The 2021 (and only 2021) Tampa Bay Rays

[Art Deco]

The Rays used mostly reserves in two of the three final play-it-out games of the regular season but still managed to sweep Boston to head into the playoffs on a winning note.

Danny Morales helped pitch the Rays to a 6-1 win in the opener. The righty finished the year 12-9, 3.84 after a solid 5 5 1 1 1 4 final regular season outing and homers from Justin Blackwell (#15, a 2-run shot) and Danny Arroyave (#31, solo) backed him.

Rookie Leo Gutierrez pitched the game of his professional career, leading Tampa Bay to a 2-0 win in the second game. The young lefty was a dominant 6 2 0 0 1 10 and finishes the year 3-4, 4.13.in 13 starts. Eric Lewis completed the shutout and ended his season with 37 saves and Willie Gutierrez homered (#8).

Transaction: OF Bobby Marin and RP Alden Segui were activated from their rehab assignments.

The Rays completed the sweep with a 5-2 win over Boston in the finale. Jeff Coblentz (3-3) was in good form at 5 2 1 1 2 4 in the fill-in start with Jadon Smith earning his 7th save, and Luis Cisneros led the offense by going 2-4 with a homer (#7) and 3 RBI. Danny Arroyave had an early sac fly but couldn't get one more ribbie later and finished on 99.

Final Regular Season Record: 99-63. Next up: We await the winner of the Kansas City-Cleveland wild card series in the ALDS in about 5-6 days. The Royals emerged from the 4-team pile-up for the third wild card, winning over the final two days while red-hot Detroit, which had won 12 straight games and moved into sole possession of the third WC on Friday, lost on Saturday and Sunday to slip back.

[Art Deco]

Despite a lousy defense and only 3 starters I considering reasonably reliable (Marlette, Morales, Scheu), the pitching got it done, leading the league in ERA while the bats were good but not great.



Even though he was coming off a couple of good seasons, I didn't have "Joe Stack leads the team in WAR" on my bingo card coming into the season, but he turned in a very good, consistent performance. Luis Berumen probably would have led the team had he not missed a month, however.



Joe Marlette had his usual Cy-caliber season, making our long-term investment in him look that much better and Jadon Smith had an amazing season as mostly the set-up guy. Signing him and Lewis as free agents was a great move and with Lewis only on a one-year deal Smith should slot in as closer next season. The bullpen was really our true strength, with Moore and Riddick also having outstanding years in middle relief.

[Art Deco]

In the AL:



The Jays advance to play top-seeded Houston. Who do the Rays play?:



They'll be welcoming old friend Orlando Tosado, who led the Royals to two wins in Cleveland, back to Tropicana Field. Tosado had an impressive .273-46-124, 5.2-WAR year with Kansas City.

Over in the NL:



The Cubs will face Miami in an NLDS.



Memphis upset the Dodgers behind the "New A-Rod" as the 25-year-old OF is on the same road to superstardom as the first one with 128 HR in his first 3 MLB seasons and 16.7 WAR in that time, and the Spirit just rewarded him with an 8/284 contract extension to buy out his arb years. Memphis moves on to play St. Louis in a Mississippi River rivalry.

[Art Deco]

A good start...



It wasn't easy, even when the Rays took a 6-2 lead after 6 innings, but they held on in the end to take a 1-0 ALDS lead over the Royals with a 6-5 win. Joe Marlette wasn't his sharpest, giving up a run in the first, somehow getting out of a bases-loaded situation in the 6th and then giving up a 2-run homer in the 7th, but thanks to some quality run support still got the win. Jadon Smith gave up a run to let KC within one and Eric Lewis put two men on in the 9th to make things nerve-wracking but got his 3rd strikeout of the inning to end it. They got some key offensive contributions from a couple of guys who missed all or most of September as Bobby Marin was 3-4 with a homer and Mal Stephens was on base twice, stole one, and scored twice. Danny Morales will try to give us a 2-0 advantage tomorrow. Elsewhere:



Advantage Astros as Mario Guerrero walked it off for Houston with a homer in the 10th.

[Art Deco]

Another nail-biter, another win...



Another one down to the wire but another win in their pocket as the Rays will take a 2-0 ALDS lead to Kansas City after a 3-2 win over the Royals. Danny Morales was outstanding, and Wander Franco's insurance homer in the bottom of the 8th was cashed in when Eric Lewis gave up on of his won leading off the 9th but held on for his second save in as many days. Danny Charlton went yard and the red-hot Bobby Marin was 3-3 to make it 6-7 in the two games so far. Joe Scheu will toe the rubber at Kaufman with a chance to complete the sweep in two days. In the other DS action:

[Art Deco]

[Art Deco]

Movin' on...



