THE GOOD: The Rays did not lose their 12th game.

THE BAD: The Rays are still in last place in the AL East.

THE TELLING: The Rays will still be in last place tomorrow.

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• A programming note: The Rays Index Live Blog-A-Baloo will be held tonight at the RAYSHEADS Facebook Group page. [RAYSHEADS Facebook Group]
• Another programming note: We are now running the “Down on the Farm” feature as the first post each day. Call it our calisthenics. So if you missed it, just scroll down a little farther.
• The Rays will be hosting the Jays for the next three days just outside of Orlando at Disney’s Champion Field. The Rays say that the Orlando area is beginning to embrace the Rays. [St. Pete Times]
• The Rays are expected to activate Dioner Navarro in time for tonight’s game with Mike DiFelice being DFA’d to make room. [Rays Report]
• You might be a redneck Rays fan if… [Her Rays]
• Marc Lancaster caught up with Juan Salas who had his first bullpen session yesterday and is at least a week away from seeing live action. [Rays Report]
• Beyond the Boxscore notes that Andy Sonnanstine is not using his fastball nearly as often as he did last year, while he is throwing more cutters and curve balls. [Beyond the Boxscore]
• Elliot Johnson’s home town paper talks to the rookie about his first month in the big leagues. [Eastern Arizona Courier]
• Sabernomics takes a look at the Economics of the Evan Longoria extension. [Sabernomics]
• DRays Bay makes a case for Jason Hammel to keep his spot once Scott Kazmir returns from the DL. [DRays Bay]

THE GOOD: Eric Hinske hit his 4th home run and is red hot. That is a home run in back-to-back games and 3 in the past week, of which he has started 6 games. Since April 9, he is 9-24 (.375) with 3 home runs and 5 RBI…We would be remiss if we did not point out the great stop and throw made by Jason Bartlett for the 2nd out in the 3rd. With a runner on first and 1 out, Bartlett ranged to his right to grab a ground ball in the hole, spun 180 degrees and fired to Akinori Iwamura at second base for the force…The bullpen continues to shine. JP Howell picked up his first career save, of the 3-inning variety. He did not allow a run and gave up only 2 hits, no walks. The bullpen now has an ERA of 3.08, which is a little better than the 6.20 ERA posted in 2007…We don’t want to go crazy about Jason Hammel’s performance, 6 hits, 2 walks, 3 runs in 6 innings, but he has given the Rays exactly what any team needs from a 5th starter. He goes out and gives the Rays 6+ inning, and gives the team a chance to win.

THE BAD: Carlos Pena left the game in the 4th inning with “hamstring tightness”. He is listed as day-to-day…In the 4th inning, with the Rays up 3-1 and with Justin Morneau on second base after a lead off double, Delmon Young came to the plate. Why would anybody ever throw Young a first-pitch strike? There is ZERO reason. Hammel throws a pitch down, but in the zone and Young ropes it for an RBI single. Not smart…Will the baserunning brainfarts ever end? With 2 outs in the 6th, Carl Crawford was picked off first base.

THE TELLING:The Rays are now 1-2 in games started by Hammel, meaning that the Rays have lost at most 2 wins so far due to the injury of Scott Kazmir, but more likely only 1 win…Evan Longoria is not about to sell out on any pitches. With 2 strikes in the 5th inning, he nearly spun himself into the ground with a huge swing. He struck out…Jonny Gomes started for the 3rd straight game and the 2nd straight against a right handed pitcher, going 1-4 with a double and RBI…Mike DiFelice got his 3rd start in 5 games, and we have to wonder if he stays once Dioner Navarro comes off the DL and it is Shawn Riggans that is sent to Durham…The Yankees play in Baltimore this weekend and we have no idea who to root for? It depends on whether you are rooting for the Rays to finish 4th or if you think there is still a chance for the Rays to make a run for the playoffs…San Diego and Colorado did not score a single run for the first 14 innings last night. Considering the Rays offense, the offenses of the rest of the AL East and the still shaky nature of the Rays pitching staff, what is the over/under on most innings the Rays will go this year in a game with a scoreless tie? We say 6.

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• Another power ranking with the Rays in the top 10? Hell is a little colder today. [Bugs & Cranks]
• Jayson Stark takes a look at some early season performances and tries to determine which are real and which are not. Edwin Jackson comes in a third category “Hung Jury”. [ESPN]

“…while he had more “for real” votes than “not for real,” he even makes his supporters nervous. One scout praised his improved take-a-little-off-to-get-strike-one approach, quipping: “He’s like a NASCAR driver working the gas pedal. When he goes into the corners, he slows up. When he gets into a straightaway, he lets it loose.” But another spoke for just about everyone when he said: “I’d lean more toward ‘for real’ than not. But even when he’s good, your instinct is not to believe it because you’ve seen too much of the other way.”

