Rafael Soriano. Joaquin Benoit. Grant Balfour.
These were the Tampa Bay Rays’ most trusted relievers in 2010.
New York. Detroit. Oakland.
Respectively, these are the cities they’ll be playing for in 2011.
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Tampa Bay has endured one of the toughest offseasons in recent memory, losing 11 of 25 players from last year’s playoff roster. The bullpen took the hardest hit, as they lost every single reliever on the postseason roster. Dan Wheeler, Chad Qualls and Lance Cormier were casualties as well as the three pitchers listed above.
A winning club doesn’t take apart its team, much less its bullpen by choice. It does so out of necessity. As a small market ballclub, the Rays decided on 2010 as their “all in” year. This meant they were going to spend more in 2010 than they could afford to on a long term basis, in hopes of bringing a championship back to Florida.
They signed closer Rafael Soriano for $7.25 million, and raised their 2010 payroll to almost $72 million. This increase put them in the financial vicinity of middle market teams such as the Cincinnati Reds and Baltimore Orioles. The increase won them the A.L. East, but they ended up losing in the first round of the playoffs. As a result of their big spending, as expected, the front office had to scale down in 2011.
The Rays’ expected payroll going into the 2011 campaign is around $41 million, though this number can fluctuate throughout spring training as players are signed and released.
The team really had no choice in letting so much talent leave the ballclub. As a small market team, the Rays must focus on homegrown cheap young talent from their minor league systems.
The problem is, once the young players reach their prime and age past the terms of their first contracts (which are usually signed before the player has developed and proven his potential, therefore making them much more affordable), their salary demands increase exponentially, and they looks for a bigger market that can meet those demands. These markets usually reside in bigger cities with more baseball tradition such as New York, Boston, Chicago or Philadelphia. These cities took up six of the top seven spots on the 2010 payroll list, as New York and Chicago both have two teams.
The point of all of this is that the Rays’ losses were inevitable. But it doesn’t mean that their management has given up on competing. In fact, they’ve done a formidable job of rebuilding the team into a contender. General Manager Andrew Friedman says he doesn’t even pay much attention to the exact numbers on the payroll sheet.
“I don’t get caught up in how much money we spend as much as I do about how much talent we can get,” Friedman said in an interview with Tampa Bay’s Channel 10 News.
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The Rays lost star outfielder Carl Crawford to the Boston Red Sox, and starting first baseman Carlos Peña to the Chicago Cubs. But the biggest question mark for this club is the bullpen. After an impressive season that saw Soriano, Benoit, Balfour and Wheeler throw for a combined 2.10 ERA, it’s no surprise that this pen was in for a huge payday; $22.5 million to be exact, from their new teams for 2011. That’s more than half of the entire Rays’ expected payroll this season.
With the inconsistency of relievers and the proclivity to injury of pitchers in general, it doesn’t make sense to allot that kind of cash to such a small and unreliable cast of players. Instead, G.M. Friedman and Co. decided to take the route that led them to Wheeler and Benoit in the first place- find the pitchers with the lowest downside, the highest upside and hope for the best.
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When building a bullpen, it’s a well documented strategy to start from the 9th inning and work your way back. If the starting pitching staff is where it should be, there shouldn’t be more than a couple innings to figure out.
Tampa Bay’s best bet as a closer is J.P. Howell, who saved 17 games for the Rays in 2009. He pitched to a 2.84 ERA, leading Joe Maddon to claim midseason that he should’ve made the All-Star roster. His season started to unravel mid-August, though, as teams faced him for the third and fourth times. He ended the year with eight blown saves. Howell also missed all of last season with a shoulder injury, furthering doubts about his ability to successfully finish games.
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The biggest offseason addition to the pen was Kyle Farnsworth, a righty with a high 90s fastball and a knack for bench clearing brawls. Farnsworth signed a one-year contract with the Rays in January, worth $3.25 million.
At his best, he can be a dominant closer, exhibited by his 2005 season. After the Tigers sent him to the Braves at the trade deadline, Farnsworth was 10 for 10 in save opportunities, while allowing just six runs in 27.1 innings.
At his worst, he can be an unmotivated waste of money as shown by his 2008 stint with the Tigers. In 16 games after July 31, Farnsworth pitched to a 6.75 ERA and gave up almost twice as many hits as innings pitched.
He’s also been known to have a hot temper, most memorably taking Paul Wilson to the ground in a 2003 game, and landing a few hooks. The Rays aren’t a club to shy from brawls when motivated (Coco Crisp vs. James Shields, June 5, 2008), but they’re also not too keen on players with bad attitudes. Keep a close eye on Farnsworth’s relationship with skipper Joe Maddon.
It seems like a good signing for a reasonable price, though, at a time when relievers are garnering huge multi-year deals. If he comes through with an ERA less than four, pitches in more than 50 games and doesn’t get suspended, it’s worth the money.
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Juan Cruz is another notable signing. Maddon has alluded to him as a possible Joaquin Benoit replacement: A hidden gem setup man.
“Not a bad comparison,” Maddon told Marc Topkin of the St. Petersburg Times.
Cruz had a very impressive few years relieving in Arizona. A 3.10 ERA in 2007 and a 2.61 in ’08 earned him the opportunity for a contract with a new team and the possibility of closing games. He landed a job with the Royals, but had a very rough 2009 campaign. He managed a 5.72 ERA and blew four out of his six save attempts.
He’s ended up in the Rays’ spring training camp with a dirt cheap contract and a chance at a new career. With a fastball that tops out at 99 mph, it seems like there’s no downside here either. Whether he fades out in the minors or shows up in 2008 form, he can only help the Rays at this point.
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The most intriguing signing of the bunch is Joel Peralta. Non-tendered by the Nationals in December, it doesn’t really add up how the Rays got this deal done. Peralta posted a 2.02 ERA, with a 5:1 strikeout to walk ratio last year. Coming off the best season of his career, the Rays signed Peralta to a one year, $900k deal.
The biggest risk here is that the Rays have extreme confidence in him. They’ve seemingly set up their bullpen with the idea that Howell, Farnsworth and Peralta will be the top three arms. If Peralta throws, for instance, like he did in ’08 or ’09, the Rays are in deep trouble. Both seasons, his ERA hovered around six and he continually let the ball leave the ballpark. He got absolutely pounded.
The Rays continued their streak of signing low floor, high ceiling players, but left themselves much less room for error. In the past, they’ve had Balfour, Wheeler, Trevor Miller and Randy Choate, among others. These were proven veterans who may not be the best options for closing games, but are reliable and consistent pitchers. The Rays have no such option in the bullpen going into this year.
Although the front office should be praised for bringing in raw talent for such low prices, they should be admonished for not first landing stability. An anchor for players lost in the tides of injury and inconsistency is key in whether or not they succeed. Not only does it give the team insurance if a player fails, the leadership and lack of pressure helps prevent failure from happening at all.
The Tampa Bay Rays’ offseason has been a trying one. They’ve brought in great veteran hitters in Johnny Damon and Manny Ramirez, and built a bullpen from literally nothing. Honestly, this is a better team than anybody even thought possible for the price.
The A.L. East is very tough though, and a bullpen made cheap and untested is a very big gamble. Only the season can tell if this ragtag team is built to win.
Baseball’s not about beating expectations. It’s about beating other teams.
Miles Parks can be reached at mparks@spartans.ut.edu.
This is a very interesting article. Good stuff.