Guys, I think that rainout the Rays had against the Yankees last month changed the course of their season. Before then they'd been on top of the world, since then they're 7-15. Mind you, they had 15 losses by that point in May anyway, and they've doubled that in less than a month. Could it be that resting a team on the laurels of an ace who hasn't pitched in 3 years, a speedy hitter who refuses to hit home runs, a production machine that can't play first, the single worst everyday hitter in baseball this decade, and the Rays' worst bullpen since pre-Cash, hasn't turned out to be as strong of a strategy as they thought?
I continue to not understand why the Rays continue to trot Taylor Walls out there. He's one of the best shortstops in the game defensively, that bit I understand, but that's literally it. He's once again absolutely refusing to hit and he's still getting the starts. If this Rays team was as good as it claims to be, there'd be someone who can actually hit playing shortstop and Walls would just be a sturdy ute. But they couldn't have that. I say that, but we've seen Cedric Mullins hit in Baltimore and it's just not happening here, he's a .198 hitter with barely any real upsides this year. The gap between the production core, Caminero, Aranda and Diaz, and everything else is ASTOUNDING. This is why you don't trade Brandon Lowe, because you go from a very varied, consistent lineup to three great power hitters and a lot of dead air. Throwing in Ryan Vilade and Ben Williamson helps on occasion but I don't know if they've really found a working model for success yet. That's a wild thing to say about a 2nd place team still in reach of a division title, but it seems true now.
And it makes the hitters that are working even more valuable. When the Franco thing happened, the immediate inclination was to rush Junior Caminero, and that's how we got like 2 seasons where Caminero would show up midyear, not do much and not make camp next spring. Then 2025 happens, he's for real, this is the guy...we're on firmer ground. Right now Caminero's hitting .272 with 15 homers and 33 RBIs. Not quite as huge as 2025 so far, but on a decent pace, and possibly on the way to another ASG nod. And he's only 22. I really think this guy is the future for Tampa, and I really think they ought to figure out a way to keep him on long term. It worked for Yandy Diaz, he's still an excellent power bat all this time later. They need to lock him down, and it sucks that a lockout might not even make that a further possibility.
This team has enough production to keep ahead of the pack, and enough solid pitching seasons [Rasmussen, Martinez and until recently McClanahan] to equalize competitors. It just hasn't been as forceful since mid-May, and as such the Yankees have retaken the division [and considering what they've done to the White Sox this week, may hold onto it]. You can never truly count the Rays out, but unless they can fix the lineup dissonance this may be all they can do this year.
Coming Tomorrow- Undoubtedly the single most dominant pitcher of the 2020s. Like a switch flipped.
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