FanHouse Rays

Footprints in the Snow is FanHouse's look at the paths to be forged by MLB teams this winter as they look ahead to 2010.

The Rays could not build upon their surprising 2008 AL East title and run to the World Series last year, falling from 97 wins to 84. The lineup was at least as good as the year before, but both the rotation and bullpen suffered a steep dropoff.

The offensive core is still young and in its prime and should continue to produce. And 2009 might have been the usual fall-back season that teams experience after a large jump forward.

Still, making the playoffs in the AL East means beating out the Yankees or Red Sox (or both). With Tampa Bay's payroll, that leaves little margin for error.

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Carl Crawford will be in a Rays uniform next season, his last before he is eligible to be a free agent.

Tampa Bay made it official Monday by picking up its $10 million option on the speedy left fielder, who is the longest tenured player in franchise history and holds a number of all-time clubs records, including for hits, stolen bases, RBI and games played.

Crawford bounced back from an injury-marred 2008 to hit .305 with 15 home runs and 60 stolen bases this season. He also won MVP of the All-Star Game this year.

In a surprising piece of mid-World Series news, the Tampa Bay Rays and Pittsburgh Pirates have agreed to a trade this afternoon. Tampa will send second baseman Akinori Iwamura to the Pirates in return for relief pitcher Jesse Chavez. According to the same report by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (who broke news of the Pirates' involvement in the trade after the St. Petersburg Times first reported an Iwamura trade this afternoon), no cash or other players are involved.

Iwamura, 30, is due $4.25 million in 2010 and the emergence of Ben Zobrist makes that a price the Rays clearly weren't eager to pay for a player who'd likely be a utility man for them in '10. The Pirates, however, are looking to add payroll after cleaning house last year and have a gaping hole at second base, so Iwamura is a logical addition for them.

While we're far from trading season -- the Red Sox and Angels haven't even started their ALDS -- winds are swirling in the Windy City because of the presence of resident albatross Milton Bradley. Bradley signed a three-year contract worth $30 million this past offseason with the Cubs and did everything he could during the regular season to make general manager Jim Hendry realize the signing was the biggest mistake of his tenure. Thus, the Cubs aren't exactly being secretive about their desire to trade him as soon as is humanly possible.

Might they look to another outfielder who has quickly fallen out of favor with his team after signing a lucrative deal? The Tampa Bay Rays have shown interest in Bradley in the past, and they could look to deal Pat Burrell after his disastrous 2009 season.

Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action with a quick nod to what is ahead.

You Oughta Know ...
That the NL West race will come down to the final weekend of the regular season.

The Rockies held on for a 4-3 win over the Dodgers Friday night, cutting Los Angeles' lead in the division to one game behind shortstop Troy Tulowitzki's 32nd home run of the year and 10 strikeouts from Ubaldo Jimenez.

The Dodgers, who lost their fifth straight, have already won the season series, meaning that Colorado will have to win the final two games of the regular season in L.A. to win the division since both teams have already clinched playoff spots.

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After last year's shocking World Series appearance, the Tampa Bay Rays came into 2009 with significantly increased expectations. Most were still picking the Yankees and Red Sox to finish in the top two spots on the AL East, but in just one season the Rays had gone from laughingstock to a consensus 90-92 win team.

That hasn't worked out too well for them, as they're currently on pace to win 83 games, which would be 14 fewer than last year. That's disappointing, certainly, but their underlying performance really hasn't been that much worse.

In 2008, Tampa Bay outscored their opponents by 103 runs; so far this season, that figure is 58. So they've clearly been worse in 2009, but their run differential only suggests a four to five win discrepancy between the two years, a stark contrast from their potential drop in the win column.

Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action with a quick nod to what is ahead.

You Oughta Know ...
That Daisuke Matsuzaka has momentum.

The enigmatic Red Sox right-hander who spent three months on the disabled list is 2-0 since returning. He followed up six shutout innings against the Angels earlier this week by allowing three runs over 5 1/3 innings against Baltimore Sunday.

Matsuzaka has a 2.38 ERA and 10 strikeouts in 11 1/3 innings in his return, further strengthening his case to be the fourth starter in Boston's playoff rotation when the postseason begins next month and showing how formidable the Red Sox can be when their pitching is rolling.

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Every Sunday, MLB FanHouse empties out its notebook in Baseball Brunch.

Bobby Abreu's influence has its limitations.

Vladimir Guerrero is still going to swing at everything.

But besides his fine season -- 89 runs scored, 96 RBI, .823 OPS -- Abreu seems to have passed on his patience at the plate to the rest of his Angels teammates.

"He's got the younger players understanding patience isn't a bad thing," Chone Figgins told FanHouse. "It's not about not being aggressive, but being patient, getting a pitch to hit. There's nothing wrong with being 1-1 and hitting, or 1-2, or 2-2.

"It's not something simple to do, but I think we did a good job of it in spring training and have tried to bring it into the season and have so far done a good job."

The Tampa Bay Rays are enduring a pretty disappointing season, and that's an understatement. After going to the World Series last year, they are hovering around .500 and have fallen too far back in any playoff race to have a realistic shot these last few weeks. So, obviously there has to be some frustration among players, and it appears to have boiled over in the clubhouse.

Carl Crawford, one of the team's most respected leaders reportedly "loudly confronted" free-agent bust Pat Burrell before batting practice Wednesday. There are no further details, because no one said anything other than manager Joe Maddon, who kept saying everything is fine.

Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action with a quick nod to what is ahead.

You Oughta Know ...
That you can add the Marlins to the list of fringe contenders fading away with three weeks to go in the season.

Florida wasted an opportunity to gain on wild-card leading Colorado, which lost in San Francisco, in an 11-6 loss to the Cardinals. The Marlins fell behind 4-0 in the first, but managed to take a 6-4 lead by the fourth inning, only to squander that lead in large part due to Ricky Nolasco's five-inning, seven-run outing.

Poor starting pitching has been a big reason why Florida hasn't been able to make a run.

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