Also, if you were subscribing to our RSS feed before, you have probably noticed that you are not getting updates. We made some changes to our feed to make it better for our readers, but unfortunately we had to change the feed address. You can now subscribe by visiting this link. If you don’t know what RSS is, check out what Nate Cheeley has to say about it.

Quest for fifth starter spot wide open

Though I don’t think it should be. Latest news out of the Tampa Bay Rays camp is that Andy Sonnanstine may still have a chance to win the fifth spot in the rotation. The thought coming into spring training was that Wade Davis had the spot, and it was his to lose. Both pitchers have been stellar so far this spring, so the talk as of late is that Sonnanstine may have a chance to crack the 25 man opening day roster. Both players have minor league options left. I personally hope to see Davis in this spot. I feel last year he looked overpowering at times, and believe he could end up being a top of the rotation talent in the very near future.

Read more about the race for the fifth spot here.

Howell & Soriano make spring debut

It is about time! Rafael Soriano has been on his own training regiment this spring–per the coaching staff of the Rays. I don’t agree with this decision for a couple reasons, and you can read about them here.

J.P. Howell also is making his first appearance of the spring today, and that, I am okay with. He is a proven veteran leader on this team, and is totally reworking his approach to pitching this season by going back to what he does best–working the 6th, 7th and 8th innings instead of closing out games.

Fernando Perez amongst the Tampa Bay Rays sent to the minors

No surprises here really about the names on this list. Catchers Jose Lobaton and John Jaso and perennial underachieving outfielder Fernando Perez were all optioned to the minors. Perez has been on the cusp of breaking through to the majors each of the last three seasons, but strong springs from Matt Joyce, Sean Rodriguez and Reid Brignac have made him the odd man out AGAIN.

Perez was featured in a post earlier this week, poking fun at major league baseballs minimum salary. This was an amazing video. Check it out too.

The 27 year old Anderson auditioned for 9 Major League clubs back in February, and got mixed reviews. Two scouts walked away from the work out sessions unimpressed.

Others touted Anderson as a “chiseled Adonis of a baseball prospect”.

The move makes sense for the Rays. Anderson, who has spent most of  his career in centerfield, but he can also play first base, a position the Rays may need help at in the very near future.

While the minor leagues are loaded with outfield prospects like Desmond Jennings, Fernando Perez, Rashad Eldridge & Kyeong Kang, they are relatively thin at first base. Early speculation says that the Rays may not have the money at the end of this season to resign Carlos Pena or Carl Crawford.

While Pena has expressed his desire to stay in Tampa Bay past the 2010 season, their may not be the money their to support his wishes, and many experts are expecting Crawford to leave for big money, though recent reports have indicated the team may attempt to keep Crawford over budding centerfielder B.J. Upton.

Blalock, who had spent his whole career with the Texas Rangers has been said for weeks to be choosing between the Florida Marlins and Tampa Bay Rays.

Blalock is the last in a recent string of “interests” the Rays have had in veteran sluggers this spring. The team has also had talks with Jim Thome, Russell Branyan & Johnny Damon amongst others.

The team was/is still looking to provide a viable backup option for first baseman Carlos Pena and struggling DH Pat Burrell.

This news was first broken by Jon Heyman of Sports Illustrated.

Too often, everyday fans only know about the “super prospects” within an organization, but it is important to remember that not every player on your teams 25 man roster was a super prospect. We will be taking a look at any Rays prospect in the news, whether they are the next David Price, or the next Matt White.

Check out the first installment of the Rays Prospect watch by reading this piece about Jacob Jefferies & Mike Sheridan.

The guys over at DRaysBay have started making some sharp looking player profiles. I will keep posting links to them as the day goes on. Today they released Matt Moore, Dioner Navarro, Jeff Niemann, Carlos Pena, Fernando Perez, David Price, Aneury Rodriguez, Sean Rodriguez & James Shields. The guys over there always do such great work taking an in depth look at the players, you should really check them out. You can check out their previous posts here, here & here.  They have more links, but I won’t include them all, you should easily be able to find them DRaysBay.com

Check out the new jerseys tonight

If you live in the Tampa Bay area, and you are a Tampa Bay Rays fan, be sure to head to the Tyrone Mall and/or International Plaza tonight to be one of the first to see the Rays new “powder blue” alternate jerseys. Jeff Niemann, Matt Garza, Kelly Shoppach & James Shields will be on site at one of the two locations to help unveil the new threads. You can find out more details by clicking here. Anyone care to get my an autograph and mail to my apartment in Lexington?

The starting 5…

The team over at RayHawkReview took a look at the projected starting rotation for the Rays. You can read more about it here. Take some time to check out RayHawkReview, this is the first time I have mentioned them on this site, and they seem to have a pretty decent thing going on over there. Help support them as Rays bloggers and check them out daily (after you check out this site first of course)

Each day you will be able to find the best Rays stories from across the web, as well as news about the Rays current opponent. Each topic will be in a summarized form here, and while you will get the jest of the story from reading the summary here, I encourage you to check out the entire post by clicking the link included with the summary.

