An excerpt from Baseball Prospectus 2004:

The Tampa Bay Devil Ray organization is completely and totally dysfunctional. There is nothing of lasting value here. In nine years of existence, the Rays haven't even managed a cave painting for which they might somehow be noticed, much less remembered.

From the fractured and ineffectual ownership group through the incompetent front office, there is nothing of importance or interest in this organization. It is a complete and total wasteland.

Fans of the Devil Rays, if any ever existed or remain, will have to wait until Naimoli and the other partners divest themselves of the club, and an ownership group takes over that has some idea of how to build a club before there's even a possibility of future success on the diamond.

This may sound like an overly harsh assessment of the personnel working for the Devil Rays. But it's not personal...