Should Rays’ first month be viewed as a bad start, or something worse?

CHICAGO — There’s an optimistic way to look at the Rays’ performance over the first month of the season: given all of the injuries they’ve had, splitting their first 26 games wasn’t half bad.

Start with the rehabbing players they knew they’d be missing at the start (Jeffrey Springs, Drew Rasmussen, Taylor Walls). Add the ones that got hurt during the spring or early in the season (Josh Lowe, Brandon Lowe, Taj Bradley, Jonathan Aranda). Mix in several stars getting off to slow starts (Randy Arozarena, Yandy Diaz).

From that view, being around .500 without so many key pieces should portend well for what’s to come when they field their full squad.

But there’s also a realistic way to assess things.

Which is say, this is who they are for now, and they haven’t done much of anything well enough, and certainly not consistently enough, to get you excited and confident about what’s to come even as key players get healthy and/or better.

Also of note, their first 20 games were against teams who went into the weekend at .500 or below. The last six were against the more formidable Yankees and Tigers (in which they went 2-4). And around two series vs. the majors-worst White Sox, they play the Brewers, Mets and Yankees, who all have played well.

Manager Kevin Cash sounds somewhere in the middle.

“I feel like we’ve just kind of hung on — and I’m confident we’re going to get going,” he said Wednesday. “We’d like to have gotten off to a better start. But it seems like all facets of our team are just not clicking right now.

“I feel like we’re competing well. But just competing alone doesn’t necessarily translate to wins. And that’s why it’s been a little bit of a struggle for us.”

Some consistency in performance, especially offensively, would definitely help.

“I think so — if you’re consistently good,” Cash said. “You don’t want to have consistent bad; that means you’re not very good. I’d like to see us start doing some things we’re capable of doing at a higher rate.”

Despite their poor play and a drop in their computer-generated playoff chances (from roughly 60% to 50, per fangraphs.com), the Rays have managed to remain within view of a sixth straight postseason berth.

With votes upcoming on their proposal for a new stadium, and principal owner Stuart Sternberg approving a franchise record $96,568,667 opening-day payroll, there may be even more at stake in playing better.

They’re going to need some of the injured players to come back and make an impact.

That starts now with Josh Lowe, then Aranda and eventually Brandon Lowe, as they restore some left-handed threats and depth to their lineup, which will change how other teams use their pitchers.

Getting Bradley back will add some velocity to the rotation and, presumably, shift lefty Tyler Alexander into a swing role in the bullpen.

The Rays are going to have to hope that Arozarena and Diaz — plus others, like Jose Siri, Harold Ramirez and Rene Pinto — start producing more offensively.

(Seems fair to say that having Jose Caballero rank second and Ben Rortvedt third on the team in baseball-reference.com WAR after the first month wasn’t the plan.)

The thought around the clubhouse seems to be that the Rays just need that one big offensive game, or a couple of good ones in a row, to get on a roll and get things straightened out.

Realistically, they do, as Zach Eflin said after Friday’s loss to the White Sox, have plenty of time. But they don’t have forever.

Industry respect

The Rays were a close second to the Andrew Friedman-led Dodgers in a ranking of the best front offices by The Athletic based on a survey of 40 MLB executives, with the Braves a distant third. Among the unattributed comments praising Erik Neander’s group, one voter called the Rays “the scariest team in the league to trade with.” Another said “they constantly acquire undervalued guys, they get the most out of their players and they make the tough decisions.”

Rays rumblings

The Rays are unveiling their long-awaited City Connect uniforms at a Monday late-morning event, with merchandise sales launching right afterward at the team store. They will wear the new threads during the weekend series vs. the Mets. … Centerfielder Jose Siri said dyeing his hair “platinum” was the first of several changes, with his walkup song likely next as he tries to get on a better roll: “I like changing some things in my life. … A new look, some good energy and see what happens.” … There has been some spirited soccer-watching in the clubhouse, with Caballero rooting for FC Barcelona and Arozarena for Real Madrid. … Lefty Brendan McKay, continuing his quest to return to the majors for the first time since 2019, is off to a good start at Double-A Montgomery under cautious handing. In 13 innings over four starts, he has allowed one unearned run, seven hits and one walk while striking out 13. … Jimmy O’Brien, on his Jomboy Talkin’ Baseball podcast, did a big takedown of the Rays, saying “no one cares about the Rays anymore,” they are “incredibly sloppy,” and they “look like a bunch of people that don’t know each other and haven’t been coached and are just hanging out at a sandlot.” He said he hopes they stay in last place forever and “I think they ruined baseball.” After being questioned, he backed off a bit, saying “they’re going to be really good ... and be in contention.” … Tyler Glasnow is off to a great start with the Dodgers, 4-1, 2.92 with 44 strikeouts in 37 innings. Analyst Xavier Scruggs said on MLB Network Glasnow is the best addition (not named Shohei Ohtani) made by any team, more so than the Yankees’ trade for Juan Soto. … Condolences to the family of Dave McCarty, a (brief) member of the 2002 Devil Rays, who died last week at age 54. … Durant High right-hander Chase Mobley was No. 75 on mlb.com’s most recent draft board rankings. ... The Albert Suarez pitching for the Orioles after a six-plus-year gap from his last big-league outing is the same one who signed with the Rays in 2006 as a 16-year-old and pitched in their system through 2014, never getting past Double A. He made it to the majors with the Giants in 2016-17, then went to Japan and Korea.

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