Crane pushed GM Click into trades that aren’t putting heat on Rays
Updated Wednesday, September 15, 2021
Twitter did not explode; the baseball world barely noticed when the Tampa Bay Rays last week announced a contract extension for their 38-year-old general manager, Erik Neander. With its typical marketing flair, MLB made as little of this as possible. The Rays said it was a multiyear deal but didn’t say exactly how many years or if it’s to be determined by performance.
It probably doesn’t matter that much because Neander is all but certain to succeed. In the four years that he’s been in charge of baseball operations, the team has been in the World Series once and has never had worse than a .550 season. It’s on pace for 101 wins in this one. Neander has done this with a player payroll that’s a fourth the size of the Los Angeles Dodgers’.
He’s done it with a roster in constant flux, mostly of his own doing. But he’s had to scramble more than usual this season, with staff ace Tyler Glasnow becoming baseball’s most prominent victim of stickystuff. Glasnow in June could not adjust to not dabbing sunscreen on the ball. He tore his elbow and underwent Tommy John surgery last month.
So Neander and field manager Kevin Cash have had to be more resourceful than ever. Cash this season has called on 13 different pitchers to save games. He’s pitched Andrew Kittredge in innings 1-11.
Neander and Cash are masters of mix and match. Only three times this year has Cash written a lineup he’s tried before. He’s started Manuel Margot in all nine spots in the order, always trying to set up an edge where it might matter the most.
Brandon Lowe, Rays second baseman (mostly) pointed out that “if you’re not in the starting lineup it’s not a day off. Your name is one base hit away from getting called. There’s never a time when you’re thinking, ‘I’m not going to be in the game today.’”
With most teams in all sports, players are constantly taught, “Know your role.” But there are no roles with the Rays.
Many doubt that this approach can produce a world championship, even though the Rays came close last year, extending the Dodgers to six games in the World Series. The Rays failed when their highly leveraged bullpen wore down. There are signs of some fraying this month. The Rays have lost 7 of their past 13 games, and during this stretch the bullpen ERA is over 5.
With the New York Yankees, the preseason American League favorites, floundering, the Rays and Houston Astros are basically dueling for the pennant, as they’ve done the past two years.
The Astros rank fourth in the majors in payroll, at just under $200 million. They win the old-fashioned way, with a strong starting rotation and a lineup that has power but also makes contact. They’re 11th in the majors in home runs and first in batting average at .268. They’re also first in on-base percentage at .340.
James Click, their 42-year-old general manager, is confident that he has the best team in the league.
As the trade deadline of July 30 approached, Click was speaking with staff when owner Jim Crane poked his head through the doorway and said, “Do something.”
So Click traded his starting center fielder, Myles Straw, to Cleveland, for reliever Phil Maton and 22-year-old catcher prospect Yainer Diaz. Click also dealt all-purpose infielder Abraham Toro, 24, to the Seattle Mariners for their best relief pitcher, Kendall Graveman.
So far, the results have not panned out well for the Astros, who are 20-20 since trade deadline. The team’s energy is down, because Straw, 26, was the sparkplug, creating havoc on the base paths and running down drives to center field. He was also an upbeat force in the dugout.
With the Indians, Straw has raised his game a bit, hitting .276, on base .372 and stealing 10 bases in 42 games. Meanwhile, Maton has been just another of the Astros’ plethora of so-so relievers.
Toro has energized the Mariners’ offense, hitting .293, slugging .425 for a team that enters play Wednesday just 3 games out of a wild card. For the Astros, Graveman has been useful but not heroic, with a win, a loss, six “holds” and an ERA of 1.62. Houston’s bullpen, for all the constant tinkering, is, at best, average.
As for the loss of Straw, the Astros say it was necessary because Jake Meyers is ready to take over center field at 25. Indeed, Meyers has a lively bat: .287 average, .465 slugging. But he doesn’t provide plus defense, as Straw did, and he doesn’t cause distraction on the base paths, as Straw did.
Click would have done better by trading the very professional left fielder, Michael Brantley, 34, replacing him with Meyers, keeping Straw. The Astros aren’t as good a team without Straw’s presence. Despite the September emergence of Toronto, another club with a shaky bullpen, the Rays remain the team to beat in the weaker circuit. They’re always better than the sum of their parts.
