Rays throw in the towel on 2018 and beyond
With the trade of team MVP Steven Souza to the Arizona Diamondbacks in a three team swap which also involved the New York Yankees, The Rays have officially thrown in the towel on the 2018 season and beyond.
The Rays sent Souza to Arizona and picked up the Diamondbacks No. 2 prospect LHP Anthony Banda. Banda made his MLB debut last season going 2-3 with a 5.96 ERA, 10 BB and 25 K’s. The Rays also acquired 2B prospect Nick Solak form the Yankees. He was the No. 12 prsopect in the Yankee organization. Both players will be in camp with the Rays. Banda has a shot to stick with the Rays in the pen. Solak will probably start the season at Durham.
That makes the fourth player this off-season and the third player in the last week to traded or released. The Rays traded Evan Longoria to San Francisco in December. The Rays traded Jake Ordorizzi to Minnesota and cut OF Corey Dickerson last weekend. And now the Souza trade.
Oh I know listening to Rays GM Erik Neander the sun is shining, the sky is blue, and everything is all peaches and cream. The Rays will not miss a beat and may even contend for the AL East crown. The prospects that the Rays have in camp are that good and will develop that quickly. And with a 70 Million dollar payroll the Rays will contend with the Red Sox and the Yankees who have payrolls approaching 200 million dollars. Please.
Fool me once shame on you. Fool me twice shame on me. This team will be lucky to win 63 games matching the expansion Devil Rays in 1998.
Erik Neander and the front office in their roster purge have cut over 50 percent of the offensive production from last years team. The Rays hit 228 HR‘s last season and with the trade of Longoria and Souza, the DFA of Dickerson, and the option to not resign Logan Morrison and Lucas Duda, the Rays have taken 118 HR’s out of the lineup.
Do you think Mallex Smith, Denard Span, CJ Cron, Daniel Robertson and Brad Miller are going to make up that difference? I don’t.
The real strength of this team will be the pitching. Archer, Faria, Snell, and Nathan Eovaldi will make up the roataion to start the season. The Rays will have to get some help for the bullpen. Right now Colome is the closer, with Andriese, Sergio Romo and Dan Jennings holding down roster spots. The Rays also have some good talent in the pipeline coming along in Jose DeLeon and Brent Honeywell.
I feel bad for the season ticket holders who plucked down their hard earned money and were expecting to see a competitive team. Not that the roster left the way it was constructed was going to win the pennant, but at least that team had some players to get excited about and people would be willing to pay to come see play.
The fans in Pittsburgh and Miami are going through the same thing as their ownership has decided to trade the most popular and productive players on the team. Yet their ownership group keeps telling the fans they are committed to winning and want to win a World Series.
I’m not living on planet delusional. I pay attention to what you do and not what you say. Right now what the Rays are doing and what they say that want to do, just doesn’t match up.
By June, The Lightning will be deep into another Stanley Cup run and excitement will be building for the start of another Buccaneer football season.
The Rays will be in the cellar of the AL East and and the rallying cry will be “Wait till next year.”
