Okay, first of all: I'm not trying to make bold predictions or outrageous claims -- or frankly any claims at all. I'm just trying to mentally hammer out the situation at hand with the 2010 roster. This sort of came about after reading RJ's (first) post about the bullpen. In it, he supposes the final set up to look like this:

LR Cormier
MR Benoit
MR Choate
MR Wheeler
SU Balfour
SU Howell
CP Soriano

In such case, the Rays will carry 12 pitchers and 12 position players plus BZA, who classifies as "Undefined." On the other hand, many DRBer's and even MLB.com's Bill Chastain believes Benoit's spot goes to Sonnanstine. Either way, how does the rest shake down?

Follow the jump and we'll explore this issue...

Well, here's what we know. We have several players out of options:

Aybar*
Bartlett*
Cormier*
Howell*
Johnson
Johnson
Niemann*

* These guys aren't going anywhere.

So is this how the roster shakes out?

#1 James Shields
#2 Matt Garza
#3 Jeff Niemann
#4 David Price
#5 Wade Davis

LR Lance Cormier
MR Joaquin Benoit or Andy Sonnanstine
MR Randy Choate
MR Dan Wheeler
SU Grant Balfour
SU J.P. Howell
CP Rafael Soriano

C Kelly Shoppach
1B Carlos Pena
2B Ben Zobrist
SS Jason Bartlett
3B Evan Longoria
LF Carl Crawford
CF B.J. Upton
RF Matt Joyce
DH Pat Burrell

Last 4 spots:
1 Gabe Kaplar*
2 Dioner Navarro*
3 Willy Aybar*
4 ?

* Given.

Is this how it's going to look, barring injury? What are your thoughts on the last roster spot? Does our beloved Elliot Johnson finally stick on the roster to back up the middle infield? What of: Dan Johnson, Joe Dillon, Reid Brignac, or a possible FA yet to come (Russell Branyan? Carlos Delgado?)?