The New What Next: Lineups, David Price, and the WBC

Ben Zobrist with Longo in the background

With the first games of Spring Training a mere hours away, the Rays have released their starting lineups for their Saturday split squad games against the Pirates and the Red Sox. You can see the lineups below.  For those of you that have been bursting at the seams for baseball, Let’s Go!

Rays lineup for Saturday’s home game against the Pirates:

Fuld CF
Escobar SS
Johnson 2B
Molina C
Scott DH
Loney 1B
Myers RF
Gimenez 3B
Thompson LF
Hernandez P

Rays lineup for Saturday’s road game against the Red Sox:

Zobrist RF
Jennings CF
Joyce LF
Cust DH
Roberts 2B
Rodriguez 3B
Duncan 1B
Lobaton C
Lee SS
Colome P

Noteworthiness

The Rays made a slight change in pitching plans for Saturday. Alex Colome will start against the Red Sox, and Enny Romero will pitch in relief at home.

Can’t make it to the Grapefruit League home opener, but still want to follow the action? Saturday afternoon’s game against the Pirates will be aired via all of the Rays broadcast stations.

David Price, again, raised a few eyebrows after saying he’d be hesitant to sign a long-term deal with the Yankees because of their facial hair policy. Price retracted his comments somewhat; noting that he wouldn’t rule out playing for New York at some point (Twitter links). Realizing his leverage will increase if the Yankees are interested, Price said he might not even have a beard by the time he hits free agency. All of this comes on the heels of news, of the potential inability for the Rays to ink a long-term deal with the Cy-Young Award winner.

Finally, Tampa Bay will send five players to the World Baseball Classic: LHP Alex Torres (Venezuela), INF/OF Ben Zo­brist (United States), RHP Fernando Rodney (Dominican Republic), LHP Cesar Ramos (Mexico) and C Jose Molina (Puerto Rico) from the major league camp. A pair of minor leaguers will also appear in the WBC, INF Leonardo Reginatto and INF Iago Januario, both are on the roster for Brazi. It bears mentioning, this is Brazil’s inaugural appearance at the WBC.

 

Of the First Games of Spring Training and David Price (Updated)

David Price in the foreground, Roberto Hernandez on the mound. (Photo courtesy of Marc Topkin/Tampa Bay Times)
David Price in the foreground, Roberto Hernandez on the mound. (Photo courtesy of Marc Topkin/Tampa Bay Times)

With Spring Training now in full gear, the Rays will see their first Grapefruit League action Saturday, taking on both the Pirates and the Red Sox in a pair of split-squad games. The Rays will not have an intraleauge game this week because of the split squad games. Slated to pitch against the Pirates are Roberto Hernandez and Jeff Niemann – two pitchers battling it out for the last spot on the rotation. Enny Romero will get the start against the Red Sox in Ft. Myers. Chris Archer, who’s also battling for a spot on the rotation, will get the start Sunday, with Alex Cobb and David Price following on Monday and Tuesday respectively.

Roberto Hernandez has apparently been impressive so far this spring, which could make the battle for the last spot on the rotation interesting. Rays skipper Joe Maddon was quoted as saying,

I love the quality of the seven or eight, whatever it’s going to be, I love the quality of the decision-making there. It’s going to be very difficult.

Hernandez is expected to stick as a long reliever, though a quality spring will make it very hard on Maddon to make a final decision. In all honesty, I think the final spot on the rotation is up for Niemann to lose. Chris Archer is ready, and hungry, for a spot, as are both Hernandez and Jake Odorizzi. A weak spring on Niemann’s part will, arguably, spell the pen for him.

In other news, according to an MLB Trade Rumors piece, David Price was quoted as saying that he “would love” to continue pitching for the Rays over the long-term, though the odds of the Rays retaining him over the long-term are nil at best. Price mentioned that he’s “not taking a discount” to sign long-term with the Rays, while also noting,

I don’t play this game for the money, but I don’t want to be under-appreciated. What I’ve done for this organization so far, I feel like I’ve helped this organization a great deal. So if they want to show me some appreciation, then fine.