Tampa Bay brought out the bats today and completed the sweep of the Royals to advance to the ALCS with a 7-4 win. Danny Charlton's 3-run homer in the 6th broke a back-and-forth game open, his 2nd of the series which earned him series MVP honors. Joe Scheu gave up a lot of hits but got through 5 1/3 for the win while the pen took things from there. Who will we play?



Looking like the Astros for now.

[Art Deco]

All the leading teams took care of business as the 105-win Astros will take on the Rays in the ALCS while St. Louis and Miami set a date in the NLCS.

[Art Deco]

Not great...



We really didn't want to lose the Joe Marlette start, but thanks to Houston's Patrick Upchurch and an offense that took the game off after the first inning, we did and Houston now has a 1-0 lead in the ALCS. Homers from Wander Franco and Danny Arroyave gave the Rays a quick 2-0 lead in the first but Upchurch, who hit .302-54-154 this year, erased that lead with a 2-run shot in the bottom of the inning and then added a 2-run double to put the Astros ahead to stay. And that's where things pretty much stood the rest of the way although in the 9th the Rays loaded the bases with nobody out with a prime chance to pull off the comeback but ended up not scoring anyone. So now Danny Morales will try to keep us out of an 0-2 hole tomorrow.

[Art Deco]

Good thing it's a best-of-7 series...



Once again the Tampa Bay bats were kept in check by a former Ray, and once again they lost to Houston to fall behind 2-0 in the ALCS. And once again we were done in by Patrick Upchurch, who followed up his homer and 4 RBI in Game 1 with a pair of solo homers in Game 2. The difference this time was that the Rays came back and tied it up in the 8th but should have gone ahead with a man on 2nd and nobody out after doing so. They failed of course and Houston responded with the winner in the bottom of the inning when Ajani Riddick came in to face a lefty with two on and two out and gave up a double. So now it's back to the Trop with Joe Scheu trying to get us off the schneid.

In the NLCS:

[Art Deco]

[Art Deco]

It's a series...



The Rays bounced back to take Game 3 and avoided an 0-3 hole behind Joe Scheu, who did his usual "give up a lot of hits but not a lot of runs" thing and three homers, including a key 2-run Joe Stack shot that erased an early Houston lead. Tomorrow we'll go with some combo of rookie Leo Gutierrez and the recently-activated Ron Baer, who was supposed to be a key part of the rotation before tearing his meniscus in early May and missing the rest of the season.

[Art Deco]

Ugh, look at that win probability chart...



Despite falling into an early 5-0 hole (should have started Baer) and despite leaving a ton of runners on through the first 7 innings (looking at you, Willie Gutierrez), the Rays were on the verge of an incredible comeback win thanks to Danny Charlton's clutch, two-out grand slam in the 8th which put them up 7-5. All we needed was for Eric Lewis to do what he had done 40+ times this season and close it out. Of course he didn't, yielding a pair of solo homers to tie it, and the other free agent reliever we spent big $ on, Jadon Smith, couldn't get anyone out in the 10th, giving up 3 runs to put us in a 1-3 series deficit that looks all but impossible to reverse. Joe Marlette will get the first chance to get this Herculean effort started and he'll have to pitch way better than he did in Game 1.

[Art Deco]

Keeping hope alive...



Patrick Upchurch got the better of Joe Marlette again, and the bullpen couldn't keep the ball in the park once again the 9th with a lead, but it didn't matter this time as the Rays kept their season alive with a 6-4 win over the Astros to send the series back to Houston for a Game 6. Danny Arroyave's 3-run homer in the 5th was the big hit, breaking a 2-2 tie and sending Tampa Bay on its way. But for the late meltdown in Game 4 the Rays could be looking at a chance to move on to the World Series; instead they need to win both games in Houston starting with Danny Morales in Game 6.

The Cardinals meanwhile have taken their own commanding lead:

[Art Deco]

Just like the other Florida team, the Marlins took a Game 5 win to stave off elimination:

[Art Deco]

See ya next year...



The Rays might be sipping (or at least wearing) champagne right now if not for the failings of their bullpen - instead they're heading home to St. Pete to clean out their lockers after another crushing loss to the Astros in the ALCS. They fought back from 3-0 on a trio of homers capped by Bobby Marin's solo shot in the 7th which put them up 4-3 but Jadon Smith channeled George Frazier circa 1981 by losing his third game of the series; perhaps asking a second inning from him was too much. Once again that man Patrick Upchurch (unsurprisingly named series MVP) did us in with a 2-run double off Smith to put Houston back on top for good. Joe Stack's second homer of the game made it semi-interesting in the 9th but Tampa Bay came up short again. No shame in losing to the best team in baseball this year I guess, but it's kind of galling that it was a result of what was supposed to be team's strength with the two star closers signed for big free agent deals.

