Struggles of Key Area Early Have Rightfully Become Early Regret for Rays

As the Tampa Bay Rays get ready for a massive weekend series against the New York Yankees, the team has not performed up to expectations so far through the first four series of the year.

With 12 games in the books for the Rays and four series, the results haven't been great. While Tampa Bay was able to win their series on the road and finish with a respectable 4-5 record on the long nine-game trip, they then came home and dropped their series to the Chicago Cubs.

While there have been some positives, like the performances of some key offensive players and the starting rotation, one of the glaring issues for the team has been their defensive struggles and the production from the bullpen.

This winter, the team really didn’t do much to address the bullpen, and in fact, they declined the team option on their closer, Pete Fairbanks. While there figures to be enough talent in place, injuries have hit some of their expected high-leverage options, and others have struggled. Even though it is early, it appears that Tampa Bay might have overlooked the unit.

Tim Kelly of Bleacher Report recently wrote about the biggest regret for every team in the league. For the Rays, it was their decision not to add another high-leverage relief pitcher.

Tampa Bay Should Have Added More

Tampa Bay Rays president Erik Neander — Oct 7, 2021; St. Petersburg, Florida, USA; Tampa Bay Rays general manager Erik Neander before game one of the 2021 ALDS at Tropicana Field. | Kim Klement-Imagn Images

Based on how the unit has done so far for the team, Tampa Bay could certainly use another arm to help them in high-leverage situations. Currently, both Garrett Cleavinger and Edwin Uceta are on the injured list, taking two key arms out of the mix. Furthermore, the struggles of Griffin Jax and Kevin Kelly have been far from ideal.

Coming into the year, this unit was relying on Jax, especially to be better than his surface numbers were in 2025. The right-hander seemed like a pitcher primed for an improved year based on some of his underlying metrics, but that has not been the case so far.

Overall, this is a unit that has already cost them some games early in the season, and that is not ideal. While the American League East might not be living up to expectations just yet, this is still a very talented division.

Once Uceta and Cleavinger return from the injured list and the unit is whole, Tampa Bay will have a better idea of what the unit can truly be when they are healthy. However, as of now, not adding more help was certinaly a regret.