Tampa Bay Rays: The Rise Of David Price

As a Tampa Bay Rays fan, I know I'm one of a group of people licking their chops at the thought of David Price's long awaited debut in the Rays' rotation.

He joins a rotation of twenty-somethings that includes James Shields, 27, Scott Kazmir, 25, Matt Garza, 25, and Andy Sonnanstine, 26.

Young staffs normally tend to lack one major thing: experience. These Rays are the exception to the rule, as they made it to the World Series.

These Rays may have lost 14-game-winner Edwin Jackson to Detroit, but Kazmir will win more than 12 games this year. I'd say 16, but that's just an educated guess. Shields and Garza will both win more than they did a year ago, improving on 14 and 11 respectively, and David Price will add between 12-16 wins.

Their 1,494 strikeouts led all of the AL and was the sixth-highest total in the history of the American League. You have to bet they will come close to, if not break that record with the kind of dynamic stuff that Price brings to the table.

Jim Hickey is an amazing pitching coach, and he returns to guide his pitching staff in what will probably be the most stacked division in baseball. Major moves by both Boston and New York, as well as the improvement of Baltimore, mean this is going to be the hardest task the Rays will have to deal with.

Added in the mix is the fact that teams look at Tampa and now feel the need to prepare for the Rays. For the first time, the Rays aren't just some bottom-of-the-barrel team that you don't feel the need to deal with.

These Rays are the Rays that won 97 games, won the AL East over two dominant franchises, and beat the White Sox and Red Sox en route to their first World Series. They fell short, but in the end they led the American League.

Run support won't be as much of an issue this season with the addition of Pat Burrell and his 33 home runs and 86 RBIs, as he makes the leap from one side of the World Series to the other. Matt Joyce also joins the club from Detroit in the Jackson trade, and B.J. Upton seems to have found the power he's been missing.

Once the season is said and done, I think the Rays have the Rookie of the Year in Price (15-6, 200 K's,) a potential Cy Young candidate in Scott Kazmir (18 wins, 211 K's,) and a wild-card birth, switching places with the Red Sox (my pick to win the World Series.)

This is going to be a great season to be a Rays' fan. Awesome match-ups featuring Sabathia, Burnett, and the Yankees, along with Smoltz, Beckett, and the Red Sox, and all the excitement of a team who knows they can take it to the World Series.

Tropicana Field will be booming, and I expect Scott Kazmir to record a no-hitter, probably in June. That's merely a guess, but hey, you never know until 162 games are done.