A Rays mistake comes back to haunt them

RED SOX 4, RAYS 2: John Burkett makes Tampa Bay look foolish for releasing him before the 2000 season.

By MARC TOPKIN, Times Staff Writer

© St. Petersburg Times
published April 27, 2002

BOSTON -- The Rays let John Burkett go at the end of spring training 2000 because he didn't fit into their plans. He hadn't pitched all that well and they wanted to go with younger, and less expensive, starters such as Ryan Rupe, Dan Wheeler and Esteban Yan.

But Burkett, like Bobby Abreu and Jason Johnson, whom the Rays moved for one reason or another and found greater success, continues to bedevil them.

Friday, the 37-year-old right-hander pitched six shutout innings on a chilly New England night, leading the Red Sox to a 4-2 win and wasting a good-but-not great effort from Paul Wilson, who allowed two home runs.

"I understood their decision at the time," Burkett said. "They had some younger guys throwing the ball really well. I had three well-below-par seasons in Texas and I think they thought they were going to go with the younger guys. ...

"They only thing that confused me was that Wilson Alvarez and Juan Guzman were hurt so I thought I might have an opportunity. I thought they might want to mix a veteran in there. I think it was a case where I was judged on spring training (1-2, 5.29 ERA, 32 baserunners in 17 innings), and sometimes that happens.

"Now it's turned out definitely to be, I think, a mistake by them."

When the Rays released Burkett, who would have made $850,000 if he made the team with more than $2-million available in incentives, he went to do his laundry. The Braves called, apparently between spin cycles, and worked out a quick deal. Burkett went 10-6 that season and went to the 2001 All-Star Game in the midst of a 12-12 performance the next season, then signed a two-year, $11-million deal with the Red Sox.

Though Burkett was disappointed to be let go by the Rays, he must not have been that surprised as he thought his career might be over.

"I was ready to retire," he said. "I was definitely at a point in my career where I didn't want to play unless I was going to help somebody win. When the Braves called I got really excited. ... It resurrected my career to be able to go to a high-profile team like the Braves and pitch well, and now again here with the Red Sox."

The Rays have enough problems in the cold: Gametime temperature was 51 degrees, and they're 0-10 when it's under 55. Burkett made it worse, mixing his pitches and speeds, keeping them off balance and out of synch.

"Obviously we knew coming in what he did," catcher John Flaherty said. "He throws the ball over the plate with movement, he cuts it, he sinks it, he changes speeds. He had us definitely in-between. He's throwing 83 mph and it looked like a lot of guys weren't really on his fastball. Sometimes the threat of an offspeed pitch is more effective than actually throwing it."

"He knows how to pitch," manager Hal McRae said. "He's cute. And he's been successful."

The Rays didn't have many chances. Burkett set down the first nine, and when the Rays mounted something of a rally in the fourth, third-base coach Tom Foley made a conservative decision to stop Jason Tyner at third on Steve Cox's single to left.

Foley said he made the late decision because leftfielder Manny Ramirez, who is not known for fielding prowess, was playing shallow and charging hard, and because Ben Grieve, one of their top hitters, was up next.

But Grieve struck out looking for the second of three times on the night, and Greg Vaughn, whose average dropped to .112 with another 0-for-4, grounded out.

"Instead of taking a chance at an out, I felt pretty good about our chances with Ben coming up," Foley said. "It just didn't work out."

Wilson thought he did okay, but he lost his second straight since missing a start with shoulder stiffness. In his first two starts, he allowed two earned runs in 15 innings; in the past two, seven earned runs in 13 innings.

Wilson said Doug Mirabelli's third-inning home run was a mistake, a changeup that stayed up.

But he said Ramirez's two-run homer in the fifth, an estimated 390-foot blast that struck high off the light tower above the leftfield wall, was a work of art, and a freak of nature.

"That ball was down and in and he hit it a ton," Wilson said. "How he kept that ball fair? That's Manny. He's one of the best in the league. I'm still scratching my head over that one."