Former Astro Jake Elmore was signed by the Rays Monday. (Photo courtesy of Pat Sullivan/AP)
Former Astro Jake Elmore was signed by the Rays Monday. (Photo courtesy of Pat Sullivan/AP)

The Tampa Bay Rays added another player to their camp roster on Monday, inking a minor league deal with utility-man Jake Elmore, which also includes an invitation to Spring Training. Elmore was dropped from the 40-man roster last week by the Pirates, who claimed him off waivers from the Reds, who got him in August from the A’s, who got in him February 2014 from the White Sox.

Elmore posted a meager .221 BA with a .579 OPS in 87 games as a big leaguer for three different teams last season. However, he’s a career .313 hitter with a .407 on-base percentage in the minors and has experience all over the field defensively. He also has the distinction of pitching and catching in same game for the Astros in 2013, vs. Rangers.

The soon to be 28 year-old Elmore is described as a,

Little lad with a short swing and patient approach at the plate, leading to plenty of contact and walks. He won’t hit for much power, nor will he show top-end speed on the basepaths. What Elmore does offer is experience across the diamond; during the 2013 season he appeared at every position with the Astros, including pitcher and catcher, and he could conceivably spend time in the majors as a super-sub type.

Elmore will join Alexi Casilla in Spring Training, along with rostered players Tim Beckham, Logan Forsythe, Nick Franklin and Hak-Ju Lee — all of whom are competing for middle infield time along with Asdrubal Cabrera, who will play either second base or shortstop. With the addition of Elmore, the Rays have 63 players coming to camp.

Elmore was excited by the deal, tweeting:

and

Noteworthiness

In his Ranking the Teams series for ESPN.com, David Schoenfield ranked the Rays as the 19th best team in baseball — just ahead of the Miami Marlins and New York Yankees. Citing the major roster moves made by Matt Silverman this off-season*, Schoenfield predicts the Rays will end 2015 with a 79-83 record.

And though Schoenfield expects both Drew Smyly and Evan Longoria to perform well in 2015 (if only slightly better than 2014 in the case of Longo), he writes,

The Rays scored 88 fewer runs than in 2013 … and traded away their two players with the highest OBPs, Zobrist and Joyce. So … umm … that’s my message.

Following with,

I’ll be honest. I wanted to pick the Rays as my surprise team of 2015. Everyone is down on them after their first losing season since 2007. They’d won 90-plus games in five of the previous six seasons, traded David Price, lost Joe Maddon and their big addition on offense is a 26-year-old rookie outfielder (granted, Souza did have monster numbers in Triple-A). The reason I wanted to pick them is the rotation has huge, huge potential. We talked about Smyly. Alex Cobb is close to a No. 1 if he can pitch 200 innings. Chris Archer had a solid first full season and I love his arm. Jake Odorizzi had a 4.13 ERA as a rookie but showed potential with 174 K’s in 167 innings. Maybe they get Matt Moore back at some point. So the rotation could be terrific. In the end, though, I’m going with the more boring prediction. I may be wrong.

It should be noted, Schoenfield’s prediction is vastly different from the AL East leading projection by PECOTA.

Finally, Baseball America broke word of the pending order in the upcoming MLB draft, in June. The Tampa Bay Rays will have pick numbers 13, 52, and 86.

*He also mentioned they did not get a new ballpark. David Schoenfield, to you I ask a couple of simple questions:

  1. Could a new facility be built in the six months between the end of the 2014 season and the start of the 2015 season?
  2. Considering the Rays made it to the postseason four times in the last six years, how the lack of a new facility determine how well the Rays will play in 2015?

What a joke! Then again, what more should you expect from ESPN?

 

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