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Rays find plenty of reasons to believe

The team looks similar to last season, but still harbors the optimism that comes with opening day.

By MARC TOPKIN

© St. Petersburg Times, published April 3, 2001

ST. PETERSBURG -- The Rays opened last season burdened by expectations that after a number of expensive acquisitions they should be contenders for a playoff spot.

They won't have that problem this year.

The Rays return essentially the same team that finished last season 69-92, and while there are predictions they could finish fourth in the rugged American League East, they are predicated as much on the sorry state of the Orioles as any improvement by the Rays. The outside consensus is that after making minimal changes and shaving the payroll to $56.3-million, the Rays are headed for a fourth consecutive losing season and again could slog past the 90-loss mark.

But inside the clubhouse, there is a quiet sense of optimism.

"Why," leftfielder Greg Vaughn said, "can't we be a Cinderella team and turn this thing around and have everybody talking about us and packing Tropicana Field? That's what I'm looking at. The only history you have here is last place since they've been in existence. We're trying to not let history repeat itself because we're better than that. We just all have to believe that."

The Rays think they're better because they have added powerful and productive Ben Grieve to their lineup; because Vinny Castilla and Vaughn are healthy; because Albie Lopez, Bryan Rekar and Paul Wilson are going to be in the rotation from the start of the season; because Fred McGriff and Gerald Williams had solid 2000 showings.

They feel they have the most potent offense of their four years, the best starting rotation, and a bullpen that, while unproven, is going to be serviceable.

"It's the most talent we've ever had going into a year," general manager Chuck LaMar said.

There are, however, also legitimate concerns.

The starting rotation -- Lopez, Wilson, Rekar, Ryan Rupe and Travis Harper -- has a total of 65 career victories. The most experienced (and highly paid) pitchers -- Wilson Alvarez and Juan Guzman -- are on the disabled list again. The relief crew -- Doug Creek, Ken Hill, Mike Judd, Ariel Prieto, Tanyon Sturtze and Esteban Yan -- has two career saves and is going to take time to get settled, and take some lumps in the process. Castilla is coming off the worst season of his career, and Vaughn and John Flaherty had down years. The new schedule format has them playing 57 games, 35 percent of their total, against the playoff contending Yankees, Red Sox and Blue Jays.

The key, the Rays say, is taking a basic approach.

"After last year, I'm not getting overly excited," Flaherty said. "That's not because I don't believe in this team, because I do. There was so much hype on last year's club and we were all talking playoffs from the media to the players to everybody, and obviously it didn't work.

"I think this year there is more of a sense of, "Let's take care of our business at hand,' and on a smaller scale. I haven't heard anybody in this clubhouse talking about how many games we can win or looking forward to end results. It's more of, let's get the team in order, get things together in the clubhouse and if we stay healthy -- and it's about time this club did stay healthy because of all the injuries we've had over the three years -- we feel pretty good about where we'll be at the end."

The first goal has to be improving on last year's disappointment and breaking the 70-win barrier for the first time.

"We've got to go out and prove we're better than we were last year, that we're better than we've been in the past, and how close we really are to being a competitive major-league club," LaMar said.

The next milestone would be a .500 record, which would require an improvement of 12 victories. "To me, there's no reason not to play .500," said Albie Lopez, who starts tonight's opener against Toronto.

A good beginning would help. Last season, the Rays went 16-34 in the first two months, negating the accomplishment of a 53-58 mark in the final four.

Manager Larry Rothschild, pleased with the attitude and atmosphere throughout spring training, expects the progress to be incremental. "To me, you focus on the first half of the season," he said. "I don't put amounts on wins because you don't know. By the time you get to the All-Star break, if we're playing close to .500 baseball, whether it's above it a little bit, below it a little bit, whatever it might be, I think we're going to be right where we need to be.

"And we may go way beyond that. That's why I don't like to put numbers on anything. I don't want to restrict these guys by putting numbers on them and I don't want to frustrate them the other way by putting too high of numbers on them."

Having been on a San Diego team that went from a 76-86 record in 1997 to the World Series in 1998, and a Cincinnati squad that improved from 77 wins in 1998 to 96 in 1999, Vaughn has an even simpler approach.

"The only thing that matters is that we have 25 guys committed to do whatever it takes every single day to win. I don't care about nothing else but winning. That's the only thing that's important to me," Vaughn said.

"I don't want to put numbers on anything. I've never been a numbers guy. I just say that I'm looking forward to us having a big year, and that means a lot more wins than losses. I don't believe anyone can tell you what you can and cannot do. If you have 25 committed guys, you can go a long way."

On some days, especially on opening day, you've got to believe.

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