Lou and improved

Piniella optimistic he can turn around Devil Rays

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Every day it's something new for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Every day, some fuzz-faced kid learns a lesson, one way or the other.

The other day, 21-year-old speedster Carl Crawford, poised to maybe become a star of this team (he hit .259 in 63 games last season with the Rays), came up with two outs and nobody on. He tried to bunt his way on. Tried to start something. You know, get on base, maybe steal second, let someone knock him in.

Lou Piniella was having none of that.

After Crawford grounded out, Piniella, the new manager of this perennial sad-sack team, politely informed Crawford that he wants his hitters to be aggressive, especially in spring training, that he wants them to swing the bat. Piniella told Crawford that the decision to bunt in that particular situation would best be re-thought next time around.

Sweet Lou didn't put it quite that way. Not quite that way at all. In fact, he wasn't even all that polite.

"I understood. He got the point across," Crawford says, laughing about it now. "But that's OK. I'm a football guy. I'm used to a guy being up in my face. It motivates me. I don't take it personally."

The Devil Rays will get better this year, most everyone expects it, because of Piniella. He is here, back in his central Florida home, to try to find some kids who can play, and then make them play better. He's here to pull this franchise out of the muck. He is here, as everyone on the field knows, to kick butt, if necessary.

It's not always necessary. In fact, it's rarely been necessary. After all, he is Lou Piniella. He has won the World Series as a player and as a manager.

They are the Rays. They have not won squat.

"He's intimidating, but in a good way, you know what I mean?" asks Rocco Baldelli, a 21-year-old who could find himself starting in center field this season. "It's not scary, but you know he expects a certain amount of things out of you. And you want to give it to him."

There are 73 players in Rays camp this spring, more than in any other camp. Most managers would want nothing to do with a job this size. Piniella really has no choice.

"I know it's a difficult thing to carry this many players," he says, relaxing in his office at Progress Energy Park in downtown St. Pete. "But if you can find one or two players that can help your situation, maybe win a couple more ballgames, then it's worth it."

Crawford and Baldelli will both stick, almost certainly. So will young Dewon Brazelton, a 22-year-old right-hander who was the team's top pick in the 2001 draft. There are a ton of players that age in the Rays' camp. This is the youngest team in the major leagues. The players' average age is 25 ½.

Piniella, 59, knows what he has. He knows the limitations. He is hoping for a modest 75 wins this season. Maybe break even in 2004.

He's guardedly optimistic about the youth and potential on this team.

Lou Piniella has never lost more than 88 games in a season as a manager. Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

"They've been great," he says. "I've been pleasantly surprised so far by the progress of some of our young pitchers. Their arm strength and some other things. I'm starting to see some pretty good stuff out of our young pitchers, which is heartening."

The Rays got their first exhibition win the other day, beating the Tigers in St. Pete. Baldelli homered. Lefty Joe Kennedy, 23, who could be the ace of the team, started and looked pretty good. Crawford, swinging away, had a triple.

Piniella, as best as we could tell, didn't have to raise his voice at all.

Hurry up

Major league umps are meeting with teams throughout this spring to explain new methods designed to speed up the pace of the game. There are several ways the umps will try to get that done.

For one, they'll time the relievers' trips to the mound. From the time the manager signals to bring in a pitcher to the time he warms up and throws his first pitch should be no longer than two minutes.

Umps also will keep an eye on pitchers who take too long to deliver the pitch, especially with no one on base, and hitters who consistently step out of the batter's box. Managers, too, will be met at the baseline on their second trip to the field and be asked to signal for their reliever before they hit the mound.

"All these things can help a little bit, sure," says Braves manager Bobby Cox, who remains a tad skeptical about the whole thing. "It's going to make the umpire look like the bully. But there's nothing wrong with trying."

Cox hopes umpires are flexible enough to loosen the restrictions at times. Say, on a humid day when a pitcher or hitter needs to wipe sweat from his brow. "Common sense goes a long way in these deals," Cox said.

Piniella seemed a bit more hopeful.

"As long as they're enforced equally across the 30 teams, they're all right," he said. "If you can shorten the length of a ballgame by six, seven minutes, that's a lot."

The big question is what penalties will be applied to those who don't beat the clock. Major League Baseball is expected to release its plan this weekend.

Camping out

Baldelli, on what he calls Piniella: "I don't really call him anything. I don't know. Skip? Maybe. I don't go up to him. It would be almost like 'Uh, Mr. Piniella ... '" Piniella did have a talk with Baldelli after he went 0-for-12 in intrasquad and the first couple of exhibition games to start the spring. Then Baldelli homered against the Tigers. … The Tampa Bay pitching staff is even younger than the team as a whole. It averages 24 3/4 years old … One reason the Twins win: Continuity. Of the 54 players they have in their Fort Myers camp, only seven were not in the organization last season. … As one point of contrast: The Red Sox have 56 players in camp. Thirty-one of them were not with the organization at the end of the 2002 season. … The central Florida town of Winter Haven may lose the Cleveland Indians after this spring. Their contract is up and the team is negotiating with Fort Myers, where the Red Sox now train. Problem is, a new facility there, to be shared with the Sox, probably won't be ready by next season. And Winter Haven doesn't want to do just a short-term deal. This is all big-money wheeling and dealing. The proposed new complex in Fort Myers could cost $14 million. … There's some history, too. The Indians have been in Winter Haven since 1993. Before that, they held spring training in Tucson, Ariz., for 45 consecutive years. As a side note, the Red Sox trained in Winter Haven for 26 years before moving to Fort Myers in 1993. ... As for the reigning long-timers (all in Florida); the Dodgers have been in Vero Beach, home of Dodgertown, since 1948. The Phillies have been in Clearwater since 1947 (and they open a new facility there next year). And the spring training champ, the longest-tenured team? The Detroit Tigers have been in the central Florida town of Lakeland, just off Interstate 4, since 1946. Their facility there, Joker Marchant Stadium, just went through an $11 million facelift.

Spring Training Buzz will appear every Monday and Thursday until Opening Day.

 

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