Tampa Bay Rays News and Links - Opening Day is less than a week away!

Richie Shaffer’s off-season travels, Tropicana Field has a new turf, and Jesus Sucre looks like a lock for Opening Day

By Adam Sanford Mar 27, 2017, 9:00am EDT

MLB: Toronto Blue Jays at Tampa Bay Rays

Richie Shaffer spent the off season in baseball limbo as he was part of five different organizations.
The Process Report looks at what happened to Derek Norris in 2016
The Rays played in Tampa yesterday, so a couple of the players crossed the bay to St. Petersburg to check out Tropicana Field’s new turf
Alex Cobb was scratched from his start in a minor league game
The Rays pitching problems continued this spring as Matt Andriese struggled against the New York Yankees yesterday afternoon
Jesus Sucre has a place on the Rays roster, he has won over the clubhouse and the team’s brass
Also from the Tampa Bay Times, 10 things we think we know about the Rays so far
Rougned Odor is close to an extension with the Texas Rangers
Jake Arrieta clobbered a 465 foot home run...
The GM of the Cleveland Indians, had his son in the booth of a spring training game...and his son may have spilled the beans on a possible Francisco Lindor contract extension
Chris Tillman had a throwing session and didn’t suffer anymore setbacks
Scott Kazmir continues his struggles with his mechanics as he is only reaching 87 miles per hour and averaging in the low 80’s