ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) Go ahead, pencil the Tampa Bay Rays into the playoffs again. You certainly won’t upset Joe Maddon’s confident bunch.

There may be teams with more star power and money, but none enters 2012 with loftier expectations than the Rays, who have earned postseason berths three of the past four seasons despite one of the major leagues’ lowest payrolls.

Maddon and his players have proven they can go toe-to-toe with the big-spending New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox in the rugged AL East, and they believe they have everything it takes – superior pitching, strong defense and an improved offense – to win it all this year.

”Expectations should be the fuel that we need to get this done,” said Maddon, who guided Tampa Bay to division titles in 2008 and 2010 before erasing a nine-game deficit last September to edge the Red Sox for the AL wild-card spot on the final night of the regular season.

After reaching their first World Series, where they lost to the Philadelphia Phillies four years ago, the Rays were eliminated by the Texas Rangers in the opening round of the playoffs in each of the past two seasons.

With a projected starting rotation of James Shields, David Price, Jeremy Hellickson, Jeff Niemann and rookie Matt Moore, and a lineup built around three-time All-Star Evan Longoria and bolstered by the offseason acquisitions of sluggers Carlos Pena and Luke Scott, Maddon and his players concede it would be a major disappointment to not play deep into October.

”We have all the necessary tools and pieces in place to really make an impact,” said Pena, the franchise career home run leader, who returns after spending last season with the Chicago Cubs.

”I love the idea of raised expectations. … It’s nothing to run away from, it’s a good thing,” Maddon said.

Executive vice president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman, who boosted the payroll by more than 50 percent to about $65 million, is comfortable with the attention the team has received from national media, too.

”I think our guys have gotten to the point with the culture that Joe has created in the clubhouse with our coaching staff that it’s not an impediment and it’s not an issue,” Friedman said. ”It’s not a risk factor that I think it might be other places.”

Maddon said a talented nucleus that includes B.J. Upton, Ben Zobrist, Matt Joyce and Desmond Jennings has the work ethic, maturity and resolve to not allow all the good things that are being said go to their heads.

Maddon was impressed with the number of players who participated in offseason workouts at Tropicana Field this winter and senses a commitment to do whatever it takes to ”get to the last game of the year – and win it.”

”Nobody just shows up any more. It is about winning,” said Maddon, who’s entering his seventh season with Tampa Bay, a perennial last-place team before his arrival in 2006. He signed a $6 million, three-year contract extension this winter that could keep him in the Rays dugout through 2015.

”I’m talking about a self-motivated group of people. It’s at the point now, I believe – and this is the optimal point to be – where everybody does their job,” Maddon added. ”You walk in the door. I don’t have to worry about motivating so and so and so and so. They’re self-starters, they’re self-motivators. That’s the way it should be.”

Despite struggling to score runs, the Rays won 91 games a year ago. Pitching and defense were the key, and that doesn’t figure to change this season.

Shields was a first-time All-Star who finished with a team-best 16 victories and 11 complete games. Price suffered from a lack of run support and went 12-13 with a 3.49 ERA after winning 19 games in 2010, but Hellickson took up the slack by going 13-10 with 2.95 ERA to capture AL rookie of the year honors.

”We place high expectations on ourselves, but we don’t really worry about what everyone’s saying. We just go out there and do our thing,” Shields said.

Tampa Bay got more than 1,000 innings out of its rotation a year ago, and Maddon is confident another 1,000-plus innings season would give the Rays an excellent opportunity to reach the playoffs again.

”Of course, they’re high-end guys that can win a lot of games and pitch to a low ERA, but there’s a lot of luck involved sometimes that you really can’t calculate,” the manager said. ”I like the idea of making the goal to pitch ‘X’ number of innings as a group. If they do, then that really takes a lot of heat off the bullpen, which makes the bullpen better.”

Tampa Bay took advantage of Boston’s monumental collapse last year to overcome a slow start in April and May to slip past the Red Sox for a postseason spot.

When the Rays assembled for spring training in February, Maddon stressed the importance of getting off to a better start this season.

”We prove to ourselves that we can come from behind and win … but it’s much better to do it from the other side,” Maddon said. ”I think that’s going to be paramount.”

PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. (AP)—Stuart Sternberg doesn’t want to place
unrealistic expectations on his cost-conscious Tampa Bay Rays.

Even after an offseason in which he approved spending that boosted one of
baseball’s lowest payrolls by more than 50 percent, the owner is reluctant to
say he’d be disappointed if the club does anything less than win enough games to
make the playoffs for the fourth time in five years.

