The Rays Tank: Less than two weeks left

Rays news and notes:

Alex Cobb worked 6 and 2/3 on the Rays scheduled off day yesterday, throwing 86 pitches in a simulated game against minor-leaguers, smoothing out some mechanical issues. Cobb has two starts left in the spring, and will make both agaist major-league hitters.

Juan Carlos Oviedo also worked Monday, throwing 10 minutes of BP to minor-league hitters, continuing to make up for lost time.

After bruising his quad Saturday, Wil Myers is expected to be back in the lineup in tonight's game at the Twins or at the latest tomorrow.

Links:

- "Just as Justin Vernon might listen to Bonnie Raitt, or Kanye West might listen to Bon Iver, there are glimpses of inspiration that shine through my writing, but it's not emulation all the time." How could you not read this piece from Danny on prioritizing "skills" over "tools" after that line?

- With two weeks until Opening Day, Marc Topkin looked at the current roster situation, assessing who is most likely to make the cut for the bullpen, bench and last spot in the rotation.

- Beyond the Box Score utilized all the prospects lists available, compiling a "regular" ranking and a fantasy ranking of the Rays 2014 prospects, and placing them all in one handy dandy spreadsheet.

The results, shocking to no one - top five: Jake Odorizzi, Taylor Guerrieri, Hak-Ju Lee, Enny Romero and Alex Colome. Wil Myers, Chris Archer and Alex Torres all "graduated" from the list, while a slew were included in offseason trades.

- ICYMI, because we can all use a feel good moment in our days, 30 Rays players and coaches, plus 41 additional team staff members, shaved their head this past weekend for the third annual Fortune Favors the Bald at Charlotte Sports Park.

Over $400,000 was raised last year, and the team is hoping their strong participation this year will help to garner even more money in 2014.

- FiveThirtyEight relaunched yesterday, including a piece on baseball's most surprising seasons, good and bad, calculating "the uncertainty in the Marcel forecasting system projection for batting wOBA based on the reliability of the forecast." Included in the surprisingly strong list: Ben Zobrist and Jason Bartlett, both in 2009; with Reid Brignac making the most disappointing list for his 2011 season.