Tampa Bay Devil Rays Looking to Repeat as American League Champs

The Tampa Bay Devil Rays start the 2009 season intent to show last year was no fluke. Looking at their roster, Tampa Bay has reason to be optimistic. To start, the Rays have one of the best pitching rotations in baseball. Their pitching staff is so solid, they were able to say goodbye to one of last years starters, Edwin Jackson, who's now with the Detroit Tigers. James Shields, the opening day starter last year, will once again be on the mound on opening day, when the Rays face the Boston Red Sox. Shields isn't the only ace on the Devil Rays pitching staff. Tampa Bay also features Kazmir, Garza, and last years young stud David Price, who'll start the season in triple A.

Pitching isn't the only strength of the Devil Rays. The team played excellent defense last year, finishing 10^th in the major leagues in fielding, compared to 2007, when they ranked 27^th. Part of the Devil Rays defensive improvement, can be credited to Jason Bartlett. The Tampa Bay Devil Rays traded for the former Minnesota shortstop, because they wanted his defensive skills. Bartlett didn't disappoint, he posted a .970 fielding percentage with 16 errors on the year. During the 2008 season, Bartlett displayed more then a good glove, he finished the year with a .286 batting average. It didn't take long for Bartlett to become a fixture for the Rays and when he wasn't on the field, Tampa struggled. When Bartlett went on the DL during the season, the Devil Rays went 7-9. Iwamura, Pena and Longoria combine with Bartlett, to give Tampa Bay a great defensive infield.

Armed with a good pitching staff and good defense, the Devil Rays weren't as dependent on posting big offensive numbers and scores. The team was 21^st in hits and average in the majors last year. In an effort to ramp up the offense, the Devil Rays have added former Phillies star, Pat Burrell. Burrell brings power, but his career average is.257. Maybe the change to the American League will heat up Burrell's bat.

The Devil Rays are not only good, they're young. This team is stacked with young talented players. Upton, Longoria, Iwamura, Navarro, Bartlett, Crawford and others give Rays fans reason to believe, that years of high draft picks have finally paid off. If they stay healthy, these young Devil Rays can be good for a long time.

Sources:

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/stats/aggregate?sort=fieldingPct&split=0&group=9&season=2007&seasonType=2&statType=fielding&type=reg; http://tampabay.rays.mlb.com/stats/individual_stats_player.jsp?c_id=tb&playerID=430583; http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/baseball/mlb/players/7388/; http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090120&content_id=3751006&vkey=news_tb&fext=.jsp&c_id=tb; http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/stats/aggregate?statType=batting&seasonType=2&group=9&typereg&split=0&season=2008