| Team History: The first GM drafted this team to outscore its opponents and loaded up on marginal AAA prospects. Household names like Ivanon Coffie, Trent Durrington, Bruce Aven and Larry 'Amoco Man' Bigbie were the team's future. I took over the team in late April, cleaned house and had some initial early success. We managed to lead the division for a week or two in June before reality set in. Finishing 3rd was disappointing but not unexpected. The season at times was a twilight zone. There were a few weeks where the team had 6-7 players on the DL with the other 3 guys on the team ineligible to play by not being in the database. The injuries caught up with the squad as they faded down the stretch. We set a record for managerial ineptitude with 5 field general changes in one year. The team's line-up, rotation and bullpen have been a constant pain in this GM's side as the one submitted on Sunday was often very different from the one taking the field that week. Manager after manager felt the need to exercise their authority by resting Berkman or Palmeiro for weeks. Examples abound, like giving Dotel 2 weeks off, while using Joe 'Everyday' Beimel on a constant basis. Switching to an unauthorized 4 man rotation when the team was in the midst of playing games for 21 straight days. One of the schmucks even stuck left-handed Merced at SS in his last game at the helm. Ludicrous. It added up to a lot of what-ifs such as what if Berkman, Palmeiro and Kent hadn't combined to not start over 70 games? Line-up (B): The offense is predicated upon speed setting the table for the two big guns in the middle. With Crawford, Furcal and Brown we have a goal to steal 175 bases next year. Some protection for Palmeiro would help but Randa and Surhoff should be solid. Hudson had a good year in AAA and was pretty impressive for the Blue Jays in August and September. Machado won't hit much, but that's not why he's in the line-up. Bench (C): Quinn and Merced provide some pop off the bench with Gonzo supplying some D. Perez can play multiple positions and Haselman is nothing more than a clipboard-carrying catcher. Defense (B+): While the Rays are not necessarily 'exciting' defensively, the team was 2nd in the AL in fielding percentage with no glaring liabilities. A couple of weaknesses with Furcal's high error tota and a terrible CS% last year but Machado should help bring that number up. Our pitchers have to do a better job of holding runners on. Rotation (D): Sick. I wanna puke every time I look at it. Miller and Daal and pray for rain, snow, or a power outage in the dome. If trades aren't made there will be a spring battle for the 4 and 5 slots between crafty Saarloos, retread Thompson, and prospects Villarreal and Karp. Bullpen (A): Best in the league. Nen, Dotel and Bradford shouldn't let teams score much after the seventh. Lance Carter was outstanding in September and could be a fourth member of the nasty bunch. Kolb and Beimel are fill-ins but they’re not brutal. Could use a quality lefty, but its hard to find fault with this group. Minors (B): Starting pitching prospects up the gazoo. Who knows if any of them will pan out? Karp - Was a number two pick overall and should be ready for the bigs mid next year. A+ stuff, needs to get mentally tougher. Villarreal - The D-Backs top short-term pitching prospect, he should crack their rotation out of spring training after a good year in the minors. Liriano - Lefty who throws in the mid-90's but is a few years away. I just hope the scout isn't using the same gun as the one used to clock Odalis, LOL Pirates. Rosario- Brings the gas, dominated A ball this year. Toronto may try him in the pen next year depending on how well he does in the fall league. Malone - Took a step back this year but still brings it, must improve his control. Can he overcome a minor arm injury or will he be another WhiteSox pitcher with top billing who blows chunks in the show? Figgins - Speed demon that finally figured out how to hit this year and with a name like Chone how can he not succeed? May need a trade from the Halos to get to the bigs as an everyday player and not just as a pinch-runner. Bailey is filler for the pen, may not be on the team much longer. Lankford, Lombard and Feliz provide some depth for the big-league club. Strengths/Weaknesses: Bullpen, defense and speed are team strengths. Could use another power threat and more starting pitching. Very vulnerable to left-handed starters with Palmeiro and Berkman dropping off significantly against lefties. Over/Under: Over: Maybe Burba but most definitely Adrian Brown. Under: Palmeiro, Miller, Daal Right/Wrong: Right: Traded for Dotel, stuck him in the rotation and that seemed to work. Got every last ounce out of Burba. Used bullpen depth to acquire Furcal and Daal. Picking up Surhoff off the scrap pile. Upgrading the pitching prospects. Wrong: Much more wrong than right. Some of the better or should I say worst examples include: Traded Henson away for Luke Prokopec right before Dmitri Young and Ray Lankford both went on the DL for the rest of the year. Prokopec sucked ass in the IBC and MLB. Subsequent arm injuries led to his release. I could've used Drew's power in the DH slot instead of the diminutive Tomas Perez. I should've signed Rocco Baldelli (Baseball America Minor League Player of the year) before Anaheim did instead of hanging on to Steve Parris. Being unaware that Smoltz, Pineiro, Vidro, All-Stars, etc. (pick an uneven trade, there's quite a few) could be had for so little. Not being around when the former Montreal GM was giving away star players like water. Playing Palmeiro, Merced and Lombard against lefties. Over-estimated the value of quality relief pitching in the SIM. Future/Overall (C+): Has to find a way to upgrade the starting pitching without weakening the line-up. It will be difficult with the scarcity of quality arms. Built for turf with speed and d. Bullpen shortens games, but that strength didn't necessarily translate into late-inning success. Building, won't win a championship next year, but could be tough in 2004. |
| 2003 Line-up SS) Rafael Furcal CF) Adrian Brown RF) Lance Berkman 1B) Rafael Palmeiro DH) B.J. Surhoff 3B) Joe Randa 2B) Orlando Hudson C) Robert Machado LF) Carl Crawford/Mark Quinn (platoon) 2003 Rotation Wade Miller Omar Daal Dave Burba (Justin Thompson / Oscar Villarreal / Josh Karp/ Kirk Saarloos) |
| Minors Chone Figgins Francisco Liriano Francisco Rosario Corwin Malone Oscar Villarreal Josh Karp George Lombard Cory Bailey Ray Lankford Pedro Feliz |
| TAMPA BAY DEVIL RAYS *NOTE - This analysis is strictly the opinion of the Red Sox GM, and was done as objectively as possible and strictly for the fun of it |
| GM Pat Bishop RECORD 86-76 3rd AL East |
| Bench Orlando Merced Alex Gonzalez (Cubs) Tomas Perez Bill Haselman Quinn/Crawford Bullpen Robb Nen Octavio Dotel Chad Bradford Lance Carter Joe Beimel Dan Kolb |
 |