Ace, James Shields: Following his breakout campaign last season and his continued dominance this year, Shields is the ace of this staff. While Kazmir has more electrifying stuff and is one of the elite strikeout pitchers in the majors, he cannot be crowned as an ace just yet. One of the most underrated and overlooked qualities of an ace is the ability to consistently go deep into games. Until Kazmir can consistently show he has the ability to go deep into games - something he does not yet done - he simply cannot anchor a staff. Kazmir has shown flashes of consistency where he is able to go 6 and 7 innings, but he is too often wild (albeit, very effectively), and his pitch count frequently skyrockets in the early going. He too often ends up going just 5 innings, something that as an ace, one cannot do. In Shields' 18 starts this year he failed to go less than 6 innings just 4 times (one of those being his ejection after going just 1 ip vs. the Red Sox). The guy goes up on the hill every fifth day and you almost always know he will give you at least a quality start. He expects it of himself, and the players and bullpen have grown accustomed to it. The pen usually has a light day when it's Shields' turn to take the mound; the dude's a horse. Not to mention his dirty stuff. In his breakout campaign last year he put up a 3.85 era and 1.11 whip. His era should be lower based on his outstanding 1.11 whip but he had a tough time keeping the ball in the park as he let up 28 dongs. When he misses his spots with his fastball he tends to miss up in the zone and not down, causing him to allow the dongs. He has a 1.12 whip this season, to go with a 3.64 era, so far. He has given up 12 gopher balls, so he is on pace to give up a few less homers this season. His susceptibility to the long ball is the only real thing he has go to improve upon. He has got to keep his fastball down in the zone, and he will hopefully continue to decrease the number of homers he allows as he addresses this. Shields is predominantly a two-pitch pitcher throwing a low-90s fastball with a plus-plus change up. His change is his strikeout pitch, and he has a show me curveball, which he throws predominantly to keep hitters of balance throughout the course of a game. If Johan were a righty, his change would look exactly like Shields', it's that good. He averages about a K/inning and is maturing into one of the best pitchers in the AL. He has all the qualities of an ace and, at 27 years old, still has several more years of prime left in him.
More...The 2, Scott Kazmir: Acquired from the Mets in a trade which all Mets fans (me) still look back on in
infamy (thanks Steve Phillips, die please), Kazmir has blossomed into a stud for the Rays. He led the AL last year in strikeouts with 239 and finished up the year with a 3.48/1.38. His high whip can be attributed to the 89 free passes he handed out, but he was able to keep his era lower than what a 1.38 whip should produce because of his tremendous strikeout ability. Kazmir's strikeout ability has never been in question, but his less than stellar K:BB ratio does not enable him to frequently go deep into games, as I mentioned earlier. This is not, however, a bad thing by any means, as it is for a guy like Daniel Cabrera, who is a joke. Kazmir just does not pound the strike zone, it's not the kind of pitcher he is, but his stuff is so good that the free passes he gives out do not frequently come around to score because he is sooo hard to hit. The southpaw has a cut and four seam fastball which sit very comfortably in the 93-94 range, he also throws a slider and changeup. His slider is a monster pitch and his change has also improved a lot since his rookie season. His stuff is as good as any other starter in the majors, but again, his inability to consistently goes late in the game prevents him from being able to anchor a staff. This year, after missing April with an injury, he has been absolutely dominant. He's given up just 58 hits in 77 innings (!!) to go with 84 Ks (also, !!!!). He is still walking guys, 23 on the season so far, but