I’m a fan. But looking at the lineup (strictly from an offensive point of view) how can you expect the team to make the playoffs or even play .500 when four players are still on the Interstate this late in the season?
14 comments
4 players below the dreaded .200 line ugh
I think the same thing when I see that line up. The one that disappoints the most is Jose Siri. The others are making progress towards the end of the season. It’s just my opinion but this team is still damaged from August 2023 when they hosed by Wander Franco. The team just hasn’t recovered yet. I really think Aranda and Caminero are going to be great next year and hopefully Morel and walls can up their game.
No one batting higher than .250 is depressing
Reminds me of the later Joe Maddon seasons.
A bunch of scrubs
At one point earlier in the season they had 5 below .200 including Randy, Austin, Deluca, Siri, Walls
This is actually true
I hope we cut the dead weight in the offseason. Having 1 or two players who can’t hit was okay when their defense was exceptional like KK, but 4 players below .200 and the defense isn’t very good?
The Devil Rays had a better offense…literally lol
They think we won’t notice if they spread them every other batter
I’ve seen worse. One game this year (at least) they had five guys in the starting line up <.200
Well, too bad. That’s not changing. Ever.
Consider: last year we were in the midst of a historic season, Neander says that they’re going for it all and they have the green light. They make ONE move. ONE. A single move at the deadline for a back of the rotation pitcher, then start to collapse, punt games, let the Orioles take the division, and get swept in the playoffs by the team who goes on to win the World Series, the very same team that had one of the highest payrolls in the league and went all in at the deadline.
This year they’re struggling and, in the middle of their chase for the Wild Card, deal away the most inpactful player in franchise history outside of Longoria still in his prime, and their star third baseman who literally JUST BECAME an all star. In Arozarena’s case, they got nothing. In Paredes place, they got a far worse version of Paredes.
The Rays have made a good name for themselves, but their method clearly has a ceiling. It’s not a coincidence that only one team in the past decade have won a World Series in the bottom half of payroll spending, and that was the Astros in the first year they won, who then realized they wanted to win more and became a dynasty because of spending more.
At some point, the Rays must spend money. There is no debate about it. None. They need to stop kicking the can down the road on young prospects and *spend on great players.* That’s what wins titles. But it’ll never happen, because Stu Sternberg is interested in the success of contentment, not the success of winning. Tampa has a bad owner. That’s it.
I have hope that Siri and Morel can both bounce back, they each give have a lot of power potential and that’s sorely needed on the team. Both have shown a lot more offensive ability in the past and I think a new season will do them both a lot of good
Carlson looked promising when he first showed up but I don’t see him staying for next year. Aranda is doing so well which means Morel is probably going to be in LF full-time next season, leaving no room for Carlson
Walls is a curious case since shortstops are so expensive and there aren’t many good stopgap options this FA class. Caballero is still gonna get most of the playing time out there next year, but with Williams so close, I wouldn’t be surprised if Walls is back again as a cheap defensive wizard
It’s just a frustrating year because if the usual performers lived up to their ability earlier in the season, the team would be fine right now. I don’t know if it was just bad vibes back then or what but the inability to hit for extra bases cost the team big time in the first half and I really just don’t see that continuing into next year. RISP stats are notoriously inconsistent and the fact of the matter is that the team does a really good job of getting players into scoring position. Sure, some of that might be inflated by the inability to hit for extra bases, meaning you end up with more situations where a runner moves up from first but doesn’t score, but I don’t think there’s a big reason to worry when it comes to creating opportunities. If this team weren’t one of the worst all-time at hitting with RISP, the season looks a lot different. I’ll be curious to see what the FO does since, despite the underwhelming performance this year, I don’t think there’s a ton to worry about
Well the prospects we traded for if we are lucky will be here the earliest 2026, so we don’t know what any of the value of the trades are. We traded Parades, an all star, for someone who batted under 200. I know a lot of the pitchers are coming back, but I hope the work with Poche, clevenger, Rodriguez in the off season, it felt like every time I tuned in one of those 3 pitchers gave up runs. But the fact we may finish .500 after the firesell, maybe that can be the launching point to a better season next year.
