Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Rays

Rays' young arms form a tantalizing foundation

By JOHN ROMANO
Published February 18, 2005

ST. PETERSBURG - This is your day. The one still unspoiled by honesty.

If you are a fan of the Devil Rays, this has always been the best day of the season. Months have passed since the last loss, and weeks remain before the next. Players are on the field, and payrolls are out of the picture.

It is the first day of spring training, and the Devil Rays can sell optimism as if they've found a lost supply in the back of a van.

So do not focus on missing stars. Do not squint in search of big names.

Look, instead, for possibilities.

They're all over the mound.

There is something new in Tampa Bay's camp this spring. Something worth noticing. There are fresh young arms, and they've come in abundance.

Left-handed and right-handed. Long and short. Arms that rely on speed and arms that count on movement. Some are straight off the major-league roster, and one is directly from a college campus. All carry various loads of hope.

"I wouldn't trade our young arms for many in baseball," general manager Chuck LaMar said. "I really like that group."

It's not as if a pitching prospect has never passed this way before. There have been some celebrated ones. And there have been some lesser ones.

But never have the Rays invested quite so much in young starters. The third pick in one draft for Dewon Brazelton. The fourth pick in another for Jeff Niemann. A trade for Scott Kazmir, yet another first-round selection.

And there are others. Doug Waechter, for one. Seth McClung for another. Jason Hammel and Chris Seddon are probably bound for the minors, but do not let them pass without notice in the coming weeks.

All seven are between 21 and 24. Only two have more than 100 innings in the majors, and not one has more than 200.

McClung, who is still working on a changeup, could end up in the bullpen. Waechter, who has refined his delivery over the winter, lost a year of development with nagging injuries in 2004. So it's probable only two or three will be major-league starters come April. And it's likely they will be pitching behind Mark Hendrickson and Rob Bell in the rotation.

But, make no mistake, they are the future of the franchise.

"My hope is that in another couple of years, people are going to be saying, "Wow, what a nice group of young arms they've put together,"' Rays pitching coach Chuck Hernandez said. "I mean, it's the lifeblood of any major-league team. You can hem and haw all you want, if you don't have starting pitching, it's difficult to win."

Of course, every team has its own supply of promising arms. The difference is, few are quite so dependent on them as the Rays.

No one in the American League spends less money than the Rays, and nothing costs more than a quality starting pitcher. Which means that for Tampa Bay to have any dreams of future celebrations, it must begin with homegrown starters.

So you might think it curious the Rays have waited until recently to begin stockpiling arms in earnest. It was done, LaMar said, with a plan in mind.

Tampa Bay's earlier drafts were constructed around position players. Josh Hamilton. Rocco Baldelli. And, later, B.J. Upton and Delmon Young. They were all high school players who would need time to grow.

And, because drafting prep pitchers high can be a risky business, the Rays waited until their position players had time to develop before investing in college pitchers. They took Niemann in June and will almost surely use the No.8 pick this summer on a college pitcher.

And should teams come calling about Rays veterans in July, odds are LaMar will want a young pitcher, such as Kazmir, in return.

It's not a perfect plan. It relies too much on projections and not enough on production. But for a team with limited resources, it's the way to go.

The Rays didn't have the means to acquire Randy Johnson, but they could get a power pitcher such as Niemann near the top of the draft. And they couldn't afford to sign Pedro Martinez, but they did swipe Kazmir from the Mets.

That doesn't mean Niemann will ever be as powerful as Johnson, or Kazmir will come close to matching Martinez's success, but they both have the talent to be aces in the not-too-distant future.

Naturally, it won't all work to plan. It never does. The Rays will be lucky if either Kazmir or Niemann becomes a bona fide star, let alone both. They'll be fortunate if, among Waechter, McClung, Brazelton, Hammel and Seddon, two or three become dependable starters in the middle of a rotation.

The point is the Rays are at least getting the odds in their favor by hoarding as many prospects as they can grab.

So look out for them today.

Watch with the hope you are seeing a better tomorrow.

[Last modified February 18, 2005, 00:14:17]