Memorable All-Stars in (Devil) Rays History: Rolando Arrojo (1998)

by Steve Slowinski on Jul 5, 2011 2:31 PM EDT

Over the next week, we'll be putting together a series of posts about past (Devil) Ray All-Stars. Considering the Rays have such a spotted history of All-Stars, it should hopefully be a somewhat humorous walk down memory lane. And afterward, we'll be introducing our next ticket giveaway!

Since I began following the Rays a few years into their history, I sadly missed the full glory of those multicolored uniforms. I also missed the Innaugural Season, the Hit Show, Crime Dog McGriff, and the sad disappointment of Ben Grieve. I'm disappointed about this; while I'm sure those years were painful to live through, for better or worse, they are the Rays' history. I used to be embarrassed of the Rays' history back when the franchise was bad, but winning has a way of turning even 10 straight seasons of suffering into nostalgic memories.

As I didn't fully experience the Rays' 1998 inaugural season, I've always been intrigued by Rolando Arrojo, the Devil Rays ace starter that season and first all-star. He was a rookie in 1998, and he also had the best season of his career, pitching 202 innings while striking out nearly seven batters per nine and posting a 3.56 ERA.

Arrojo fell apart after that season, so I'm always left wondering: where did he come from, and why did he have such a limited period of success?

In case you're as clueless as I was, Arrojo was a Cuban baseball player that defected from the Cuban National Team in 1996; the Devil Rays signed to a contract and had him play the 1997 season in the minors, and then called him up to start with the D-Rays in 1998. By the time he reached the majors, he was already 29 years old -- possibly older, considering Cuban players rarely can produce a birth certificate -- and he'd dominated Cuban baseball in the early '90s, leading the Cuban National Team to a gold medal in the '92 Olympics.

Not all Cuban players translate well to the majors, but Arrojo was a very respectable pitcher for the Devil Rays in 1998. His strikeout and walk rates suggested that he was more a mid-rotation starter than an ace (2.3 K/BB ratio, 4.23 FIP), but he looked like a legit ace for a long stretch in the beginning of the season:

Pre-All-Star Break: 120.2 IP, 96 K, 27 BB, 3.06 ERA
Post-All-Star Break: 81.1 IP, 56 K, 38 BB, 4.32 ERA

Arrojo could never quite recapture the success he had on first breaking into the majors; batters seemingly adjusted to his repertoire and Arrojo could never get his walk rate below 3 batters per nine again. He developed health issues in 1999 and was traded that following off-season to the Rockies, and he managed to linger around the majors for a few more seasons before exiting the game after the '02 season.

The Devil Rays' early years are filled with many, many "What if...?" moments, and I can't help but be slightly disappointed that Arrojo couldn't at least be a serviceable middle of the rotation starter for the Rays. But at the same time, it's pretty fitting that the Rays' very first all-star was only on the team for two seasons and was out of baseball before the D-Rays could get out of fifth place for the first time.

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Very true

As an inaugural fan, those first years were not as tough as the last few (01-04) w/ the old, HORRIBLE regime. Many factors for early acceptance of futility: fans had reasonable expectations, Namoli hadnt yet shown his true colors (total a$$clown) and there was a novelty factor that made the games enjoyable. Crime Dog should be remembered as the bright spot for this era, he will one day be inducted into the HOF (as the leading member of the non-steriod users), it will take awhile- but im confident his value and consistency will be recognized. And by god I hope he sports that lovely Drays multi colored uni!!

PS. had the pleasure of playing golf w/ Crime Dog a few months ago. His golf swing is as smooth as his baseball game.

by BossJuniorsLipper on Jul 5, 2011 2:49 PM EDT reply actions

Great player

by CoachBeckyWittenburg on Jul 5, 2011 3:02 PM EDT reply actions

A true All Star both on the field and in the church.

@RealNolenBailey

by Hatfield on Jul 6, 2011 3:30 PM EDT up reply actions

Matt White

This was one of the worst Rays signing ever if not the worst. Through some sort of quirk this kid became available for the Rays to sign. He was a high school pitcher who had been clocked at 100 mph while still in highschool. The Rays (Lamar/Namoli) paid this kid that had never even pitched at even the college level $10,000,000 signing bonus. He never ptiched a day in the majors and I do not thnk he ever even made it to AA ball. His pitches had velocity but no movement whatsoever.

by rayalan on Jul 5, 2011 3:29 PM EDT reply actions

don't forget Bobby Seay

I'm not a fanboy, I'm a _______

by Jason Collette on Jul 5, 2011 3:52 PM EDT up reply actions

speaking of Matt White

In 2003, White purchased 50 acres (200,000 m2) of mountain real estate in Cummington, Massachusetts from his aunt for $50,000, giving her the money she needed to enter a nursing home. His original intention was to build his home, but he found the land to be too hard. When he called a surveyor out to inspect the land, the surveyor found that the land was solid Goshen stone, a type of mica schist estimated to be about 400 million years old. Estimates have placed the low estimate of the find at 24 million tons. At current prices (he has been selling the stone for over $100/ton), it is estimated to be worth around $2.5 billion, sans extraction costs.

White has begun a small-scale extraction operation, Swift River Stone, and made $600,000 in 2006. He has expressed interest in selling the land, and believes he will get “several million dollars.”

When a story broke on most sports news outlets about him on February 28, 2007, some of his teammates in spring training started referring to him in the clubhouse as “Mr. Billionaire.”

In early 2009, White listed the 45± acre property with Boston-based real estate firm, LandVest, Inc., which specializes in the marketing of luxury residences, vacant land and resource-based properties, including timberland. The asking price for the property is available upon request. 2

I'm not a fanboy, I'm a _______

by Jason Collette on Jul 5, 2011 3:53 PM EDT up reply actions

Is that Matt White

the lefty pitcher who was an Indians draft pick?

by BudGHG on Jul 5, 2011 4:25 PM EDT reply actions

Meaning, of course, the Matt White

Mr. Collette is refering to.

by BudGHG on Jul 5, 2011 4:26 PM EDT up reply actions

No, Giants

Boom. Outta Here.

Hey Talbot,

Any idiot can win a ball game, by hurting the player on a team he’s pitching against.
To bad, that the American League has the D. H. rule, caus I’d love to see you and that spic, who hit Mark Teixeira in the back, come to the plate to hit.
I know, that the balls thrown at the Yankees best hitters, is done to put them out of action. However, it didn’t work. The Yankees still kicked ass.
Also, tell the interpretor for Fausto Carmona, to tell Carmona, to learn English.
A die hard Yankee fan!
Doris Festante

@RyanGilliss

by Ryan Gilliss on Jul 6, 2011 6:15 PM EDT up reply actions