The Rays pitching staff is great. The offense, while not horrible, could use a touch up or two. They finished eighth in runs scored which puts them right in the middle of the pack but while they’re twelfth in batting average, they’re sixth in OBP so I like that. They also led the AL in stolen bases with 155, but they also led in caught stealing with 62. I don’t like those percentages .
Evan Longoria anchors the offense and even he didn’t have his best year. He missed some time and only hit .244 but he made up for it with 30 home runs and 80 walks. Ben Zobrist also had a nice season with 46 doubles and 20 home runs while Justin Upton and Matt Joyce had solid season in the outifleld. Johnny Damon will most likely be gone.
Reid Brignac is the guy who has to pull it together. He played in 92 games and he had a horrendous OPS+ of 29. His slugging was just above the Mendoza line with a .221 mark. And he struck out 63 times versus 10 walks. He was a full run below replacement if you’re a fan of WAR.
With some incremental gains, the Rays should be very competitive next year. Their pitching will make the noise, but they definitely have some fire power to help things along when those pitchers have a rough start or two.