he's been basically un-hittable, so we're fine. He's pitched to the tune of a 2.69 era and 1.13 whip and has been as good as any pitcher in baseball. Kazmir is also just 24, and last year was his best full season since being in the majors. This year he is pitching even better, and still has room to improve. He's still a kid and still has room for more development. The Rays are hopeful that he will continue to avoid the disabled list and throw filth every fifth day forming a great, young top of the rotation with Shields.The 3, Matt Garza: Garza is in his first season with the Rays after coming over from the Twins in the Delmon Young trade during the off-season. Delmon has pissed me off to no end in fantasy this year, so he sucks, I have decided/decreed. Garza is 24 and has been viewed as one of the best pitching prospects in the Twins organization in recent years. They covet their young pitchers and I w
as very surprised at the way they handled Garza. I will not get into the Twins' mismanagement of Garza last season but for better or worse they dealt him to the Rays for an equally young, equally impressive (unimpressive?) outfield prospect in Delmon Young. What's done is done, and today, the Rays would have made this trade ten times over. Garza has K per IP potential, though he has not realized it in this early stage of his career. He needs to improve his K:BB ratio as it sits at about 2:1 as we near the ASB. He is very good at keeping the ball in the yard and his whip, despite his tendency to walk a lot of guys, is just 1.20. The best indication of how good and powerful his stuff is the 86 hits allowed in 97 innings. Allowing under a hit per inning is outstanding and very few pitchers in the game can put that on their resume. If he can lower his K:BB ratio, his whip should drop down to the 1.05 range, which would be exceptional. His fastball consistently sits at 94-95 and has good movement. He has a hard slider, a curve, and a change. They key to his stuff is his ability to locate his fastball, which is a plus pitch, to set up his off-speed stuff. His change is just average and his hard slider can be a devastating plus pitch. He is still 24, and this will mark his first full season in the bigs. We'll see how his arm holds up in the coming couple years with the increased workload, but he has not had any significant injury history to raise any red flags. The kids got filthy stuff, has the ability to mow down opposing lineups and put up some dominating performances.
as very surprised at the way they handled Garza. I will not get into the Twins' mismanagement of Garza last season but for better or worse they dealt him to the Rays for an equally young, equally impressive (unimpressive?) outfield prospect in Delmon Young. What's done is done, and today, the Rays would have made this trade ten times over. Garza has K per IP potential, though he has not realized it in this early stage of his career. He needs to improve his K:BB ratio as it sits at about 2:1 as we near the ASB. He is very good at keeping the ball in the yard and his whip, despite his tendency to walk a lot of guys, is just 1.20. The best indication of how good and powerful his stuff is the 86 hits allowed in 97 innings. Allowing under a hit per inning is outstanding and very few pitchers in the game can put that on their resume. If he can lower his K:BB ratio, his whip should drop down to the 1.05 range, which would be exceptional. His fastball consistently sits at 94-95 and has good movement. He has a hard slider, a curve, and a change. They key to his stuff is his ability to locate his fastball, which is a plus pitch, to set up his off-speed stuff. His change is just average and his hard slider can be a devastating plus pitch. He is still 24, and this will mark his first full season in the bigs. We'll see how his arm holds up in the coming couple years with the increased workload, but he has not had any significant injury history to raise any red flags. The kids got filthy stuff, has the ability to mow down opposing lineups and put up some dominating performances. 
