An out-with-the-old, in-with-the-new plan offers hope -- just not for this year

By Stephen Cannella

Over the final two months of last season things began looking up for Hall and the revitalized Devil Rays.  Chuch Solomon ENEMY LINES An opposing team's scout sizes up the Devil Rays "This team is still weak offensively but is improved overall. They're headed in the right direction. ... Steve Cox is going to be a pretty good hitter. He doesn't pull the ball much, but he can hit with power to left center. He's strong defensively, too. ... The outfield is not one of their strong points. It's not an outfield that will give you run production, and it's not a good defensive outfield either. Ben Grieve leaves a lot to be desired. He plays rightfield, but he doesn't have a rightfielder's arm, and he doesn't cover much ground. He didn't have a good year with the bat last year, and I haven't seen it come alive this spring. ... The best centerfielder they've got is Jason Conti . He's a line drive hitter who can really track it in the outfield. They keep waiting for Randy Winn to develop. I don't see him blossoming. He doesn't have good instincts in the field or on the bases. His bat doesn't fit any of the three outfield positions, unless he learns how to bunt, slash and chop the ball to use his speed. Jason Tyner is a Punch and Judy hitter with very good speed, but Conti runs every bit as well, maybe even better. ... Esteban Yan is their closer, but I think they have two guys who are a hell of a lot better than Yan -- Jesus Colome and Victor Zambrano . Both have closer's stuff. ... The rotation is better than they've had before. Wilson Alvarez has looked pretty good this spring. He's got his curveball almost back to where it was before he got hurt [May 2000 rotator-cuff surgery]. Unless he breaks down again, he's going to be a big part of their rotation."

What's manager Hal McRae's thumbnail take on 22-year-old lefty Joe Kennedy, who started the 2001 season in Double A and, after a June call-up, finished with a 7-8 record for Tampa Bay? "He showed a lot of composure, and he has a decent idea of how to pitch, but he has to get better," says McRae.

How about 26-year-old catcher Toby Hall, who batted .298 in 46 games after he was summoned from Triple A? "He's a young player who has to get better."

Sense a pattern? Ask about virtually any player on the Devil Rays' roster, the youngest in the majors, and McRae responds, "He has to get better." What other spring theme could there be for a team that lost the most games (100, a total matched by the Pirates), hit the fewest homers (121), scored the third-fewest runs (672) and had the fifth-highest ERA (4.94) in the majors in 2001? As it begins its fifth season, Tampa Bay still hasn't cracked the 70-win barrier.

Midway through last season's train wreck Tampa finally ditched its misguided plan of stocking the lineup with veterans and turned things over to prospects. "We got into the free-agent market before we were ready," says G.M. Chuck LaMar.

First baseman Fred McGriff, 38, and righthander Albie Lopez, 30, were traded. Third baseman Vinny Castilla, 34, and outfielder Gerald Williams, 35, were released. (Outfielder Greg Vaughn, 36, hampered most of last season by hamstring and shoulder injuries, was shopped, but LaMar couldn't move him.) In their place came a wave of kids like Kennedy, Hall, 24-year-old outfielder Jason Tyner and 23-year-old lefthander Nick Bierbrodt (3-4 in 11 starts). The results were encouraging. After a 38-77 start, the Rays went 24-23 down the stretch.

The most significant development was Hall's emergence. A good hitter but a mediocre third baseman at UNLV, Hall was converted to catcher after Tampa Bay drafted him in the ninth round in 1997. "At first I thought it was crazy -- why would I want to put gear on and get beat up?" he says. "Now that I see the third basemen in the big leagues, I know I wouldn't be able to sniff them."

The Devil Rays were confident Hall could handle major league pitching; he hit better than .300 in three of his five minor league seasons, and he hit 19 home runs for the Durham Bulls en route to being named MVP of the International League last year. His defensive play was a pleasant surprise. He threw out 11 of 38 would-be base stealers after his call-up and impressed the Tampa Bay brass with his pitch selection and smooth handling of its young staff. Hall was promoted on July 26; Tampa Bay's 4.12 ERA after the All-Star break was the American League's fourth best. "He has presence behind the plate; his pitch calling is great," says righthander Tanyon Sturtze, 31, who started regularly in the majors for the first time in his 12-year pro career and led the Devil Rays with 11 wins.

The best Tampa Bay can hope for this season is the continued development of the kids. The good news is that the farm system hasn't been depleted by the major league youth movement: Outfielders Josh Hamilton and Carl Crawford and righthander Dewon Brazleton are on the horizon for 2003. In the meantime LaMar will whittle the payroll even further. As soon as he can find takers, Vaughn (team-high $8.75 million salary this year) and catcher John Flaherty ($3.25 million) will be dealt. "By the end of the year we'll have one of the two lowest payrolls in baseball," LaMar says.

That falls in line with the five-year plan that LaMar says he had when the team was born in 1998: to have a lineup built around youth, with the veterans brought in for (attempted) respectability in the early years weeded out. "We thought we'd at least have a winning season by now," LaMar says.

He'll have to wait on that one.

Issue date: March 25, 2002