How does a team that won 108 games in the regular season last year turn into a team that will be lucky to win 82 this year?
Let’s start with spring training, or lack thereof. When the manager announced that spring training would be shortened due to the amount of games the team played in 2018, I knew we were doomed.
Here we have a clubhouse full of players, most of whom are in their 20s and at the peak of their physical prowess, and the manager thinks that having 90 days off was not enough for them to recuperate. Please! A team that started 17-2 last year, started 6-13 this year. Go figure.
Starting pitchers hardly threw any innings in spring training. They were not ready for the season.
General Manager Dave Dombroski, the guy that made all the right additions last year, sat on his hands this year.
Manager Alex Cora won’t have to worry about turning down an invite to the White House this year. When is Kevin Cash’s contract up as manager of Tampa Bay?
Dayne Tracy
Southampton