I detailed things from Thursday’s unofficial Spring Training workout on our Tumblr site — you can also see that — and a bit more — below. Following that is a brief update on things in the here and now.*
February 19
While the official start date to Spring training doesn’t fall until Monday, February 23, 30 Rays — about half the spring roster — have been working out the last two days in Port Charlotte. Among those joining the workouts Thursday were Brad Boxberger, Drew Smyly, Burch Smith, Ernesto Frieri, Everette Teaford, Justin O’Conner, Luke Maile, Bobby Wilson, Steven Souza, Jake Elmore, Hak-Ju Lee, and Allan Dykstra. Overall, the Rays had 14 guys taking batting practice Thursday.
Manager Kevin Cash seemed genuinely excited by the turnout, noting the players enthusiasm, “It’s pretty cool to see.” Cash also was impressed with his first real look around the facility, which the team moved into after his tenure with the Devil Rays. Cash made a pair of one-game spring visits as a player, with the Yankees in 2009 and the Astros in 2010. “It’s awesome,” the Rays skipper said. “They did a great job designing it. … This is great.”
February 20
Alex Cobb, Daniel Robertson, Ryan Brett, and Mikie Mahtook are among the players who joined in the unofficial workouts in Port Charlotte, Friday. Some of the biggest news came out of the Kevin Cash/Matt Silverman pre-Spring Training press conference. Silverman said both Jake McGee and Matt Moore are on track with their rehabilitation schedule, suggesting a late April return for McGee and “June-ish” for Moore. McGee told Marc Topkin (Tampa Bay Times) that his rehab is going well, though he previously had some soreness when throwing from 90 feet. The soreness concerns have reportedly been alleviated.
We will hopefully be able to embed audio from the above mentioned presser shortly. Until then, here are a few tweets from the meeting, courtesy of Marc Topkin:
#Rays Cash and Silverman at pre-spring press conference pic.twitter.com/HUTD7m1PIC
— Marc Topkin (@TBTimes_Rays) February 20, 2015
#Rays Silverman says McGee and Moore on track with rehabs, suggests late April return for McGee and “June-ish” for Moore
— Marc Topkin (@TBTimes_Rays) February 20, 2015
#Rays Silverman says difficult to take snapshots to compare with 2014, but he is confident they have a team that can compete — Marc Topkin (@TBTimes_Rays) February 20, 2015
#Rays Silverman says they have a good feel for most of the roster in part because “we made a lot of decisions during the offseason”
— Marc Topkin (@TBTimes_Rays) February 20, 2015
Noteworthiness
- Major League Baseball made official pace of game rule changes, including replay challenges from the dugout, speeding up the amount of time spent between innings, and a rule where the batter’s foot would have to stay in the box between pitches. Managers now also retain challenge for each overturned call. A complete list of the changes can be found at the Hardball Times’ webpage.
- Three Rays made Baseball America’s Top 100 prospect list: OF Steven Souza at 37, SS Daniel Robertson 66, SS Willy Adames 84. It bears mentioning, the Rays top three prospects were all acquired in trades. Tampa bay is the only team to not have anyone they drafted/signed in the Top 100. Thanks a lot, Andrew Friedman.
- While the Rays may put in a bid on Cuban free agent Yoan Moncada, the price is expected to be well out of their range. To that end, per Marc Topkin, with the spring roster sitting at 63 players, it doesn’t sound like there will be any additions before camp opens Monday.
*Funny, here or now no longer applied the moment I hit the publish button. Oh, postmodernism…