The addition of Percival as closer also bumps everyone down in the bullpen, making pitchers actually pitching in spots where they should be. Al Reyes is not a closer (though he did an ok just there last year), but he’s got the stuff to be a pretty solid set up man.

The addition of Dan Wheeler at the all-star break last year cannot be ignored. Dan Wheeler is friggin’ awesome. I don’t care about his stats from last year…if you look at his career stats, last year was a complete anomalie. Maybe he won’t have a sub-3 ERA this year, but I highly doubt it’ll be above 4 again. He’s been lights out all throughout his career and he’s still young. In my mind, he’s the rock in this bullpen at the moment. With him, Percival, and Reyes…to be honest, I feel like that’s a dominant trio. At the very least, it’s league average. And for the Rays, that’s a huge improvement.

REPORT COMMENT

REPORT COMMENT

Kazmir, Shields, and Garza are a respectable first three. And given the timeline we’re talking about for this team, I’d say a ballclub that is stacked with excellent pitching prospects who will be ready in the next one-to-two years has “addressed” its problem in that area, yes.

REPORT COMMENT

But as for the other prospects, while it is true that David Price, Wade Davis, and Jacob McGee are all highly regarded pitching prospects, neither Davis nor McGee has pitched above AA ball, and Price has yet to throw a pitch in the pros. As far as I’ve heard, none of these guys is projected to make the major league team this season. As you rightly point out, these guys could well make appearances for the Rays in 2009, but to say they can be “staples of the rotation” by next year would be a stretch. Actually, the last I heard on Davis, they were thinking of him as maybe more of a closer.

The Rays pitcher who is actually the closest to the majors right now is Chris Mason, who also has not pitched above AA, and is the least regarded of the four, but had a breakout campaign last year, and has far more experience, having at least a whole year at AA, whereas Davis and McGee only just made it to AA at the end of last season.

The Rays actually also have two other high-ceiling pitching prospects in Jeremy Hellickson and Jeff Niemann, but Hellickson is still in A ball, and Niemann has been wracked by arm injuries of late, making the bullpen his likely destination.

So yeah, saying that the Rays have “addressed” their pitching is kind of an overstatement, since they haven’t really done much of anything this offseason outside of the Garza trade, and these prospects were already there before, and most importantly, these prospects are not ready yet.

As of right now, the Rays starting rotation projects as:

Kazmir

Shields

Garza

Andy Sonnanstine (6-10, 5.85)

Edwin Jackson (5-15, 5.76)

and the bullpen projects as Percival, Morlan, Al Reyes, and then pray for a hurricane (6.16 ERA last year with 605 hits allowed in 497 innings).

REPORT COMMENT

As for those nearly-ready pitching prospects, McGee has an electric fastball and Davis burned through Single A and Double A with his wicked curve. Price, though he was just drafted last year, is already a polished pitcher who has two plus pitches and great command. The Rays expect all three to be ready to be staples of the rotation by 2009.

For what it’s worth, the Rays’ farm system has been ranked first in the majors by Baseball America for the past two years running.

Or did you expect them to sign Johan Santana?

REPORT COMMENT

Saying something a billion times doesn’t make it true, if it’s not true.

The Rays have added exactly TWO (2) pitchers this offseason – Troy Percival, who is a 39-year-old relief pitcher with degenerative arthritis in his hip, and Matt Garza, who is perhaps a major-league average starting pitcher at best this year.

If you think that adding just those two pitchers qualifies as “already having addressed” the needs of a pitching staff that posted a Major League Worst 5.53 ERA last season, than I’d hate to see what “need” the Rays still have that is more even pressing than pitching, because it must be something truly insatiable, like a newborn babe must be sacrificed to a malevolent Everglades spirit every fortnight or something.

But seriously, if you really think the Rays still have a need more pressing than pitching, I’d be really interested to know what it is. I’m sure you don’t think they have filled all their needs and are fully primed to run away with the AL East this season…

REPORT COMMENT

REPORT COMMENT

Unless Tony Clark can teach guys how to throw nasty sinkers or something, I’m not sure how much good he would do.

REPORT COMMENT

REPORT COMMENT

And I’d love to see what a healthy Rocco Baldelli can do – if he ever COULD stay healthy.

REPORT COMMENT