That speaks more to how difficult it is to keep pace with teams that have
deeper wallets than what Sternberg feels the Rays are capable of accomplishing
after bolstering the offense with the addition of free agents Luke Scott and
Carlos Pena and adding veteran relievers Burke Badenhop and Fernando Rodney to
the bullpen.

“Our expectations are that we have a very very good team this year. Ideally
you’d like to say the best team we’ve put out. You never really know until we go
out there,” Sternberg said Tuesday during a visit to spring training.

“We’d like to win a lot of games. I can’t say if I expect to win 80 or
100,” he added. “You can never expect to make the playoffs. I don’t think any
team does that other than one or two of them.”

The Rays unexpectedly stretched a tight budget this winter, boosting payroll
from around $42 million in 2010 to about $65 million this year. Scott and Pena,
the franchise’s career home run leader who’s back in Tampa Bay after spending
last season with the Chicago Cubs, signed one-year deals that account for $13
million of that increase.

While Sternberg said he didn’t anticipate the payroll climbing by more than
$20 million, he nevertheless felt compelled as a competitor and a fan of the
game to spend more to give the team a better chance of remaining competitive
with the big spending New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox in the AL East,
arguably baseball’s toughest division.

“Everybody knows the challenges in the division. You can never assume
you’re going—or even think you’re going—to make it into the postseason given
the heft and the abilities of the teams we’re competing with,” Sternberg said.

“If I was spending three-X what we are now, I would tell you I have an
expectation to make the playoffs,” the owner said. “But to be in the American
League East and spend 60 some odd million, which is still a 50 percent bump from
last year, I have no right … to expect we’ll make the playoffs. I do expect
we’re going to win a lot of baseball games.”

Sternberg reiterated his belief that what Tampa Bay has been able to
accomplish with limited financial resources—win two AL East titles, make it to
the World Series in 2008 and the playoffs three of the past four seasons—can’t
be sustained long-term without eventually getting out of Tropicana Field and
into a new ballpark that will boost revenue.

While he’s encouraged that there has been dialogue among region politicians
and business leaders about the need for a new stadium that “I also think it’s
going slower than it can be.”

“We’ve got to figure something out. This can’t go on for decades,” said
Sternberg, who took control of the team in 2005 and has helped transform it from
a club that had never finished with a winning record into a championship
contender.

“Why you want more revenue is to give yourself a better opportunity to
compete. We are competing without the revenue. That is not an endless cycle,”
the owner said. “I don’t mind the difficulty of doing it. I like the challenge.
That’s all fine and dandy, but you want to have a ray of hope that we can
sustain this. And we have to this point. It’s been very fortuitous, we’ve been
very fortunate.”

Sternberg said he remains optimistic that baseball can succeed in the Tampa
Bay area. He the willingness to boost the payroll this winter “shows the faith
we have in this market.”

“If I didn’t think it would work, we wouldn’t be spending what we’re
spending here to win,” the owner said. “I think winning … and continued
success gives us the best chance to ultimately put us in a position to have this
sustainable.”

By Marc Topkin, Times Staff Writer

In Print: Wednesday, December 7, 2011

DALLAS — The Rays are working on multiple scenarios via trades and free-agent signings to bolster their offense and fill holes at first base and DH.

But in the unlikely event none were to come to fruition this offseason — with nothing close as of Tuesday night, anyway — they have at least an interesting backup plan, with the signing of Juan Miranda to a minor-league contract with a spring training invite.

“Extreme power,” Rays executive VP Andrew Friedman said.

Miranda, a 28-year-old from Cuba, has spent most of his five pro seasons at Triple A but has big-league time with the Yankees (2008-10) and Diamondbacks (2011). He hit 67 homers in 457 minor-league games (with a .277 average) and 11 in 111 big-league games (with a .226 average), though seven in 65 for Arizona in 2011.

“He’s got some real carrying strengths that we feel like give him a chance to be a productive major-league player; obviously the standard at that position is higher than other positions,” Friedman said. “(He) will either compete for a job depending on how the rest of the winter shakes out or be very high on the depth charge in the event of injury.”

The Rays also signed INF Matt Mangini, who had some big-league time with Seattle in 2010; and RHPs Jhonny Nunez (White Sox, ’09) and Ricky Orta (returning from injury).