2005-2007, with nothing left to prove down there, the Rays slotted him in as their 4th starter this year. He throws strikes and changes speeds effectively. His delivery is deceptive. It is pretty tough for hitters to pick the ball up as he changes his arm slot throughout the game to give hitters different looks and keep them off balance. He is having a decent season with a 4.31 era and 1.35 whip. He will not strike a lot of guys out, but his K:BB ratio is 3:1 and for a control specialist like Sonnanstine, that has got to improve. His minor league numbers surely indicate that he is better than that and he will hopefully, in his first full big league season, continue to adjust to big league hitters. Sonnanstine profiles best-case scenario as a #3 AL starter, but as a #4 in this rotation where the three guys ahead of him don't figure to be going anywhere in the near future, he is fine.The 5, Edwin Jackson: When you're 5 starter has a sub-4, you're staff is GOOD (lu, lu). Eddy Jackson was 
once one of the most highly touted starting pitching prospects in the game. Following his tremendous '02 and '03 seasons in A and AA ball, he could never quite figure out how to translate his success against AAA hitting. After a brief stint in the majors for the Dodgers, they seemingly got fed up with him and the Rays got him for *nothing*. He is finally putting it together. It seems like the guy is 30 for how long he's been around but he's still just 24 (yes, the Rays really, really, REALLY wanted all their starters to be 24). Once tagged as a can't miss pitching prospect, Jackson has since fallen from grace. However, this season, without any real pressure as the Rays 5th starter, he has began to come into his own. Never a real big K guy, he will not average a K per IP, his stuff is still filthy and he has let up less than a hit per inning this year. His K:BB is pretty bad, at about 1.5:1, but giving up less than a hit per inning leaves his whip at an ok 1.38. If he can limit his walks a little bit more, his whip should be able to drop into the 1.15 range which would be tremendous. His fastball sits around 94-95, he throws a hard slider, and a change up which he still needs to improve. He often has trouble controlling his fastball and this is what typically gets him in trouble. His pitch count often runs high causing him to infrequently get past the 5th or 6th inning. But, when he is able to pinpoint his fastball, combined with his hard slider and -at this point- his show me change, he can be dominant. His fastball is often flat, but because of the velocity, is still a plus pitch. His inability to be a big K guy has always been because of his secondary pitches. His slider is very inconsistent; he leaves it hanging in the zone as often as it bites down hard into the dirt. He often has trouble throwing his change up with the same arm speed as his fastball. But again, this is still a kid at 24. He still has time to improve his secondary pitches and develop further. And although I have been slamming his stuff a bit, he is still sitting at a sub-4 this year. And he's their 5th starter. While he doesn't have the upside of a 1 or 2 guy anymore, he can still top out as a 3 starter in the bigs at this point in his career. It will be interesting to follow his development from this point on and if he can continue to improve under the wings of the Rays pitching coach Jim Hickey.
Staff is dominant. Pen is good. Minor league pitching prospects are amazing; more on this coming soon.
once one of the most highly touted starting pitching prospects in the game. Following his tremendous '02 and '03 seasons in A and AA ball, he could never quite figure out how to translate his success against AAA hitting. After a brief stint in the majors for the Dodgers, they seemingly got fed up with him and the Rays got him for *nothing*. He is finally putting it together. It seems like the guy is 30 for how long he's been around but he's still just 24 (yes, the Rays really, really, REALLY wanted all their starters to be 24). Once tagged as a can't miss pitching prospect, Jackson has since fallen from grace. However, this season, without any real pressure as the Rays 5th starter, he has began to come into his own. Never a real big K guy, he will not average a K per IP, his stuff is still filthy and he has let up less than a hit per inning this year. His K:BB is pretty bad, at about 1.5:1, but giving up less than a hit per inning leaves his whip at an ok 1.38. If he can limit his walks a little bit more, his whip should be able to drop into the 1.15 range which would be tremendous. His fastball sits around 94-95, he throws a hard slider, and a change up which he still needs to improve. He often has trouble controlling his fastball and this is what typically gets him in trouble. His pitch count often runs high causing him to infrequently get past the 5th or 6th inning. But, when he is able to pinpoint his fastball, combined with his hard slider and -at this point- his show me change, he can be dominant. His fastball is often flat, but because of the velocity, is still a plus pitch. His inability to be a big K guy has always been because of his secondary pitches. His slider is very inconsistent; he leaves it hanging in the zone as often as it bites down hard into the dirt. He often has trouble throwing his change up with the same arm speed as his fastball. But again, this is still a kid at 24. He still has time to improve his secondary pitches and develop further. And although I have been slamming his stuff a bit, he is still sitting at a sub-4 this year. And he's their 5th starter. While he doesn't have the upside of a 1 or 2 guy anymore, he can still top out as a 3 starter in the bigs at this point in his career. It will be interesting to follow his development from this point on and if he can continue to improve under the wings of the Rays pitching coach Jim Hickey.Staff is dominant. Pen is good. Minor league pitching prospects are amazing; more on this coming soon.
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