• Juan Salas has finally arrived. It is like the Beatles landing in the U.S. for the first time. WooHoo! Salas was placed on the 30-day restricted list, in essence giving the Rays 30 days before they have to decide what to do with him. [MLB]
• If you are curious, Marc Lancaster explains why the Rays just played back-to-back 2-game series. [Tampa Tribune]
• In a move about as surprising as a Shawn Camp implosion, St. Petersburg’s Council of Neighborhood Associations voted against the Rays proposed waterfront stadium, 19-3…The council cited reasons such as “will block view of the bay”, “fear of crowds”, “fear of change”, “onorariness”, “worried other people will want to live in downtown St. Pete” and “a love of being pains in the ass”…OK, maybe they didn’t give those reasons, but those are the real reasons. [Bay News 9]

THE GOOD: Jonny Gomes and Justin Ruggiano started against the lefty and went a combined 3-6 with a walk and an RBI…Last night during the Live Blog-A-Baloo we introduced a new nickname. McGlovin. For Gary Glover. He really is faking the whole major league pitcher thing (For those unfamiliar with the reference, google ‘McLovin’).

THE BAD: We don’t know what to call Edwin Jackson’s performance. If he had pitched like that in ’07 against the Yankees, we might have actually been impressed, but this was a little dissapointing for the ’08 Jackson. At least when he isn’t on top of his game against a good team he didn’t embarras himself or the team. He very easily could have given up 9 runs…However, the pitching staff as a whole which was walking less than 3 batters per 9 innings entering last night’s game, walked 9, including 5 from the bullpen in only 4 innings…Twice early in the game the Rays had a runner on third base with 1 out and failed to score…

THE TELLING: Getting swept, even if it is just a 2-game series. The Rays need to be winning series and right now they are letting opportunities slip away…Joe Maddon wanted to give Aki Iwamura the night off. He had Elliot Johnson start at second. That’s fine. But he replaced Aki with Jason Bartlett at the top of the order. Bartlett who entered the game with an OBP below .200. He did go 2-5 and drive in a run, but Bartlett at the top of the order is not something we want to see very often. We know Carl Crawford doesn’t like leading off and we know Maddon likes stability in the order, but would it kill CC to lead off 4-5 times a year when Aki is given a night off?…Mike DiFelice is hitting .429 and the staff has a better ERA with him behind the plate.With Dioner Navarro returning soon, might Shawn Riggans be on the way out to make room for the veteran catcher the team always said they wanted?

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• Matt Garza had his first bullpen session since going on the DL. He said he threw pain-free after he was diagnosed by the team doctor’s and given a cortisone shot. Garza says he feels good enough to come off the DL the first day he is eligible, April 24. [MLB]
• Here is one issue that we have with Fantasy Baseball…You websites that run stories titled “Who Is Better: Evan Longoria Or Kevin Youkilis”. Would this ever be a question in real life? [Fake Teams]
• A preview of things to come? Andy Sonnanstine will be available for relief duty tonight rather throw his usual between-starts throwing. The Rays say it is because the bullpen has been overused recently…Mike DiFelice is not only hitting well, but the pitching staff has a better ERA with him behind the plate (3.25) as compared to Dioner Navarro (5.21) and Shawn Riggans (4.50)…Juan Salas is expected to return to the US today. [St. Pete Times]
• Dioner Navarro will play in extended spring training games today and tomorrow and then will catch Scott Kazmir’s rehab start at Vero Beach on Friday. [Tampa Tribune]
• Sean Deveney of The Sporting News says that it is only one start but Jeff Niemann’s performance was a glimpse into the future of the Tampa Bay Rays. Niemann is the first of several top pitching prospects that will eventually make their way to the Rays. [Sporting News]

No one is confusing the Orioles with the 1927 Yankees. But Niemann is 25, making his debut. The fact that he — and catcher Mike DiFelice — had confidence in his entire repertoire says a lot about where this guy’s stuff is. He wasn’t just using the breaking ball when he was ahead. He was throwing it when he was behind or even in the count.

