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Hope for the Rays With good young pitching, they're dreaming in Tampa BayPosted: Thursday March 14, 2002 3:19 AM
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Even the lowly Tampa Bay Devil Rays have some hope. Hey, it's spring. A team can dream, can't it? The Devil Rays have struggled from the start of their four-year major league existence, stuck in the 60-something win neighborhood and last year losing 100 games for the first time in their sorry history. But that doesn't stop them from dreaming. Dreaming big for the Rays, playing in the American League East as they do, is winning 75 games. Getting to .500 is an out-and-out pipe dream. A winning record? Well, now we're talking fantasy. Still, this spring, with a roster full of no-names and a clean record heading into the 2002 season, the Rays are unabashedly in REM mode. The No. 1 reason is a pitching staff that has promise like they've never seen before in the Tampa Bay area. It's young, for sure. And unproven. But there is some real, discernable talent there. "We dont know what we're capable of. We know what we think we're capable of," says new pitching coach Jackie Brown. "But we have to find out."
The Rays, with a soaring 4.94 ERA last season, will find out soon enough what they have. Their starting rotation has two key members who are practically rookies, Joe Kennedy and Nick Bierbrodt. Kennedy is 22, Bierbrodt 23. Another youngster, first-round draft pick Dewon Brazelton, could make the rotation sometime this year, though he will start in the minors at Class AA. He's only 21. Add those guys to a couple more-seasoned pitchers -- guys like Tanyon Sturtze (the probable No. 1) and Paul Wilson -- and the Rays have, at the least, a start. It may not be easy going for them. Being that they are the Rays, there are bound to be some down times. Already, Bierbrodt can't find the plate in spring training. He's walked 12 of the 17 batters he's faced. Tuesday, he threw four wild pitches. Of 43 pitches, he threw only 14 strikes. Kennedy also has had a rough outing. But the promise is there. "I think [the young guys] have to deal with what we all deal with, the ups and downs. And they have to find out how to act when you're losing," says Wilson, who will turn 29 later this month. "You have to enjoy being a baseball player whether you're winning or losing. How you deal with the losing -- that's how you differentiate yourself from the rest." It's not just the relative youth of the rotation that leads to the heady feeling in St. Pete. The two older guys pitched well at the end of the 2001 season. Sturtze, who threw almost 200 innings last season, was 8-5 in the second half. Wilson was 6-2 with a 2.39 ERA after the break. Meanwhile, Kennedy was 7-8 with a 4.44 ERA overall, and Bierbrodt had 56 strikeouts in 61 1/3 innings. The team went 37-40 in its final 77 games. A little improvement on that and the Rays may break 70 wins yet. "The talent's here. It's up to me not to mess it up," Brown said. "We just need to know why we're talented. Everyone has a strength. We just need to know what that strength is."
Missing JordanNew Florida Marlins manager Jeff Torborg, who managed the Montreal Expos last season, knows his division got a little tougher in the offseason when the Atlanta Braves traded for Los Angeles Dodgers slugger Gary Sheffield. But Torborg is not quite as concerned about it as you might think. One main reason is the fact that the man the Braves traded to get Sheffield, Brian Jordan, did plenty of damage of his own in the National League East -- and against the Marlins -- last season. "For years, [Sheffield] had the quickest bat through the zone in the league. Mr. [Barry] Bonds got through pretty quickly last year," Torborg said. "But I'll tell you, Jordan killed us last year. He hit every mistake we made. And he hit some that weren't mistakes." Jordan hit .309, with four homers and 16 RBIs, against the Expos last season. So far this spring, Sheffield is hitting .462 in 13 at-bats. He has a homer and three RBIs. Jordan is hitting .300 in 20 at-bats with a homer and five RBIs for the Dodgers. Torborg and the Marlins get a close-up view of the new-look Braves in the season's second weekend, when they host Sheffield and the Braves in a three-game series at Pro Player Stadium. A month later, Jordan and the Dodgers come to town.
The new boss in TorontoJ.P. Ricciardi is bringing his Oakland brand of building a team to the similarly low-revenue Toronto Blue Jays. His personal prognosis for his new team is good. "There are so many things here that are ahead of the curve that we didn't have in Oakland," said Ricciardi, who replaced Gord Ash as Toronto GM over the winter. He cites a farm system filled with prospects at every position and a good nucleus of talent on the big club -- guys like Carlos Delgado, Shannon Stewart, Roy Halladay and Luke Prokopec. "I can honestly say there is more talent here right now than there was in Oakland when we started there." With talent like that, Ricciardi also said the Jays can begin to build the type of fan base that helped the Jays win back-to-back World Series titles in 1992 and '93. Back then, the Jays brought 4 million fans into their park. No one expects the same this year -- the Blue Jays drew a little under 2 million last season -- but the new GM figures that the Jays are a year and a half away from becoming serious contenders again in the American League East. Once they get there, he says, the fans will come. "We want the people to come back and grow with the team," he said.
Getting back in the swingDodgers slugger Shawn Green missed most of the first eight games of the spring -- he appeared in only one, and then as a designated hitter -- because of a sore left shoulder. But Green has started four of the Dodgers' last five games (through Tuesday) as he slowly works his way back into playing shape. He is 3-for-14 this spring (.143). Green punched 49 home runs last season and drove in 125 runs for the Dodgers, and with Sheffield off to Atlanta, Green needs at least that good of a year if the Dodgers are going to challenge in the National League West. Manager Jim Tracy is purposely taking it easy on Green for just that reason. Tracy said he wouldn't even start to get worried about Green and his readiness for the season until the middle of this month. Considering Green's already taking his hacks, Tracy probably can save getting all worked up for something else.
Camping outOne more comment from Tampa Bay's Wilson on the young Rays pitchers not taking themselves, or baseball, too seriously: "They're young, single guys in the big leagues. How bad can that be?" Toronto skipper Martinez on Stewart: "Shannon Stewart has the ability to spoil good pitches better than anybody in the league. He gives us the best at-bats on the team." An infection in his right thumb over the winter could bug Braves closer John Smoltz for a while. He had to have the nail on the thumb removed, and he's still getting used to how the ball feels in his hand with that tender thumb. He has given up two homers in his last two appearances The Astros, even after trading third baseman Chris Truby to the Expos for utilityman Geoff Blum, still aren't convinced they have a third baseman for the long term. Right now, Blum and rookie Morgan Ensberg will vie for the starting spot, as Truby and Ensberg were doing. Blum has been around, but he has a lifetime .254 average with 28 home runs in 317 major-league games. The Astros need more than that Last Saturday's fights between the Padres and Angels in Tempe undoubtedly will result in some regular-season suspensions. Figure that San Diego's Ryan Klesko and Bobby Jones, as well as Anaheim's Scott Spiezio, will be on Bob Watson's hit list. Watson tooks over baseball's top cop job this season now that Frank Robinson is managing the Expos. John Donovan covers baseball for CNNSI.com. His Spring Training Buzz will run each Tuesday and Thursday until Opening Day.
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