For the Tampa Bay Rays, a new season with renewed optimism

PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. – Here at the start of spring training, challenges tend to be minimized and issues less acute. As major league baseball teams open camp this week, “optimism” appears to be the most trusted variable.

That was the feeling through the words of Erik Neander, the Tampa Bay Rays president of baseball operations and field manager Kevin Cash as both opened spring training Feb. 11 and engaged the Tampa Bay media. Neander and Cash each expressed dissatisfaction with the Rays’ 80-82 season of 2024, and hope the coming months unravel a different scenario.

“We feel really good about the talent in this camp,” Neander said from the Rays’ training site here. “That includes players entrenched on the major league team and those on their way. We are both really hopeful that we will provide a club that our community and region and beyond that can be really proud this year.”

For that to happen, things must go near perfect.

Here’s a team which declined in home runs, RBIs and batting average from the 2023 season. Among the five starters in the rotation at the start of the season, two, Zach Eflin and Aaron Civale, departed via the trade route, closer Pete Fairbanks was hindered with physical problems and bench personnel tended to glide through a revolving door.

On the surface, the Rays appear to be more of a rebuilding team but Cash and Neander disagree. The components are in place, they argue, for this team to recover from recent doldrums and soar. Cash promised “some surprises” as early as spring training games to jump start the team and inject energy into a woeful offense.

At the same time, both argued the starting rotation could be as strong as any in baseball.

A particular level of excitement is reserved for lefty Shane McClanahan, who did not pitch last season and exited during the 2023 season (11-2, 3.29 ERA in 21 starts) after undergoing a second Tommy John surgery in August of that summer. Cash told reporters he expects McClanahan to regain the glory of two years ago and, at the same time, remains mindful of the burden of a prodigious workload.

With the Rays now playing home games outside at George Steinbrenner Field, as opposed to indoors at Tropicana Field, the unpredictable summer weather in tropical Florida factors into the use of pictures,

“We are always cognizant of the pitching and the workloads,” Cash said, sitting alongside Neander on bar stools atop the Rays first base dugout. “There is an added element. I’d like to think that we will have some time to build into that because we will have some beautiful weather for the first month or two, So, we’ll have a little better understanding of who we are as a pitching group and as a team going into those hot summer months. Our players are very aware, and we have probably thrown more outdoor bullpens this year coming into camp than in the past. We will do everything we can to adjust on the fly as needed but know there will be some delays and tough days.”

While the Rays were basically quiet in off-season transactions, two major acquisitions, Cash and Neander believe, will help energize a dormant offense. In signing catcher Danny Jansen, the Rays believe they have strengthened a weak link. Plus, Jansen’s positive demeanor and compelling work ethic, on and off the playing field, should resonate with teammates in the clubhouse.

As well, the signing shortstop Ha-Seong Kim to a 2-year, $29 million deal should bring energy and confidence. Recovering from labrum surgery, Kim is expected back sometime in May or June. Neander indicated Kim is in camp and pursuing his rehab program at the Rays’ spring facility.

Elsewhere … the topic of Tropicana Field came up several times during the media session with Cash and Neander. While Neander thanked the New York Yankees many times for opening Steinbrenner Field and allowing use of the facilities during repairs to Tropicana Field, Cash indicated his team will adjust to a myriad of outdoor, and physical conditions … Neander was careful not to comment on a timetable for Tropicana Field repairs and refused to offer any words on progress, or of lack of progress, involving the Rays, the city of St. Petersburg and Pinellas county on funding and construction of a proposed $1.3 billion stadium in the Gas Plant district of St. Petersburg. The Rays have a March 31 deadline to submit final plans, designs, and renderings for the new stadium. Otherwise, funding from the city and Pinellas County, about $600 million, is withdrawn.

The post For the Tampa Bay Rays, a new season with renewed optimism first appeared on Through The Fence Baseball.

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