BOSTON — The Rays have an intriguing outfield in the postseason — it just is not theirs.
Carl Crawford and Jonny Gomes are starting for the Dodgers and Red Sox, respectively, and B.J. Upton is on the Braves’ bench. You want to go further? Delmon Young is back starting with the Rays, for a few hundred thousand after being released in August by the Phillies.
Still further? Well, Josh Hamilton is not in these playoffs. But, like, Young, he was once a first overall pick in the draft by Tampa Bay. Upton was picked second overall. Crawford and Gomes came later in the draft.
The organization still was known as the Devil Rays when those players were picked — and also for being serial losers. Neither is true any longer.
Players come, go, get big money, the Rays replace them and stay winners. Tampa Bay is in the playoffs for the fourth time in the last six years, the same amount as the Yankees, one more than the Red Sox — their opponent in a Division Series that began Friday.
Wait, you want to go further?
The Oakland-Detroit series features closers who were too expensive as set-up men for Tampa Bay — Joaquin Benoit and Grant Balfour. J.P. Howell is a key member of the Dodgers bullpen. The Indians did not advance far enough for Scott Kazmir to get a start, but he was one of five pitchers with a Rays pedigree to start a combined 141 games in the majors this year — Matt Garza, Jason Hammel, Edwin Jackson and James Shields are the others.
Yet, starting pitching remains the Rays’ strength as David Price and Alex Cobb underscored in the play-in and wild-card games, respectively. The pitching faltered Friday — undermined a good deal by shabby defense — as the Red Sox won Game 1, 12-2.
Nevertheless, the Rays are here and have the second-best record in the majors over the last six years at 550-423 (.565) — only the Yankees are better (564-408, .580). The Yankees have had the highest payroll in every one of those years while Tampa Bay has ranked 29th, 25th, 19th, 29th, 25th and 28th this year.
So when I ask Brooklyn-born Rays owner Stu Sternberg why the organization could absorb so many losses without, you know, becoming losers, he offered one word: “Planning.”
Of course, it is more than that. But Sternberg’s point is the organization is never just playing the season in front of it, but rather always trying to imagine how to marshal limited funds into good teams down the road. All organizations are doing this in some form. But none appears more committed than Tampa Bay. In part that is about financial necessity. In part it is about playing in a market so non-supportive it is accepted good players will constantly be traded or let go to free agency in the way that, say, would not be tolerated in Boston, New York or Philadelphia.
But it also is about the chess-player mentality of the Rays’ leadership; the discipline and mentality always to be playing four or five moves ahead.
“When we traded James Shields last offseason, obviously, it wasn’t to make our team better this year,” Sternberg said. “We are constantly thinking about our, say, 2012 team in 2009. We have to do it that way.”
Tampa Bay has succeeded despite this dirty little secret — it is not nearly as good in the draft as you think they are. Yes, they have had their success stories, notably Evan Longoria with the third overall pick in 2006 and Price with the first pick in 2007 — and finding Cobb, Jeremy Hellickson and Matt Moore in the mid-rounds in 2006-07. But in 2008, with the first overall pick, Tampa Bay took bust shortstop Tim Beckham rather than Florida State catcher Buster Posey.
And beginning in 2009, owing to their strong records, the Rays stopped selecting in the first few picks and rather dropped into the teens or 20s — similar to where the Yankees and Red Sox are used to picking. They have had 15 picks before the second round since 2009 and none have played in the majors. In fact, from their last six drafts, they have had just two players even reach the majors — Derek Dietrich with the Marlins and Zach Rosscup with the Cubs.
But that delineates where they have been better than anyone — trades. They dealt Dietrich for their starting shortstop, Yunel Escobar. Rosscup was the throw-in with Garza to get Chris Archer plus a few other pieces from the Cubs.
Jackson became Matt Joyce. Shields became Wil Myers. Kazmir became Sean Rodriguez and Alex Torres. Aubrey Huff was turned into Ben Zobrist, one of the most versatile and valuable players in the majors.
Of course, there are other reasons. Joe Maddon is a superb manager, the farm system is run excellently and minor free agents such as Fernando Rodney and James Loney pay off in a major way.
All in all, it is a brew that allows the Rays to let essentially a playoff team worth of talent depart — yet nevertheless remain a playoff threat .