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Tampa Bay Rays Invite Tim Beckham, Nevin Ashley, Heath Rollins, J.J. Furmaniak, Angel Chavez, and Craig Albernaz to Spring Training

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Ashley and Albernaz serve as organizational soldiers/backstops for mass spring bullpen sessions.

Rollins is probably a future pen arm. Interesting to see him get the invite, but wouldn't read too much into it.

Beckham is a given. Expect him to see similar playing time to last spring.

The new names are Chavez and Furmaniak. Both are utility infielder types.

Chavez spent last season in the Boston system. He spent some time with San Francisco in 2005, his only experience in the Majors. Amusingly he's bounced around quite a bit, and hit fairly well at every stop.

Furmaniak has seen time in the Majors with the Pirates and Athletics. He spent last season in the Phillies' system and struggled mightily with the bat. With the exception of a stint with Oakland's Triple-A squad in 2007, he's never hit well. He seems to field decently though, so think of him as the new Andy Cannizaro, with a fantastic name to boot (pronounced: fer-MAIN-ee-ack).

Given the infield depth, I wouldn't expect either of them to play with the team this season. Although, more outlandish things have happened.

                                                                                                                                                                                                               

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