Zim's Crystal Ball

For the past few years, I have had the pleasure to work alongside Beau Zimmer at WTSP. He's Rays senior advisor Don Zimmer's Grandson. From time to time, Beau offers me some tidbits about the Rays that he picks up from his Granddad and passes along to me.

The first tidbit I got from Beau was on Opening Day 2008. Beau, Matt, and I were attending some training on Florida's East Coast.  Our travel day to the training happened to be March 31, 2008, the day the Rays beat the Baltimore Orioles to kick off the 2008 campaign.  Earlier in the day as we started checking into our rooms, Beau mentioned that his grandfather really liked this year's team and thought they had the potential to be the best Rays team ever.  At the time I made a mental note, but given the Rays history, it may not have been a stretch.

As the 2008 wore on, I kept thinking back to Zim's prediction. It seemed be coming true. The 2008 squad was the best Rays team ever.

About half way through Spring Training in 2009, I decided to ask Beau what his Granddad thought of the 2009 team. Beau didn't have a good report. He said his Granddad wasn't as confident in the 2009 team as he was in the 2008 group. He said they were a little lackluster looking. 

At the time, I got all upset. How could Zim not possibly be excited about the 2009 team? They were just coming off the World Series. They had basically the same group, plus the much needed right-handed power DH they so sorely missed in 2008.  Of course, we all know how that turned out. The Rays missed the playoffs and played pretty much as Zim predicted during Spring Training: Lackluster.

Now that the precedent has been set, I was excited to hear what Zim thought of the 2010 group.  Beau came up to me today and said that his Granddad is really, really, really excited about this year's team. In fact, he really likes the pitching staff and thinks that the Rays have a real good chance of competing in the AL East this year.

It's still early. The pitchers and catchers have yet to report, but given his track record... I'm looking forward to Zim being right once again.