The Devil Rays Offseason: Three Weeks In

We are three weeks into the baseball season, and we have had some surprises so far.

The best record in baseball belongs to two teams. One, the defending champion Chicago White Sox, could be expected. The other, the defending NL champion Houston Astros, after losing Roger Clemens, was not so expected. The Red Sox, at 12-7, have the same record as the Tigers, and the Reds. Oakland, a pre-season favorite for the title, is a disappointing 8-11. The Mets are rolling along, and the Marlins are not the worst team in baseball, in a somewhat surprising first half.

On an individual level, the surprises are just as plentiful. While the homerun leader is not surprising by any means, the men behind him (Jonny Gomes, Morgan Ensberg, Chris Shelton, and Ji…Jim Thome) are surprising. Ty Wigginton is tied for 6th in the HR race. The Top 20 in OPS contains Brad Hawpe, Jonny Gomes, Nick Swisher, Alex Rios, and Todd Walker. The league leaders in wins contain the usual suspects, such as Roy Oswalt and Curt Schilling, but the living legend Greg Maddux and Oscar Villarreal were long shots to have four wins at this point. Even former (Maddux, Glavine) and current (Thomson) Braves are dominating the ERA charts.

However, looking at the standings three weeks in, the bottom dwellers in each division are not terribly surprising, although the Devil Rays have been a little better than most of the bottom teams.

The Devil Rays have eight wins and eleven losses, but have been competitive with the best so far. A tough series against Texas brought them to the cellar of the AL East, where many have predicted them to stay this year in one of the toughest divisions in the game. Still, prior to that series, they had a .500 record and looked fairly decent. Their offseason was fairly uneventful, with several minor offseason moves and one notable trade.

12/7/05: The Devil Rays trade for Sean Burroughs: The trade, which sent Dewon Brazelton out west to San Diego, has not shown many dividends for the Devil Rays so far. Sean, after a stint on the disabled list to begin the year, has had a total of four fruitless at bats. Brazelton has not been much better for San Diego. One positive that has come out of his and Huff’s injury is the playing time for Ty Wigginton

1/10/06: The Devil Rays sign Ty Wigginton. Three weeks in, this looks to be, by far, their best move. As noted above, Wigginton has had an extremely hot start. He has 8 HRs in 67 at bats with an OPS of 1.020. He will likely cool down, but he may keep his place until all the starters are ready to come back.

1/11/06: The Devil Rays sign Shinji Mori, who is now out for the season with a torn labrum. Ouch.

1/11/06: Jason Childers signed to a minor league deal: Childers has 7.2 relief innings with an ERA of 4.7, the definition of a filler pitcher. Still, he has given the team some major league quality innings, and for a minor league deal, they cannot expect a lot more.

1/11/06: Dan Miceli signed as a free agent. The D-Rays were clearly busy on this day, as they signed the man who is their current closer as well. Miceli has been pretty bad, sporting a 6.5 ERA, but he at least has four saves for his fantasy owners. He has to be on a short leash as closer if he continues giving up a run 2/3 of the times when he pitche an inning.

1/14/06: The Devil Rays trade Danys Baez and Lance Carter for Chuck Tiffany and Edwin Jackson. The Devils Rays stockpile two more pitching prospects, both of which were elite prospects for a while. This has not had a positive impact on the major league level, with only Jackson making an impact in one start with Baez getting closing duties in LA while Gagne is out, but this deal was not made for the majors.

1/17/06: In one of their better moves, they sign Shawn Camp. Camp has been fantastic for the Devil Rays. He has had 10 innings of 2.6 ERA ball out of the bullpen, and has made a positive impact. Camp, Miceli, and possibly Orvella could be competing for that closer spot soon.

1/20/06: They signed Russell Branyan to a minor league deal, in the last out-of-organization deal for the Devil Rays with a notable impact. With injuries to Huff and Baldelli, Branyan has been forced into action both in the corner outfield and third base. He has been what most people expected, a low batting average slugger, except without all the power. He has a .553 OPS, but the Devil Rays are depending on him until they can get their best hitters back.

What does all this mean? Basically, the Devil Rays are taking a planned approach. They are in an exceptionally tough division, with the 2004 World Champion, the highest payroll in baseball, a team that added three of the top free agents available, and the offensively dangerous Baltimore Orioles, who are competing for the division lead at this point. This may be the best idea for him, as spending on older free agents in the past has not given any positive responses. Still, for a team under a very constricted payroll, the ability to make a splash with low-level free agent signings is a good start, hopefully supplementing them with homegrown stars. In the realm of hitting, players like Cantu, Huff, Baldelli, and Crawford, along with Young in the minors, should provide a competent boost and a fearsome lineup in a few years. The pitching is the real question, as these moves, outside of the Camp signing, show little ability to supplement what they have. We’ll see, at least they are better off than the Royals.