Friedman had a busy second day at the winter meetings and said they were “talking to a number of offensive players.” But with nothing imminent, it would appear Monday’s pursuit of free-agent OF/DH Josh Willingham had at least stalled and that the Rays were not sitting on any trade offers they were ready to accept without further talks.

The Reds and Royals appear to be good trade matches, as well as the Marlins, who if they sign Albert Pujols would seem likely to move All-Star 1B Gaby Sanchez, with RHP Wade Davis a potential target.

There was another round of chatter about the Nationals’ longstanding — and unsuccessful — quest for Rays CF B.J. Upton, but no progress. While Friedman wouldn’t comment, Washington GM Mike Rizzo told reporters, “I don’t think anything has changed.”

Also, the Rays will be among the teams scouting free-agent reliever Joel Zumaya at his workout next week; are not the mystery team that bid on Japanese free agent INF Hiroyuki Nakajima; were not among the teams that job-seeking free agent Manny Ramirez supposedly personally called; won’t likely re-sign free-agent RHP Juan Cruz; and don’t plan many changes to their minor-league coaching staffs.

RED ALERT: Pujols had reported offers for $200-plus million over 10 years from at least the Marlins and Cardinals and was said to be nearing a decision. … DH David Ortiz is reportedly set to rejoin the Red Sox by agreeing to accept arbitration (and a raise from $12.5 million) by tonight’s deadline. … The Jays added a closer by acquiring RHP Sergio Santos (30 saves, 3.55 ERA) from the White Sox for RHP prospect Nestor Molina. … The Twins traded RHP Kevin Slowey to Colorado for a player to be named. … RHPs Jon Rauch and Frank Francisco agreed to terms with the Mets, who also traded OF Angel Pagan to the Giants for OF Andres Torres and RHP Ramon Ramirez.

MISCELLANY: The BBWAA voted to televise the announcement of its major awards for the first time, starting in 2012 on the MLB Network. … Toronto Sun writer Bob Elliott was elected to the Hall of Fame.

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By Marc Topkin, Times Staff Writer

In Print: Tuesday, December 6, 2011

DALLAS — The Rays had a busy first day at the winter meetings, talking trade with several teams and negotiating with free agents including outfielder/DH Josh Willingham.

While no deals were considered imminent, it did appear by Monday night that their top two decision-makers would be sticking around.

Manager Joe Maddon said talks on an extension to his contract, which runs only through the 2012 season, have begun and he was “very confident” a new deal would be struck. “I’m sure it’s going to be all worked out in due time,” Maddon said.

And executive vice president Andrew Friedman eliminated any possibility — albeit extremely slim anyway — that he would leave for a job with his hometown Astros.

“Andrew chose not to be a part of the Astros’ process,” team president Matt Silverman said in a statement. “It is in no way a reflection on the Houston organization.”

The Rays’ top offseason goal is improving their offense, with Willingham, a free agent with a solid record of success, emerging Monday as a possibility.

Willingham, a right-handed hitter who turns 33 in February, hit a career-high 29 homers for Oakland last year, with a .246 average, .332 on-base percentage and .477 slugging percentage. He can play left and right, but the Rays likely would use him primarily as a DH, a significant power upgrade over free agent Johnny Damon, who hit 16 homers.

But the number of other teams interested — reportedly at least three others — and the amount they’d be willing to spend may dictate the direction of the talks. Willingham made $6 million last season, with his agent reportedly seeking a three-year deal.

Another option is trading with one of the numerous teams that have expressed interest in their stable of starting pitchers, primarily James Shields and Wade Davis. The Royals, Marlins and Reds — who all have young hitters — are among those in the conversations.

Overall, Friedman said of the first day: “It’s been busy.” As for the possibilities of a deal? “It’s something that kind of vacillates by the minute. There were times (Monday) where I was pretty optimistic about certain things and then different times where I was a lot more pessimistic.”

Maddon has been optimistic about staying with the Rays past the coming season, but Monday was the first indication there have been discussions.

Maddon, who just won his second AL manager of the year award, would seem to be in line to at least double his current salary of about $1.3 million, which is in the bottom third of current managers.

“We’ve been talking a little bit in general, it’s just basic stuff,” Maddon said. “I’m a Ray. I have a lot of faith in being a Ray as I continue along. I’ve talked about that this for me is the best place to work in major-league baseball. Of course, everybody is looking for security, we all want security.

“For me it’s just about having an open conversation. We never would negotiate in public, anything like that. It’s just about an ongoing conversation right now, and we’ll see how it all or when it plays out. But I’m not worried about anything.”

