Green: Ray of light for Tampa Bay baseball fans

The Tampa Bay Rays play their spring training games at Progress Energy Park. This is fitting, because I can’t think of a team with more progress and more energy than the 2008 edition of the Rays.

Tampa Bay got a major league makeover this winter. First, they exorcised the “Devil” — now they’re just plain “Rays.” And their new uniforms and new logo features a new kind of ray — a cheery yellow sunbeam that “invokes the magnificence of life in the Sunshine State,” in the words of the giddy press release, and seems to bespeak all the good things Floridians can expect to see at the Trop in the future.

“Our new team name and new look express the vibrancy of our organization,” echoed Rays President Matt Silverman, announcing the change. “The Tampa Bay Rays will shine … we will be a great source of pride for our region.” Hold up, there. Magnificence? Vibrancy? Pride? We’re talking about a team that finished 30 games out of first last year, right? The team that lost 96 games and came in dead last in all of baseball?

Yet, I, for one, am totally drinking the Florida-orange-flavored Kool-Aid.

This winter, they added by subtracting, trading overrated, immature Delmon Young for shortstop Jason Bartlett and starting pitcher Matt Garza, while dumping troubled-is-an-understatement Elijah Dukes for promising 19-year old pitcher Glenn Gibson.

Meanwhile, Tampa’s farm system is overflowing with talent. They’ve got five five-star prospects (in comparison, the Red Sox have two; the Yankees, one), including Evan Longoria, who will get the starting job at third base this year and whose name is already coming up as a Rookie of the Year candidate. After Longoria, the Rays are waiting on two exciting pitching prospects, both of whom should make their major league debuts later this year: polished lefty David Price (2007’s No. 1 draft pick) and fireballing righty Wade Davis. Coming up behind them is Jake McGee, another highly rated southpaw. With Scott Kazmir and Jamie Shields already in place, no wonder Sports Illustrated is predicting the Rays will have “a nightmare rotation for opponents” firmly in place by 2010.

They’re already well on their way to a nightmare lineup, with an offense powered by Carlos Pena (46 homers last year, with a .411 OBP), Carl Crawford (a .315 average and 50 stolen bases), and B.J. Upton (an .894 OPS at the age of 22).

The result? A team that has rebuilt itself from the inside out. A team that will no longer be the punching bag of the Red Sox and Yankees. A team that will fare better in 2008 than the uninspiring squad cobbled together by the incompetent Blue Jays front office and, in 2009 and 2010, make the AL East a three-team juggernaut. As GM Matt Silverman put it, the Rays are “no longer the bottom-feeding fish.” In Tampa, here comes the sun.

Sarah Green is a freelance writer who can be reached at  .