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.