Friedman, per policy, wouldn’t discuss the status of negotiations, but said, “My expectation is to work with Joe for a long time.”

Marc Topkin can be reached at topkin@tampabay.com.

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Kirk Gibson and Joe Maddon won Manager of the Year awards Wednesday — one for overseeing a worst-to-first turnaround that lasted all season, the other after a frantic playoff push in the final month.

Gibson was a clear choice in the National League for guiding the Arizona Diamondbacks to the West title. A former MVP as a rough-and-tumble outfielder, Gibson was honoured in his first full season as a big league manager.

“I certainly had a vision,” Gibson said on a conference call during a vacation in northern Michigan, adding, “It’s certainly not all because of me.”

Maddon won the American League award for the second time. He was an easy pick after helping the Tampa Bay Rays overcame a nine-game deficit to beat out Boston for the wild-card spot on the last day. It was the biggest rally any team had made in September to claim a playoff berth.

“I like to think of it as a validation of the Rays’ way of doing things,” Maddon said on a conference call while visiting family and friends in Hazleton, Pa.

The results were announced by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. The NL Cy Young Award winner will be revealed Thursday, with Clayton Kershaw of the Los Angeles Dodgers the leading candidate.

Gibson and the Diamondbacks went 94-68, a year after he took over in midseason as Arizona went 65-97. Stressing fundamentals and details from the first day of spring training, the 54-year-old Gibson pushed his team into the playoffs, where it lost to Milwaukee in the 10th inning of the deciding Game 5 in the opening round.

Gibson drew 28 of the 32 first-place votes and got 152 points. He was the only manager in either league to be listed on every ballot.

Ron Roenicke of the NL Central champion Brewers was second with three first-place votes and 92 points. Tony La Russa of the World Series champion St. Louis Cardinals was third with the other first-place vote and 24 points. Voting was completed before the start of the playoffs.

The free-spirited Maddon added to the AL honour he won in 2008. The 57-year-old manager who likes to speak on a vast array of subjects beyond baseball never panicked, even when the Rays started out 0-6 this season after losing several players to free agency during the winter.

Tampa Bay won its final five games to earn its playoff spot on the final day of the regular season, then lost to Texas in the first round. The Rays reached the playoffs for the third time in four years.

“My goal has been to make the Rays into the next century’s Yankees, Red Sox, Cardinals,” he said.

Maddon drew 26 of 28 first-place votes and had 133 points. Jim Leyland of the AL Central champion Detroit Tigers got the other pair of first-place votes and 54 points and Ron Washington of the AL champion Rangers was third with 31.

Gibson was a two-time World Series champion, winning with Detroit and the Dodgers. He was the fourth former MVP to win the manager award, joining Joe Torre, Frank Robinson and Don Baylor.

As a player, Gibson acknowledged he sometimes was “a little emotional … a little stupid.”

“As a manager, you can’t lose your composure,” he said.

Gibson and Bob Melvin (2007) have won the manager award with Arizona.

Maddon is the seventh multiple winner of the AL award. La Russa won three times in the AL and once in the NL.

The Tampa Bay Rays may not have a long history, but the once moribund franchise has quickly added to its lore in recent years with surprising runs to the postseason. There are numerous players and coaches responsible for the Rays’ turnaround several years ago, and even more who pitched in during the club’s historic comeback in the American League wild card race this year.

One of those guys is Dan Johnson, who hit two of the biggest homeruns in franchise history. In case you had forgotten, Johnson was the one who saved the Rays’ season when he hit a 9th inning homerun against the New York Yankees in the 162nd and final game of the season. The two-out, two-strike shot tied the game, and it was his last hit with the Rays, as he failed to collect a hit in the postseason and has now declined a AAA assignment to Durham and instead opted to become a free agent this winter. Johnson’s flair for the dramatic also helped Tampa Bay reach the postseason in 2008, when his two-out long ball off Jonathan Papelbon put the Rays over the top and into the playoffs for the first time in franchise history.

Johnson’s 2011 season was an unequivocal disappointment however. In 84 at bats, he hit .119 with two home runs and 4 runs batted in before losing his job to Casey Kotchman. In his six Big League seasons with the Rays and Oakland Athletics, Johnson has a career batting average of .235, with 53 home runs and 188 runs batted in. The Rays must now find a true first baseman in free agency or somewhere in their farm system, as the team enters the offseason without one on their roster.

