Disappointing performances, often from the unlikeliest of places, have held back the Rays during their first three years of on-field existence. To become a winner, Tampa Bay must stay healthy and improve from top to bottom. For some, careers may be at stake.

[Times photos: Michael Rondou]
Vinny Castilla is happier, healthier and hasn't backed off his end-of-season claim that he will win this year's comeback player of the year award.

By MARC TOPKIN

ST. PETERSBURG -- When you win 100 games, everyone is a cheerleader.

When you win 69 games, everyone is a skeptic.

And when you win 69 games two seasons in a row after winning 63 the year before that, everyone -- or at least those who still care -- is a critic.

And so it is for the Rays, who open their fourth season Tuesday night trying to win games, fans and credibility.

Juan Guzman says all he needs is a "happy and healthy year" to win 20 games.

"I think as an organization, there is a lot to prove," general manager Chuck LaMar said. "But I will say that every year you're at the major-league level. You have to prove yourself every year and you're only as good as your next at-bat or your next game or your next season.

"As a growing organization even more so than some we definitely have to continue to prove we're getting better, and that's what we're planning on doing."

The burden of proof is everywhere this season.

The ushers at Tropicana Field are undergoing training to usher better. The sales people, based on the number of calls they keep making to a certain house (and, no, my wife still hasn't changed her mind!!), are under pressure to sell better. The managing general partner needs to . . . well . . . never mind.

There are similar thoughts in the baseball department.

The general manager needs to general manage better, the manager needs to manage better, the coaches need to coach better, and the players need to play better.

For the sake of argument, you can go around the locker room and see a challenge just about anywhere you look. Can Albie Lopez keep winning as a starter, and if he does should the Rays sign him to a long-term deal? Can Bryan Rekar prove that last year's success wasn't an aberration. Can Gerald Williams do the same? Can Greg Vaughn bounce back to put up the big numbers he did in the past? Can John Flaherty? Can Fred McGriff remain consistent? Can Ben Grieve prove his worth? Can Esteban Yan or Ken Hill or Tanyon Sturtze get the final three outs? Can Felix Martinez hit? Can Brent Abernathy play?

For the sake of this article, here is a look at four Rays facing critical junctures in their careers: pitchers Wilson Alvarez and Juan Guzman, third baseman Vinny Castilla and manager Larry Rothschild.

Pitching in

The first thing Alvarez and Guzman have to prove is that they are healthy.

Then they can go about proving their careers aren't over.

Between them, Alvarez and Guzman made $15-million last season. Together, they pitched 12/3 innings in the majors (all by Guzman). Both eventually had shoulder surgery. Neither is going to be ready to start the season, Guzman hoping to rejoin the rotation in mid-April, Alvarez a few weeks later.

Alvarez is 31 now, in the fourth season of the five-year, $35-million contract he signed with the Rays in December 1997. He won six games (while losing 14) in 1998, won nine (while losing nine) in 1999, and missed all of last season.

"I've got nothing to prove to nobody," Alvarez said. "The only person I have to prove anything to is myself. And the way to prove it is to get healthy again and just go out there every five days. Last year after the surgery a couple times I'd go, 'Man, am I going to heal or not? Is it going to be a successful surgery or not?" I was wondering about it. But right now I'm feeling that all the work I've been doing this off-season has been paying off."

Along with a sore arm, Alvarez has also at times suffered from a lack of confidence. The Rays are hoping he has put both issues behind him.

"Wilson Alvarez has to be healthy before we can truly judge him," LaMar said. "People have asked me, it seems like a lot over the last month, if you had to do it over would you sign Wilson Alvarez again? And the answer is absolutely. At the time we signed him he was 27 years old, arguably the best free agent pitcher in that year's group, a left-hander capable of throwing 200-plus innings a year.

Manager Larry Rothschild says this season is no more key than the previous ones and he is not concerned about speculation regarding his future if the Rays start poorly.

"It hasn't worked out the first three years, but it's very hard for any of us to judge Wilson Alvarez. It's hard for him to judge himself until he gets healthy, gets through the frustration of being hurt and then goes out there and throws the ball the way he is capable of. It's hard for him to prove anything until he's healthy. And when he does get healthy I think he'll do everything he can to become the pitcher he once was."

It sounds odd to refer to Alvarez in the past tense, but that's all the Rays can do for now. He has worked hard to get to this point and in theory should be driven to re-establish himself, but there is no way to predict how he is going to do when he does get back.

Alvarez doesn't like to talk in terms of wins and losses, claiming that his job is simply to pitch well enough to give his team a chance at victory.

Now, he has an even more basic measure of success in mind.

"I've got a goal this year," Alvarez said. "When I get back pitching, it's not to see the trainers anymore. That's my biggest goal. I'm not going to the trainers' room. Just to say hi."

Guzman could just as well have a similar goal. The Rays signed him to a two-year $12-million contract in January 2000 to lead their staff, and he couldn't make it through the second inning of his first game.

