Other Teams Should Fear The New-Look Tampa Bay Rays

The Tampa Bay Rays—formerly known as the Devil Rays, but more on that later—have always been the laughingstock of the MLB. Even the Montreal Expos—ahem, sorry, the "Washington Nationals," have fared better.

The Rays have been beaten worse than a punching bag before a Mike Tyson fight. Worse than people pulled over by the LAPD. Worse than Elijah Dukes' wife—allegedly, of course. Worse than Vince McMahon after Stone Cold Steve Austin gets through with him. The list goes on and on.

But the new-look Rays are off to a fresh start. They have abandoned the "Devil" in their name and are now simply the Rays. Nothing strikes fear into the heart of people more than little rays of sunshine—too many sunrays can cause health hazards.

And were Devil Rays really threatening? I mean, stingrays are the scary ones. They took out the Crocodile Hunter himself. But Devil Rays? Nothing too scary about them. According to Wikipedia, there was a villain named Devil Ray who fought the Justice League.

But Devil or no Devil—the name is not what is going to scare the rest of the league. 

After suffering a decade of humiliation in the AL East—averaging 97 losses and finishing higher than last only once—the Rays have made a flurry of moves this offseason, and raised expectations among the fanbase.

What has the Tampa faithful so excited? All those years a the bottom have made this team a haven for young prospects who want to play. Not only do these prospects want to get in the game, but they can actually hold their own in the Big Leagues. 

The cornerstone of the Rays was called up at age nineteen. He is twenty-seven now and  an eight-year vet. Carl Crawford is the main reason the Rays are looking so good right now. He is the kind of player all MLB teams look for. He leads by example, encourages, plays all-out every day, and is a face for a franchise.

Crawford draws comparisons to Tony Gwynn, Tim Salmon, Craig Biggio, and countless others who played every at bat for one franchise. He also has no plans to leave.

But now, Carl Crawford no longer has to do all the work. The front office actually put money into contracts this off-season and the team looks new and improved because of it. Look at Tampa Bay roster in 2000, when the Yankees won their last World Series, shown here. Only a few names stand out, but nothing spectacular. It is a bunch of veteran guys eating a payroll of a poor team.

Now look at the 2008 projected roster. This team is built to succeed.

Carlos Pena had a break-out year that he hopes to build on. Dioner Navarro is going to make a name for himself soon and has the staying power to be an anchor for the Rays.

Shortstop duties will be handled by the soft hands of Jason Bartlett, acquired in the trade that sent Delmon Young to the Twins. He has spent most of the off-season working on his defense, hoping to improve his .967 career fielding percentage.

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