The Tampa Bay Devil Rays will be playing in their 9th season in 2006, which is astounding to me. It feels like they’re still an expansion team. This is a team that has never won more than 70 games in a season and twice lost at least 100. But the list of stats to illustrate how truly pathetic this team has been is almost endless. Their franchise record (518-775, a .401 winning percentage), the 276.5 games they collectively have finished behind first place (average of 34.5 games per season), the worst attendance in the AL from 2001 through 2005; it starts to show the picture of a team that maybe should have ended up elsewhere.

But there they are, and they will likely remain the whipping-boy of the rest of the AL East. The new ownership is trying it’s best to make the Devil Rays a more palatable experience for the fans, offering free parking, the freedom to bring your own food, food credits to offset the raise in ticket prices, and improvements on the ballpark. The interest seems to be there to try and make Tampa (well, really St. Petersburg) work for Major League Baseball. They even might change the name of the team, although I think it would help if they sought out their fans’ opinions (much like the Vermont Lake Monsters did with their recent name change).

But while it’s a start, the name change and avoiding being ripped off by stadium concessions just isn’t enough. If the product on the field is no good, there’s no reason for fans to show up. This team needs a bigger Shake-Up than is currently being given.

Front Office: The team recently switched owners and the only general manager the team ever knew, Chuck LaMar, was shown the door. This was a very good thing, as he was known as somebody who was tough to deal with and always asked for far too much in trade proposals. Unfortunately, the new regime has done little in offering a new approach. They dug their heels in with the Atlanta Braves in a possible trade of SS Julio Lugo for 3B prospect Andy Marte, and then saw Marte head off to the Red Sox and finally the Indians. This makes for sheer lunacy. They’ve got a young stud, BJ Upton, as their next shortstop, while Marte is one of the best prospects out there, and Lugo is a free agent next winter. And they turned the deal down.

This seems to be the modus operandi of the D-Rays. You don’t need to go far to find somebody who can tell you that the Rays most likely won’t contend for the near future. But when they’ve had the chance to deal their veterans for good young prospects, they don’t. Lugo, Aubrey Huff, and Danys Baez were all highly sought after last summer before the trade deadline, but the Rays didn’t end up moving any of them. Only just recently was Baez traded, and the jury is out on the return package. The players they got were definitely worth the risk, and even though not every deal can net you a Scott Kazmir, it’s a very good start.

I’ll say that this new management has also done a good job of bringing in some decent veterans to compete for jobs this spring. Guys like Russell Branyan and Ty Wigginton are great low risk/decent reward players who can also be traded at the deadline. These are good options to have.

Stadium: Who on earth would want to sign a 30 year lease? The Devil Rays! Few options exist on this front (outside of contraction), but there has to be one clever lawyer out there who can get them out of the lease so they can find a better place to play. I’ve been to the “Trop,” and it’s awful. It would also be a trip if the Tampa Bay Devil Rays actually played in Tampa.

The Rookies: In the beginning, the Rays brought in veterans in an attempt to win fast. Jose Canseco, Fred McGriff, Wade Boggs, and Vinny Catilla didn’t help much and stifled the early growth of the franchise. Now, the strength of the franchise lies in a number of solid prospects, many of whom should turn into very good major leaguers. The old regime didn’t treat the youngsters very well, and even went as far as to keep prospects in the minors so that those players would remain under Tampa Bay’s control longer. The new management can’t follow that policy, and needs to let them play and find out exactly how good these kids can be.

Veterans: It won’t happen this year, and maybe not next, but the Devil Rays will soon have enough talent to win more games and maybe (just maybe) contend. When that time comes, a few grizzled veterans added to the roster could really help the kids understand what it takes to win. Hopefully, the mistakes of the past haven’t left too bad a taste in anybody’s mouth.

Drop “Rebuilding the Dream”: I get the “Under Construction” part of their new marketing strategy, and it makes perfect sense, but the “Rebuilding the Dream” part is a connection to the past failures. The original dream (if you can call it that) was a miserable disaster, so let’s focus on building a new dream.