My 2014 started out with lots of aspirations and potential big changes.
The Tampa Bay Rays 2014 season started out with lots of hype from the baseball community. They were even considered to become potentially World Series bound. They had the talent, they had the playoff experience, they’ve all been there before---it was a deadly mix of youth and experience that was potentially shifting them from good team to championship-caliber team.
My 2014 went off to a very rough start. Complications, unexpected surprises, delays in progress, among other things hampered the beginning of the year.
The beginning of the 2014 Rays saw them take off in the totally wrong direction, having to endure a long dismal April and May and it was complicated by a series of injuries. Matt Moore disappearing from the rotation was a nasty blow, as the other pitchers suddenly had to step up. Alex Cobb went down. Hellickson went down. Alex Torres and Fernando Rodney had left prior to the season. All these players that could have helped us had moved on to other teams. Joe Maddon had to play severe damage control and attempt to salvage as much as he could during the injury-stricken weeks.
But like my Rays, I had been through rougher waters before. Surely my misfortune would turn around with a little planning, some hard work, and a few good breaks, right?
Well, by the end of June things were turning around. It was quite inspiring to see a team that dealt with so much crap while maintaining the bottom of the barrel attendance numbers to still hang around in the midst of the underwhelming performances and injuries. Even Evan Longoria’s numbers were not on par to his usual output. In spite of this, excellent non-closer relief pitching as well as improving stats from the starters was giving the offense the necessary breathing room to churn out its few runs that would lead to close victories the Rays were known for. The Rays have always been good at small balling their way to wins, and can grind out wins in the second half better than most teams.
Also on their side was the extreme parity that was engulfing the American League. In mid-July the Rays were below .500 but were still within 6 games of the second Wild Card. And if there is a franchise that can show that in baseball there’s always a chance: it would be the Rays with their magical 2011 September run. 9 games out in September, and still managed to get in—and this is before the inclusion of a second Wild Card.
And then we traded David Price…
And there went the season…..
You never ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever trade one of the faces of the franchise unless you truly believe that there is nothing left to fight for. The Oakland Athletics found out the hard way then they traded Cespedes and went on a torrid downward spiral and went from World Series bound all the way down to barely nabbing a Wild Card.
Now look at the Rays:
August 1st (24 hours after Price trade): 53-56 5 GB for 2nd Wild Card
September 1st: 67-71 8.5 GB for 2nd Wild Card
End of Season: 77-85 11 GB for 2nd Wild Card
Tampa never recovered from the loss. The fans stopped showing up, the players didn’t have the same spark, the organization altogether just never truly recovered from that gaping hole. Never mind that we were never going to keep him with his value skyrocketing in an increasingly competitive league that is seeing more and more teams playing deep into September. Never mind that we can’t afford him and could only hope for an Evan Longoria-like contract that happens very, very rarely. He still had value in Tampa, and could have still been used to propel the Rays into a playoff team. There was no tiff, there was no locker room controversy, David Price had become the leader amongst the pitchers in the Tampa clubhouse and was a fan favorite. If the Rays wanted to compete, keeping Price would have to become a priority.
Upper management didn’t see this. They saw a mediocre team that wasn’t going anywhere. This is slightly understandable---except for the fact that there was no outstanding team at the late July point. The Oakland Athletics were the top squad in the land, and yet the uncertainty immediately arrived when they made their trades. No team was actually safe. But management didn’t see this. And not only did they trade David Price, but traded him to a team that could potentially face them in the playoffs as opposed to an NL team, further showing their lack of confidence in a true turnaround. It was a devastating blow to Joe Maddon and his young, already-depleted squad.
Tampa is known for being tenacious but Price leaving was too much. Moore was already gone, Hellickson was still gone, I don’t need to explain this further. Once the fan favorite left, so did the fans. So did everyone. So did me.
My August was just as frustrating as the Rays. It was about having to start over—much like the Rays. It was about trying to find my rooting---much like the Rays. It was about trying to figure out which direction to go—much like the Rays. And just like the Rays by the end of the season---I am still working on it, still working on figuring things out. And you bet come next year I will be there ready to take on another season of circumstances---just like the Rays.
The damning thing about this article is that there is less to talk about with this team when compared to last year’s team. The season was shorter, it’s more of the same issues from years past (Offense, offense, offense), and the David Price trade removed all the flavor from the 2014 season. At the same time, my 2014 life also doesn’t have much flavor, it was full of unmet potential and lots of things out of my control that led to me having to move, having to save up money, having to desperately beg, borrow, and deal my way through the summer. Lots of mistakes also made along the way, including some to the level of the David Price trade.
But baseball is life. And like life, baseball is lengthy, you never know when it’s over, it’s full of surprises, full of triumphs as well as disappointments, heavily requires contributions of the environment around you regardless of good things might be going for you, and at the end of the day no matter how bad or how disappointing everything is going: there’s always next year. There’s always a chance to start over.
Because at one point, that is all you might have: hope in a better tomorrow.
For me, I need to work on my patience, my decision-making, my drive, and my overall demeanor towards potentially making big changes. For the Rays, they need to attempt to maintain a more consistent team that can grow and become a community with the fans. It does us no good to follow a team that shuffles their entire lineup like a deck of cards. Sam Fuld was a fan-favorite that could have contributed plenty off the bench and on defense during the injury-nagging beginnings. The other fan-favorite was Fernando Rodney, which could have deserved another year despite 2013 being rough with him because after all he set the franchise record for saves and when he is on fire, nobody could touch him. And look how well he did with the Mariners. So the Rays management needs a little more…patience with their lower-budget players.
Me and the Rays have seen better days, but it doesn’t mean that we’ve peaked. There’s still plenty of opportunities for me and the Rays to improve things---whether it’s going to be here in Florida……or elsewhere…like Montreal…..
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Go Rays. See you next year.
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