Rays need someone in the bullpen to step up

It might seem like a small thing when Evan Longoria and B.J. Upton are banging baseballs over the wall for the Rays, as they did at Dunedin on Friday.

And it might not resonate, headline wise, like Minnesota losing relief ace Joe Nathan to season- and possibly career-ending Tommy John surgery.

But there's a really good chance we're making too little of the "weakness" in reliever J.P. Howell's left arm.

Is this the arm that launches a ghost ship?

Yes, the Rays have their closer now. That would be Rafael Soriano. But you have to get to the ninth, and Howell was just that kind of bridge, along with Dan Wheeler when Wheeler is right.

Soriano could be wasted without that bridge. And the bridge feels a little rickety right about now, and with it 2010.

I know the talk is that Howell won't be gone that long, but do we really know? The Rays are usually conservative in their estimates, so maybe it will be longer than a month. Maybe it will be a lot longer.

It's precisely the kind of hiccup this team doesn't need as it tries to re-engage with the Red Sox and Yankees. Not that the 2008 team didn't overcome a boatload of injuries, but ...

Rays manager Joe Maddon knows it's a real dilemma.

"J.P. was one of the best relievers in the American League last season," Maddon said.

A bit of an overstatement, but for a long stretch last season, Howell really was money for the Rays.

Plus there's the fact that one of the major benefits of getting Soriano was that it re-slated the bullpen, with Howell and Wheeler in setup roles.

Joe, being Joe, tried optimism.

"The thing I'm counting on is that, many times when you get an injury the rest of the group really pulls together, the muscle surrounding the tissue tightens up a little bit to make it strong again."

Yeah, only no one is muscling up.

Grant Balfour, a logical choice to step up, is foundering this spring. He looks like he did a lot of last season, a one-out rally waiting to happen.

Andy Sonnanstine, newly relegated to the bullpen, got knocked around for six runs in just three innings Friday, though four of the runs were unearned. The homer he gave up was for real.

There are like four guys in contention to fill Howell's roster spot, and none of them are lighting up the world. A few of their ERAs can be seen from space.

It's no secret that one of the reasons the Rays returned to Earth last season was that the bullpen took a step back from its positively astonishing 2008.

Howell took one of the smallest steps back, though, and was bedrock for a good part of the season.

But the whole time he was closing, we knew he wasn't a closer and he knew he wasn't a closer and the Rays knew he wasn't a closer.

"This guy is a closer," Howell said of Soriano earlier in spring training, "A closer."

I give the Rays credit for not sitting still, bullpen wise, after the pennant season. They realized pens are combustible items, with wild swings season to season.

Soriano seemed a good play.

But it's a better one with someone in front of him.

If no one steps up, the Rays will need to do some quick shopping.

The season approaches.

Worried yet?