By Michael Bean

– Newsdesk contributor

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Nov 3, 2011 – The Tampa Bay Rays may not have a long history, but the once moribund franchise has quickly added to its lore in recent years with surprising runs to the postseason. There are numerous players and coaches responsible for the Rays’ turnaround several years ago, and even more who pitched in during the club’s historic comeback in the American League wild card race this year.

One of those guys is Dan Johnson, who hit two of the biggest homeruns in franchise history. In case you had forgotten, Johnson was the one who saved the Rays’ season when he hit a 9th inning homerun against the New York Yankees in the 162nd and final game of the season. The two-out, two-strike shot tied the game, and it was his last hit with the Rays, as he failed to collect a hit in the postseason and has now declined a AAA assignment to Durham and instead opted to become a free agent this winter. Johnson’s flair for the dramatic also helped Tampa Bay reach the postseason in 2008, when his two-out long ball off Jonathan Papelbon put the Rays over the top and into the playoffs for the first time in franchise history.

Johnson’s 2011 season was an unequivocal disappointment however. In 84 at bats, he hit .119 with two home runs and 4 runs batted in before losing his job to Casey Kotchman. In his six Big League seasons with the Rays and Oakland Athletics, Johnson has a career batting average of .235, with 53 home runs and 188 runs batted in. The Rays must now find a true first baseman in free agency or somewhere in their farm system, as the team enters the offseason without one on their roster.

Read More: Dan Johnson (1B – TAM), Jonathan Papelbon (P – BOS), Casey Kotchman (1B – TAM), Oakland Athletics, New York Yankees, Tampa Bay Rays

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It was quite the ride for the Tampa Bay Rays in 2011. After pulling off a historic comeback in the month of September to earn a wild card berth, the Rays fizzled out in the American League Divisional Series against the Texas Rangers. As there is every year in Tampa, there will be significant turnover on the roster this winter. But before we learn the fate of the Rays squad for 2012 and beyond, there’s the possibility of several individuals receiving hardware for the fine work they did defensively this season.

On Monday, it was announced that three Rays players had been nominated for Gold Gloves at their respective positions: Evan Longoria (3B), Casey Kotchman (1B) and Sam Fuld (LF). Were Longoria to get the nod, it would mark the third consecutive year that the 26-year old has taken home the Gold Glove award at 3B. Kotchman and Fuld have never won the award previously.

The Rawlings Gold Glove Awards will be broadcast live from Bristol, CT for the first time ever on Tuesday, November 1st. Here’s the announcement from ESPN, as well as a full list of players up for consideration:

ESPN2 will televise the first-ever Rawlings Gold Glove Awards Show – emanating from ESPN’s Baseball Tonight studio in Bristol – Tuesday, Nov. 1, at 10 p.m. ET. The one-hour telecast, hosted by Baseball Tonight’s Karl Ravech with analysts John Kruk and Barry Larkin (a three-time Gold Glove winner – 1994, 1995, 1996), will include the announcement of the 2011 Gold Glove Award winners and extensive highlights and analysis of the best defensive performers and plays during the MLB regular season.

By Marc Topkin, Times Staff Writer

In Print: Wednesday, October 5, 2011

ST. PETERSBURG

The preference would have been for champagne, of course, sprayed wildly around the room. Instead, the Rays gathered in the quiet Tropicana Field clubhouse after the 4-3 playoffs- and season-ending loss, sipping Charbay and Johnny Walker Blue Label whiskey from small plastic cups.

They had done so earlier this season, on the April 6 flight to Chicago after they lost their first five games, manager Joe Maddon telling them they would finish as the best team ever to start that way.

With the season finally over Tuesday afternoon, Maddon stepped in front of them again to make another toast, joking about how prophetic he turned out to be. And amid the frustrated faces, the blank stares and some moist eyes, they realized as they raised their cups how amazingly much they actually accomplished.

“It’s hard to leave here upset,” infielder Sean Rodriguez said. “What we did was nothing short of a miracle.”

The pain of being eliminated — in just four games, in front of their home (though not sold-out) crowd, by the Rangers for a second straight year — was evident throughout the clubhouse, strewn with equipment bags for the trip back to Texas they would not be making.

“Heartbreaking,” ace pitcher James Shields said. “Just heartbreaking. … It just kind of came to a crashing halt there, and that’s a shame.”

“I’m kind of disgusted,” centerfielder B.J. Upton said. “It’s just sad it had to end this way.”

