The Hangover: Rays No Longer Seeking Bullpen Help

While many major league teams wear special green hats and/or uniforms on St. Patrick’s Day, the Rays actually chose to wear less green, going with a white cap with green bill (Another image is below). The players also wore their pants just below the knees in a welcomed old-school fashion.

• The Rays refused to let the win from the night before go to their head. Casey Fossum took to the mound for the second time this Spring and again managed to escape any damage despite surrendering three hits, two walks and a hit batter in 2.2 innings. Still, Fossum says his arm feels great, but he might be holding back on his fastball.
• Akinori Iwamura got his second extra-base hit in two games and may be feeling a little more comfortable in his new surroundings. Joe Maddon thinks it is funny that anybody is worried about Muu-Rah.
• The Rays are still exploring the trade market but seem more content now to head into the season with the players in place. Specifically, the team doesn’t seem to think that the bullpen is in need of an immediate upgrade. In the same piece, Stuart Sternberg says the team will lower the capacity of the Trop by 3,500 seats to create a more intimate feel. Also, the Rays are being considered to open the 2008 season in Japan, which went so well for both teams last time. Both the Yankees and the Rays struggled with the adjustment after returning to the states.
• The Rays plan to relieve Rocco Baldelli in center field on a regular basis will go a long way to keeping him in the lineup all season. It could also end up costing Rocco $2.25 million in salary in 2008.
• According to Newsday, Scott Kazmir has the weight of an entire organization on his shoulders. Kid K just hopes his shoulder is strong enough to keep him on the mound for 200 innings this season.
• ArmchairGM suggests an alteration to the unbalanced schedule. The new schedule would pit the Rays against their divisional foes 13 times each as opposed to the 18 or 19 contests currently scheduled. Not likely to happen, but ten fewer games against the Red Sox and Yankees would be a blessing to the Rays.
• Nobody knows how good or bad the Rays will be this season. But we can take solace in the idea that we should at the very least be better than Chuck LaMar’s new team, the Washington Nationals. Eye-opening tidbit from Buster Olney yesterday indicates that a lot of Major League scouts believe that this year’s Nats could be one of the worst teams in history and could lose close to 130 games. Seriously.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)