As much as it had to hurt the Rays to pay him $6-million for a lost season, Guzman makes it sound like it has been a painful experience for him too.

"I came with a reputation for being a good pitcher, one of the best starters, and I haven't performed," Guzman said. "I came here to help this team and I haven't been able to do that. That's the first thing I can tell you. I want to be healthy and show them why they brought me over here."

Guzman is 34 and five years removed from his last winning season (11-8 for Toronto in 1996), but LaMar is confident he can succeed again. He looks back to the second half of the 1999 season, when Guzman went 6-3 with a 3.03 ERA in 12 pennant-race starts for Cincinnati, and figures a strong shoulder would allow him to be similarly effective for the Rays.

"I think if Juan Guzman is healthy he's still a quality major-league pitcher," LaMar said. "So he doesn't have to prove that to us. He just has to get healthy, and if he does, we're a better club."

Guzman also figures that if he's healthy he still can be effective, but he has grander plans, to win 20 games.

"I know how to pitch," Guzman said. "All I need is a happy and healthy year and if the Lord helps me, I can make that goal. That's one of the goals I've had, and I haven't given up."

Taking a cut

The Vinny Castilla the Rays traded for in December 1999 was not the Vinny Castilla they got in 2000.

The Castilla they thought they were getting was coming off one of the finest five-year offensive runs of any third baseman in history, posting a .302 average with 191 home runs and 562 RBI. The Castilla they got struggled all season with injuries and inconsistency and posted what for him were embarrassing numbers: a .221 average, six home runs and 42 RBI.

"When I got home after the season I was so glad it was over," Castilla said. "It was so painful for me. I was never hurt before in my life and I didn't know how to take it. The year was so long for me. I just wanted to forget about baseball for a little bit."

Happier and healthier, Castilla is back. The question is whether the Rays will get the Castilla of old or just an old Castilla?

"In Vinny's case, to me there is some proving to do," LaMar said. "I felt that injuries last year slowed him down, and yet there are questions around baseball. Was it the injuries? Was it the change of leagues? Or are his skills starting to diminish? He's in a free-agent contract year and not only will he benefit if he proves out to be a quality major-leaguer but we're a better club and the people of Tampa Bay will see the player we traded for."

The Rays paid Castilla $6-million last season and owe him $7-million this season under terms of the contract he signed with the Rockies. There have been trade rumors throughout the winter, and it seems likely the Rays will look to deal him at some point during the season.

"The millions of dollars of salary we paid for his production doesn't seem like a very good deal, but things can turn around very quickly if he is the player he once was," LaMar said. "The player we gave up (pitcher Rolando Arrojo) is now in the bullpen somewhere (Boston), so don't look me in the eye and tell me it was a bad trade. I'd make the trade again, but only if we see the Vinny Castilla we thought we would get. If he's not, then for the money we spent you have the right to question that."

Castilla, 33, is confident he will regain his touch. He stood in the clubhouse one day at the end of last season and predicted he would win the comeback player of the year award and hasn't backed off that claim.

"That's why I worked so hard," Castilla said. "To come back and do it."

Managing to succeed

Rothschild survived a close call to make it back for this season, the last under his current contract. In three years, he has 201 wins and 284 losses. Rarely has he had a full, or fully healthy, team to field.

LaMar made the decision, surprising to some, to retain Rothschild, deciding the manager wasn't to blame for the team's disappointing record.

"I think any judgment of Larry Rothschild as a manager has to have an asterisk, and you have to ask yourself without the injuries would this team have played up to what we expected," LaMar said.

What's important, LaMar said, are the basic things.

"I think honestly that we need to continue to not only stress fundamentals but play the game fundamentally sound," LaMar said. "All I've ever asked of Larry Rothschild and this team is to play up to your capabilities. It's been extremely hard to judge that with the injuries that we've had and the number of young players we've gone through.

"Now we're more established in most positions and I expect this team to play fundamentally sound and be prepared on a nightly basis. Those still are going to be the criteria I judge Larry and his staff by. I can analyze who's hurt and I can analyze what kind of impact that has on our club. But, still, no matter what the condition of the team is, no matter what the talent level is, no matter what the payroll is, I expect this team to perform up to their capability."

Rothschild, 47, insists he is up for the challenge. He said he learned many things, especially about himself, going through the struggles of last season and is better for it.

He said he doesn't see this season as any more key than the previous ones and is unconcerned about outside speculation regarding his future status if the Rays get off to a slow start.

"I'm not worried about that. Whatever happens, I'm going to be fine," Rothschild said. "I've said it all along -- I want to get this right here. I didn't come here just to do it. I came here to do it right and make this franchise into a winner."

"I would fit Larry in with myself and the rest of the organization," LaMar said. "Yeah, we all have something to prove. I've got to continue to do my job better and give Larry the best players we possibly can and he, in turn, has to get the most out of those players."

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