• Fanhouse says a Yankees-Rays rivalry is good for baseball. [Fanhouse]
• DRays Bay continues their profiles of the candidates for the top pick in the June draft. Up next is Aaron Chow. [DRays Bay]
• Outs Per Swing has moved shop over to the MVN Network, replacing the previous Rays blog. We had forgotten there was a Rays blog on MVN. [Outs Per Swing]
• Sports Indeed is clearly depressed over the loss of Rays Anatomy…Nahhh! We’re BS’n you. Sports Indeed threw a party. [Sports Indeed]
• Home Run Derby notes that Carlos Pena may be leading MLB in home runs but he is not hitting anything else. [Home Run Derby]
• Evan Longoria recounts his first major league home run. [MLB]
• Sticks of Fire noticed some peculiarities in the treatment of governor Charlie Crist and Mike Alstott on opening day. [Sticks of Fire]

THE GOOD: We could mention that Aki Iwamura broke out of his mini-slump by getting on base 4 times, or we could mention the diving catch by Carl Crawford or the 3 RBI from 2 lucky off-the-end-of-the-bat hits by Mike DiFelice, or the home run from Eric Hinske that gave the Rays the lead and seemed to ignite the offense…But none of that mattered. “The Good” begins and ends with Edwin Jackson who was just as dominating as his 4-hit shutout in the second half last year. Jackson pitched 8 shutout innings allowing only 2 hits (both singles) and 4 walks. He struck out 6. His performance was a much needed (non-HGH) shot in the buttocks for a pitching staff that is now missing 2 of it’s top 3 starters…By the way, another “Good” is the Orioles were swept yesterday in their double-header and probably did not get into the Tampa area until 3-4am.

THE BAD: We can feel ourselves getting our hopes up about Edwin Jackson. Nobody expects him to pitch this well everytime out, but if Jackson can suddenly develop into a pitcher that gives his team a chance to win most of his starts, the Rays pitching staff will indeed be formidable once everybody is healthy.

THE TELLING: The name on the back of the jersey still said “Jackson”. The number on the back was still “36″.

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• Not exactly the DL, but we thinks Al Reyes might miss a couple of games after being tasered and friggin’ arrested early this morning…IDIOT! *banging head on desk*. The damn bullpen is the one thing that has been steady and consistent early on this year…Reyes got his ass really stupid drunk and got himself punched in the nose. He then started spitting blood and swinging his arms and basically acting like a friggin’ lunatic…If we were to put the 25-man roster and coaching staff in order of chances of something like this happening, Al Idiot Reyes would have been near the bottom. Geez! He is like 86 years old! [My Fox Tampa Bay]
• The Stumblng Tumblr mocks the “confidence” of Rays fans…We just think it is cute that The Stumblng Tumblr won’t let his inability to spell to keep him from writing. [The Stumblng Stumblr]
• Martin Fenelly writes that Edwin Jackson’s is finally living up to his potential and his early season performances are giving fans and the team hope when it easily could have been lost by all the injuries. [Tampa Tribune]
• We still are amazed that somebody from The St. Pete Times actually “live blogs” the public debates about the Rays proposed stadium. You can either read our interpretation, or you can follow the link for a play-by-play. [St. Pete Times]
• Willy Aybar sat out yesterday’s game with the same sore hamstrings that have plagued him since spring training…Also, Scott Kazmir will throw another batting practice session today. [The Heater]
• Carl Crawford is already closing in on 1,000 hits and Joe Maddon says that C.C. will only get better. [MLB]

“Probably except a few more walks, he’d hit for a higher average,” Maddon said. “Something I used to discuss with Garret Anderson all the time … when you have that many at-bats in the season it’s hard to hit for the highest average you’re capable of doing without taking your walks. If he learns to walk a little more and keeps doing what he’s been doing, he’s going to continue to increase his batting average and run production.”

• Nothing new on Juan Salas, but Bill Chastain notes that another player in the same situation as Salas had his visa issues resoved. It could be a sign that Salas will be returning to the States soon. [MLB]

Tampa Bay Devil Dogs (36 days until opening day)

DRG here again to get you through the weekend…

Rays Anatomy interviewed David Price. It is a solid interview with good questions.

However…And this is not a jab at RA because we have seen plenty of other Q&As with Price…but when the hell is somebody going to ask him if the team is going to give him a start in Spring Training? This is the single most pressing and important question.

Has this question been asked and we have just missed it? I have asked three people and nobody remembers having seen this question asked by anybody, including the Rays beat reporters or columnists.

If the Rays even think it is possible that Price will pitch for the Rays in 2008 then they will want to see him pitch against major league batters in the Spring. And not just a few cursory batters in the 8th inning of a Spring game in which the batters are all wearing numbers north of 70. If Andrew Friedman and Joe Maddon think Price is close to being ready they will want him to start at least one Spring game and throw him to the wolves, and see how he handles the pressure. If there are no intentions to have Price in the majors in 2008 then he will most likely be reassigned to minor league camp very early.

