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A Tampa Bay Rays season to forget

 
Even in a down year, Evan Longoria has produced enough for the Rays to qualify as their most valuable player.
Even in a down year, Evan Longoria has produced enough for the Rays to qualify as their most valuable player.
Published Sept. 28, 2014

Rays manager Joe Maddon said quite a bit as the season of grand expectation devolved into one of great disappointment. But through the injuries, the inept individual and collective performances, the exposing of structural flaws in roster composition, the inexplicable absence of good fortune, and the misery of the 1-14 stretch from which they never really recovered, what he said the most was that things "just didn't want to work out." In essence, that's a polite way to avoid assigning blame. There was plenty to go around as the Rays were left with their first losing record since the Devil Rays days. Here's a look at some things that went wrong, some that went right and some other things:

Most valuable Ray

INF/OF Ben Zobrist was voted team MVP award by the Tampa Bay baseball writers, with good reason. After a so-so start, he heated up and was at his best when the Rays won the most and, as usual, played top-notch defense at several positions.

LHP Jake McGee has a solid case, stepping in after RHP Grant Balfour's repeated struggles and stepping up in his first extended closing experience to log 19 saves, restoring some order to a situation that could have gone extremely awry.

But the feeling here, on the final day of the season, is that 3B Evan Longoria was the Rays' most valuable player.

He did not have a great defensive year. And his power numbers were down. But consider that on a team that totaled only 610 runs, he accounted for nearly 25 percent, the second highest amount for any AL player: 90 RBIs plus 83 runs minus 22 homers, for 151. On a team that hit only 116 home runs, he had 22. And on a team that hit .242 with runners in scoring position (and .204 with RISP and two outs), he posted a solid .293 (.305).

That seems most valuable.

Most disappointing Ray

As with the MVP discussion, there are a number of "worthy" candidates, as SS Yunel Escobar, C Ryan Hanigan, RHP Jeremy Hellickson, CF Desmond Jennings, C Jose Molina, LHP Matt Moore and RHP Joel Peralta all disappointed to some degree.

But the most disappointing comes down to two — OF Wil Myers and RHP Grant Balfour.

After posting a .293 average, 13 homers and 53 RBIs in 88 games on his way to the 2013 AL rookie of the year award, Myers was counted on to become that much-needed big bat in the middle of the order. Instead he was a big hole, hitting .221 with six homers and 35 RBIs and missing 70 games with a broken right wrist, raising questions about his long-term potential.

But Balfour was more disappointing. He was a known commodity, coming off two stellar seasons in Oakland — albeit with the odd deal/no-deal with Baltimore — and was added above budget as the final piece to the roster. But he flopped so badly that he not only lost several games but his job, forcing the Rays to shuffle their bullpen at a time when their starting pitching also was in disarray.

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Biggest (pleasant) surprise

As many things that went wrong, there were a number of unanticipated good performances from players who got opportunities they had no reason to expect.

Such as RHP Jake Odorizzi, who got the chance to compete for the No. 5 starter's spot due to RHP Jeremy Hellickson's injury and ended up their top winner.

Such as RHP Brad Boxberger, who came over unheralded in trade from San Diego and didn't make the opening day roster but emerged as a dominant late-inning reliever, striking out 104 of 247 batters.

And, biggest of all, such as OF Kevin Kiermaier, who wasn't considered ready to play in the majors but instead showed that he could be a much-needed impact player. Kiermaier made some mistakes, but he forced his way into the plans, making how the Rays utilize and maximize his hustle and skills a key question for 2015.

Farewell performances?

Five players who might be making their final appearances as Rays today:

RHP Jeremy Hellickson

OF Matt Joyce

C Jose Molina

LHP Cesar Ramos

INF Sean Rodriguez

And three others to wonder about: RHP Grant Balfour, OF Desmond Jennings, RHP Joel Peralta.

RIP, Don Zimmer | 1931-2014

Rays senior adviser Don Zimmer died on June 4, his passing tough on the players and staff.

Making their pitch

Even after injuries to starters Jeremy Hellickson, Matt Moore and Alex Cobb, and the inconsistencies of relievers Heath Bell, Grant Balfour and Joel Peralta, Jim Hickey's pitching staff still had a remarkable season. Most impressively, it threw 22 shutouts, most by an AL team since the DH was added in 1973 and just the second in more than 90 years to have 20-plus on a team with a losing record. It is challenging the Indians for the major-league lead, and record, in strikeouts. Rays starters rank second in the AL with a 3.46 ERA (despite a 54-56 record), making them the first team that low to finish under .500 since the '83 Rangers and just the third to miss the playoffs in the past 25 years. And they allowed one or no runs 44 times, most in the majors this year and most by an AL team since the '73 Orioles.

Was the Price right?

When the Rays finally did trade ace LHP David Price on July 31 to Detroit, initial reviews of the deal, which netted the Rays LHP Drew Smyly, INF Nick Franklin and SS prospect Willy Adames, were not good. But the numbers since then are interesting:

G W-L ERA K/IP Avg.

Price w/Tigers 10 3-4 3.97 74/701/3 .252

Smyly w/Rays 7 3-1 1.70 44/472/3 .155

A No. 2 to remember

The Rays honored retiring Yankees star Derek Jeter in a Sept. 19 pregame ceremony with gifts and a donation to his foundation. But Jeter's bigger moment at the Trop came Aug. 16. His ninth-inning single, much to the delight of the sellout crowd, not only beat his soon-to-be-hometown Rays, who the night before had finally completed the climb back to .500 from 18 under, but essentially ended their season as it sent them stumbling toward a 15-23 finish.

Deficiency Dept.

Among things the Rays did really poorly, they:

• Scored an AL-low 610 runs, challenging the franchise record of 620 (in 1998) and threatening to finish last in the AL for the first time since 2006. And hit only 116 homers, second fewest in franchise history.

• Stole only 62 bases, fewest in team history and barely a third of their 2008-12 average of 159.4.

• Turned an MLB-low 95 double plays, with a chance for the fewest in a non-strike season since the advent of the 162-game schedule, 97 by the 2012 Padres. (The Rays hit into 154 double plays.)

• Left on a majors-most 1,189 runners while ranking 19th with a .247 average (lowest for the LOB leader since the '69 Giants) and 12th with a .317 on-base percentage (lowest since the '68 Braves).

Unhappy home

As lacking as it may be, the Trop has usually been good to the Rays. But not this year, as their 36-45 home mark was their worst since 2003, with some record-low offensive numbers. Conversely, they have a chance to finish as the only team with a winning record on the road but a losing mark overall.

Tough trilogy

A look at a season of three-part disharmony:

• March 31-June 10: 24-42. Worst record in majors, 28th in offense at 3.58 runs per game, 22nd in ERA at 4.10.

• June 11-Aug. 15: 37-19. Best record in majors, 4th best offense at 4.5 RPG, 3rd best ERA at 2.74.

• Aug. 16-Saturday: 16-23. Tied for 22nd best record in majors, 29th in offense at 3.13 RPG, 19th in ERA at 3.74.

By the numbers

-8 Rays run differential, despite allowing fifth fewest runs in AL.

2 Rays who have played in all 162 games of a season, as 3B Evan Longoria is set to do.

3 Other teams in MLB history to make it back to .500 after being as many as 18 games under (1899 Louisvilleisville Colonels, 2004 Devil Rays, 2006 Marlins).

6 Streak of winning seasons that ended.

8 Games remaining when Rays were eliminated.

10 Franchise-most 1-0 games, going 6-4.

21-27 Record on replay challenges.

36 Losses in games Rays led.

40 Games, of 161, decided by shutout, going 22-18.