Having come back from what became an 0-6 then 1-8 start, from nine games out of the wild card on Sept. 4, from seven runs down in the eighth inning of Game 162, winning the AL wild card in the wildest way possible, the Rays felt certain they were destined to keep playing for a while.

“Nobody likes to go home,” third baseman Evan Longoria said. “When you come in here after a game like today when you know the season is over and you’ve got to pack up your locker and say bye to everybody for the winter, it’s just not a good feeling.”

The end, in a way, came fittingly, with the Rays struggling for offense much of the afternoon then trying for another dramatic comeback and falling just short.

Down 2-0, 3-1 and 4-2 — primarily due to Adrian Beltre having the seventh three-homer game in postseason history — the Rays closed to 4-3 in the ninth and had the tying run on first with one out. But Matt Joyce popped up and Desmond Jennings hit a ground ball that forced pinch-runner Elliot Johnson at second to extinguish their final hope.

“We felt like ’til the very end we were going to pull it out,” DH Johnny Damon said. “We just didn’t want our Cinderella ride to be over yet.”

“I guess,” Longoria said, “that was our ninth life.”

After winning the opener in Texas, the Rays seemed to be positioned well, but then they lost three straight — by a total of four runs. The Rangers shut down the Rays’ key hitters — Upton and Longoria were 0-for-13 with nine strikeouts in Games 3 and 4 — and flexed just enough muscle.

“We just didn’t see this early exit coming,” Upton said. “We didn’t think they could beat us twice at home.”

Maddon acknowledged that it felt like a premature ending but said he was filled with pride given what they did and how they did it: becoming the first AL team to make the postseason after starting 0-6, and the first in the majors to do so after being nine games out in September, winning 91 games along the way despite all the players they lost from last year’s team.

“I do believe we could have gone further,” Maddon said, “but I’m really pleased with where our players took us this year.”

Executive vice president Andrew Friedman was similarly conflicted.

“In the moment, it’s extremely painful for all of us,” he said. “We have such an amazing group of guys with such resolve, with such fight all year long. Nine innings every night; we saw it in these last two games. It’s a really special group to be a part of. I’m sure once we get out of the moment we’ll reflect back and really appreciate what we accomplished. But being in the moment, it’s really difficult to do that.”

As they gathered in the clubhouse for the last time, they listened to principal owner Stuart Sternberg thank them for the efforts, then to Maddon remind them of their accomplishments.

“We did a lot of things that weren’t expected of us, with a lot less than most,” Longoria said. “And that’s something we could be pretty proud of.”

Marc Topkin can be reached at topkin@sptimes.com.

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By John Romano, Times Sports Columnist

In Print: Tuesday, May 10, 2011

They woke up this morning scattered around the country. The first baseman. The leftfielder. The shortstop. The starting pitcher. The entire bullpen.

If you plotted it on a calendar, 14 of the 25 players from the roster of May 10, 2010, are no longer employed by the Tampa Bay Rays on May 10, 2011.

Call it a makeover. An overhaul. Call it the dismantling of the American League East champions with one important caveat.

On May 10, 2010, the Rays were in first place.

And precisely one year later, they are back again.

Who knows if it will last, but the improbability of a pawn shop roster challenging once more for the lead in baseball’s most intimidating division is a story worthy of wonder.

And if you are not yet convinced that it is a remarkable achievement, think of it this way:

The seven highest-paid Rays of 2010 have all departed.

A lot of teams lose one, or even two, of their best players and struggle to come back the next season. The Rays, on the other hand, lopped off almost the top one-third of their roster and are still on pace to win 95 games.

To put that in context, if we were talking about the Yankees, that would mean Alex Rodriguez, CC Sabathia, Derek Jeter, Mark Teixeira, A.J. Burnett, Mariano Rivera and Jorge Posada would have turned in their pinstripes this season.

So how, exactly, have the Rays pulled this off?

Well, the basic formula remains the same as in 2010. Tampa Bay still has the most cost-efficient (i.e. young) starting rotation in the league. That concept of stockpiling young, talented starters is the basis for everything else the franchise does.

But, beyond that, executive vice president Andrew Friedman appears to have done a marvelous job of sifting through the marketplace to find usable spare parts.

He signed a handful of free agents (Juan Cruz, Casey Kotchman and Felipe Lopez) to cheap minor-league contracts and plucked another (Rob Delaney) off waivers.

He traded for a collection of players (Sam Fuld, Brandon Gomes, Brandon Guyer, Cesar Ramos and Adam Russell) who spent the bulk of 2010 in the minors.

