Record: 14-14
3rd place AL East, 3 1/2 behind Boston; 1/2 back of Toronto for third wild card
Every year in this save the Rays get off to a slow start, hovering around .500 during the first month or two, turn it on and win the division, and then lose in the playoffs. Well you can check off the first part of this for 2034 as a good 14-9 start turned into 14-14 mediocrity after they lost the last five games of the month.
It was a much more tumultuous month than normal on the roster front.
Jose Ramos' return from suspension in Game 4 meant we had to make a move with the OF and it turned into a trade:
Alexis Soto, the rookie who was out of options, was flipped for another OF prospect in Rosas. The 25-year old has 55/45 current contact/power but with potential for 70/60 as well as a 55 eye. He's an average defender in the corners. Rosas has produced in the first month at Durham, hitting 319/375/617 with 8 homers and I'm almost considering bringing him up the way we've been hitting (more on that in a bit).
The wheeling and dealing continued a few days later as we made this blockbuster:
If you're following along you're probably wondering who the heck is Machuca. He's a 17-year-old who was maybe the top player in his amateur IFA class this winter with 70/70 potential and is ranked the #80 prospect. But we're in win-now mode and managed to parlay him into 2/5ths of the Toronto rotation. Yohemas is the real prize - he has 75 stuff as a starter and fanned 239 in 180 innings for Toronto last year. That goes with 65 movement but only 40 control so he did walk 110 in those 180 innings. Still he's a potentially elite starter and has looked the part in his first month in Tampa Bay, as you'll see a bit later. Vela is more of a back-end rotation guy, rated 50/65/60 with potential to go 5 higher in stuff and control and was a pretty good 10-7, 3.75 in 23 starts for Toronto last year. Right now he's in our bullpen but eventually will join the rotation, either later this year or next.
To make room for Yohemas and Vela, we had to move a guy who's been with us for several years:
Kim had been a swingman for us for the last several seasons, usually having a bit more trouble as a starter. The interesting guy for us is Franks, an elite defender in the OF (70 in the corners, 60 in center) with 50 contact, 45 power and 70 gap power. He's also a 70 baserunner/stealer. He had a cup of coffee with the White Sox last year and was a late-month callup for us when
Ben Schmidt went on the IL with a bone bruise that will keep him out until mid-May. Sandoval is an org guy at 1B with 45/50 ratings and potential, so not really a prospect.
Phew! That was more wheeling and dealing than I do typically do in April.
As you can see Tatis is bidding for his 4th straight MVP.
And there you have it - very good pitching and defense and not very good offense. Pythagoras has us at 16-12 which wouldn't be so bad, but the late-inning relief has been inconsistent and our next move might be for a real closer as Juan Nunez has had his struggles after being bumped up to 9th-inning duties. Gotta think positive regression is in store for the bats - just look at some of these numbers:
Oof. Look at some of those numbers. Our twin stars Tatis and Subaru have done their usual thing but aside from them and Crisp, that's about it for production. And nobody's been a bigger bust than $10M free agent signee Ramos, second-from-bottom above. Those are bad numbers for a utility infielder, let alone a guy that's supposed to be a middle-of-the-order force. And I'm not sure what's up with Paino, one of our better players the last couple of seasons. There's just too much awfulness from guys with good track records to think it won't turn around soon but it's incredibly frustrating in the moment.
A much rosier picture here with the once-again rebuilt rotation going swimmingly. Sesay has been what we hoped, Yohemas has been great (although that .152 BABIP isn't sustainable) and Morejon is Yohemas' opposite, largely pitching well but with an inflated BABIP. Nunez as mentioned hasn't been a lockdown closer, and Jones has become a sad story. Last year he might have been our best starter in the first half before getting hurt, now he's not even an effective lefty reliever. Garces was the odd man out of the rotation when Yohemas was acquired but he's capable of starting as is Vela, but no room for them right now.
The farm system is middling. 2031 first-round pick Sullivan is off to a blazing start at AAA and is a definite future Ray, but he only has 30 current power to go with 60 contact so I'm not sure where all the homers are coming from. His potential is 75/50 so I'm sure he'll be up next year at the latest. Cerda is hitting homers at Montgomery but needs more consistency, he's a future big-leaguer and a potential star. New acquisitions Franks and Rosas aren't on here even though they're rookies - Rosas was the #62 overall prospect at the end of last season. With Olivo also looked potentially elite we're awash in future OFs.