Conventional sports wisdom says, if you have an area in which your team is weak, spend the off season
Troy Percival hopes to rebound from last seasons injury to help lead the Rays bullpen and close down games for the defending AL East Champs.
working towards making that area of your team better.
Focus your resources on finding the pieces you need to help develop a weak area of play.
If you are horrible defensively in the outfield, spend your money on a Gold Glove caliber outfielder.
If your team is slower than John Kruk on the base paths, then put a lil money in grabbing some players that can run.
Makes great sense to most people.
Then, there is the other school of thought : take what you are already good at, and make yourself world class.
Last season, the Rays bullpen was one of the better in baseball.
Led by Troy Percival, Grant Balfour JP Howell, Dan Wheeler, Chad Bradford and Trever Miller, the Rays relievers pitched their was to a 3.55 ERA, which was 5th in all of baseball.
Couple that with the breakout performance we saw towards the end of the season from future ace David Price, and the fact we are sure to see prospect Jeff Neimann finally make the Major League roster this season because the team is out of options for him, and it looks as if the Rays would be poised for another season of strong relief appearances in 2009.
So, why did the team spend money on relieves Lance Cormier, Joe Nelson and Brian Shouse this off-season?
I can think of three reasons:
1. A season of major league baseball is a long strenuous calendar. You can never have enough depth to make it through a grueling 162 game schedule. Last season, with no pitchers sustaining a major injury other than closer Percival—who is almost eligible for a senior citizen discount in comparison to his young, spry teammates–was sure to be an anomaly. It is very rare that a team can say they suffer no injuries to their hurlers in one season, let alone two.
2. The front office understands that the strength of this organization is its pitching. With a handful of young starters in the fray who are mega talented, the front office brass is going to give them the tools they need to pitch long into games, and have the confidence that they can hand the ball over and still land the win. I do not think I am the only one that likens the trio of Scott Kazmir, James Shields & Matt Garza to Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, & John Smoltz of the early to mid 90’s….couple that with the talent like Wade Davis, Jeremy Hellickson and Jacob McGee waiting in the wings, the Ray’s are filled with young talent ready to go for the future.
3.The Rays have never been in a position where they are EXPECTED to make a post season run, and playing in a division like the AL East, you can guarantee Boston and New York will be in the hunt as usual…and one thing those teams always do is go out and look for talent towards the trade deadline that will help them in the off season. Now, the Rays have to start thinking ahead like that as well…and one thing that teams are ALWAYS looking for when making a trade, is help in their bullpen, as it seems to be the Achilles heal for many straggling squad, so the fact that the Rays are loaded in the pen will give them a lot of bargaining chips when it is time to load up for a World Series run again this year.
I think that the Rays loading up on experienced bullpen hurlers this off season will only help the team improve on its strengths from last season, and make them more formidable late in games. The factor of surprise will not be here for this years squad…it is time to bunker down for teams that will be gunning for us…and Andrew Friedman has helped prepare this years team for that.
Thomas Gemkow is the editor-in-chief of TampaBayRaysFan.com. Founded in January of 2009, TampaBayRaysFan.com is a compilation of all the best of the Rays, from across the web. The website can be followed on Twitter
I think there is another factor. Relievers are notoriously unreliable from year to year. Aside from a few superstar relievers like Rivera, Nathan et al, you cannot expect consistent performance from one year to the next. It is very likely that 2008 is about as good as it ever gets for Balfour and Howell. Wheeler’s peripherals do not support his good results. Both may remain solid, but it is overly optimistic to expect them to remain as outstanding as they were. The best way to prepare for declines is to have as many useful options as possible available so that Maddon can cull through them to pick the ones most likely to contribute.
In fact, I think there are 2 other related factors to consider. It is usually not a good idea to spend a lot of money on the bullpen. Miller was allowed to leave, which meant the Rays lacked a loogy, and some of the signings were intended to find someone who would be successful against them. Bradford and Wheeler are expensive, and I would not be surprised if the Rays are trying to deal them. If they do, they will need replacements.