[Art Deco]

And the Astros will face the Cardinals in the World Series for the first time ever, but not the first time in postseason as they played an epic 2005 NLCS back when Houston wasn't an AL team. There will be a summary post for this series.

[Art Deco]

Congrats to the Cardinals in an epic 7-gamer!

[Art Deco]

It was a pretty solid season but we fell to the one team in the AL that was better than us in Houston. It was the third season without a ring but we remain in contention and that's all you can ask. The good news is that most of the band should be back for 2037 and that includes Wander Franco, who unsurprisingly exercised his player option at $30M for the final year of his contract. Franco is now "wrecked" and missed half the season last year, earning only 2.2 WAR and perhaps that's all we can hope for from him next year.

The one area of the team that's going to require some rebuilding is the bullpen as Eric Lewis, Mike Moore, Nick Wallerstedt, and Alden Segui are all free agents as is starter Ron Baer, who Baer-ly pitched for us last season with only 5 starts before tearing his meniscus. Also Jeff Coblentz will be non-tendered. We're getting a $160M payroll and our salary obligations are going to be in the $140-145M range so we'll have to find some inexpensive replacements.

The position-by-position outlook:

C: Willie Gutierrez had a solid second season for us and returns as the starter. Javy Denton was adequate as a rookie backup while Billy Doughty remains a solid prospect who had a bit of a down year but still could be our catcher of the future.

1B: Joe Stack had an outstanding year and provided Gold Glove D at the position in addition to his 30+ homers.

2B: Wander is back for one more year and given his fragility, it will be important to have a quality backup.

SS: Justin Blackwell returns.

3B: Ditto Danny Arroyave.

IF: Luis Cisneros will return as the primary IF backup and he hit 23 HR between Durham and Tampa Bay last year. Agustin Lopez could be back too as he is a high-contact guy with questionable D.

LF: Luis Berumen is one of the great up-and-coming young hitters in the league.

CF: Alex Rivas had a disappointing season at only 1.3 WAR playing full-time after earning 2.7 WAR in 2035 in substantially fewer at-bats. A bounce-back would be nice.

RF: Bobby Marin has the ratings (65 contact, 60 power) but it hasn't translated into results as he hit 242/299/391 last season before turning it on in the playoffs. He has a couple of threats to his job in Mal Stephens, who was .260-17-42 in a half-season's worth of ABs, and Duk-yoon Ko, the Korean Kyle Schwarber but with excellent defense in RF.

DH: Danny Charlton and his prodigious power return.

Others: Claus Hoppenbrouwers was totally lost at the plate (213/276/295) but is still potentially an above-average MI who can also play the OF. We're still hoping he's Wander's replacement but he'll need to show more this year.

Rotation: Marlette, Morales and Scheu give us a great 1-2-3 punch and Leo Gutierrez has a golden arm and can hopefully stay healthy to give us a solid #4. We're going to have to come up with a fifth starter however. Dwayne Marion is a fine prospect but needs to improve on his 35 control to be MLB-ready, so more likely we're going to have to scrounge somebody up.

Bullpen: Again the big makeover although Jadon Smith will close. Ruben Abeyta (R) and Ajani Riddick (L) look like the primary setup men with lefty Gammage and righty Bridgewater returning. Going to need 3-4 more arms though.

So our goals are simple - with the entire lineup (and bench) returning we're going to have find at least one starter and several bullpen arms.

[Art Deco]

Retirements of note: Juan Soto (Cardinals retired his #29), Cody Bellinger (likewise the Dodgers with #35), Ozzie Albies, Eloy Jimenez, Luis Robert, Yordan Alvarez, Jose Ramirez, Kyle Tucker, Alex Verdugo. Bellinger retired with 650 homers, 9th all-time while Soto had 583, tied for 14th all-time with Mark McGwire.

Former Rays: Shane McClanahan, William Contreras, Landon Knack, Ed Howard, CJ Abrams, Slade Cecconi, Francisco Mejia.

Awards season:

Gold Glove: Joe Stack continues to stack Gold Gloves on his mantle as he took the AL award at 1B for the third straight season.

