Tampa Bay Rays 2016 Season Preview

Evan Longoria has been with the Rays his entire career. He was drafted in the first round with the third overall pick in the 2006 MLB Draft.

Chris Ransom follow @DraftUtopia Posted on 3/9/2016.

Tampa Bay Rays Batting Lineup

NO.	Batter	POS.	BA	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB
1	Corey Dickerson	LF	.304	10	34	10	56	0
2	Steve Souza	RF	.225	16	40	46	144	12
3	Evan Longoria	3B	.270	21	73	51	132	3
4	Logan Morrison	DH	.225	17	54	47	81	8
5	Logan Forsythe	2B	.281	17	68	55	111	9
6	James Loney	1B	.280	4	32	23	34	2
7	Kevin Kiermaier	CF	.263	10	40	24	95	18
8	Tim Beckham	SS	.222	9	37	13	69	3
9	Hank Conger	C	.229	11	33	23	63	0

Tampa Bay Rays Batting Lineup Summary: Tampa Bay got Corey Dickerson as a lead off bat to compliment Evan Longoria. Still, the Rays need more bats in 2016. Tampa Bay has the same problem they had last two years.

Tampa Bay Rays Starting Rotation

NO.	Pitcher	IP	H	ERA	BB	SO	W	L
1	Alex Cobb	0	0	0.00	0	0	0	0
2	Chris Archer	212	175	3.23	66	152	12	13
3	Jake Odorizzi	169.1	149	3.35	46	150	9	9
4	Drew Smyly	66.2	58	3.11	20	77	5	2
5	Matt Moore	63	74	5.43	23	46	3	4

Tampa Bay Rays Starting Rotation Summary: Tampa Bay won't have Alex Cobb until June. The rest of these guys will be forced up a spot higher than they should be because of this. That makes Tampa Bay thin at pitcher as well as batter.

Tampa Bay Rays Bullpen

NO.	Pitcher	IP	H	ERA	BB	SO	W	L
LR	Erasmo Ramirez	163.1	145	3.75	40	126	11	6
LR	Ryan Webb	50.2	46	3.20	12	31	1	0
MR	Enny Romero	34.2	40	5.10	13	31	0	2
MR	Steve Geltz	67.1	45	6.74	26	61	2	6
MR	Xavier Cedeno	46	40	2.35	14	47	4	1
MR	Danny Farquhar	51	53	5.12	17	48	1	8
SU	Alex Colome	109.2	112	3.94	31	88	8	5
CL	Brad Boxberger	63	54	3.71	32	74	4	10

Tampa Bay Rays Bullpen Summary: Tampa Bay's bullpen in 2016 is weaker then their 2015 bullpen. I think that hurts the Rays chances of making the playoffs.

Prediction: The Tampa Bay Rays have a better rotation than the Boston Red Sox. The lack of bats and the shaky bullpen makes them the third best team in the AL East behind Boston and Toronto.