14 comments
4 players below the dreaded .200 line ugh
I think the same thing when I see that line up. The one that disappoints the most is Jose Siri. The others are making progress towards the end of the season. It’s just my opinion but this team is still damaged from August 2023 when they hosed by Wander Franco. The team just hasn’t recovered yet. I really think Aranda and Caminero are going to be great next year and hopefully Morel and walls can up their game.
No one batting higher than .250 is depressing
Reminds me of the later Joe Maddon seasons.
A bunch of scrubs
At one point earlier in the season they had 5 below .200 including Randy, Austin, Deluca, Siri, Walls
This is actually true
I hope we cut the dead weight in the offseason. Having 1 or two players who can’t hit was okay when their defense was exceptional like KK, but 4 players below .200 and the defense isn’t very good?
The Devil Rays had a better offense…literally lol
They think we won’t notice if they spread them every other batter
I’ve seen worse. One game this year (at least) they had five guys in the starting line up <.200
Well, too bad. That’s not changing. Ever.
Consider: last year we were in the midst of a historic season, Neander says that they’re going for it all and they have the green light. They make ONE move. ONE. A single move at the deadline for a back of the rotation pitcher, then start to collapse, punt games, let the Orioles take the division, and get swept in the playoffs by the team who goes on to win the World Series, the very same team that had one of the highest payrolls in the league and went all in at the deadline.
This year they’re struggling and, in the middle of their chase for the Wild Card, deal away the most inpactful player in franchise history outside of Longoria still in his prime, and their star third baseman who literally JUST BECAME an all star. In Arozarena’s case, they got nothing. In Paredes place, they got a far worse version of Paredes.
The Rays have made a good name for themselves, but their method clearly has a ceiling. It’s not a coincidence that only one team in the past decade have won a World Series in the bottom half of payroll spending, and that was the Astros in the first year they won, who then realized they wanted to win more and became a dynasty because of spending more.
At some point, the Rays must spend money. There is no debate about it. None. They need to stop kicking the can down the road on young prospects and *spend on great players.* That’s what wins titles. But it’ll never happen, because Stu Sternberg is interested in the success of contentment, not the success of winning. Tampa has a bad owner. That’s it.
I have hope that Siri and Morel can both bounce back, they each give have a lot of power potential and that’s sorely needed on the team. Both have shown a lot more offensive ability in the past and I think a new season will do them both a lot of good
Carlson looked promising when he first showed up but I don’t see him staying for next year. Aranda is doing so well which means Morel is probably going to be in LF full-time next season, leaving no room for Carlson
Walls is a curious case since shortstops are so expensive and there aren’t many good stopgap options this FA class. Caballero is still gonna get most of the playing time out there next year, but with Williams so close, I wouldn’t be surprised if Walls is back again as a cheap defensive wizard
It’s just a frustrating year because if the usual performers lived up to their ability earlier in the season, the team would be fine right now. I don’t know if it was just bad vibes back then or what but the inability to hit for extra bases cost the team big time in the first half and I really just don’t see that continuing into next year. RISP stats are notoriously inconsistent and the fact of the matter is that the team does a really good job of getting players into scoring position. Sure, some of that might be inflated by the inability to hit for extra bases, meaning you end up with more situations where a runner moves up from first but doesn’t score, but I don’t think there’s a big reason to worry when it comes to creating opportunities. If this team weren’t one of the worst all-time at hitting with RISP, the season looks a lot different. I’ll be curious to see what the FO does since, despite the underwhelming performance this year, I don’t think there’s a ton to worry about
Well the prospects we traded for if we are lucky will be here the earliest 2026, so we don’t know what any of the value of the trades are. We traded Parades, an all star, for someone who batted under 200. I know a lot of the pitchers are coming back, but I hope the work with Poche, clevenger, Rodriguez in the off season, it felt like every time I tuned in one of those 3 pitchers gave up runs. But the fact we may finish .500 after the firesell, maybe that can be the launching point to a better season next year.