Put it this way, I highly doubt that the Rays will be able to net enough money via the projected new revenue streams, and ticket sales, to keep Price here past the 2014 season. Many have speculated that this could be his last season with the Rays. Whatever the case, it’s all but certain that King Felix’s huge contract will have an impact on any contract talks between Price and the Rays, or any other team that may be looking to get their hands on the 2012 Cy Young Award winner. And though a long-term contract with Price may not surpass that of King Felix, whatever he may be seeking will likely be more than the Rays can dole out. In the words of a friend, “I’d say enjoy Price while he’s here and hope like hell the Rays can get some impact pieces in return for him before he hits free agency.”

Noteworthiness

If you missed our Links For Finks post, you missed the MLB 411 composite projections. You just may want to check that out.

Also, the Tampa Tribune published an article titled, Ybor City apartments pitched as Tampa Bay Rays stadium site in their February 21st issue. The author of the article asserts that the property in question, sandwiched between Ybor City and Downtown Tampa, addresess a number of issues the city has been dealing with for years in that neighborhood, such as blight and lack of economic growth.  However, as Noah Pransky noted in his latest piece,

But before you waste too much time giving the proposal any credibility, realize a few things:

1. Finding land isn’t the problem in the Stadium Saga, it’s finding money to build a stadium.  And of course, this proposal mentions nothing of a stadium funding source.

2. There are a dozen reasons why a stadium in blighted Ybor City doesn’t make sense.

3. Fixing blight is a big reason why the Trop sits where it does, and how is that working out for baseball fans?

In short, I wouldn’t hold my breath on this one. Then again, I reckon a trip to Ikea followed by an early evening game could be nice.

Links For Finks

It’s a fairly slow Rays news day – at least so far. That said, here are a few links to some mandatory reading. You will be tested on the subject matter, so no Cliff’s Notes for you skimmers!

Hot-Stove: Fan Fest 2013, Jack Cust, and A Few Other Loose Ends

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25,000 Rays fans (including the crack reporters from X-Rays Spex), 63 Rays players, nine coaches, Astro, 40 former major leaguers, and two MLB Network personalities attended the Rays annual Fan Fest at the Trop, Saturday, February 16th. We had a blast! One of us may have met the Rays VP Matt Silverman, while also sharing a little on camera time with Rays principal owner, Stu Sternberg.

We snapped a few photos which you can check out via the official X-Rays Spex Flickr account. We also filmed an interview with Rays starter Chris Archer and pitching coach Jim Hickey (see below). Want to share with the world a few of your photos or videos from Fan Fest? You can send them to: belowaverageraysfansite@gmail.com. We’ll do our darndest to put them on the site.

On to other news.

Is there a better way to usher in the first full day of workouts, than making one last Hot-Stove move? The Rays announced the signing 34 year-old LH/DH Jack Cust to a minor league contract. It’s assumed that Cust will play the back up DH role that Hideki Matsui excelled in (har har) last season.

Cust spent the majority of his career on the west coast playing for the Padres, Mariners, and Athletics. He also has experience in the AL East, playing in the Orioles, Yankees, and Blue Jays organizations. Cust owns a career .242 BA/.374 OBP/.439 SLG/.813 OPS slash line with a slight emphasis toward his natural split.

Cust was known for being a power hitter between 2007 and 2010 seasons, averaging 28 homers and 76 RBI with the Athletics. However that’s not to say he’s lost his stroke. Cust accumulated 20 homeruns for the Yankee’s AAA affiliate in 2012 before being released after 98 games.

Noteworthiness

We reported on the potential for Joel Peralta to not participate in the WBC on Friday. Rays beat writer Marc Topkin clarified things this morning, tweeting:

Topkin also tweeted:

We can only hope that Stu is a man of his word, and the Rays really do stay in the area (if not St. Pete). I’ll just say that sometimes the things left unsaid speak the loudest.

This Week in Rays Baseball: The Fan Fest Edition

This sure is a nice sight to see. (Courtesy of the Tampa Bay Times)
This sure is a nice sight to see. (Courtesy of the Tampa Bay Times)

Today we bring you a new segment titled, This Week in Rays Baseball. In this reoccurring segment, we’ll (attempt to) sum up the weekly happenings surrounding your Tampa Bay Rays. We’ll typically do as much on Sunday’s, though there’s no time like the present to kick the whole thing off. In the words of Rancid, “Let’s Go!”

