Five Players--Tampa Bay Devil Rays

Five players from the Devil Rays.

This is one of the teams I was really looking forward to writing about. In fact, I might even end up having a tough time choosing only five players. If it wasn't playing in perhaps the most difficult division in baseball, this team could be competing for the wild card right now. Either way, they WILL be in several years.


Dioner Navarro He's been getting quite a bit of hype after his .836 OPS in Aug/Sept, and it might be warranted. Although his contact rate has fallen in the majors to the low 80's, it was near 90 in the minors, so there is some real upside to his batting average. This is in addition to an xBA of a much more respectable .254 last year, compared to the putrid .227 he actually posted. I can't imagine a 25% hit rate happening again, so he's a very good bet to improve that average to "decent for a catcher" territory. The power is also developing, especially after an 8 HR 2nd half in 202 ABs, to go along with a PX spike to 107. He's guaranteed full-time ABs, since the Rays' backups are awful, and in a solid lineup, so his RBI and Run totals should be above catcher replacement-level. Don't bid more than a couple of bucks in a 2-catcher mixed league auction, but he's certainly a player to target in an AL-Only league.

Andy Sonnanstine I think I've mentioned him enough on this site when talking about my drafts, and maybe in some other columns, so why not one last time before the season starts? He has very James Shield-like skills, but with slightly lower strikeouts rates and more flyballs allowed. Those two reasons are why there's only a tiny chance he will match what Shields did last year. However, with better luck in the BABIP and strand rates departments (due to an improved defense and bullpen), he could put up an ERA in the low-4's, with a WHIP below 1.30. He's certainly someone to take a flier on at the end of the draft while your wading through the Doug Davis', Barry Zitos, and Jon Garlands of the world.

Jason Hammel The winner of the 5th starter competition, I know Patrick had been pimping J.P. Howell (which I absolutely endorse), so I'll change things up and look at Hammel. He's pitched 129 innings at the major league level, with ERAs over 6 and over 7, so one might be tempted to just write him off. However, his minor league stats are decent, with an '07 that saw him post a 75/28 K/BB ratio in 76 1/3 innings. The more exciting stat might be his 50% GB rate, which he duplicated in '06. He hasn't been able to match those GB%'s in the majors, though, so I'm not sure what's causing the dropoff. If he can regain his groundball magic, he has a chance to post a mid-4's ERA with strikeout numbers similar to Sonnanstine. So if you're deciding between a Paul Byrd or Hammel in your AL-Only league, I hope after reading this you know who to pick.

Click here to read the rest of the article with the last 2 players I deemed worthy of analysis!