Return to Baz

 

I think the theme of this Rays season has been 'well, these things we had didn't work, why not try these other things we also had that we haven't been able to use yet this year? Oh, that doesn't work either. Ah.'

Shane Baz, Drew Rasmussen and Jeffrey Springs are all active and making progress in the Rays' rotation. Springs just had a vintage start, and he's got a 3.67 ERA in 6 games back. Baz has been stronger than ever, with a 3.48 ERA and 36 Ks in 8 games. And they're all joined Taj Bradley and Ryan Pepiot, who were already having nice seasons, to make a relatively sturdy bullpen. Only problem is it's about to be September, the team's dangling under .500 and they're hitting .230 as a team. This rotation would actually have worked if they'd started the year with it, with no disrespect meant towards Zach Eflin or the now-injured Zack Littell. 

But, of course, because of so many Rays moves they've shot themselves in the foot with, like cutting Harold Ramirez, trading away Christian Bethancourt before his Cubs boom, trading Luke Raley to a team he's a better fit for, and obviously the Franco thing, a decent rotation can only do so much right now. The remaining Rays aren't hitting much, and Brandon Lowe and Yandy Diaz are steps down from their usual highs. You are seeing offensive production from Christopher Morel and Dylan Carlson, but it's not pretty. And Junior Caminero appears to be working at the MLB level so far, but even then all he's doing is hitting .280 with consistent contact work. He's not at full power yet, he's 20 years old. Not everyone can be Juan Soto and be an All-Star at 19.

And like usual, you're hearing about how exciting the prospects are for this team, how the Rays has people on the way that are gonna set the league on fire, etc etc. And at this rate, they have to know the drill. It's no guarantee they'll get to play in the new, better stadium because you don't know that it won't get delayed due to some money issue. There's also the possibility that these kids will either A.) be traded for a rental and have to kick around a tougher system, or B.) be traded to a competitor AS a rental the year before it comes time for the Rays to pay them. There are great people in this farm system, no doubt, but I don't know how many of them will truly become Rays heroes, because this franchise is not built to sustain long careers. You're seeing the Baltimore Orioles become the kind of team that can sign people to long-term deals because they have the money now. I predict that Bob Nutting will pass the torch in a couple years and the Pirates will be able to do this. And when this happens, the Rays are screwed. The guys they're usually compared to have called their bluff, and they can't do a thing about it.

I will continue to be critical of how the Rays run things until they prove that they have a vested interest in rewarding players who aren't about to do something illegal. And so hopefully they learn from this year and don't continue to keep making the same mistakes, though...knowing them I doubt it.

Coming Tonight: One of a handful of young pitchers trying to set up the next era of Nats baseball.