2011 Rays Fall Instructional

Just some pictures I took on a quick lunchtime visit, hope to get over there more this week...

Oscar

O'Connor

Brett & Baldelli

Lee

Vettleson with Dixon

Sale

Coach Evers still throws

The group

Coach Hoff has himself a cart.

Sliding Practice is an interesting exercise...(They share the pants!)

The 25 Man Roster Prediction

We are inside of two weeks now, and with the number of players being a bit more manangeable maybe it is time to take some shots at what the 25 man roster will look like April 1. Here's mine:

Pitchers:
David Price
James Shields
Wade Davis
Jeff Niemann
Jeremy Hellickson*

Andy Sonnanstine
Rob Delaney
Cory Wade*
Adam Russell
Kyle Farnsworth
Jake McGee
Joel Peralta
Juan Cruz

Catchers: John Jaso, Kelly Shoppach

Infielders:
Dan Johnson
Sean Rodriguez
Reid Brignac
Evan Longoria
Elliot Johnson

Outfielders:
Ben Zobrist
Matt Joyce
BJ Upton
Johnny Damon
Manny Ramirez
Sam Fuld

* Hellickson may start the season on the DL until the Rays need a fifth starter, in which case Delaney or Wade would be a temporary extra arm in the bullpen.

This would leave McGee as the only LHP in the bullpen, but IMO none of Cabarl, Ramos or Swindle has distinguished themselves as deserving. Cruz & Wade would have to be added to the 40 man roster, which would make some other interesting removals, possibly De La Rosa, Cabral, Ekstrom or even Lobaton.

The Rays Bullpen: If the Season Started Today...

Much has been made in the media & on message boards about the failings of the Rays to win early Spring Training games, and even to point at the bullpen as being a failure so far.  So I thought it would make sense to look at which pitchers would probably make up the Rays' bullpen if the season started today.

Late innings: 
Juan Cruz- Only has pitched a couple innings, but sure has been impressive coming back from injury.

Joel Peralta, Kyle Farnsworth- Have identical stats 2.0 IP each, having given up 0 runs and one hit with 3 K's and a BB.

Jake McGee- Has yet to give up an earned run and has worked out of potential big innings due to errors behind him.  Young with great potential.

Middle relief:
Cory Wade - gave up his first run today, helped by an error behind him.Has been very solid in his outings early in games vs major league hitters. Adam Russell has struggled, but tall guys may take some time to get the mechanics in sync.

LOOGY:
RJ Swindle has been better against RH than LH batters this Spring, The Cesar's, Cabral and Ramos are other possibles, but this is tough to judge since they are all pitching vs LH & RH batters.  Realistiically only one of these guys makes the opening day roster, if any.

Long reliever:
Andy Sonnanstine has not had a great start to this season, but has proven to have the flexibility to fill the poisiton and makes much more sense for the role. Wasting a young arm in this position with erratic usage would be quite a gamble.

It is also very possible that one or more among Rob Delaney, Mike Ekstrom, Brandon Gomes, Dirk Hayhurst, Matt Bush and Dane De La Rosa or Chris Bootcheck could improve after this first week and be better than those mentioned.  I am expecting Torres, Archer & Cobb to remain starters so pretty much out of the running for bullpen roles this year; and also expect that Baker & Bayliss are headed to minor league camp next week. And please don't forget that at some point JP Howell will be coming back.

There have been some leads lost in the late innings, but almost exclusively by guys who are relative longshots to be in the major leagues to start the season.  Nobody likes to lose, and the late losses are even more painful, but to say, or even hint, that the Rays' bullpen is currently inadequate is not a realisitc way to portray things.

RIP TBDudette

While at the Rays/Yankees game on Thursday I found out that a message board "friend," tbdudette (Donna), had passed away.  She was an avid Rays' fan, member of Maddon's Maniacs, and just an overall nice person.  She posted regularly at The Rays Republic, enjoyed going to the games, and was a fixture at the Rays' watch parties.  One of her most recent posts was about how she got to talk to Joe Maddon at the Thanksmas dinner at FanFest and found out that he was using a bike path in Long Beach that she had used while living out there.  And she was excited that she was going to be in the front row of  RF for Opening Day to get a closeup of Matt Joyce,,, She was a treat!

Donna, you will be missed.

Tues 3/1, Rays @ O's

New look for Ed Smith Stadium, these were taken by my firend Angie...

Spring Training Game 1: Pirates @ Port Charlotte

Beautiful sunny day for the opener, flags at half-mast and the Rays wearing St Pete Police Department hats in memory of the slain officers. 

There was a moment of silence before the anthem.

The green hats..

were a nice touch.

Johnny headed out for some late BP

Sorry Pirates fans, but these unis just do not look good..

even on McCutcheon. He would look good in blue!

Chirinos looked good at the plate, behind it was a little shaky.

Archer gets a little extra step on his delivery...

Scott was a busy man in the bullpen!

No bad views in Port Charlotte!

The view from CF is a stretch on my camera.

But the view from the OF is still a nice one.

Chris Carter has a nice swing and had a big hit today.

Nice win for the Rays in their opener, 9-5.

**After the jump are pictures from my iphone, the net causes problems for my auto-focus camera, but the picture quality with the phone is obviously much less. (I will work on that)

Full Squad: Situational Game From Port Charlotte

The Rays final practice day was playing some situational innings , mostly bunting & pickoffs with some hitting away.  It only went a couple innings and they were done for the day.

I really enjoy watching games here...

This is new.

Local boys

Reid has been solid this week.

Several squeeze plays and sacrifice bunts: Chirinos here..

and Beckham. 

Umpires need practice too.

I believe the East dugout won the game.

Booby has spent a great deal of time this week with the new guys.

To me this is a good sign.

The "real" Spring Training games start tomorrow in Pt Charotte vs the Pirates!