-8 in his last two games. Vogt could wind up spotting both
catchers as a late-game fill-in.
DH: All eyes are on Scott, the former Orioles slugger who was brought in
to replace Johnny Damon and increase the power quotient. Scott’s 2011 season
was interrupted by a shoulder injury, but prior to that the lefty hitter
totaled 23, 25 and 27 homers the previous three seasons. He’s still not healthy
enough to throw from the outfield, but could be by May or June. For now,
Scott’s job is to give the Rays more pop at the plate. Though he hit only .216
in Grapefruit League play, he did come on toward the end with five hits in five
of his last six games (including .333 over a five-game stretch).
STARTING PITCHING: The Rays are well-known for their abundance of
talented arms. Four of the starting five — Shields, Price, Hellickson and
Niemann — won in double digits last year. Judging from his spectacular showing
in limited action in 2011, Moore is more than capable of that this season. The
staff, as always, is the backbone of the Rays and the reason behind so many
lofty predictions for the club this season.
BULLPEN: Farnsworth’s setback is a downer for what looks like an
improved unit. The sore elbow bothered him down the stretch and in the postseason,
and it flared up again. The Rays need him back in good health, following his
standout season with 25 saves in 31 opportunities.
The upside is that the ‘pen boasts an experienced closer in Fernando Rodney
(who saved 37 of 38 games with Detroit in 2009 and gives the Rays another
option, along with versatile Joel Peralta. J.P. Howell hasn’t been himself
since his shoulder surgery that wiped out his 2010 season and limited him in
2011. But he’s feeling better than he has prior to the injury and could
contribute in a big way in a set-up role. Starter Davis will likely see his
share of long relief stints in his new bullpen assignment. And Burke Badenhop
from the Marlins gives the Rays a proven specialist in inducing ground balls.
If Farnsworth returns quickly at full strength, this could be an outstanding
group.
OVERALL: The Rays’ formula for success has been built around top-flight
pitching and defense, and it’s the same now. The Rays finished second-to-last
in the AL in hitting last year at .244 and their offensive struggles this
spring suggest they won’t be a juggernaut this year, either. “We know that
defense and pitching wins,” Howell said. “We can get a bunch of home run hitters
who can’t play defense and that would be brutal. I’d rather have guys who can
swing it pretty decent, but play amazing defense and have a good attitude. That
wins championships and that’s what we’re doing this year. ... We’re not going to
win games 9-7. It’s going to be 4-1 or 3-2 or whatever. It’ll be a low-scoring
game, and that’s what we’re strongest in.”
Their task won’t be easy in the power-packed AL East, where they Yankees have
improved their pitching and remain offensively dangerous, and the Red Sox are
looking revitalized under new manager Bobby Valentine. Toronto could be in the
mix as well under second-year manager John Farrell. The Rays could find
themselves in another formidable hole if they don’t start off strong, and it
won’t be any easier missing several key pieces in Upton and Farnsworth.
“I really believe we’re going to be able to recover,” Maddon said. “We’ve
done it in the past. Last year, for instance, we missed Longo the entire first
month of the season. If you go back to 2008, it was a long and distinguished
group of people we were missing that entire season. ... We can overcome that
stuff. That’s not my concern, because during the course of the year, you’re
going to have bad things happen.
“But how you approach that and deal with it as a group sets you apart. I think
we normally handle it pretty well. And I really anticipate our guys doing the
same thing this time around, too.”
ROSTER FINALIZED: The Rays announced their 25-man roster late Wednesday
afternoon. Pitchers (12): right-handers Badenhop, Davis, Farnsworth, Hellickson,
Niemann, Peralta, Rodney and Shields; lefties Howell, Jake McGee, Moore and Price;
Catchers (2): Lobaton and Molina; Infielders (7): Brignac, Johnson, Keppinger, Longoria,
Peña, Rodriguez and Scott; Outfielders (4): Jennings, Joyce, Vogt and Zobrist.
Upton (lower back soreness) and catcher Robinson Chirinos (concussion) were
placed on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to March 26. Fuld (right
wrist surgery) was placed on the 15-day DL effective Wednesday, though he will
be out much of the season. Farnsworth is expected to go to the DL by Friday,
buying the Rays more time to figure out who will replace him temporarily.
