Season Preview 2016

MLB Opening Day 2016: Rays set 25-man roster, select contract of LHP Dana Eveland

By Daniel Russell@d_russ Apr 2, 2016, 12:56pm EDT

The Tampa Bay Rays have named the 25-man roster for 2016, selecting the contract of minor league invite LHP Dana Eveland and choosing INF Tim Beckham to return as the 25th man.

Accordingly, the final men in camp RHP Andrew Bellatti and OF Mikie Mahtook have been optioned to Triple-A Durham, although both can expect to see major league action throughout the year.

Selecting the veteran reliever Eveland has been the anticipated move since his invitation in December, although the Rays could have benefitted from Bellatti's killer slider from the right hand. The opening series will have the Rays host the rather right-handed power hitting lineup of the Blue Jays, against whom Bellatti would have been quite effective.

The Rays have placed RHP Brad Boxberger (groin surgery) and RHP Alex Cobb (Tommy John surgery) on the 15-day disabled list. In addition, RHP Chase Whitley (Tommy John surgery) was placed on the 60-day DL on February 18.

There is room to move Alex Cobb to the 60-man roster, if the Rays find an optionable man on the waiver wire they would like to add to the 40-man roster.

Notably, James Loney remains on the 40-man roster, although he has been informed he has not made the club. The Rays have until noon Sunday to trade or begin the release process for the $8 million first baseman.

POSITION		PITCHING
POS.	PLAYER	ROLE	PLAYER
C	Curt Casali	SP	Chris Archer
C	Hank Conger (S)	SP	Drew Smyly (L)
1B	Logan Morrison (L)	SP	Jake Odorizzi
1B/3B	Steve Pearce	SP	Matt Moore (L)
2B	Logan Forsythe
SS	Brad Miller (L)	SP/RP	Erasmo Ramirez
2B/SS	Tim Beckham	LR	Dana Eveland (L)
3B	Evan Longoria	MR	Danny Farquhar
LF	Desmond Jennings	MR	Xavier Cedeno (L)
OF	Brandon Guyer	MR	Steve Geltz
CF	Kevin Kiermaier (L)	SU	Ryan Webb
RF	Steven Souza Jr	SU	Enny Romero (L)
LF/DH	Corey Dickerson (L)	CL	Alex Colome

You can find the Opening Day lineup here.

FULL ROSTER

* 15-Day Disabled List + 60-Day Disabled List

PITCHERS (12 +3 DL)

22 Archer, Chris RHP

26 Boxberger, Brad* RHP

31 Cedeño, Xavier LHP

53 Cobb, Alex* RHP

37 Colome, Alex RHP

51 Eveland, Dana LHP

43 Farquhar, Danny RHP

54 Geltz, Steve RHP

55 Moore, Matt LHP

23 Odorizzi, Jake RHP

30 Ramirez, Erasmo RHP

45 Romero, Enny LHP

33 Smyly, Drew LHP

58 Webb, Ryan RHP

47 Whitley, Chase+ RHP

CATCHERS (2)

19 Casali, Curt

24 Conger, Hank (S)

INFIELDERS (6)

1 Beckham, Tim

11 Forsythe, Logan

3 Longoria, Evan

13 Miller, Brad (L)

7 Morrison, Logan (L)

28 Pearce, Steve

OUTFIELDERS (5)

10 Dickerson, Corey (L)

5 Guyer, Brandon

8 Jennings, Desmond

39 Kiermaier, Kevin (L)

20 Souza Jr., Steven

NUMERICAL ROSTER

1 Beckham, Tim INF

3 Longoria, Evan 3B

5 Guyer, Brandon OF

7 Morrison, Logan 1B/OF

8 Jennings, Desmond OF

10 Dickerson, Corey OF

11 Forsythe, Logan INF

13 Miller, Brad INF

19 Casali, Curt C

20 Souza Jr., Steven OF