Pending Implosion?

If you thought the past few games were rough, get ready. It could get worse.

When a middle reliever starts questioning game strategy after a heart-breaking loss, you can just feel the implosion coming. The comments in question came from Grant Balfour, who gave up the game-winning 3-run homer to Placido Polanco.

Balfour said, "They come out and say can I pitch around him. I don't want to pitch around Granderson to be honest. I feel like I'm pitching on the defense them. I wish I never even got that in my head."

It sounds like the players aren't too happy with management these days. And that's the part of the equation that ownership didn't figure when they decided to trade Scott Kazmir. In order for this team to be successful, the players have to "believe." That was the rallying cry last year. Now, the Rays have put some doubt in their players head. They don't believe. They're not drinking the proverbial Kool-Aid.

John Romano of the St. Pete Times wrote a column this morning about the impact of losing players on the team from last year to this year. He talked to Johnny Gomes, Cliff Floyd, and Eric Hinske.  I think Hinske (who's on his way to another AL East Division crown) had the most telling quote of the piece.

He said, "The one thing that the guys upstairs on the computers can't assess is clubhouse chemistry. They can look at all the numbers they want, but chemistry in the clubhouse is a huge deal."

I think he's right. Chemistry and belief are something that the Rays need to place a premium on if they're going to compete with the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees.  This year, both are in short supply. Unfortunately, the team could use a little bit before facing the Red Sox this week.

Here are some things I noticed in the Rays 4-3 loss to the Tigers:

• Niemann still battling. Give credit to the starting pitcher yesterday. He battled like a champ for 7 innings.  Niemann is the one guy who seemingly still believes. He did exactly what he was supposed to, giving the Rays shut down innings and matching Tigers' ace Juster Verlander pitch for pitch. He gets to do it again on Friday.
  

• Aki-san homer. I've got to be honest, I didn't realize Akinori Iwamura hadn't hit a homer all year. It was good to see him go opposite field yesterday.
  

• Red Sox aren't discounting the Rays. The Red Sox are ready to put the wild card chase to bed this week. They shuffled their rotation so the Rays would get a rotation of Lester, Beckett, and Buchholz. The Red Sox have the chance to pretty much end the Rays wild card chances this week.  Andy Sonnanstine will get the nod on Tuesday.
  

• September call-ups. Expect to see some additional faces starting Tuesday.  Sonnanstine, Perez, a catcher, Wade Davis and a couple of others could be joining the team.  This is the depth Andrew Friedman was talking about when he said they could afford to trade Scott Kazmir. We'll see on Tuesday.
  

More reaction from the Kazmir deal

Now that the dust has settled a bit and Andrew Friedman has had time to give his reasoning, it's time to take another look at the Friday deal that sent Scott Kazmir to the Angels for 2 prospects and a player to be named later.

Let's start with how the Rays handled the trade. The Rays were way behind the curve from the get go on this one. News first broke via an Angels beat writer on MLB.com and spread like wildfire via social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook.  So instead of getting a call from the GM, reporters hearing about the rumors had to confront Kazmir who actually asked if they were "joking." Joe Maddon didn't have anything to say. In fact, the team said there wouldn't be an announcement until after the game. Even though he was all but gone, there sat Kazmir next to David Price on the bench during Friday night's game.

 

Following the game, the Rays sent out a press release making it official without giving any sound.  We got a couple of quotes from Andrew Friedman in the newspaper and then the message started taking shape.

"We have depth in starting pitching," executive vice president Andrew Friedman said. "And while it would be a great luxury to keep a deep reserve there, our budgetary constraints as a low-revenue club dictate that we allocate our resources to bolster areas where we may not be as deep and make sure that we can expand our competitive window."

That quote makes perfect sense, unless you're talking about a team that was just 3.5 games behind the wild card leader at the time the trade was made. If you take them at face value, that means the Rays place their "budgetary constraints as a low-revenue club" over being successful on the field.  That's where my problem lies.

I'm fine making moves to help make budget and keep the payroll down. I applaud ownership for what they've been able to do so far.  I'm fine with tough off-season moves. I'm fine with not picking guys up during before the trade deadline. But this trade, at this time, just tells me that the budget trumps giving the team a chance to win.

The Rays can talk all day and night about "future" considerations when it comes to trading Kazmir. But, they're discounting the fact that they may not always be in a playoff race. This is only the second time in the history of the team that the Rays have contended so late. You can have all the talent in the world, but a couple of ill-timed injuries, a rough schedule, or a division opponent getting red hot all make it tough to contend year in and year.  Just as last year was special, this year is special.Why waste it by unloading Kazmir right now? I have no doubt there are teams that would be willing to take on his salary next year for the chance to see the Kaz of old.

Despite what people keep writing, the Rays did not have to make that trade on Friday.  That trade could've waited until the off-season. But the Rays had a willing partner that was willing to absorb the rest of Kaz's salary this year, so they made the move. They save money on this year's payroll and say that Andy Sonnanstine and Wade Davis will do a fine job of replacing Kaz in the rotation.

The Rays proved to me on Friday something that I didn't want to believe: they're the same team they always were. My eyes were opened up a bit and the luster of the "Rays" has worn off.  This team considers the budget more than they do going to the wild card. Last season caught them off guard, just as it did the fans. They thought a couple of well-placed pieces could get them over the top. Instead they were left realizing they had too much money tied up in a team that wasn't in first place. So, they sold.

"This decision goes against every bit of passion in a competitor's soul"

Normally this time of day, I'm writing a recap of the previous night's game.  But since the players decided to take the night off in honor of Scott Kazmir's last game, I'm not going to justify that garbage with a post.  Not that I blame them. If management seems to think 3.5 games are too much to overcome, why shouldn't the players.

Maybe I'm not the most sophisticated of fans. Maybe I don't care about the "business" of baseball.  Maybe I have too much of a "win now" philosophy.

I think John Romano summed up my thoughts in his column from the St. Pete Times this morning:

"This decision goes against every bit of passion in a competitor's soul. When you have a chance to win, you do whatever possible to take advantage. By completing this deal, the Rays have sent the opposite message."

That's where the problem lies for me. The message.

Other sites are looking at the bright side of the deal.

The Rays Party chooses to look more at the "Rise of Wade Davis" as opposed to the loss of Kazmir. I agree, that's one way of looking at it. But if Wade Davis was a better option than Kaz, he would've already been here. No matter how you look at it, Davis is not going to push the Rays over the hump and in to the playoffs.

The guys over at DRaysBay say this deal really didn't affect the Rays playoff chances too much one way or the other.  They say that this deal kills any notion that the Rays front office cares about public perception.  And finally, they're excited to see what the front office can do with extra cash in the off-season.

Like I said, I understand the Rays playoff chances weren't the greatest. But fan reaction isn't the only thing to consider.  The Rays also have to consider the reaction of their own players and players around the league.  This kind of move shows a front runner mentality that won't be easily overcome. And maybe this kind of move will be more common than you think. There's no guarantee that the Rays won't try to move Carl Crawford this off-season.