Tampa Bay Rays Make Roster Cuts

by R.J. Anderson on Mar 16, 2009 3:46 PM EDT

The Rays made 12 more cuts today, reducing their roster down to 44 players. Here are the moves:

RHP Wade Davis, RHP Mitch Talbot and RHP Dale Thayer were optioned to Durham (AAA).
LHP Jake McGee has been optioned to the minor leagues.
Reassigned to minor league camp were RHP Winston Abreu, INF Tim Beckham, RHP Jason Childers, RHP Dewon Day, RHP Julio DePaula, LHP Carlos Hernandez, INF Chris Nowak and C Matt Spring.

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Pour out some for my dog Carlos

Stay strong homie. They don’t have Evian in Durham.

by Tommy Rancel on Mar 16, 2009 3:51 PM EDT reply actions 1 recs

I'm glad Craig Albernaz is still around

Vogt early, Vogt often.

by Brickhaus on Mar 16, 2009 3:59 PM EDT reply actions

Since I am not counting Bradford and McGee

The Rays now have 17 pitchers left in camp

Grant Balfour, Randy Choate, Lance Cormier, Matt Garza, Jason Hammel, J.P Howell, Jason Isringhausen, Scott Kazmir, Joe Nelson, Jeff Niemann, Troy Percival, David Price, Derek Rodriguez, James Shields, Brian Shouse, Andy Sonnanstine, and Dan Wheeler

Barring injuries and/or trades, seems pretty obvious the last 5 cut will be Choate, Cormier, Isringhausen, Price and Rodriguez

See if we make a trade with the White Sox but looks like we could very well lose Rodriguez and Cormier

And as for hitters, we still have 26 left. Now this at least has some suspense, we still don’t know if Upton will be there Opening Day.

Catchers: Michel Hernandez , John Jaso , Dioner Navarro, Shawn Riggans (Unless there is a injury, this will definatley be Navarro and Riggans)

Infielders: Willy Aybar, Jason Bartlett, Reid Brignac, Morgan Ensberg, Akinori Iwamura, Elliot Johnson, Adam Kennedy, Evan Longoria, Ray Olmedo, Carlos Pena, and Chris Richard,( Pretty obvious that the ones who stay around will be Aybar, Bartlett, Iwamura, Longoria, and Pena)

Outfielders: Pat Burrell, Carl Crawford, Gabe Gross, Matt Joyce, Gabe Kapler, Justin Ruggiano, Ray Sadler, Jon Weber and B.J Upton, Ben Zobrist (I still assume that Upton will be on the roster even if he does miss the first week so the final 5 guys will be Burrell, Crawford, Gross, Kapler, Upton and then lies the question….. 25 men on the roster there and no Zobrist, I wonder what who will need to be cut.

Evan Longoria and David Price - the fight for my heart

by joeybw on Mar 16, 2009 4:05 PM EDT reply actions

I guess I must have missed a round of cuts

When guys like Cromer and Albernaz were reassigned to minor league camp.

Vogt early, Vogt often.

by Brickhaus on Mar 16, 2009 4:22 PM EDT up reply actions

They were 2 of the guys in the first round of cuts

Evan Longoria and David Price - the fight for my heart

by joeybw on Mar 16, 2009 4:23 PM EDT up reply actions

I think you have listed only 24.

You have 12 pitchers, 2 catchers, 5 infielders and 5 outfielders. That leaves room for one more player, i.e. Zobrist.

by bobr on Mar 16, 2009 4:24 PM EDT up reply actions

whoops

math fail

Then if Upton isn’t on the DL, the 25 man looks pretty set, Of course there are injuries and trades.

Evan Longoria and David Price - the fight for my heart

by joeybw on Mar 16, 2009 4:27 PM EDT up reply actions

Don't ever count on the obvious

by Raymondo on Mar 16, 2009 4:44 PM EDT up reply actions

question...

what are the differences between being optioned to AAA, being optioned to the minor leagues, and being sent to minor league camp?

by yeseggs on Mar 16, 2009 4:40 PM EDT reply actions

Not much difference, for our purposes

Vogt early, Vogt often.

by Brickhaus on Mar 16, 2009 4:44 PM EDT up reply actions

what if Briggy hits 5 more homers over the next 2 weeks?

by daveh33 on Mar 16, 2009 5:18 PM EDT reply actions

Let him go mash Durham for a few weeks.

by R.J. Anderson on Mar 16, 2009 5:19 PM EDT up reply actions

how much more WAR-value does he have over bartlett if he hits for the same avg/obp...

but Slugs 60-70 pts better… with 12-15 more home runs over 162…?

If he mashes in Durham for a few weeks, then there is no doubt he can hit better than JB’s .286/.329/.361 right?

and let’s say his defense is equal at this point.

by daveh33 on Mar 16, 2009 6:49 PM EDT up reply actions

I think Barty's horrendous start at the plate did him in last year.

He was scorching from ASB on, but couldn’t make up ground after Mendoza’ing the first quarter of the season. If he gets off to another terrible start I’m not sure what you do, because obviously his trade value will be reduced, and who knows what we have with Briggy. My guess is he won’t come anywhere near that .286 average, which is fine if he walked, but he doesn’t. So you have a low OBP-High SLG SS that plays adequate defense, but nothing special. Why rush that guy? Even if Barty sucks horse dick at the plate he is a good stop-gap for now.

Do what you love to do and give it your very best. Whether it's business or baseball, or the theater, or any field. If you don't love what you're doing and you can't give it your best, get out of it. Life is too short. You'll be an old man before you know it.

-Al Lopez

by Sandy Kazmir on Mar 17, 2009 9:39 AM EDT up reply actions

because we want to maximize Barty's trade value.

and if people see he’s an apparent “stop-gap” instead of “MVP”… well I’d guess that his stock is lowered at that point.

by daveh33 on Mar 17, 2009 1:20 PM EDT up reply actions

Only adjusting the slugging...

Brignac is about a win better if their defensive value is the same. If Bartlett is 5 runs better than Brignac would be a half win better. This is using Bartlett’s CHONE projection for next year (.272/.336/.366) and Brignac’s slugging being .064 higher (.272/.336/.430).

by rglass44 on Mar 17, 2009 1:27 PM EDT up reply actions