Maybe Price won’t answer the question. But I would love it if somebody would at least ask. And I don’t want anybody to tell me that this decision has yet to be made. This has been discussed.

Rays Anatomy And The MLB Source Interview David Price [Rays Anatomy]

DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…

• Delmon Young is keeping quiet after the challenge from Carl Crawford. Certainly Twins brass strongly suggested he do so. And certainly, it is killing Young to not be able to say something. It must be eating him alive and I think that is funny. [Tampa Tribune]
• Three players (Willy Aybar, Joel Guzman and Juan Salas) remain stuck in the Dominican Republic without Visas. Joe Maddon spoke to the issue and said that Salas is the one that stands to be hurt the most by his absence as he is fighting for the last spot in the bullpen. [St. Pete Times]

“The longer Salas is out,” Maddon said, “the more difficult it’s going to be for him.”

• Willy Aybar and Joel Guzman are expected in camp on Wednesday. Juan Salas is not. It is believed that his Visa issues are due to his drug suspension last year. [Tampa Tribune]
  
• Edwin Jackson will pitch the Grapefruit League opener on Friday. He will be followed by Scott Kazmir on Saturday and James Shields on Sunday. Kid K’s start on Saturday would have him on pace to start the season opener in Baltimore. [The Heater]
• Joe Maddon said that the decision to start Edwin Jackson has no bearing on who will make the rotation in the final two spots of the rotation. [Tampa Tribune]
• Dioner Navarro didn’t exactly change his diet. He still loves himself some fried chicken. However, he did change when he eats it (not as late at night), and apparently he looks slimmer this Spring. [Tampa Bay Rays]
• The Bradenton Herald takes a look at the other player in the Delmon Young-Matt Garza swap…Jason Bartlett. [Bradenton Herald]
• Matt Garza almost quit baseball in college. [Tampa Tribune]
• Am I the only one that is confused by this? Just askin’. [DRays Bay]

Tampa Bay Rays (38 days until Opening Day)
These links are starting to get out of hand. Is it just us or does it seem like the amount of Rays coverage has gone through the roof this Spring? We may have to make an executive decision to break up “The Hangover” into two posts. One in the morning and then one in the afternoon. We’ll see….

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• David Price faced major league batters for the first time yesterday during batting practice. [St. Pete Times]

Price’s command wasn’t perfect, but his form – and his fastball, slider and changeup – was good enough to earn plaudits from Rays brass, which suddenly flocked from all corners of the Naimoli complex to gather on Field 2 as the tall left-hander took the mound and claimed he didn’t notice the crowd.

“Perfectly fine,” pitching coach Jim Hickey said. “Very impressive.”

“He throws like (Francisco) Liriano up there,” Bartlett said. “Obviously he doesn’t have the changeup Liriano has just yet and the kid’s young, but they’ve probably got Liriano in the future. The guy has to work hard and he’ll be up there for a long time.”

• Troy Percival has taken well to his new role of team leader, spending time everyday talking baseball with all his teamates. [Herald-Tribune]

With coffee cup in hand, Percival goes from table to table. It doesn’t matter if it’s a group of veterans or a bunch of non-roster players who have little to no chance of making the major-league team, Percival stops to chat.

“We talked about the cutter,” said left-handed pitcher James Houser, a Sarasota High graduate. “The other day it was about the curveball. With me, it’s been all about baseball.”

“That’s the guy you ask,” Rays ace Scott Kazmir said. “Any question. I can’t think of anything you wouldn’t want to ask him.”

• Willy Aybar, Joel Guzman and Juan Salas all remain in the Dominican Republic unable to obtain visas to come to Spring Training. The Rays have asked for assistance from Major League Baseball but are unsure when the situation may be resolved. [Tampa Tribune]
• Many of the Rays players and coaches are getting to know Matt Garza the pitcher for the first time. And Garza appears to be maturing as a pitcher, finally realizing that he does not need to strike out every batter. Something we can only hope that Scott Kazmir learns sooner, rather than later. [Bradenton Herald]

“I was a strikeout pitcher. I was always trying to strike out the side, which wasn’t necessary because we had a good defense,” Garza said. “But if I pitched to contact, I could pitch six or seven innings. I did that until I got up there, and I changed a little bit. I changed back to a strikeout pitcher.”

