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With his devilish array of pitches and release points, Arrojo anchors a staff that surprised in '98 as one of the league's stingiest. Robert Rogers

Tampa Bay Devil Rays

In the land of the aged, this team has become another home for senior citizens

By Jeff Pearlman

When Quinton McCracken was a baby, he once picked up a rattle and banged it against his head repeatedly until he fell unconscious. When he came to, he looked an uncle in the eyes and gurgled, "Coo. Coo." That's the Tampa Bay outfielder's story and the reason, he says, that almost everyone who knows him calls him Coo Coo.

We, however, have a different theory regarding that moniker, based on this statement: "This team can compete for a playoff spot," declared Coo Coo (with a straight face) in early March. "I really think so."

Manager Larry Rothschild (second season with Tampa Bay) 1998 Record 63-99 (fifth in AL East) Prediction Fifth in AL East Batting Order CF Randy Winn LF Quinton McCracken 1B Fred McGriff DH Jose Canseco RF Paul Sorrento 3B Bobby Smith C John Flaherty SS Kevin Stocker 2B Miguel Cairo Starters RH Rolando Arrojo LH Wilson Alvarez LH Tony Saunders LH Terrell Wade RH Julio Santana Bullpen RH Roberto Hernandez RH Esteban Yan RH Albie Lopez RH Jim Mecir LH Scott Aldred LH Jason Johnson

Next Up... Former Braves farmhand Bobby Smith believes he's a future All-Star. So does his manager. Even so, the 24-year-old Smith says he has no complaints about being asked to sit from time to time as fellow third baseman Wade Boggs pursues his 3,000th hit. "Wade and I are cool," says Smith. "Last year he helped me a lot. I want to see him get 3,000." Maybe he does, but the bottom line is that Smith deserves to play every day. In just 370 at bats last season he had 11 home runs and 55 RBIs, but he also broke the 100-strikeout mark for the fifth straight year. "He has an unlimited future," says Tampa Bay skipper Larry Rothschild. But, alas, with a limited number of at bats for now.

Last season McCracken -- who strained his right knee in pre-spring training conditioning but who should be ready by Opening Day -- was an unfortunate participant in the worst lineup in baseball. The Devil Rays ranked last in the majors in runs scored and second to last in home runs. Once-dangerous hitters like Wade Boggs, Fred McGriff and Paul Sorrento all produced well below their career norms. Starting shortstop Kevin Stocker hit .208, starting catcher John Flaherty hit .207, and a very old and boring expansion team lost 99 games. During the winter the Tampa Bay front office, in an effort to keep the budget around $30 million, signed 34-year-old slugger Jose Canseco and absolutely nobody else (unless utility infielder and Rule V pick David Lamb counts as a somebody). If you believe the Devil Rays even have a shot at escaping the American League East cellar in 1999, you're nuts. Psycho. Insane. One-hundred percent certifiably Coo Coo.

Better days, however, are surely ahead for Tampa Bay -- if only because it might be humanly impossible for the team to be as odious as it was last season. No way pitcher Tony Saunders, the club's first pick in the 1997 expansion draft, loses 15 games again. No way Wilson Alvarez, a two-time 15-game winner, loses 14. No way Boggs, a career .329 hitter, bats .280, nor fellow veterans McGriff and Sorrento, both former 30-home-run guys, hit fewer than 20 round-trippers for a second straight year. "Last season was a very unique situation for our veterans," says Devil Rays general manager Chuck LaMar. "They were on an expansion team, and they put extreme pressure on themselves to succeed. No one here thinks that will happen again."

The free-agent signing of Canseco, who's coming off his most productive campaign since 1991, will at least make Tampa Bay a more entertaining team to watch. In puny Tropicana Field he could go deep 50 times. However, the aging free swinger will not solve the problems of a team that struck out nearly seven times a game in '98 (third worst in the league) and has become too dependent upon players born when Florida still belonged to Spain. Four key offensive players (Boggs, McGriff, Canseco and Sorrento) are at least 33. Aside from the 28-year-old McCracken (179 hits, 76 runs scored and 18 assists), Tampa Bay's only young impact players are Saunders, shortstop Miguel Cairo and third baseman Bobby Smith (55 RBIs in 370 at bats), all of whom are 24.

As their personnel decisions indicate, the Devil Rays are in no hurry to embark on a youth movement. Despite hitting 11 homers and driving in 34 runs in only 182 second-half at bats, 27-year-old Bubba Trammell will take a seat on the bench to make room for Canseco in the lineup. Even the very talented Smith will occasionally sit so that Boggs can get the 78 hits he needs to reach the 3,000 mark. "Wade's getting his 3,000th hit in a Devil Rays uniform is very important to us," says LaMar. "There are ways we can play Bobby regularly and allow Wade to make history."

Unlike McCracken, Tampa Bay manager Larry Rothschild knows better than to make irrational playoff predictions. However, he does believe that his pitching, which was fourth in the league in ERA in 1998, is good enough to keep the Devil Rays competitive most nights. The top three starters are especially solid. Cuban defector Rolando Arrojo was 14-12 and made the All-Star team as a 30-year-old rookie last season; Saunders lost 15 games only because he received the league's lowest run support; and the hard-throwing Alvarez is healthy again after battling shoulder problems for much of '98.

Tampa Bay Devil Rays

The rest of the pitching staff boasts some decent arms. Jason Johnson has had an impressive spring, Albie Lopez has developed into a capable setup man, and Esteban Yan has a 96-mph fastball and a really cool name. The closer is Roberto Hernandez, who last year evoked few memories of his White Sox days, back when his pitches weren't hit quite so often. Last season he blew nine save opportunities. If Hernandez returns to form -- and at age 34, that's a huge if -- Rothschild's staff will be even more of a force.

But not enough of a force for the Devil Rays to win more than 70 games in baseball's toughest division. You'd have to be Coo Coo to think otherwise.

Issue date: March 29, 1999