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 Admiring the Devil Rays
Posted: Tuesday August 24, 1999 07:26 PM
It is easy to dump on the Tampa Bay Devil Rays because, for the better part of two seasons, the team has not only stunk, but stunk like the heinous fumage of a garbage-eating alley mutt. The team plays in a Mork-from-Ork-designed dome, with formaldehyde-enhanced air (this is, alas, the Tampa-St. Pete area). The uniforms are a 'shroom trip gone mental ( "Dude, I, like, see this crazy purple bat bird flying by. You gotta try this stuff ..." ). The fans don't exist. The collective persona, from management on down, is no persona at all. They are a stinky team in Astrodome-wanna-be digs with terrible threads, no support and the expressiveness of a log. And yet, I sorta dig 'em ... The Arizona Diamondbacks cheated, the Devil Rays did not. The Arizona Diamondbacks spent goobers of money on Randy Johnson and Steve Finley and Todd Stottlemyre and Armando Reynoso . The Devil Rays did not. The Arizona Diamondbacks are in first place. The Devil Rays are in last. Going to a Devil Rays game isn't especially fun, but going to a Diamondbacks game is a needle to the temple. Everything is about money and the flaunting of such. Bank One Ballpark may not smell like the Hamilton House (my grandmother's residential community), but it looks like one continuous infomercial for the lifestyle. I have left Tropicana Field wanting to take a long shower (a good thing, several women would say). I have left Bank One Ballpark wanting to kill a Gap clerk. There is a story, told to me by a GM, about Jerry Colangelo 's visit to Wrigley Field. As he sat out in the sun, absorbing baseball's best atmosphere, someone remarked how beautiful the park was. Colangelo semi-frowned. "It's funny," he said. "People come here and they see the brick and the ivy and the surrounding buildings and the coziness. All I see is a waste of money." Tampa Bay is no good. They won't be good for a while. But Chuck LaMar , the fatherly general manager with the quick handshake, is doing some things the right way. He does not have Colangelo money (the D-Rays' puny payroll is $36 million), so instead of buying a championship contender, the effort is being made to -- gasp! -- build one. His second baseman, a 25-year-old Derek Jeter look-alike named Miguel Cairo , is batting .291 with 12 stolen bases. He's a fixture. So are Quinton McCracken (.250, one HR) and Randy Winn (.253, one HR), two promising outfielders having so-so '99s, as well as third baseman Bobby Smith (.169, two HRs). LaMar's best move came late last month, when he swiped Jose Guillen from the Pirates for two bottles of hair spray and an aging catcher -- actually it was Humberto Cota , a catching prospect, and Joe Oliver , but you get the point. Guillen is 23, with the best rightfield arm since Dave Parker. The two bottles of hair spray, won't last. From Day One, LaMar's plan was to fill his roster with a mix of kids and vets. That's why Fred McGriff and Wade Boggs and Jose Canseco are in town. The expectations to win don't exist. The expectation is to build and create and mold a team. That's how things were done in the old days, when everyone was equal, and a club like Detroit actually felt it could make a run at the Yankees. You constructed a franchise -- a trade here, some prospects there. In the end, 10 years down the line, when a championship was won, it felt right; complete; worthwhile. Fans didn't call them "the" Dodgers, but "our" Dodgers. The Arizona Diamondbacks might win the World Series this year. It will be a purchased trophy. Our Devil Rays might never win a World Series. It'll be the right way. Staff writer Jeff Pearlman offers his unique view on baseball every Tuesday during the season for CNNSI.com. The opinions expressed here are solely those of the writer.
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