A good first half for the Rays at 51-29, especially considering there was an 8-game losing streak in the middle. This puts us on pace for 102/103 wins but last year we had a great first half then were terrible in the second and finished 89-73 as I still haven't hit 90 wins in this save.
We're dominant at home, so-so on the road. The offense, as one might expect with players like Franco, Albies, Soto and Bregman (and the emerging Mead) is the best in the league, but the pitching has been quite schizophrenic. The starters have been up (McClanahan, Swanda), down (Rasmussen) and all around (Patino, Chirinos) and while the bullpen has a sterling 2.76 ERA they seem to have a knack for giving runs at the most inopportune moments. And the defense is just as head-scratching as we have a horrible BABIP resulting in a ton of hits, but the zone rating is above average.
The offense has been carried by a couple of guys having MVP-caliber seasons in Bregman and Soto and couple just below that with Franco and Arozarena. But at the other end of the spectrum we've had some lineup spots that have been near-zeroes and one of them surprisingly is Ozzie Albies, who got off to the hottest of starts in April but has been pretty awful in May and June. And now that Mead is entrenched at 1B the DH role continues to be a problem as Vaughn hasn't hit much and Meadows, who does seems to have a knack for driving in runs (21 in 22 games), is overall not that great since the acquisition. And we're carrying Josh Lowe, who has been sub-replacement this year with a complete inability to get anything going offensively after a nice 4-WAR season last year.
As mentioned above the pitching has been a mixed bag, but Chris Gau has really turned into a multi-inning weapon in the pen and deserves a spot in the All-Star Game (he got my vote). Meanwhile Patino and Rasmussen have in particular been victims of our BABIP troubles. Shane Baz should be able to go on a rehab assignment next week and his return will be welcome as we seem to be locked in mortal combat with the Yankees.
For those wondering if I'll be active in trade market keep in mind that we only have $6.3M in payroll available so anything is going to have been close to dollar-for-dollar or any large deal is going to have to involve salary retention from the other team. Odds are if I feel the need for help I might turn to Durham where Casey Schmitt and Josh Mears are more than ready to contribute on the offensive side while pitching-wise top-100 prospect Sandy Gaston has his 70 stuff (77 whiffs in 42 IP so far) available for the pen and Taj Bradley could be called upon to start. In fact, here's a look at where our top prospects stand:
