Rays Tank: Opening day is here

Yesterday, the Rays finalized their 25-man roster. There were no surprises. Jeremy Hellickson, Juan Carlos Oviedo, and Tim Beckham were all sent to the 15-day DL. That leaves the following:

Catchers (2)

Ryan Hanigan

Jose Molina

Infielders (6)

James Loney

Ben Zobrist

Yunel Escobar

Evan Longoria

Sean Rodriguez

Logan Forsythe

Outfielders (5)

David DeJesus

Desmond Jennings

Wil Myers

Matt Joyce

Brandon Guyer

Starters (5)

David Price

Alex Cobb

Matt Moore

Chris Archer

Jake Odorizzi

Relievers (7)

Grant Balfour

Joel Peralta

Jake McGee

Heath Bell

Brandon Gomes

Josh Lueke

Cesar Ramos

Adam Berry of MLB.com previews the Rays-Jays opening day matchup. I want to draw your attention to one sentence that, several years ago, we probably never thought we'd see printed.

Toronto remained almost entirely silent, with its one major splash the signing of catcher Dioner Navarro.

Baseball Prospectus released their catcher framing projections. The Rays duo ranks number one in terms of expected runs saved. One interesting note that Harry Pavlidis gives is that so far they haven't found there to be an aging curve for the framing skill. So while it would be okay to worry about Molina and Hanigan's age for other reasons, don't expect them to lose their ability to get strikes any time soon.

On Friday, MLB announced it's new drug program. Changes include increased testing, harsher punishments (80 game suspension for a first offense), and players who test positive during the regular season will now no longer be allowed to play in the postseason (like Jhonny Peralta and Nelson Cruz). It's bad that Alex Colome tested positive for steroids, but I suppose it's good he got in before the suspension was upped?

And lastly, anybody who's been around this site for a while will know that Bradley Woodrum likes animation. It should therefor come as no surprise that, over at The Hardball Times, he has a ridiculously in depth study of the Simpson's softball episode, "Homer at the Bat." Between two imaginary and impossible teams (because some players were dead), who would win? It's worth a read.

So, who's going to the game today?