Rays manager Kevin Cash has determined the the Rays will be rolling with a three-man rotation, followed by two Opener’s — at least until a bulk guy or prospect forces their hand into establishing another traditional starter.

The rotation will be as follows:

1. Blake Snell
2. Charlie Morton
3. Tyler Glasnow
4. Opener / Bulk Guy
5. Opener / Bulk Guy

With the team yet to commit to who those bulk guys will be, it will be a wide open competition between several names for something like four or five long relief slots on the roster, including (but not limited to):

• LHP Jalen Beeks
• RHP Yonny Chirinos
• RHP Jake Faria
• RHP Wilmer Font
• LHP Ryan Merritt*
• RHP Andrew Moore
• RHP Austin Pruitt
• RHP Casey Sadler*
• RHP Luis Santos*
• LHP Ryan Yarbrough

*player not on 40-man roster

You can read the full story on the initial rotation announcement from Juan Toribio here, and the decision to roll with Openers in the 4-5 slots from Marc Topkin here ($), with the following from Kevin Cash:

“We kind of picked it apart with staggering it, but for the sake of the starters, and giving Charlie and Glasnow the extra day (of rest) in the first month, which is important, it made the most sense to keep them back to back. I’m not saying we’ll do that throughout the rest of the season. We can adjust a little bit if needed.’’

Rays News

Rays Communications manager Ryan Sheets saved a fan’s life — Ryan Sheets (pictured above... did you spot him?) performed the Heimlich maneuver on a man who was choking on his food before Tuesday’s game, and is appropriately being recognized as a hero. Bravo, Ryan!

Glasnow improving performance, Poche not — Toribio has a recap of the latest spring action from Thursday, with two notable names to follow this spring trending in opposite directions. Glasnow threw 21 of 39 pitches for strikes, allowing only two base runners.

MLB Pipeline Prospects who just missed the top 30 lists - No. “31” on the top 30 for the Rays at mlb.com has been revealed to be SS Jelfry Marte

And injury updates:

Rays Media

Here’s the part where we dump audio clips, and I gotta tell you, these are your best source of Rays Spring Training content available.

^^^ At a minimum: You definitely need to be listening to this weekly podcast from Rays Radio!

Here’s Kevin Cash pre-game:

And post-game:

And Glasnow post-game:

Other Links

Fantastic podcast news:

Continuing the story from earlier this week on scouting reports:

Expanding the Zone: How Teams are Maximizing Minor-League Options - Gerald Schifman for B-Pro says we’re witnessing a transformation in how rosters across the league are administered. ($)

Finding PECOTA’s limits - The continued plumbing of PECOTA results is unending intrigue for me, and I bet it might be for you too