54 of the 63 players on the Rays spring roster reported to camp in Port Charlotte on this, the first official day of Spring Training. Of those players, all of the pitchers who were expected report did with the exceptions of Ronald Beliasario and Alex Colome, who were delayed by visa issues.
Marc Topkin reported in an entry for the Heater blog, that there has been a lot of talk in the clubhouse about the potential of the overall pitching staff, and how much of a chance that gives the Rays. You may recall, PECOTA projected the Rays to be one of the top teams in baseball as it relates to pitching. On that very subject, Chris Archer chimed in,
I’m biased but I think … in comparison nobody’s better than us. That’s our strength. There may be some other teams with one that’s better guy than one guy. But collectively I think we’re better than anybody in the league.
Monday morning’s meeting and workout was a chance to close the book on the Joe Maddon/Andrew Friedman era. One noticeable difference, Cash held the pre-workout meeting in the clubhouse rather than on the field in full fiew of fans and media. And while many will continue to compare and contrast the new regime o the one previous, the opportunity to put everything behind them was palpable with more than a few Rays.
The questions about Kevin Cash and the new outlook for our team are getting a little old because this happened like three months ago and it’s time to start the season, Chris Archer said. Everybody knows there’s question marks. I’m ready to stop talking about it and show people. I don’t mind the questions but I’m ready to show people.
Archer continued,
He’s in a Cubs uniform (Maddon), I’m not thinking about him anymore as far as like a manager. As a person, it would be cool to catch up with him if I get a chance. But I’m not thinking about anything in the past, I’m thinking about the present moment.
Yesterday I wrote about what the middle infield might look like in 2015. Today Asdrubal Cabrera took ground balls at both second base and shortstop, and the Rays will have to decide which spot is best.
Asdrubal Cabrera working out with #Rayspic.twitter.com/ocd8yVMuir
— Marc Topkin (@TBTimes_Rays) February 23, 2015
Cabrera said he’d be open to playing either second or short for the Rays, however he would prefer one spot rather than botching between both. “Cash said they will be flexible early in the spring as they have a number of guys to look at but would hope to make a decision sooner or later,” writes Marc Topkin.
Former closer Grant Balfour was the only pitcher who did not throw his scheduled bullpen session. Balfour reportedly feels fine, and the plan — counting back from opening day — is to limit him to 8-9 Spring Training games as a matter of conserving strength. While he may be a week behind the others, Balfour has been throwing regularly at the Trop.
Finally, Topkin offered a video report from Monday’s first official workout (produced by Will Vragovic).
Note: We’ll update this piece if anything else comes out of Port Charlotte.
Noteworthiness
- Early this morning, Boston landed international infield prospect Yoan Moncada, signing the Cuban born ball player to a record $31.5M bonus, on which the Red Sox will pay a 100% penalty. That bonus does not include the salary to be made by Moncada. Rays LHP Drew Smyly took exception with that amount of money being thrown at a Top-10 in MLB prospect, tweeting,
It’s not right that a Cuban 19yr old gets paid 30m and the best 19yr old in the entire USA gets prob 1/6th of … http://t.co/7aAZCwgm2t
— Drew Smyly (@SmylyD) February 23, 2015