Carlos Pena failed to maintain his 2007 pace. Then again, who possibly could? We are talking about a season that saw him hit to a .282/.411/.627 line with 46 home runs and 121 RBI. He wasn’t coming from nothing–he had been reasonably productive in his four years with the Detroit Tigers from 2002 to 2005–but he had spent most of 2006 in the minors and came to the Devil Rays on a minor league deal. For his efforts in 2007, the Rays paid him a grand total of $800,000. Yet everything came together that year, and his drop-off from there was minor enough that he remained a key contributor as the newly-renamed Tampa Bay Rays made their run to the World Series in 2008.
Tampa Bay Rays Still Waiting for the Next Carlos Pena