• Last year BJ Upton spent much of Spring Training having to learn several new positions. This year, Upton is able to concentrate on one position and his hitting. [Tampa Tribune]

“It’s definitely night and day from last spring,” Upton said. “Back then, I wondered where I was going, but I fought through it.”

• Carlos Pena is confident he can become an even more complete hitter, even if he does not hit as many home runs in 2008. [Fox Sports]
• John Romano notes that Jeff Niemann may just be following the same trend of all pitchers of his height (6’9″) or taller. That is, late maturation. [St. Pete Times]

Future Hall of Famer Randy Johnson did not make it to the big leagues until he was 25. The same is true for San Diego All-Star Chris Young. Niemann? He turns 25 in six days.

Admittedly, the sampling is small. Only eight pitchers as tall as the 6-9 Niemann have ever reached the majors. But among those eight, only one had more than a handful of appearances before age 25. And that one is Andrew Sisco, who turned 25 last month and has a 3-9 career record with a 5.18 ERA.

• Mitch Talbot feels that his emotions may be holding him back. Rays bullpen catcher Bobby Ramos a former major leaguer, has taken John Jaso under his wing. [Tampa Bay Rays]
• How young are the Rays? 18 of the Rays 40-man roster spent time in Durham in 2007. [Our Sports Central]
• The St. Pete City Council opened the floor to hear opinions from both sides on the debate for a new stadium for the Rays. Our favorite quote is from Caesar Civitella who waited over 5 hours to be heard. “When the Rays decided to move (their spring training) to Port Charlotte, they turned their back on the city of St. Petersburg,”… Huh, wha?!?! He waited over 5 hours to say that? Apparently 78 home games is not enough. Wow. At least nobody was killed. [Bradenton Herald]
• DRays Bay interviews Stuart Sternberg. [DRays Bay]
• The Tampa Bay Rays have increased the number of promotional giveaways and special theme nights for third consecutive year. In 2008, over half of the home dates (42) will feature some sort of promotion. [American Patriots]
• In 2007, the Rays lost 568 player-days and $1.9 million in salary to player injuries. Will Carroll also predicts some of the Rays’ quotes from the upcoming FanFest. [Baseball Prospectus]
• This is a little stale as the ads have been running for a while now, but the the Tampa Bay Rays unveiled their marketing slogan for 2008. “We are one team” [St. Pete Times]
• This headline made us do a double-take. Link may be NSFW for some, I don’t know. [Queer in the Cincy]

Tampa Bay Rays (46 days until Opening Day)
Today is the first official day of Spring Training as pitchers and catchers are required to report. However, according to Marc Lancaster, this is a mere formality as players have been reporting to the Naimoli Complex, three days a week for weeks now.

Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, beginning last fall, Rays players have convened for workouts. According to Scott Kazmir, a dozen or so players have been present regularly throughout the winter. In recent weeks, that number has swelled considerably.

James Shields participated in his first full workout at the complex last Wednesday and was stunned by what he saw.

“I swear to God there were 40 guys,” said Shields. “It was amazing. I normally come back a week before spring and I see maybe 10, 12 guys. But it was a full squad out there. It was crazy.”

Of the 35 pitchers and catchers required to report today, 34 will be on time, as only Juan Salas, who is having visa problems will be late.

Lancaster speculates that the level of participation could be a sign of maturity and anticipation.

The level of participation could be interpreted as a sign of maturity among a still-young group, but anticipation of the upcoming season has been a driving force as well. Especially for those who have suffered through one losing campaign after another, there is a sense that this could be the breakthrough season everyone has awaited.

Kinda makes us want to grab a mitt and some spikes and see if James Shields wants to warm up.

Rays Ready For Reporting Day [Tampa Tribune]

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• Evan Longoria welcomes the challenge of winning the third base job in Spring Training. [The Heater]

“That’s basically what I came into spring hoping would happen,” Longoria said. “If they would have made the decision early, obviously if I was in the big leagues that would be good, but I feel like now it just puts a little more added pressure on me, which I like. It’s going to make me work harder.”