Tuesday brought us some of the best news in months; The Rays pitchers and catchers (along with a few others) reported to Port Charlotte. We also got clarification/word on a few players in Joe Maddon and Andrew Friedman’s first presser from Port Charlotte.

First off, Joel Peralta had an, ahem, fairly active week. Peralta not only missed his first workout due to a sore neck incurred when he went to pick up sandwiches, but news broke that he might not pitch in the WBC as initially reported. We’d like to thank Yahoo News for their crack reporting on the sandwich/Camero related injury.  As for the WBC, Peralta will speak with Maddon and Friedman on the matter. It’s assumed that the Rays might be a bit concerned about the workload, and for good reason. Peralta has worked 65 inning plus in each of the last two seasons, and he’s getting a bit long in the tooth.

After receiving off-season surgery to correct his persistent hamstring issues, third baseman Evan Longoria expects to be ready to start the season on time. In addition, Roger Mooney of TBO tweeted, “Friedman said team will be a little more proactive in giving Longoria days off to save his legs.” Hey, if that keeps him healthy, I’m cool with it. The Rays do have depth to cover third base thanks to the recent acquisition of Mike Fontenot, as well as Sean Rodriguez.

We here at X-Rays Spex headquarters were pleased as peach to find out that Alex Cobb has the fourth starter in the rotation all but locked down. JoeMa was quoted as saying that Cobb is, “Pretty much ensconced” in the rotation with David Price, Matt Moore, and Jeremy Hellickson. The battle for the final spot in the rotation comes down to Roberto Hernandez, Jeff Niemann, and Chris Archer.

With BJ Upton out of the picture, Maddon noted that, Desmond Jennings will hit leadoff, but hasn’t decided on whether Longoria will hit third or fourth. He’s still sorting out rest of order. Though Jennings’ production was down last season, he has good contact ability, knows how to take a walk, and is fast; three qualities of a good lead-off man.

Next on the docket, we bid farewell to Elliot Johnson and Reid Brignac, both of whom were picked up by the Royals and Rockies respectively. Both players were DFA’d in order to make room for the Rays three recent re-signings and acquisitions. Johnson will make Kansas City home after becoming part of the Shields/Davis trade which gave us Wil Myers and Jake Odorizzi, among others. Brignac was traded to Colorado for cash considerations and a player to be named.

The much lauded uber prospect, Wil Myers, made his way to Port Charlotte this week. And though it’s very reasonable to assume that Myers will start the season in Triple-A (Joe Maddon has said as much), there’s still a level of excitement that came with his imminent arrival down south. Derek Shelton, the Rays primary hitting coach, was quoted as saying,

It’s impressive. And I think the thing that’s the most impressive is the bat speed … and the way the ball comes off his bat. You can see it not only when he’s hitting on the field, but even off a tee. You don’t see very many people that generate that much bat speed. First day, it’s exciting to see.

The good folks over at DRaysBay put together a piece on the release of a few notable projections; PECOTA, Zips, and Whelk’s Regressed Splits tool. What d’ya know? James Loney’s wOBA is projected to be over .299 vs LHP and RHP as per PECOTA and Zips. Ahem… perhaps they wouldn’t need to platoon first.

Lots of rumors surrounding the potential of a two-year contract extension between the Rays and Fernando Rodney have been swirling of late. And though the Rays tried to, again, squash those rumors this week, by mentioning that a deal isn’t in the works, the old adage where there’s smoke there’s fire may apply. Fernando had an impressive 2012, and one could imagine Rodney making a lot more than $2.5MM on the open market at the end of the season if he performs even half as well in 2013. Steve Kinesella of DRaysBay posed a question this week: Will happiness trump dollars for Fernando Rodney. He went on to note,

A big reason may very well be that the maximum dollar grab may be secondary to happiness. After all the last two seasons with the Tigers and his two years in Los Angeles were to say the least turbulent and last year with the Rays had to seem like a utopia of serenity in comparison.

You can read Kinsella’s piece in its entirety here.

Finally, Fan Fest, Fan Fest, Fan Fest! Don’t forget to make your way to the Trop tomorrow morning for Rays Fan Fest, the 2013 edition. It’s free, there’s free parking, and it’s fun. Click here for more information. We’re planning on taking lots of photos tomorrow, and we’ll post them shortly after Fan Fest. How nice would it be if a contention of Pinellas County citizens made their presence known tomorrow.