30 Teams in 30 Days 2018 27 Tampa Bay Rays

The Rays are one of the most enigmatic franchises in all of baseball. First they trade away most of their big names in what seem like blatant cost-cutting moves, then claim that they're not rebuilding, but rather "retooling" and planning to stay competitive in one of the AL's toughest divisions. Then they announced a willingness to shell out big on a new stadium in nearby Ybor City, even as the MLB Player's Union has filed a grievance against them for not applying funds to their roster. And don't even get me started on that goofy three-man rotation plan they had going into the season... actually, do get me started, but not until a couple sections later. First, let's take a look at the roster of players who will be taking the field for Tampa Bay in 2018.

All-Acquired Factor

"All-Divested Factor" might be a better title for this section, given how eager the Rays were to trade away so many quality pieces this offseason. Evan Longoria to the Giants, Steven Souza to the Diamondbacks, Jake Odorizzi to the Twins, and Corey Dickerson to the Pirates (after unceremoniously designating the 2017 All-Star for assignment), just to name a few. Of course, when you make so many subtractions, you have to add pieces to make up for them: Denard Span came to Tampa Bay in the Longoria deal, but mostly as a way for San Francisco to offset the added salary. They traded for C.J. Cron from the Angels, although that was mostly to fill the void left by free agent Logan Morrison. And Carlos Gomez inked a one-year free agent deal to take one of the two corner outfield vacancies.

Spots Illustrated's baseball preview projected former Mariners shortstop Brad Miller to be the starting second baseman, but it's actually been Oakland A's castoff Joey Wendle who's logged the most innings at the keystone, forcing Miller into a timeshare at first base, with defensive whiz Adeiny Hechavarria entrenched at short. For his part, Wendle has acquitted himself well so far with an .892 OPS through the season's first month (mostly), showing the talent that prompted the A's to acquire him straight up from the Indians for Brandon Moss. Speaking of players acquired after they were designated for assignment by their former teams, Rob Refsnyder was traded to the Rays by the Blue Jays, after they picked up the former Yankees infield prospect off waivers from the Indians.

Fifth Starter

Who needs a fifth starter? asked the Rays, rhetorically, prior to Opening Day 2018. We'll use four dedicated starting pitchers, and fill the fifth slot in the rotation with a planned "bullpen day!" Then Nathan Eovaldi, already recovering from his second Tommy John surgery, went down for six to eight weeks with "loose bodies" in his elbow. Then top prospect Brent Honeywell was forced to undergo his own TJS in February, followed by fellow top prospect Jose De Leon next month. That left only Chris Archer, Blake Snell, and Jake Faria as rotation options, as the club had already traded Odorizzi at this point. That's fine, said the Rays, We'll use THREE starting pitchers and TWO bullpen days! That'll probably work! And that's the reason why you see two starts for Andrew Kittredge and one for Ryan Yarbrough. Last week Tampa Bay came to their senses somewhat, naming prospect Yonny Chirinos as their official fourth starter, but that bullpen day every fifth day thing is presumably still the plan. We'll see how that works out come August...

Position Player Injuries

This seems like such a throwaway category, but I'm only four days away from the end of this project and I'm running out of things to say about the Rays. Brad Miller missed just about the minimum amount of time on the DL with a groin strain, during which time C.J. Cron took over the starting first base job. But both Cron and Miller will be able to coexist on the roster thanks to a thumb injury to center fielder Kevin Kiermaier. For full details on how that rotation will work, Denard Span will move from DH to left field, with speedster Mallex Smith taking over in center. Also former Giant Matt Duffy is injured again, this time with a hamstring strain, leaving third base for utility-player Daniel Robertson. It's going to be a long season in St. Petersburg...

Song

Tampa Bay - Johnny Hobo and the Freight Trains

This was another team where I had to just Google "Tampa Bay" and "lyrics," and this was the first thing that came up... and MAN, is this bleak. I had never been into the music of Pat The Bunny (a.k.a. Patrick Schneeweis, the frontman of the short-lived Johnny Hobo project) or the "anarcho-punk" scene in general, but after giving this song a listen, I have to say, it's shockingly applicable to the state of the Rays franchise right now. The only other musical lead I could find related to the city was blues guitarist Tampa Red, who grew up in his namesake city, but made his mark in the Chicago blues scene, so none of his songs have that distinctive Tampa flair. Like I said, long season...