Reliever of the Year: Eric Lewis has 350 career saves and now has his first Reliever of the Year award, taking 29 of 30 votes (I voted for Jadon Smith and his 3.3 WAR!) thanks to his 37-save, 2.01 ERA season. The NL award went to Miami's Marco Briendembach, who saved 54 games with a 1.46 ERA. And again I was the skunk at the party who kept him from being unanimous as I voted for former Ray and current National Devon Williams.

Silver Slugger: No Rays were winners, nor did I expect them to be.

Rookie of the Year: Darius Williams of San Antonio had one of the great rookie seasons of all-time and was a unanimous winner at .358-40-118 with 7.8 WAR; he'll be in the MVP mix as well. Over in the NL St Louis OF Victor Valero was a more conventional winner with a very good but not otherworldly .291-20-63 with quality D good for 4.0 WAR and 30 of 32 first-place votes.

Cy Young: Joe Marlette had a Cy-caliber season (he kind of got shafted by finishing 5th) but he had the misfortune to have it the same year as Baltimore's Joe White, who was 14-11 but with a 3.15 ERA and 354(!) strikeouts in 248 IP and led the majors in WAR (and not just pitcher WAR) with 8.4. He only garnered 23 of the 32 first-place votes though with former Ray and current Astro Jake Baldino finishing 2nd. In the NL it was who else but another former Ray, James Hays, taking home his 6th Cy Young in a Hall-of-Fame bound career after another sterling season of 17-6, 2.62 with 273 whiffs in 216 IP.

MVP: I mentioned in the rookie voting that Darius Williams would be in the mix and he did finish 3rd but lost out to teammate Hector Ruiz, who was .336-50-132 with a league-best 8.3 batter WAR. Houston's Patrick Upchurch, who killed us in the playoffs, finished 2nd. The NL winner was Philly's Mario Velasquez, who put 1930s-style numbers at .303-60-167, the most RBI in a single season since Jimmy Foxx's 175 in 1938 and tied for 11th best all-time. Manny Ramirez's 165 in 1999 was the closest modern season. He wasn't unanimous though as James Hays stole a single first-place vote.

November 29: Made our first big trade of the winter:



Bobby Marin has sported 65 contact and 60 power ratings during his 2 1/2-year tenure with the Rays but has only managed to accumulate a grand total of 3 WAR over that span with his totals decreasing each year as this season he hit 242/299/391 and was only good for 0.5 WAR despite 425 AB. But thanks to those excellent ratings he still commanded a lot of interest on the trade market so we took advantage and replaced with a slightly-younger, possibly better OF with much less experience in Fisher, ranked as the #64 prospect overall and who has 55/65 hitting ratings with 60 potential contact. He acquitted himself decently (273/379/453) in 161 AB for the Spirit and will figure into the RF mix with Mal Stephens and Duk-yoon Ko. Also coming over in the deal was a much-needed reliever in Coggin, who was good for 1.4 WAR out of the Memphis pen last year and is rated 60/65/50. The other guy we threw in, Gutierrez, was way down our C depth chart and is a C prospect at best.

December 6: A couple of free agents of note signed. Former Rays star Orlando Tosado joined the Mets for 5/127 coming off a 46-HR, 124-RBI season with Kansas City. And 38-year-old Bo Bichette is still plugging along, getting a 3/75 contract with the Cubs. He was .289-18-73 last season with San Diego but had an MVP-caliber .336-38-125 year in 2035.

December 16: Nick Wallerstedt, who pitched for us a swing role the last couple years with mediocre results, signed a 1/2.6 deal with the Dodgers.

December 20: Added P Dwyane Marion and OF/P Sergio Espinoza to the 40-man roster.

Rule 5 draft ahead, and Marion is our top starter prospect at the moment while Espinoza has intriguing two-way ability although his ceiling is about average to slightly above-average. We still have 4 open slots on the 40-man so we may go for someone in the draft, especially a reliever.

December 21: Drafted P Jamie Arnold from Houston; lost IF Bryan Rocchio to the Chicago White Sox.

Arnold is a 32-year-old lefty who was the best-rated player available (3 stars) and rates 60-50-65 as a reliever although he was most recently a starter in the bigs before spending last year in AAA as a reliever. He would give us a third lefty in the pen behind Riddick and Gammage so it's not a lock he sticks but depth is always good. Rocchio was a minor league vet of our own who was highly unlikely to be added to the big club.

December 29: Signed free agent P Mario Urizar to a minor league contract for $1.4M if promoted.

Not sure why he came so cheap, considering he saved 21 games for Boston last season with a 3.75 ERA. Despite being used exclusively in relief last year Urizar can also start (75 stamina) and is rated 50/75/55 as a starter (the stuff ticks up to 55 in relief). He could be our 5th starter, he could be a bullpen arm.