Rays: 16 Things to Look Forward To in 2016

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Oct 4, 2015; St. Petersburg, FL, USA; Tampa Bay Rays right fielder Steven Souza Jr. (20) and center fielder Kevin Kiermaier (39) sign autographs for fans before the game against the Toronto Blue Jays at Tropicana Field. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports /

The New Year will come and go today for the Rays and their fans as 2015 passes and 2016 begins. With this in mind, we look at 16 things to look forward to in 2016

The areas of strength for the Rays haven’t changed much over the last decade. The strength remains pitching, along with a middle-of-the-road offensive capability that allows the Rays to compete, but not dominate, in the A.L. East.

The Red Sox have made huge improvements in the form of David Price and Craig Kimbrel. The Yankees have added Aroldis Chapman and are set to become a little younger with Greg Bird spending time at 1B and Starlin Castro joining the team at 2B. And the Blue Jays may not have added top quality in terms of starting pitching, but they remain the most formidable offensive team in MLB and will test the best pitchers all season long.

The only team that has bled talent in the A.L. East at this point is the Orioles. They’ve yet to move on adding a bat and may be losing Chris Davis in Free Agency. They were able to retain Darren O’Day and added Mark Trumbo, but by all counts they are not in a position to improve on their 2015 season.

For the Rays, the improvements haven’t been flashy – aside from one major deal with the Mariners – but they may have been extremely effective. Some of these moves are included in our 16 things to look forward to in 2016, and we kick it off with the most obvious of all….

Next: Number One Thing to Look Forward to: Dominant SP