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Built To Last

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By MARC LANCASTER

mlancaster@tampatrib.com

Published: October 21, 2008

Updated: 10/21/2008 05:23 pm

ST. PETERSBURG - It began with another reputation-minting start from a 24-year-old in his first full season in the majors and ended with a national coming-out party for a 23-year-old who has just over a month in the big leagues.

The stars of the game that put the Rays in the World Series, Matt Garza and David Price, clearly have the physical abilities to excel at the highest level and the confidence to match. And conventional wisdom suggests they're only going to get better.

The same could be said for their brothers in arms. Be it James Shields (26 years old), Andy Sonnanstine, Edwin Jackson or J.P. Howell (all 25) or Scott Kazmir (24), it's easy to look at each of the young pitchers that form the backbone of the Rays' pitching staff and anticipate improvement on all fronts.

The Rays have come this far despite their pitchers' lack of experience in handling the pressures of a pennant race and the October baseball that follows, but getting this kind of exposure at such an early stage only figures to steel them for the run they all believe is coming no matter what happens in the World Series that came ahead of schedule.

"I hear all the time, 'This is the worst team the Rays are going to throw out there for the next five or six years,' " Price said. "Just to be a part of this right now is a blessing."

From one of the youngest Rays to the oldest, that appreciation prevails at Tropicana Field these days. It's one thing to get a crack at the World Series, but the Rays take particular pride in the fact that they have ascended this far with a group that would appear to have plenty of staying power.

Win or lose, for instance, the Rays are in no danger of following the blueprint laid out by the Florida Marlins. No one can take away the Marlins' two World Series titles, but there was hardly a sea change in the way the franchise was perceived. A year after winning it all in 1997, a stripped-bare roster lost 108 games. They claimed the crown again in 2003, but only four teams drew fewer fans the following season.

These Rays have all the earmarks of a group built to last, and it starts with their collection of young arms.

"We've got a five-man pitching staff, and the oldest pitcher, I think, is 26," Rays senior adviser Don Zimmer said. "And we've got young pitchers coming - a guy like Price and two or three other guys in the minor leagues."

"This organization has done some things right. I mean, you never know what's going to happen after this year, but there's enough youth here that they could go be in the playoffs next year, the year after. It's a young bunch of guys."

And deep. Whether it happens right out of the gate in April or later on, one member of the current rotation will cede his spot to Price in 2009. It will be either Jackson or Sonnanstine, who combined to win 27 games during the regular season. For perspective, consider that the entire Rays rotation managed just 45 wins in 2007, and now the Rays are in a position where one of those two reliable back-end starters likely will be traded or shifted into the bullpen to make room for the best prospect in the game.

It will be a tough decision, and more will follow when the next wave - Jeff Niemann, Wade Davis, Jake McGee, Mitch Talbot - forces its way to the Trop.

"Pitching-wise, it's incredible. It really is," Rays pitching coach Jim Hickey said. "If everything stayed exactly the same as it is right now, it would still be probably a two- or a three- or a four-year sustainable kind of opportunity, probably. It sure is a nice situation."

It's what the Rays envisioned when they began stockpiling talent in an effort to break free from their past. They knew they didn't have the resources to load up for a one-year dash at the title. For it to work, they would have to establish a broad base and hope the pieces solidified on similar timetables.

The payoff has come faster than anyone imagined, but the extended return everyone is hoping for was exactly what the Rays planned all along.

"It's a compliment to the team, to the organization - that's the way they built this," Garza said. "It's going to keep going. We think we've got an even stronger farm system, so it's going to be a lot of fun for years to come."

Reporter Marc Lancaster can be reached at (813) 259-7227.

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