Build It and Will They Come

The sun may be fading in Tampa, but when the newly minted Rays began their surprising run earlier this season, smart fans in Washington paid heed. No one has been worse for longer than Tampa Bay. They are the smallest of small market teams. Yet an ESPN announcer got it right earlier this season when he said of the Rays–then division leaders with the best record in baseball–”This is the worst Tampa Bay team you will see for the next five years.” With the deepest minor league organization in baseball and a front office that seems to be hitting all the right buttons, there will be many analyzing the miracle Rays in the off season regardless how far into the playoffs they go this season.

For all of the high draft picks that Tampa Bay got for finishing at or near the bottom of the major leagues, their success depends on pitching and neither of their best arms–Shields and Garza–were compensation picks for the Rays. Shields was a 16th rounder in 2000 during a run when many of Tampa’s top picks did not make it as pros. More successful picks like B.J. Upton, Carl Crawford and Evan Longoria provide much of the muscle in the Tampa Bay lineup. But it was Chuck LaMar’s inability to turn the corner with draftees like Dewon Brazelton and Jeff Nieman–first-rounders who failed–that led to his demise. New majority owner Stuart Sternberg cleaned house in December 2005 after the very public resignation by Lou Piniella who said the organization was going nowhere.

Sternberg brought in a completely new management team, led by the new front office of Andrew Friedman and Gerry Hunsicker who have turned the corner for the Rays. Friedman’s exact title is Executive Vice President of Baseball Operations, but he is in effect the GM. Hunsicker is the Senior Vice President of Baseball Operations. However the chain of command works, things have been clear enough to pull off the trade for Garza, nail down several key signings like Iwamura and turn the worst team in baseball completely around.

While first round picks like Longoria and Crawford are important to the success of the team, shrewd additions like Garza, Carlos Pena, Scott Kazmir, Akinori Iwamura and Jason Bartlett are the backbone of the team. So analyzing how the Rays did it will need to go beyond Billy Beane draft modeling. From the Nationals perspective–the bottom looking up–there have been several changes that stand out.

The first is the new management team that set a very new direction in 2007. The most notable decision was getting Garza for talented by troubling Delmon Young. Combined with the trade of Elijah Dukes to the Nationals, the Rays seemed to rid themselves of two clubhouse distractions and focus themselves on building a more constructive team chemistry. Trading the two sometimes troubled outfielders opened up room for BJ Upton’s move to center field where the 23-year old has begun to fulfill his huge potential.

Assessing the superficial data, it is hard to deny that something positive is going on in the Rays’ clubhouse. They have seen the rebirth of careers for Carlos Pena, Jason Bartlett and Dionner Navarro. Add to these pieces a suddenly potent B.J. Upton and you get the offense that is still scoring enough runs to win for the much improved pitching staff–ranked second in the AL. The selection of Joe Maddon to replace Piniella was not viewed as a game changer for 2006. But no one deserves more consideration for Manager of the Year after patching together the rays after the loss of Crawford and others.

For all of the many changes that have worked for the Rays and as important as the addition of Garza has been to the rotation, no single acquisition, no single draft explains the difference by itself. It is almost as if the change of the name, the new logo with a rising sun bursting from the horizon like the State seal, the new uniforms, and Team President Matt Silverman’s, “We Are One Team” motto have all come together to create a truly new day by the bay.

The last remaining vestige of the old Devil Rays is Tropicana Field. The team still plays at the bargain basement field built on a shoestring a decade before there was a baseball team. The field is located in one of the less attractive areas of St. Petersburg remote from the population center across the bay in Tampa. Average attendance is only 21,000 this season, but that is almost half a million fans more than watched last year. The planning group–A Baseball Community, Inc.–is just starting the planning for a new stadium in a new location. This civic group hopes to build more than a stadium. They are committed to taking advantage of the next five years to create a durable fan base in their community as well.

Attendance does not meet the standards of most major league markets, but management has built a winner and there is reason to believe that the Sunshine State may find the answers. One of the important intangibles for the Rays this season was the fight with the Boston Red Sox in June. In 2004 when Jason Varitek mixed it up with ARod and a wild melee ensued, that fight lit a fire under the Red Sox that carried them to the pennant. When Coco Crisp charged the mound to confront Tampa’s James Shields during a game in Boston in June, he ignited a new team pride that stretched all the way back to the Bay. The Youtube of Dionner Navarro sitting on Crisp to quell the riot became one of the more popular in the bay area and the rivalry with the Red Sox is likely to simmer all the way into the playoffs.

There is new fight in the Rays and their fan base. They have left the Marlins with whom they were mire in the attendance cellar every year. It may not all happen in a single season. But as you watch their young players like Longoria and Upton sporting Mohawk hair cuts and hanging on the top rail while they watch every pitch, you cannot help but be caught up in the chemistry of this upstart.

The lack of attendance in Tampa is not an issue for owner Stuart Sternberg this season. He is having too much fun with the first playoff season for the Rays. Many were ready to write baseball off in Florida a few seasons ago and they were ready to write the Rays off numerous times when they took it on the chin from the Yankees or Red Sox. But the same management team that put a winner on the field should be able to put more fans in the seats. That is a rising sun on the Rays uniform and it doesn’t look like it is going to set on Tampa-St. Pete any time soon.