Brant James of the St. Petersburg Times reports that LHP Scott Kazmir will throw five or six innings and a "maximum" of 85 pitches tonight in his final minor league rehab outing for AAA Durham. He is on track to join the rotation this weekend against the Boston Red Sox, most likely for Sunday's game. James also reports that RHP Al Reyes will make his second and final one inning rehab stint for A+ Vero Beach this evening. His fastball apparently "reached" 85 mph in his last outing on Saturday, but he is still expected to be activated when eligible to come off of the DL on Thursday. More injury news from Bill Chastain of RaysBaseball.com:

Willy Aybar [left hamstring strain] said he expects to start playing in games in a week. ... Cliff Floyd [right knee surgery] is expected to begin playing in some games later this week.

Chastain produced another article, the latest to focus on the Rays' impending rotation crunch, and he does a fairly decent job in summarizing things. Chastain also says that LHP Kurt Birkins, who has not pitched in a week, will be optioned to AAA Durham once Reyes is activated from the DL. Essentially, the team faces two tough choices. First, who exactly will be bumped from the rotation? Second, who will be bumped from the active roster? The answer to both questions could easily be the same person, either RHP Andy Sonnanstine or RHP Matt Garza (unlikely). Otherwise, they will need to not only move someone to the bullpen, but bump someone from the bullpen off of the active roster. Should be an interesting choice for the team. Although it isn't my personal preference, I'm guessing based on the circumstances that Sonnanstine will get demoted to AAA Durham since he still has options and the team won't have to disrupt the bullpen by moving him out.

IF Ben Zobrist is due to get the pins out of his fractured thumb today, and he could begin playing in Extended Spring Training games as soon as this week. That from Marc Lancaster of the Tribune, who also had this to report concerning late inning pitching roles:

When RHP Al Reyes rejoins the Rays on Thursday after finishing a stint on the disabled list with a shoulder impingement, he won't necessarily slide back into the eighth-inning spot he had held before. Maddon indicated Sunday he was inclined to keep RHP Dan Wheeler in the primary setup role, though he has done plenty of mixing and matching over the past week.

Lancaster also reports that RHP Jeff Niemann has not made a start for AAA Durham since being optioned down one week ago. He did throw a bullpen session with no problems, however, and thus should make his next start sometime this week. Lancaster speculates that day will be Thursday.

Elsewhere, Adam Morris of Lone Star Ball goes behind the ESPN paywall to retrieve a few Buster Olney bits from ESPN on the state of the Rangers franchise. Hat tip to Rays Index. Here's the paragraph pertinent to the Rays:

Texas general manager Jon Daniels recently received an extension, but if Ryan ultimately decides he wants somebody else making the baseball choices, others who know Ryan wonder if he'll ask former Houston GM Gerry Hunsicker -- now an advisor with Tampa Bay -- to come on board. Even if that happens, friends say Hunsicker very much likes his role with the Rays.

This Thursday last, I had the opportunity for about twenty minutes to discuss Rays-centric Fantasy Baseball with ESPN expert Matthew Berry. Now, I know there was some discontent a couple of nights ago about his projection for Rays 3B Evan Longoria, but it is worth noting that I didn't really ask him about that since the interview took place before his call-up.

Anyways, I found the interview to be well worth it. Berry definitely understands what he's talking about, and even though some of his more pessimistic views of Rays personnel might clash with some opinions here, the encyclopedic knowledge he possess of players is to be respected. He was well-prepared and well-informed in answering each of the questions I posed to him. For someone not that familiar with his work, I came away impressed.

In any case, the paraphrased interview follows the jump.

Continue reading this post »

There is an interesting backstory to the reduction of OF Jonny Gomes' suspension from two games to one, and Marc Topkin of the St. Petersburg Times has it covered:

First, at around 4:10 p.m., the Rays were told it (the suspension being served) would be Friday. Forty minutes later, they were told it was changed to Sunday. Then an hour later it was back to Friday. Making it more confusing, the info was coming in media advisories sent to Rays communications director Chris Costello rather than direct word from MLB to Rays executive vice president Andrew Friedman.

"I was just none too pleased with the process and the communication," Friedman said. "It doesn't much matter to us when it is and whatever else, it was just the process seemed a bit confusing."

Apparently, representatives of the MLBPA had bargained the reduction of Gomes' suspension, as well as the suspensions of Yankee OFs Melky Cabrera and Shelley Duncan, in a "secret deal" before their appellate hearings were to be held on Monday. Gomes was angling to serve the suspension on Sunday, rather than today, because he was scheduled to be in the starting lineup going into tonight's game and he would not have been in the lineup Sunday. MLB eventually said that Gomes had to serve the suspension last night, and he did so, but the message apparently didn't get out too well. Meanwhile:

• LHP Scott Kazmir will throw his final bullpen session this morning at the Naimoli Complex, and will move on to throwing batting practice sessions from there. He hopes to return by the end of the month.
• Florida Governor Charlie Crist and former Bucs FB Mike Alstott will throw out the first pitches at the Rays' home opener on Tuesday. Crist threw out the first pitch at the home opener last year as well.
  
• Apparently, Manager Joe Maddon wanted to give 3B Willy Aybar an extra day's rest for his sore left hamstring, and that is why he left him out of the lineup last night. Aybar will start this afternoon at Yankee Stadium.
• Starting with the home opener, the Rays will play 17 of their 19 games at home and 34 of their next 51. The Rays have 34 games scheduled through June 1st at home; that is the most home games scheduled for any American League club through that date.
• The Rays are opening something called the "Budweiser Party Tent" in Lot 7 this season for all Prime and Weekend games, plus the home opener. Lot 7 is located to the east of the stadium in the main parking lot. It is to the south of the walkway to Gate 1.
• Rays 1B Carlos Peña will receive his AL Comeback Player of the Year Award before the home opener.
  
• The only player to go into the Hall of Fame as a Tampa Bay Buccaneer, DE Lee Roy Selmon, will throw out the first pitch for next Friday's home game against the Baltimore Orioles.