Rays Spring Training Update, Day 15: Rays Fall to Yankees 4-3; Karns’ Change-up, Injury Update, Colome Returns

Nathan Karns continued his bid for the fifth starter spot with a three inning, 49 pitch outing, relinquishing two runs (one earned) on two hits and a walk. Karns told Marc Topkin (Tampa Bay Times) was pleased to go three innings and get in work on his change-up; a pitch he wants to improve. His change, though not wholly consistent, was effective enough to get Carlos Beltran to whiff. In an ideal world, the outcome of that at-bat will resonate with Karns as a growth moment.

Rays Spring Training Update, Day Seven; Cash Sets Rotation For the First Three Spring Games, Etc

Despite the wet fields following a night of heavy rain, the Rays were back at things Sunday for the second full-squad workout, and the second day of live batting practice. Bulleted highlights from the seventh day of camp follow

Rays Spring Training Update, Day Five; Josh Sale Released

Day five of Spring Training is in the books. Boog Powell arrived to camp Friday, so only RHP Alex Colome (delayed by visa) is missing ahead of Saturday’s whole team workout. Nothing truly newsworthy made the ranks of Twitter Friday afternoon, and what follows are a couple of loose ends that needed to be tied up.

Projecting the Rays 2015 Starting Rotation

I don’t put much credence into projections and predictions. With that said, projections can offer quite a bit of insight into a mathematically calculated outcome, whereas predictions are a wild stab in the dark by people who look at everything face value. Predictions rarely turn out correct (see the Rays predictions to go to the World Series last year) and projections, more often than not, warrant merit.

A Few Questions As Spring Training Opens; Sternberg On the State of the Stadium Saga

As the hours tick down from a very busy offseason to a Spring Training full of hope and optimism, there are a handful of questions that long to be answered over the course of the next 6-½ weeks. Marc Topkin wrote about three of those questions Thursday — How is the middle infield going to be set up, is Steven Souza ready, and can they make their pitch? — though I’d argue another question should be included: who will back up Rene Rivera behind the plate? In an attempt to answer these questions, I am going to piggyback Topkin’s thoughts and add some analysis of my own.