• Anaheim Angels All the Way ran a full season simulation using the CHONE projections. The Rays finished the “regular season” at 89-73, just 3 games behind the Yankees and the Red Sox in the AL East. Don’t put too much weight on this projection as it was only run once. Every March Replacement Level Yankees runs a series of simulations. One of the projections used is CHONE. The difference is they will run the projections 1,000 times. Last year, after 1,000 projections the Rays averaged 71.3 wins per simulation. However, at least once the Rays won 93 games. They won the division two times and were the AL Wild Card winner three times. When running simulations like these, anomalies happen. Let’s wait until RLY gets a chance to run the 1,000 simulations and then we will have a better idea what to expect from the 2008 Rays. [Angels All the Way via DRays Bay]
• RaysBB has finished their round-table rundown of the Rays top prospects. 13 people participated and we were the only one that did not have Evan Longoria in the top spot. To us it is really 1a and 1b and since we have little experience actually seeing any of these guys play we consider “value to the organization” as the top criteria and to us winning is always about pitching and the pitcher gets the slight edge. [RaysBB]
• Bill Chastain wraps up his “Around the Horn” series by taking a look at the Rays DHs and Bench. [RaysBaseball.com]
• Refrigerator Logic lists the reasons fans should pay attention to the Rays in 2008. [Refrigerator Logic]
• Outs Per Swing questions why Rob Neyer leaves Scott Kazmir off his list of top young pitchers even though Kid K meets the criteria set forth by Neyer. [Outs Per Swing]
• Baseball Analysts concludes their break-down of the best young players by age. The latest lists look at 20 and 21 year old. Desmond Jennings(#7) and Jake McGee (#9) both make the list of top 21-year olds. [Baseball Analysts]

Tampa Bay Rays (18 days until pitchers and catchers report)
Just the links today as we mourn the 15th anniversary of the passing of one of our childhood faves, Andre the Giant, and wish a happy birthday to another one of our childhood faves, Keith Olbermann. What better way to celebrate then to bake a chocolate cake on National Chocolate Cake Day!

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• In Marc Topkin’s latest piece, he speculates on what James Shields’ deal means for Scott Kazmir. Kazmir says that the deal has little bearing on his contract status as they are in difference situations (Kazmir is in his arbitration years). Later on in the piece Topkin raises a good point we had not considered before in regards to the recent deals for Shields and Carlos Pena. He states that even though the deals only take away a minimal number of free agent years, the contracts will also keep the Rays from being forced to trade one or the other at any time during their arbitration years. So while the players were locked up for X number of years prior to the deals (five years in Shields case) the deals do make it easier for the team to keep the players during those locked-up years. [St. Pete Times]

Shields’ deal technically would only keep him around for two extra free-agent seasons, but another benefit of these type of deals is cost certainly during arbitration years, which could prevent the Rays from having to trade him, as the Marlins did when arbitration-eligible Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis became too expensive.

• The Bradenton Herald says that the moves made this off-season are not a ploy by the team to earn support for a new stadium, and the timing is just a coincidence. [Bradenton Herald]
• Jim Hickey expects the bullpen to be much better in 2008 (Couldn’t be any worse). But what is interesting in the piece, when Hickey speaks of Troy Percival, Al Reyes, Dan Wheeler and Gary Glover. “When I end up talking about bullpen guys, you always talk about if you’re comfortable sending a guy out there, and right there are four guys I’m comfortable sending out there in pretty much any situation at all.” It is pretty clear from that quote, that Glover will be on the opening day roster. In our most recent 25-man roster projection (in the sidebar), we did not have Glover’s position listed as “secure”. We will have to change that in our next evaluation. That leaves three spots in the ‘pen. Long Reliever is likely to be one of the starting pitchers that does not win a spot in the rotation. Lefty-Specialist is a player-to-be-signed later. The final spot is up for grabs with Juan Salas and Scott Dohmann being the leading candidates (Salas has a minor league option remaining). [TBO]
• DRays Bay takes a look at every player invited to Spring Training and what each player’s chances are of making the team. [DRays Bay]
• Fox Sports lists Andy Sonnanstine as one of ten players that could break out in 2008. [Fox Sports]

With guys like Scott Kazmir, James Shields and Matt Garza in the Tampa Bay rotation, it’s easy to forget about Sonnanstine. However, he’s impressive in his own right. Sonnanstine boasts a low arm angle, an array of pitches, and an ability to change speeds. None of his offerings wow scouts, but in four minor-league seasons he logged a 2.56 ERA and a stellar strikeout-to-walk ratio of 6.2 to 1. Last season in Tampa, Sonnanstine struggled in terms of keeping runs off the board, but he did strike out more than three times as many batters as he walked. Given his command skills, Sonnanstine is one to watch in 2008.