And when he did spend a little money, Friedman got a DH (Johnny Damon), a closer (Kyle Farnsworth) and a setup man (Joel Peralta) for less than what the Cubs agreed to pay Carlos Peña this season.

So did the Rays get lucky?

Perhaps, in some ways.

Fuld played above his head at a time when the Rays needed help. Kotchman got hot as Dan Johnson continues to struggle with his swing and confidence.

Still, in a lot of ways, this has gone precisely by design. Maybe not in every individual case, but in the overall concept of stockpiling cheap players with high upsides.

The Rays will never be able to chase the Jayson Werths or the Cliff Lees of free agency, so they have to find players who are undervalued for some reason.

Maybe it’s because the player has yet to prove himself at the major-league level. Maybe there is an injury involved. Maybe it is a veteran player coming off a down year or two.

Whatever the reason, the player is far from a sure bet. This is why, for instance, no one was willing to give Kotchman or Lopez or Cruz or Dirk Hayhurst or Cory Wade a major-league contract in the winter.

And when you’re dealing with this type of player, you are invariably going to have misses. For every Kotchman, you will have a Hank Blalock. For every Joaquin Benoit, you will have a Jason Isringhausen.

So what it comes down to is calculated risks. You accept that not every deal will work as planned, but you must be sharp enough to find the occasional payoff.

And you have to understand that you’re not going to find a Derek Jeter using this method, so you must be willing to find players with complementary skills to fill a particular need.

Some of this also speaks to a franchise’s deep farm system. The Rays could not have traded Matt Garza or Jason Bartlett if they were not confident in Jeremy Hellickson and Reid Brignac. In this sense, the Rays added at the same time they were subtracting.

Now, it is still far too early in the season to say whether the Rays have approximated the skill of their 2010 roster with all of their low-cost additions in 2011. And, to be honest, their 20-14 record might be due, in some part, to a fairly soft schedule.

Nonetheless, it’s pretty impressive that a team can reduce its payroll by more than 40 percent and still be in first place nearly six weeks into a new season.

And if the Rays are still there in six months, it will be the story of 2011.

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By John Romano, Times Sports Columnist

In Print: Tuesday, May 10, 2011

They woke up this morning scattered around the country. The first baseman. The leftfielder. The shortstop. The starting pitcher. The entire bullpen.

If you plotted it on a calendar, 14 of the 25 players from the roster of May 10, 2010, are no longer employed by the Tampa Bay Rays on May 10, 2011.

Call it a makeover. An overhaul. Call it the dismantling of the American League East champions with one important caveat.

On May 10, 2010, the Rays were in first place.

And precisely one year later, they are back again.

Who knows if it will last, but the improbability of a pawn shop roster challenging once more for the lead in baseball’s most intimidating division is a story worthy of wonder.

And if you are not yet convinced that it is a remarkable achievement, think of it this way:

The seven highest-paid Rays of 2010 have all departed.

A lot of teams lose one, or even two, of their best players and struggle to come back the next season. The Rays, on the other hand, lopped off almost the top one-third of their roster and are still on pace to win 95 games.

To put that in context, if we were talking about the Yankees, that would mean Alex Rodriguez, CC Sabathia, Derek Jeter, Mark Teixeira, A.J. Burnett, Mariano Rivera and Jorge Posada would have turned in their pinstripes this season.

So how, exactly, have the Rays pulled this off?

Well, the basic formula remains the same as in 2010. Tampa Bay still has the most cost-efficient (i.e. young) starting rotation in the league. That concept of stockpiling young, talented starters is the basis for everything else the franchise does.

But, beyond that, executive vice president Andrew Friedman appears to have done a marvelous job of sifting through the marketplace to find usable spare parts.

He signed a handful of free agents (Juan Cruz, Casey Kotchman and Felipe Lopez) to cheap minor-league contracts and plucked another (Rob Delaney) off waivers.

He traded for a collection of players (Sam Fuld, Brandon Gomes, Brandon Guyer, Cesar Ramos and Adam Russell) who spent the bulk of 2010 in the minors.

And when he did spend a little money, Friedman got a DH (Johnny Damon), a closer (Kyle Farnsworth) and a setup man (Joel Peralta) for less than what the Cubs agreed to pay Carlos Peña this season.

So did the Rays get lucky?

Perhaps, in some ways.

Fuld played above his head at a time when the Rays needed help. Kotchman got hot as Dan Johnson continues to struggle with his swing and confidence.

