Marc Lancaster of the Tampa Tribune reports on his blog this afternoon that the Rays have made their first round of cuts this spring, and 10 players were a part of it. Dismissing the reassignments of the injured Shinji Mori and Doug Waechter last week, this was the first real significant cut down.
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RHP Jeff Niemann | |
RHP Mitch Talbot | |
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C Josh Arhart | |
SS Reid Brignac | |
3B Evan Longoria | |
RHP Tony Peguero | |
OF Jason Grabowski | |
RHP Steve Andrade | |
RHP Andy Sonnanstine | |
OF Fernando Perez |
Dismissed quickly were Peguero and Andrade, minor league veterans in camp as non-roster invitees. Both had struggled this spring, with Andrade having given up five runs in 4.2 innings of work, while Peguero had given up three runs in 2.2 innings. Arhart and Grabowski were long shots to make the roster anyways, but they didn't get much of an opportunity to prove otherwise, getting a combined three at bats this spring, at bats that did not result in a hit.
While Talbot and Niemann were placed directly on the roster of AAA Durham, the rest will go back into the general pool of players at minor league camp and will be assigned to a specific minor league team at a later day. All of the others except for Andy Sonnanstine are expected to start the year out in Montgomery. Minor League Spring Training has begun at the Naimoli Complex, with intrasquad games taking place today and tomorrow and the first game against another team coming this Friday against the Phillies. I will post a complete Minor League ST schedule later this week.
Sources
First Round of Roster Cuts Takes Out 10 [Tampa Tribune]