Where will Rays turn to improve lineup?
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ST. PETERSBURG — Erik Neander wasn’t fairly completed together with his opening assertion Tuesday morning contained in the Rays Club at Tropicana Field. He had credited the Rays’ employees who evaluated, pursued and finally signed starter Zach Eflin and thanked everybody else who helped make the deal occur. He’d defined what the Rays preferred about Eflin and the way they imagine his finest days are forward of him.
Then the Rays’ president of baseball operations addressed the elephant within the room. Or relatively, the hitters who weren’t within the room.
“That we made this commitment to Zach, while our offense and that being such a focus, should speak that much more highly to how much we appreciate Zach and how much we wanted him here, to divert from our most public of plans,” Neander mentioned. “Zach will not be a hitter. We know that. But there’s nothing flawed with making a power that a lot stronger. And [we] imagine that with Zach right here we have got an opportunity to, on any given day with our rotation, have a bunch that has just lately pitched on the entrance of rotations or at that means degree or very a lot has that potential.
“Our greatest goal is to win a World Series. The best way to do that is to win by one. We’ve made clear our desire to improve our run scoring, but if we can also improve our run prevention, that’s certainly another way to go.”
Indeed, a variety of the Rays’ success courting again to 2008 has been constructed on pitching and protection. With a deep, gifted rotation and one other sturdy bullpen, the Rays ought to pitch properly sufficient to have an opportunity to win each day. And, sure, 2-1 wins depend the identical as 8-1 victories.
They can enhance their run prevention and run manufacturing, although. You solely have to win by one run, however because the Rays have been reminded all too painfully within the postseason, that may also be probably the most irritating option to lose. Last yr, the Rays went 69-14 after they scored at the very least 4 runs in comparison with 17-62 after they scored three runs or fewer. Even just a little bit extra offense might go a good distance.
The Rays acknowledge that. Neander mentioned they’ve meant what they’ve mentioned about their prime precedence this offseason.
“I think the most acute area, identifiable area for improvement is one we’ve shared with our fans, which is scoring more runs,” he mentioned. “But that can’t totally cut us off or limit us from the greater goal, which is winning by one. … There’s still plenty of time to continue to explore what could help our position player group, but we’ve got to work with what we have. You can’t force anything, but yes, there are no deadlines and we’ll stay at it.”
As for what they Rays are after, the hints they’ve dropped result in a reasonably slim pool of candidates within the free-agent market.
Ideally, they need a left-handed hitter to steadiness their principally right-handed lineup. They desire a veteran with a constant monitor file, somebody who might take stress off their youthful hitters. They’re not completely bought on the thought of a rebound candidate; they’ve sufficient of these already, frankly. They’re versatile sufficient to tackle somebody nearly wherever however shortstop.
With all that in thoughts, Michael Brantley nonetheless seems like the very best free-agent match. Brandon Belt and Matt Carpenter might assist. Trey Mancini bats right-handed, however his profession splits are stunningly comparable: .265/.330/.456 in opposition to right-handers and .266/.331/.459 vs. lefties. There are at all times artistic trades to be made.
Whoever it is likely to be, there’s nonetheless a necessity. There’s additionally nonetheless time to deal with it.
