Tampa Bay Rays manager Joe Maddon has made a cottage industry of manufacturing yearly slogans the past few seasons. There was the mathematically impossible "9=8" in 2008, "09 > 08" the year after, and then "What's Important Now (WIN)" in 2010.
This year, Maddon is going with "Another Way." Which isn't bad, though it does make me think that the small-market Rays couldn't meet George Lucas' price for "There is Another" (as in a run for their third AL East title in four years).
"Regarding our plight this year, we have to do it in another way," Maddon said. "We have to get back to the playoffs this year, and it's probably going to require another way."
"We have to go about things differently than the teams we compete against in our division. We can't operate the same way they do, or we would absolutely finish behind them," [GM Andrew] Friedman said. "We have to do things differently, we have to approach things differently. I think we've won two of the last three American League East (titles) and we've never won a winter in that time period."
It's pretty clear that "Another Way" could be a permanent organizational slogan instead of just a motivation for 2011. Friedman's been dishing out the same quote ever since he came to St. Petersburg and it has resulted in a trip to the World Series in '08 and another division title in '10.
Then again, Maddon's interpretation of taking a different path is dead on. To this point, the Rays' M.O. has never been to collect old veterans like Johnny Damon and Manny Ramirez and hope they outperform their price point. If they're going to throw a wrench in the spokes of the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees, it's a route that must end up panning out.
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