Rays camp report: Uncertain season rests on patchwork 'pen

PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. -- The vision in front of manager Joe Maddon is one of dreadlocks (Manny Ramirez) and Mohawks (Johnny Damon). But the book on his desk, The Bullpen Gospels, is more telling.
See, the book's author, Dirk Hayhurst, is in camp vying for a spot in a bullpen riddled with more holes than Al Capone's car. And when Maddon says Hayhurst will move past Pat Conroy as the manager's favorite author if he wins the Tampa Bay closer's job this spring, maybe he's not kidding.
Winners of two of the past three AL East division titles, the Rays will be in a hairy situation indeed if a remodeling job that would make Home Depot proud doesn't produce consistent outs from the seventh inning on.
Last year's pen led the AL with a 3.33 ERA. Then seven of the eight relievers with the most innings hit the free-agent market. Last thing the Rays heard were slamming suitcases and squealing tires.
"We have a lot of confidence in different components of our team," says general manager Andrew Friedman even after a 50 percent roster turnover from 2010. "We feel like offensively we're going to score runs. We're going to add value on the bases. We feel like we're a good defensive team. We think our starting rotation is going to be really good.
"Every year, the most difficult thing to predict with any confidence is your bullpen. And so this year's no different for us. We have less experience than we've had in the last couple of years, but from a talent standpoint it's fairly similar."
Except the leading candidate to close is veteran Kyle Farnsworth. Not that his ninth-inning resume is spotty, but the man has only 27 career saves ... and only one in the past five seasons.
Veteran Juan Cruz is here after missing nearly all of 2010 following May 12 shoulder surgery. Adam Russell came over from the Padres for shortstop Jason Bartlett. Joel Peralta, who has pitched for four teams over six seasons, has a chance to stick. So does Cory Wade, who hasn't been heard from since '09 (Dodgers). Homegrown rookie Jake McGee has the stuff and the makeup to come quickly.
Hayhurst? He has only 25 lifetime appearances with the Padres and Blue Jays (and zero saves). Then again, Keith Olbermann called his book (subtitled "Major League Dreams of a Minor League Veteran") "one of the best baseball books ever written." And Bob Costas checked in with "hilarious and poignant." So he's got that going for him.
None of this, on the surface, is as sexy as Damon, or as riveting as Manny (who bade farewell the other day by saying, "Put in a good word for me." To whom, and for what, I have no idea).
But even after Carl Crawford fled for that $142 million Red Sox contract, Carlos Pena zoomed off to the Cubs and starter Matt Garza was traded, Friedman insists there is as much talent in this camp as in any since he's been here.

Sleeper ... Ben Zobrist: Zobrist's performance last year prompted an "I told you so" from everyone who thought his 2009 season was a mirage -- and yeah, maybe it was too good to be true. But his 2010 was equally too bad to be true. He hit only .177 in the second half, which was clearly an anomaly for a player who hit .318 during his minor-league career. So what was his excuse? He had a sore back all year that no doubt affected his swing. With an offseason to recover and regroup, he should be able to continue his high-OPS ways, which actually began in 2008, well before anyone gave him any notice in Fantasy. Breakout ... Jeremy Hellickson: The Rays kind of took all the drama out of this pick by giving us a sneak peak at Hellickson last year. He posted a 2.05 ERA and 0.76 WHIP in four starts before Jeff Niemann and Wade Davis returned from injuries. His time in the bullpen is the only reason his ERA finished as high as it did. His walk rate of 2.0 per nine innings is almost inconceivable for a rookie and would have ranked him in the top 10 if he had enough innings to qualify. By keeping his pitch count low, he should be able to pitch six and seven innings consistently, avoiding some of the usual pitfalls for rookies. Hellickson will slip into the middle rounds just because he's a rookie, but he has ace written all over him. Sleeper ... Matt Joyce: Yeah, the Rays kind of messed up Joyce's golden opportunity by signing Johnny Damon and Manny Ramirez late in the offseason, but nobody really thinks they're going to meet the team's offensive needs, do they? In other words, Joyce is still getting his chance, and if his trial run last year is any indication, he's ready to take advantage. The guy is an OPS machine in the making. His walk rate is impressive, and he showed the power to hit 25-plus homers over a full season. The Rays have been waiting for this kind of performance from him since they acquired him for Edwin Jackson in 2008, so you can bet he's getting the nod at the lineup's first opening. -- Scott White

"We did lose a lot," Maddon says. "But, my goodness, we've got a lot here, too."
The pride and joy remains the young rotation of All-Star starter David Price, James Shields, Jeff Niemann, Wade Davis and rookie Jeremy Hellickson.
But without closer Rafael Soriano (signed with the Yankees), Grant Balfour (A's) and Joaquin Benoit (Tigers), it could unravel in a hurry.
It's why Friedman for months has been looking under sofa cushions and at bus shelters for relievers.
"Last year, before the season started, we knew the position we were going to be in at the end of the [2010] season," he said. "We started passively going through lists and going through target names.
"We actively scouted certain guys in the second half of the season, potential free-agent targets or potential trade targets. I think that's when it really picked up for us, in the second half of last year."
Now, the bodies are here (though Friedman said he would have liked to have added one more veteran reliever had price tags not skyrocketed over the winter). And if you're a reliever filling out resumes, Tampa Bay is where you want to be.
"I really believe most of my time [this spring] needs to be spent on knowing these bullpen candidates, having them understand what's expected of them, of us," Maddon says. "Because therein lies our success."
There's no telling where it will lead.
Then again, the Rays' culture has changed, and they've all been here before.
"Going into the 2008 [World Series] season, the thing that scared me the most was our bullpen," Friedman says. "And it was tremendous. It was the reason we had the success we did. In 2009, I felt pretty good about it and it was a reason why we won only 84 games.
"Last year when we broke camp, Soriano had made only six [spring] appearances, Joaquin Benoit's velocity wasn't back yet and Balfour was throwing 89 [mph]. We were scared to death of our bullpen. And we had the best bullpen in the AL.
"So I'm giving up riding the rollercoaster, or trying to predict. It's just a process. We take guys and we try and put together a seven-man bullpen that gives us diversified looks. And we run them out there and see where we're at.
"And if it's not working, then ideally we have the depth on hand to react."