Still, in a lot of ways, this has gone precisely by design. Maybe not in every individual case, but in the overall concept of stockpiling cheap players with high upsides.

The Rays will never be able to chase the Jayson Werths or the Cliff Lees of free agency, so they have to find players who are undervalued for some reason.

Maybe it’s because the player has yet to prove himself at the major-league level. Maybe there is an injury involved. Maybe it is a veteran player coming off a down year or two.

Whatever the reason, the player is far from a sure bet. This is why, for instance, no one was willing to give Kotchman or Lopez or Cruz or Dirk Hayhurst or Cory Wade a major-league contract in the winter.

And when you’re dealing with this type of player, you are invariably going to have misses. For every Kotchman, you will have a Hank Blalock. For every Joaquin Benoit, you will have a Jason Isringhausen.

So what it comes down to is calculated risks. You accept that not every deal will work as planned, but you must be sharp enough to find the occasional payoff.

And you have to understand that you’re not going to find a Derek Jeter using this method, so you must be willing to find players with complementary skills to fill a particular need.

Some of this also speaks to a franchise’s deep farm system. The Rays could not have traded Matt Garza or Jason Bartlett if they were not confident in Jeremy Hellickson and Reid Brignac. In this sense, the Rays added at the same time they were subtracting.

Now, it is still far too early in the season to say whether the Rays have approximated the skill of their 2010 roster with all of their low-cost additions in 2011. And, to be honest, their 20-14 record might be due, in some part, to a fairly soft schedule.

Nonetheless, it’s pretty impressive that a team can reduce its payroll by more than 40 percent and still be in first place nearly six weeks into a new season.

And if the Rays are still there in six months, it will be the story of 2011.

[Last modified: May 09, 2011 09:47 PM]

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Shields (2-1) threw just 95 pitches, wrapping up his seventh career complete game in a brisk 2 hours, 5 minutes. The righthander also threw a four-hitter against the Chicago White Sox last Tuesday.

Over the winter and during spring training, Shields worked with pitching coach Jim Hickey to tweak his delivery, changing the way he steps back when working from the windup and twisting his upper body less when he throws.

“I just simplified things,” Shields said. “I’m a lot quieter in my delivery, I’m not so violent.”

It’s the third time in Rays history that a pitcher has won back-to-back complete games. Rolando Arrojo did it in 1998 and Albie Lopez did it in 2000. Tampa Bay starters have worked seven or more innings in 11 of the past 12 games and posted a 2.46 ERA over that span.

Shields struck out seven, walked two and lowered his ERA to 2.35. The Rays won for the 10th time in 14 games following a 1-8 start.

“Ever since we had that 0-6 start, our motto is, ‘We want to win series,’ ” Shields said. “That’s all we’re worried about right now, we don’t care about anything else. All we want to do is win series – and that’s what we did today, so that’s good.”

Ricky Romero (1-3) lost despite striking out 10 in seven innings.

Romero allowed five hits, including Zobrist’s homer in the first, and walked one. He has lost his past three starts, with Toronto scoring just three total runs in those games.

“We’re in a little bit of a funk, but I can’t control what they do as hitters,” Romero said.

The Blue Jays were blanked for the first time this season and have lost 10 of 14 following a 5-2 start.

Toronto’s Jose Bautista walked in the first, the 11th straight plate appearance he’d reached safely. Needing one more to tie Lyle Overbay’s team record, Bautista lined out sharply to third in the fourth.

Zobrist hit his fifth homer of the season and second in as many days. He lined an 0-2 pitch over the left-field wall.

A switch-hitter, Zobrist hit a three-run shot from the left side of the plate in Saturday’s 6-4 victory.

Shields didn’t allow a hit until Juan Rivera’s ground-ball single to begin the fifth. J.P. Arencibia and Travis Snider struck out before John McDonald lined a single to center, but Shields fanned Mike McCoy to end the inning.

Corey Patterson led off the Toronto sixth with a double down the right-field line, but Shields got the next three batters in order.

Rays 2, Blue Jays 0

Tampa Bay 200 000 000 – 2 6 0

Toronto 000 000 000 – 0 4 1

Tampa Bay AB   R   H   BI   BB   SO   Avg.   

 Fuld lf 4   0   0   0   0   4   .346   

Damon dh 4   1   2   0   0   0   .260   

Zobrist rf-2b 4   1   2   2   0   1   .203   

D.Johnson 1b 3   0   1   0   0   0   .131