• Evan Longoria will wear #3 in Spring Training. He wears #6 in the minors.
• The Rays have signed relief pitcher Scott Munter to a minor league contract. Munter was a 47th round selection of the Giants in 2000 and somehow has managed to earn three different stints with the Giants despite a career minor league record that includes almost as many walks (134) as strikeouts (175 in 334.1 innings). [Baseball America]
• RotoAuthority has their projection for James Shields numbers in 2008. Interestingly, the projection calls for a year not quite as a good as last year, with 13 wins and a 4.06 ERA. [RotoAuthority]

Tampa Bay Rays (66-96)
Correction: On Friday we mentioned that Saturday was the deadline for offering arbitration to all players that are arbitration eligible. In fact, the deadline was only for teams to offer arbitration to their free agents. Players with at least three years, but less than six years of major league experience, are also eligible for arbitration, but there is a separate deadline for teams to offer those players arbitration. That would be the non-tender deadline of December 12…Trying to understand baseball’s contract rules is often like trying to understand the tax code or Joe Maddon’s starting lineups.

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• We have yet another new Tampa Bay Rays website in the blogosphere, The Rays Way. The new blogger is younger, but he is a diehard Rays fan, which is not always the case with some of these sites. We are not saying a site cannot be good if it is not run by fans, but there is something that is added to the mix when the writer(s) have an emotional attachment to the team they are covering. So if you have a moment, stop by and welcome The Rays Way to the neighborhood. [The Rays Way]
• We think Marc Topkin is in Nashville for the winter meetings. We say “think” because there is no by-line on the blog post. We also assume it is Topkin (and not Eduardo Encina) because the writer announces that he will not report on every rumor because “so many of them are made up”. And we already know that Topkin is the one person that always just knows what rumors are true, and which are not. [tampabay.com]
• Marc Lancaster thinks the Rays will not be very active at the winter meetings (despite still needing a left bat, a lefty reliever, a backup catcher and a right fielder, not to mention possibly adding a veteran starting pitcher). [TBO]

But when the Tampa Bay contingent rolls into the Opryland Hotel this morning for four days of non-stop talk, if not necessarily much action, the group can take comfort in knowing most of its frontline needs already have been addressed.

• On the other hand, Roger Mooney believes the Rays may actually open up their wallet. This seems to be a bit far in the other direction. Based on the moves already made and speculating on arbitration values, the Rays 2008 Payroll is in the neighborhood of $38 million already, which is already a couple of million over their projected payroll increase of 20%. More likely the additions will come via trade [Bradenton Herald]
• The St. Pete Times has a story that shows the Rays have a lot of hoops to jump through before they get approval to build a new stadium. IF they can successfully maneuver the gauntlet, they will break ground in less than 500 days. [St. Pete Times]
• The Rule 5 Draft is on Thursday and the Rays have the first pick, should they decide to use it. MLB Trade Rumors has a source that the Rays may select outfielder Brian Barton, and outfielder in AA for the Indians. He is a speedster that has posted strong OPS numbers throughout the minors, but some worry that the numbers may be skewed because he has always been older than most of his competition and may not be a major league talent. It would cost the Rays $50,000 to select Barton and would have to keep him on the 25-man roster all season long or offer him back to the Indians for $25,000. In addition there are several Rays players that may be selected by other teams, including Dale Thayer and Nick DeBarr. [MLB Trade Rumors]
• A statistical look at Brian Barton and the other top prospects that are available in the Rule 5 draft. [Beyond the Boxscore]
• The Rays have already had one of their busiest off-seasons in team history, but there is still plenty of work to do. All of the sudden there is a glaring hole in right field that may or may not be able to be filled by some combination of Rocco Baldelli, Jonny Gomes and Justin Ruggiano, none of whom screams huge 2008 numbers. The team also needs a left-handed bat, a veteran catcher to back up Dioner Navarro, and a lefty in the bullpen. [Devil Rays]
• If the goal of the Tampa Bay Rays brass was to get more people to pay attention to the Rays, it looks like it is working. The Tampa Bay Bucs are now 8-4, following a game that I am fairly certain took a couple of days off of my life, and are playing their best ball since the Super Bowl season…yet Best Bucs Blog took time to write a post about the Tampa Bay Rays and all the changes that have occurred or have been proposed, entitled “Cautiously Optimistic”. The title is an apt one. There is still a lot of work to do. [Best Bucs Blog]
• Before last season we called for people to jump on board the Devil Rays Bandwagon, so as to enjoy the ride to the top. With all the recent changes others are starting to take notice and are ready to jump on board. [New University]
• It was no surprise, but on Friday, Joe Maddon named Troy Percival the team’s 2008 closer. While Al Reyes is the most directly affected, Juan Salas will also have a considerably different role in 2008. If Reyes were to be the closer in 2008, the Rays would have likely given Salas occasional save opportunities with the purpose of auditioning as well as training Salas to be the closer for 2009 and beyond. With Percy on board for the next two seasons, Salas, who has options remaining, may now begin the season in Durham as the Bulls’ closer. [TBO]
• We have no doubt that Troy Percival is great in the clubhouse, and he may be a great presence for the other relievers, but lets ease up on all the talk of the “leadership” effect from a player that spends at least 8 innings of every game sitting in the bullpen. [TBO]
• Dennis Maffezzoli thinks that the Rays added a couple of big pieces in Matt Garza and Jason Bartlett, in addition he believes trading Delmon Young might have been addition-by-subtraction. [Herald-Tribune]
• With the loss of Delmon Young, the price for Carl Crawford just went up. We wouldn’t go so far as to say he is “untouchable” as the Chicago Tribune suggests, but the bounty would be great. [Chicago Tribune]
• Oh, It’s THOSE Girls wrote an open letter to new Rays shortstop Jason Bartlett. Apparently they are going to miss his baseball skills and his cuteness, and have named him an “honorary boyfriend”. [Oh, It's THOSE Girls]

