The real surprise for the Rays in 2009, Ben Zobrist not only was a huge contributor for the Rays last season, he played so well he finished 8th in the MVP voting.
Before 2009, Ben Zobrist had averaged a HR for every 31.8 AB’s.  In 2010, he upped that number to 18.5.  That’s a pretty lofty jump for a hitter.  Not only did he jump his power numbers, he was a surprisingly efficient hitter for a guy who had never topped a .253 batting average in the pros.  He was a very good hitter for contact during most of his time [...]

3. Tampa Bay Rays
The Rays have graduated a fair amount of talent in recent years but continue to come up with arms, while using their stumble last year to flip Scott Kazmir and add three solid prospects to their system. They could easily graduate three more above-average or better prospects this year if openings arise at the big league level.
Law has Desmond Jennings ranked 6th, Wade Davis ranked 15th, Jeremy Hellickson ranked 17th, Tim Beckham ranked 29th, Matt Sweeney ranked 68th and Matt Moore ranked 81st.
The list is fairly similar to Baseball America’s list for the Rays, except Baseball America [...]

The Rays enter the 2010 season with one of the best IF’s in MLB.  SS Jason Bartlett is one of the reasons why.
He followed up a Team MVP 2008 season with a markedly better 2009.  He was named to his first All Star team in 09 as well.

Year
G
PA
AB
R
H
2B
3B
HR
RBI
SB
CS
BB
SO
BA
OBP
SLG
OPS
OPS+

2009
137
567
500
90
160
29
7
14
66
30
7
54
89
.320
.389
.490
.879
129

6 Seasons
586
2269
2033
292
583
102
20
25
195
89
21
170
315
.287
.350
.394
.744
97

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 1/27/2010.

He finished 7th in the AL in Avg., 8th in the 80 in SB’s and was 10th in the AL in Triples.
After moving to leadoff last year and replacing BJ Upton, Jason Bartlett showed why he was an All Star and one of the best leadoff [...]

There has been a feeling in Tampa for a few seasons, that CF BJ Upton had no real interest in signing with the Rays long term.  Upton, before playing in the Second Annual BJ Upton Celebrity Golf Classic, might have dispelled those rumors a little bit.
“You know what, I’m definitely all for that,” said Upton prior to tee-off time for the Second Annual B.J. Upton Celebrity Golf Classic Monday at Tampa’s Hunter’s Green Country Club. “I love the city of Tampa and I’d love to be here for an extensive period of time. So if that’s something they want to [...]

The Rays most important player, Evan Longoria heads into his 2nd full season, having accumulated just over 1000 AB’s in his 1.75 seasons in the majors.
In both his first two years, the Longoria has been a top 20 MVP candidate.  In his rookie season, he won the Rookie of the Year Award and this past season he won the Silver Slugger and the Gold Glove for 3b.
As mentioned in opening, Longoria is the piece the franchise is truly building around.  When looking at his numbers from the first two seasons, its easy to see why.

Year
G
PA
AB
R
H
2B
3B
HR
RBI
SB
CS
BB
SO
BA
OBP
SLG
OPS

2008
122
508
448
67
122
31
2
27
85
7
0
46
122
.272
.343
.531
.874

2009
157
671
584
100
164
44
0
33
113
9
0
72
140
.281
.364
.526
.889

2 Seasons
279
1179
1032
167
286
75
2
60
198
16
0
118
262
.277
.355
.528
.883

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original [...]

The Rays signed 3 players who were scheduled to have arbitration hearings in the next few weeks to one year deals today.
Jason Bartlett received a raise from 1.8 million to 4 million.
Matt Garza received a raise from 433,300 to 3.35 million.
JP Howell received a raise from 433,700 to 1.8 million.
The one arbitration eligible player who did not sign today was CF BJ Upton.
“We’re excited we were able to get three of the guys done,” said Rays executive vice president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman. “We’re obviously disappointed we weren’t able to come to an agreement with B.J. I’m [...]

Acquired in a trade with the Detroit Tigers before the 2009 season for Edwin Jackson, many people assumed that Matt Joyce was going to play a large role for the Rays in 2009.  They were mistaken.  RF was manned by Gabe Kapler, Gabe Gross and Ben Zobrist, and Joyce only was on the big club for 11 games.
There is reason for optimism for 2010 though.  Joyce was a pretty good OF when he was on the Tigers, but AAA Manager Charlie Montoyo thinks he is much better than he was before he got there.
“He just got a lot better in [...]

BJ Upton followed up his 2008 World Series with a truly awful season in 2009.  He began the year with high hopes and a leadoff spot, and at one point late in the season mired in an awful hitting slump, was moved to the bottom of the lineup.   He batted 9th for a total of 23 games to end the season, although, it didn’t improve his hitting whatsoever.
This is a player who has as much potential as anyone on our roster, but just can’t seem to put it together for long stretches of time. If he could put [...]

With Spring Training beginning in just over one month, it’s time to take a look at the roster going into camp.  Rayhawk Review will look at one player each day, and his probable role on the team and my expectations for that player.
I figured there would be no better player to start out with then Carl Crawford.
Crawford, barring a midseason trade (if the Rays were to fall out of contention, this is a definite possibility) is our LF for the 2010 season.  He is coming off possibly his best campaign as a pro in 2009.  He had a career high [...]

Four of the core players on the Rays 2010 roster as well as core players for the future of this team must either agree on contracts (whether it be one year or multi year deals) by Jan 19th, or both team and players reps must file their respective numbers to arbitrators.
For the long term future relationship of team and player, its always a little better if the team and the player are on the same page as far as a players worth. While sometimes that might seem far fetched in free agency, when it comes to arbitration, agents and [...]