Despite the outcome of the Toronto Blue Jays 3-0 blanking of the Tampa Bay Rays, the team ended the week with a 9-8-1 Grapefruit League record after winning five of their last seven — averaging five runs per game over a seven game stretch. The Rays will take on the Pittsburgh Pirates Monday in Port Charlotte, ahead of their last off-day of the spring Tuesday.
It appears that manager Kevin Cash began to line up the starting rotation ahead of Opening Day, ultimately scheduling the presumed front three starters — Chris Archer, Jake Odorizzi and Nathan Karns — to pitch Saturday. Archer and Odorizzi are slated to pitch in a minor league game, while Karns will get the start against the Red Sox.
Cash told Bill Chastain (MLB.com) Archer, Odorizzi and Karns sat down with pitching coach Jim Hickey and chose the contest against the Red Sox this upcoming Saturday as one they would all appear in:
Basically, what I think happened was [pitching coach Jim Hickey] sat them all down and talked with them and they all came down with the same day they wanted to pitch. So we’re going to find a couple of games, innings for them, stuff like that. But nothing more than that. We’re trying to not disrupt that many people’s schedule. So we let them have their choice. We’ll figure it out as we go.
Archer is scheduled to pitch against the Pirates, Monday, which puts him on a trajectory to take the mound on April 6. Karns will make a brief appearance in a minor league game Tuesday, which make sense given that he’ll appear on short rest just four days later. Saturday is Odorizzi’s next scheduled day to pitch.
Everything goes into lining up the rotation now, Cash continued. We’re all trying to accommodate them as much as possible, because a lot of moving parts and stuff like that. I don’t think anything is set in stone. I think we just had this day where it all came together, and they all just selected, ‘This is the day we want to pitch.’
The Rays could announce the Opening Day starter as early as this week, while the assumption is that Cash will start the season with a four man rotation, which would work given the two off-days in the month of April.
We’ll have a really good sense for the first series, and then after the off-day, there will be some more decisions to be made, whether [the first three starters] come back on normal rest or they get the day. I’ve got a pretty good feeling we’ll bring them back on normal rest without the extra day off, just given where we’re at with innings and pitchers and stuff like that.
The New What Next
As I mentioned above, Chris Archer will get the start Monday afternoon against the Pirates. Also scheduled to take the bump are Kevin Jepsen, Ernesto Frieri, Brad Boxberger, and Grant Balfour.
Rays 3/23/15 Starting Lineup
DeJesus LF
Forsythe 2B
Cabrera SS
Longoria 3B
Francisco 1B
Souza RF
Franklin DH
Kiermaier CF
Casali C
Archer RHP
Noteworthiness
— Marc Topkin (Tampa Bay Times) broke the news early this morning, the Rays decided that Asdrubal Cabrera will be their everyday shortstop.
Per Topkin,
…based on how well Cabrera has played this month — and the fact that neither Tim Beckham nor Nick Franklin have shown they would play better — Rays officials have told Cabrera he will be the regular shortstop, the Tampa Bay Times has learned. An official announcement is expected as soon as today (Monday).
In a question/answer session with the media (heard below), manager Kevin Cash confirmed his intention to platoon Franklin and Logan Forsythe at second base, relegating Tim Beckham to bench depth. There hasn’t been any word on how Jake Elmore and Alexi Casilla may factor into things.
And while some statistics and advanced metrics suggest a decline in Cabrera’s range, leading many to believe the 29 year-old would start the year at second base, manager Kevin Cash hasn’t noticed anything to suggest he couldn’t anchor left side of the middle infield:
He has not done anything this spring to look like he’s lost range, Cash told Topkin. If I had to say, from spring training, this spring, I’ve had the benefit of seeing him his last two years in Cleveland, he looks better. … His body looks better. He’s moving really well.
He’s made a couple nice plays where he is moving, soft line drives, a couple plays up the middle, and then a backhand play (last week) where he kind of pulled (first baseman James) Loney off the bag, but still he showed his range.
The Rays beat writer brought up a good point: while Cabrera erred 57 times over the past four seasons at short, and though his defensive runs saved (DRS) average (per FanGraphs) have gone from +3 in 2011 to -5, -16 and -7 the past three seasons, he still projects to be a considerable improvement over Yunel Escobar, who posted a -24 DRS in 2014.
The biggest factor in giving Cabrera the starting shortstop position may very well be his ability to make routine plays, something Cash finds great value in:
Cabby, he catches the ball. We like all the guys we have, but we like the guy that is going to make the routine play. And not to say that anyone is not doing that. I think they’re all doing that. Cabby just has the experience factor in there with making that play.
In a nutshell, while Franklin and his counterparts may have been better suited to play short — statistically speaking, that is — none of them outplayed Cabrera over the last four weeks of Spring Training. And with six combined errors between Franklin and Beckham this spring, compounded by the fact the pitching staff is currently mired by injuries, Cash needed a player who gives the team confidence in “solidifying in-game decision making.”
— This:
#Rays Cobb (forearm tendinitis) says he is close to pain free, will see Dr. Eaton on Tuesday for scheduled checkup
— Marc Topkin (@TBTimes_Rays) March 23, 2015
and this:
#Rays Balfour set to pitch in first spring game today, confident he will be ready to start season — Marc Topkin (@TBTimes_Rays) March 23, 2015
— Per a tweet from Steve Kinsella, Pablo Sandoval might just be an Achilles heel for the Red Sox. I reckon the Rays should exploit Boston’s swarthy third baseman to the fullest:
From Carafado: Something to keep an eye on when #Rays play #RedSox – pic.twitter.com/qmR9jBxarm
— Steve Kinsella (@Steve_Kinsella1) March 22, 2015
— Yes, this happened.
A ballet pose is among many things #Rays @KKiermaier39 didn’t expect to be doing http://t.co/PzB6vHaUlN pic.twitter.com/oAnydApImN
— Marc Topkin (@TBTimes_Rays) March 22, 2015
Rays center fielder Kevin Kiermaier posed with ballerinas at the Straz Center for a photo shoot promoting arts education.