Team USA 6, Cuba 3.
Team USA won all three games over the weekend including a 6-3 victory over Cuba on Sunday in the final to win the 2007 World Cup. Both Evan Longoria and Justin Ruggiano contributed in the final, with Longoria going 2-5 with 2 runs scored and Ruggiano had 3 hits in 4 at bats with an RBI single and a run scored. Ruggiano added a stolen base.

Team USA finished 9-1 in the tournament. Longoria was 11-38 (.289), with 3 doubles, a triple, a home run and 5 RBI. Ruggiano was 10-30 (.333) and 8 RBI. He tied Andy LaRoche with a team best 3 home runs.

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

• Can we please ease up on the talk about Barry Bonds playing for the Rays? Let’s say for a moment that the Rays could sign Bonds for a reasonably cheap price…and let’s say for a moment that at 44 years old he can still hit 30 home runs and post a .450 OBP…and let’s say he does not get suspended or spend any time in jail…there is still ZERO chance the Rays will sign Bonds. Yes, he might still be effective and yes he would help increase attendance, but if there is one thing we can all agree on about the Tampa Bay Rays front office…it is that they are very image conscious. This is a team that just became the first team since the Houston Colt .45s to change their name without moving because some people react “negatively” to the term “devil”. And some people still think that it is possible for the Rays to sign a player that is A) a cheater; B) under indictment for perjury; C) universally hated by baseball fans. Let us put it this way. The Rays would not sign Barry Bonds even if he came to the Rays with a blank contract ala Andre Dawson to the Cubs in 1987. [DRays Bay]
• We still think the Rays hope that Juan Salas steps up and claims the closer role in the near future, but TBSF says that the closer-in-waiting might be Calvin Medlock. [Tampa Bay Sports Fanatic]
• The St. Pete Times has generated an artists rendering of what the Tampa Bay Rays proposed stadium might look like. [TampaBay.com]
• Tampa Bay’s 10 obtained documents that detailed discussion the Rays have had with the city of St. Pete in regards to the proposed new stadium on the site of Al Lang Field. They show that the city has (not surprisingly) expressed concerns over the financing of the new stadium. [TampaBays10]

While the Rays paint a rosy picture about moving from Tropicana Field to Al Lang stadium in downtown, the city says there are many uncertainties including the recent Florida Supreme Court decision about using what’s called tax increment funding to finance the facility.

St. Petersburg is also worried about the uncertainty of the statewide tax referendum that could reduce the available tax dollars to the city as well as the need to maximize retail space at the current Tropicana site.

Tthere is uncertainty about traffic circulation, parking and other impacts at the new downtown site. The city is also concerned about financial terms that will be acceptable to everyone.

• The Tampa Bay Rays believe that a new stadium could generate $1 billion in new revenue for the city of St. Pete, along with 2,500 new permanent jobs and 14,000 temporary jobs. [MLB News Blog]
• The Rays sent new personalized jerseys to several legislators, but claim they were not intended to sway their vote on a stadium subsidy. [tampabay.com]

“It’s the $60-million jersey,” joked Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, who got one in the mail Friday.

• Joe Maddon thinks that several voters did not vote for Delmon Young on their Rookie of the Year ballots because of his reputation and personal prejudice. Young finished second in the voting and received three first place votes, but eight voters did not include Young in their top 3. [tampabay.com]

“It’s really disturbing,” Maddon said Friday. “I can see him not winning the award, but leaving him off eight ballots is just a sign of personal prejudice.”

• Of course, it may have been because Delmon Young posted the lowest OPS (.724) for any right fielder in baseball in 2007. [Recondite Baseball]