Every year, at least as of recently, there seems to be one team that exceeds all expectations by having a break-through season while making some thunderous noise in the playoffs. Following in the footsteps of the ’02 Angels, the ’03 Marlins, the ’05 White Sox, the ’06 Tigers and the ’07 Rockies are the ’08 Tampa Bay Rays, who claimed the American League East division and knocked the Chicago White Sox out of the playoffs in the first round three games to one. The Rays have now advanced to the League Championship series against their division rivals and the winners of the 2007 World Series, the Boston SEC Sox.
Everyone knew that the Rays were accumulating an impressive wealth of talent, but most, myself included, did not think they would enjoy the kind of success they did this soon.
However, there is a misconception with the Rays that they have been built primarily with the help of the number of early, high profile draft picks. They certainly have a handful to thank for their success, but like all successful ballclubs, their success lies in their talent acquisition by almost every avenue that was available to them.
I’m going to breakdown the current 25-man playoff roster to point out where those players came from.
The Draft
Without looking, how many players on the Rays’ 25-man roster do you think were obtained and developed through the draft and their farm system? If I told you that only eight of the players on their team were entirely procured from within would you believe me?
I admit, I was surprised when I saw that number, as I would have guessed that close to half of the team was assembled from within.
Four of those players, Roco Baldelli, Evan Longoria (arguably the favorite to win the American League rookie of the year award), David Price and B.J. Upton were former first-round picks, but even then only Longoria and Upton are everyday starters. That will certainly change next year as Price is expected to be a major part of this team moving forward.
Carl Crawford is a former second round pick, while Jamie Shields, Andy Sonnanstine, and Fernando Perez are all later picks.
Shields and Sonnanstine’s presences are particularly impressive, serving as integral members of the pitching staff as 16th and 13th round draft picks respectively, showing that the Rays have a knack for finding talent a lot deeper than just the first round of the draft.
Shrewd Trades
Most of the Rays talent has come from numerous shrewd trades. Acquiring Scott Kazmir from the Mets a few years ago for Victor Zambrano is obviously the one that historically could be the most impressive, and overall 12 of the players on the roster were acquired from other teams.
Last offseason one of the biggest trades in all of baseball occurred when the Rays swapped former first-round pick Delmon Young as part of a package to acquire shortstop Jason Bartlett and starting pitcher Matt Garza. They have used other players procured within their system to acquire Grant Balfour (Seth McClung), J.P. Howell (Joey Gathright), Dioner Navarro (Toby Hall), Willy Aybar (Jeff Ridgway), Ben Zobrist (Aubrey Huff) and Gabe Gross (Josh Butler).
The Rays bullpen this year has been anchored by Dan Wheeler and Chad Bradford, acquired in two separate trades the past couple of seasons.
Free Agents
Tampa Bay opened quite a few eyes during the offseason before the 2007 season when they jumped in the international free agent market to sign Japanese infielder Akinori Iwamura, whose versatility and durability have been valuable assets to the Rays squad.
The 2006-2007 offseason was kind to the Rays, as they also signed first baseman Carlos Pena as a minor league free agent. Pena finally started to live up to his considerable promise a year ago, and has evolved into one of the game’s most patient and explosive slugger while offering Gold Glove defense.
Another left-handed slugger, Cliff Floyd, and left-handed reliever Trever Miller were added as big-league free agents last offseason, helping to round out the entire roster.
More to Come
If you’ve been reading this column or been following any site or publication that focuses on amateur and minor league baseball, you know that the Rays aren’t anywhere close to being done procuring impact talent. Most of that talent comes in the form of powerful young arms, and many of those arms are not that far away from contributing.
Jeff Niemann, Mitch Talbot, Wade Davis and Chris Mason all finished their 2008 seasons at the AAA level, with Niemann and Talbot getting a brief taste of the big leagues this year.
Jeremy Hellickson, Jacob McGee and James Houser finished the season at the AA level with very good success, and are poised to step up and succeed at AAA Durham next year.
That young pitching talent is going to carry this team far for a long, long time, and some of it may be used to acquire young, impact bats moving forward, the one area the team is sorely lacking in their farm system. They did add Tim Beckham with the first overall pick in this year’s draft, and also have another shortstop in Reid Brignac knocking at the door of the big-leagues.
We may have seen a change of the guard at the top of the American League East division, a division that was already incredibly tough before the Rays talent all came together this season. If nothing else, don’t expect the Rays to be drafting among the top three to five overall picks anytime soon.
The thoughts and opinions listed here do not necessarily reflect those of Perfect Game USA. Patrick Ebert is affiliated with both Perfect Game USA and Brewerfan.net, and can be contacted via email at pebert@brewerfan.net.