No one expected the Tampa Bay Rays to resign Carl Crawford or Carlos Pena.
But when the Rays said goodbye to Rafael Soriano, Matt Garza, Jason Bartlett, Grant Balfour, Dan Wheeler and Joaquin Benoit, that just felt like overkill to a team that put a nice effort to knock off the Yankees and Red Sox and take the toughest division in the game two out of three times.
But this isn’t the end for the Rays. Their starting rotation is intact and their bullpen somewhat repaired. And the arrivals of Manny Ramirez and Johnny Damon proves that the Rays are out to win again or entertain trying.