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 The Tampa Bay Devil Rays were the laughing stock of baseball. Since their creation in 1998, the Devil Rays were arguably the worst sports franchise in all of sports. The worst. Period.
Frankly, they stood alone. The Clippers were bad. The Royals were bad. The Boston Bruins were bad, I think (I’m not really a hockey guy). None were as pathetic or embarrassing as the Devil Rays. Even the freakin’ Lions laughed at how bad the Devil Rays were. Let us take a stroll down memory lane and decipher the past 10 unbelievable forgettable years of this abysmal sports franchise: I did some number crunching because I’m so dedicated to proving how bad this franchise was over the past ten years. The collective record of the Devil Rays entering 2008 was 615-972. Ok, that is 357 games under .500. It would take ten straight years of winning 100 games in order to be 17 games over .500 as a franchise. Let me repeat that: Ten straight years of winning 100 games. Seriously? Here’s some more. They have lost 100 or more games in 30% of the seasons they have existed as a “professional” franchise. The Yankees, in their 107 year existence, have only lost 100 or more games twice. To make matters worse, the Devil Rays have never won more than 70 games in a season. That means that in their entire existence, the Devil Rays organization never finished above .430. The Devil Rays sucked. For those who aren’t number guys, let us look at the greatest players in franchise history. The greatest pitcher: Scott Kazmir, no doubt. Yes, Kazmir is stud, but he is 24. His career record is 47-37 and his ERA is 3.71. He is a future Cy Young winner, but when the greatest pitcher in franchise history is 24 and only ten games over .500, you have problems. The greatest hitter: Jose Canseco. Ha! Ok, maybe not Jose Canseco, but they really have none. There has not been one notable hitter who has come out of the Devil Rays organization, yet alone spent the prime of his career on that team of suck. I went to the Devil Rays page on Wikipedia and under “Notable Players,” they have Jason Tyner and Aubrey Huff. What? They have two players’ numbers retired. Two!! Jackie Robinson (whose number is retired by all 30 teams) and Wade Boggs who spent two stinking years on the team when he was 40. I mean it is absolutely pathetic. This team is a disgrace. But then a miracle happened. The Devil Rays became the Rays. The Devil Rays changed their name to, simply, the Rays this season. And miraculously, the team won 97 games. Not so much. This was not lucky. Or fate. Or, frankly, even a miracle. This was the work of a brilliant front office and General Manager, Andrew Friedman. This organization orchestrated the single greatest turn around in sports. Ever. Forget about the 2008 Boston Celtics. They cheated. The Rays pulled this off from the ground up. From draft picks to trades, the Rays were able to turn from bottom dwellers to World Series contenders. And here is where they differ from the current Boston Celtics. The Celtics have a life expectancy of about two more years. Then it is back to screaming, annoying Boston fans. The Rays, on the other hand, are going to excel for a long, long, long time. So how did they do it? Simple, kinda. A plan. They had a plan. The Rays had a plan to become contenders. Yes, it took a tad longer than expected, but they stuck to it. They hoarded their draft picks and only made trades that were utter rip-offs for the other team (Scott Kazmir from the Mets). The Rays never succumbed to temptation to trade any of their 1,000 first overall picks. The one first overall pick they did trade (Delmon Young) was for Matt Garza and Jason Bartlett. Garza owned the Sox in the ALCS and Bartlett is a wizard at shortstop. Young proceeded to hit a whole five home-runs on the Twins. Whooo! The draft picks were flawless, and the trades were executed perfectly. Just think how good they could be if Josh Hamiliton hadn’t become an addict while in the Rays farm system. The Rays turnaround manifested in one magical season. But the framework was set after years and years of persistence and patience. Back to the whole “greatest turn around in sports.” Well, it was. This Rays team that made it to the World Series has only two players on the starting position roster that are older than 30. Like I said before, the best pitcher is 24. Evan Longoria (one of my new favorite players) is arguably the best player on the whole stinkin’ team. He just turned 23, is a rookie, and is in fact playing in the same year he was drafted. That never happens in baseball. Just to make it to the play-offs is a miracle in itself. Look at the history. So they lost to the Phillies, big deal. The Rays won the toughest division in baseball and beat the defending champions in the ALCS. The team has the greatest major league core talent in baseball. Evan Longoria, Dioner Navarro, Carl Crawford, B.J. Upton, Rocco Baldelli, Scott Kazmir, Matt Garza, James Shields, David ‘OMG he is good’ Price, Willie Aybar, Andy Sonnanstine, and others will keep this team contending for years to come. And to think, they’re operating on a $60 million budget while teams like the Yankees are operating on $180 million. I officially have my Longoria and Price jersey ordered and should be at my house in a few weeks. Don’t call me a bandwagon fan though. I’ve always had a soft spot for basement feeders like the Rays (and the Lions). I just could never root for them in public. Now I can! And besides, who wouldn’t want to root for a team like this? Baseball needs more of this. Man, the Devil Rays turn into the Rays. Who would have thunk it? |