It’s hard to believe I haven’t written in almost three months to the day. I got my butt chewed out because I’m supposed to be on a schedule but I’m not the only blogger in the network who’s gone missing. Anyway, it’s been a tough, but normal year for the Devil Rays. They have the worst record in baseball, again. It’s now the tenth consecutive season (yes, all of them since the Devil Rays existed) where they’ve lost 90 games. Not that the season didn’t have it’s highlights.
One of those highlights was Carlos Pena. Cast off by a variety of teams the past couple of years, Pena had a huge season as a non-roster invitee and he’s second in the American League with 40 homers. His .995 OPS is the fourth best in the American League and he has 91 walks to along with his power numbers. This is a guy who should get more MVP votes then he’ll end up with.
B.J. Upton was a pleasant surprise as well. He filled in nicely at second base after being slotted as a utility player coming out of spring training. He needs on more steal for a 20/20 season. Delmon Young was good but not great and Carl Crawford had somewhat of a disappointing season. Still I like the way this offense is looking, especially with the guys they have coming up through the ranks.
The pitching was another matter all together. Scott Kazmir wasn’t given enough support but he had a nice year as did James Shields. After that, it was pretty poor which explains the Rays league worst 5.54 ERA. Ugly, considering the offense was actually decent.
So we’ll have to see what happens next year. Some more of the kids should roll and we’ll get to see more of them. They are the future and it also looks like the Rays will be getting another top draft pick.
