The Tampa Bay Rays are still the story of the 2008 Major League Baseball season, but their young, raw hitters are having a devil of a time in the week before the All-Star break. During their current losing streak, which reached seven after Sunday’s 5-2 loss in Cleveland and caused them to fall out of first place, the Rays have managed only 13 runs. This comes after a streak in which they won 11 of 12 games, swept the Marlins and Red Sox and scored 82 runs. 

Lengthy droughts are often enigmatic to young, supremely talented hitters like Evan Longoria and B.J. Upton, but probably not to Joe Maddon. The 54-year-old manager of the Rays has not only watched his team win a total of 127 games in the previous two seasons, but also opposing pitchers develop more precise and effective game plans when they started winning. Read more »

Twins GM Bill Smith knew he wasn’t going to be able to sign Torii Hunter this past offseason. The Twins invested in their young talent, All-Stars Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau, and they wouldn’t be able to compete with the $100 million-plus offers Hunter was going to receive and eventually took from the Angels. But Smith still had to find a way to replace Hunter’s 30-homer, 100-RBI production. So he traded Matt Garza and Jason Bartlett to the Rays for 22-year-old Delmon Young.

Young is a five-tool player with MVP-type talent. After a respectable rookie season in which he hit .288 with 13 home runs and 93 RBIs, Young scuffled through the first few months of the season. He didn’t go deep until June 7, and all of his roto numbers except steals were lagging as well. Read more »