You will also find that most of the links on this page will tie back into a Rays blog online, as opposed to a major media outlet. I believe it is important for fans to support bloggers because they offer a unique look on the time that is often times overlooked by major media syndication.

That said, enjoy your first “Daily Mashup”

Rays Sign Joaquin Benoit to Minor League Deal

This signing could prove to be big for the Rays if Benoit can put together a strong spring. The 32 year old reliever has a 30-26 career win loss record, with 538 strikeouts and a 4.79 ERA. Benoit is coming off of major arm surgery, but if he can rebound, he could contribute for the Rays. They have had great success as of late with pitchers signed to minor league contracts (see Randy Choate & Winston Abreu)

New look for Sunday home games in 2010

The Rays will sport a new, light blue jersey for all Sunday home games this year. The jerseys will officially be unveiled this Sunday at Champs Sports by James Shields, Matt Garza, Jeff Niemann & Kelly Shoppach. Personally, I am not a fan of all the jersey alternatives teams have these days, because let’s face it, it is JUST done so we all buy more apparel, but I will say in a brief preview online earlier this week, these things did look pretty sharp.

Could CC possibly be any faster? Yep!

Hard to imagine that Carl Crawford could get any faster on the base paths, but if this story holds true, it could be a fantastic year for speedy All Star left fielder. Now, if we could only speed up his contract negotiations.

Upton loses arbitration

Center fielder B.J. Upton lost his arbitration case with the Rays, but DID get a raise. It was ruled Upton will make 3 million this year, which is $300,000 less than he was hoping for. Who is splitting hairs right? I can only hope that Upton does not get lazy now that he has a payout that is more suiting to his capability. I say, if Upton shows bad attitude and laziness this year, it may be time for the Rays to cut ties and trade him while they can get something back, but that is just my opinion.

Elijah Dukes Really Doesn’t Want To Play For The Tampa Bay Rays [Rays Index]

Assuming Shoppach is one of two catchers on the opening day roster, the question then becomes: Who will be the second? There are several options…

• Dioner Navarro (as part of a platoon) – These are the top two catchers in the organization right now, so this may seem like the obvious choice. However, both hit right-handed pitchers about as well as James Shields hits charging batters. And with about 100 games against righties, that doesn’t seem very productive.
• Dioner Navarro (as backup) – The Rays could give Shoppach 110-120 starts and let Navi get the rest. The upside is the Rays could get lucky with Shoppach posting a strong OBP versus righties. The problem here is that Shoppach would get all the starts versus lefties, leaving Navi to only play against pitchers he doesn’t fare well against. Also, Navi is arbitration-eligible and his salary will be based on being a starter the last two seasons. $2.0-2.5 million is a lot for a backup catcher on a team with a tight budget.
• Gregg Zaun (as part of a platoon) – This may be the ideal situation for the Rays as Zaun hits righties well, is solid defensively and provides leadership. However, with several teams reportedly interested, the Rays may be out of luck if another teams is willing to give Zaun more than 50-60 starts.
• Shawn Riggans (as backup) – This may be the “if all else fails” option. Like Shoppach and Navi, Riggans hits lefties better. With Shoppach on board, Joe Maddon will want to give him his rest versus righties so Riggans is not an ideal backup.
• [Insert catcher here via trade or free agency] (as part of a platoon) – If Zaun signs elsewhere, the Rays will likely set their sights elsewhere. But who? We can speculate, but knowing the Rays it will be somebody that is not on anybody’s radar.
• John Jaso or Jose Lobaton (as part of a mini-platoon) – Let’s say Shoppach gets all 60 starts versus left-handers and half of the starts versus right-handers. That would be about 110-120 starts. That leaves 40-50 starts versus righties. Jaso and Lobaton are both on the 40-man roster. Both have big league experience. Both are cheap. And both hit righties better than lefties (Lobaton: .779 career OPS in the minors vRHP, .629 vLHP; Jaso: .847 vRHP, .760 vLHP).  But is either ready to hit big league pitching and is either ready defensively? Jaso threw out only 17% of would-be base stealers in triple-A last season while Lobaton was a little better at 28% in double-A and triple-A combined.

We have to admit, the final option is the one that we are warming up to quickly. Why not trade/non-tender Navarro and let Jaso and Lobaton compete for the backup job in spring training. Best man wins. It would be Andre the Giant versus Hulk Hogan (if Andre the Giant was 6-1 and from Venezuela).  The ancillary benefit is that the Rays would save ~$2.0 million that could be better spent in the bullpen, or on a quarterback for the Florida Tuskers.

[2:40pm] We have just learned that the Rays are close to a deal that would send catcher Kelly Shoppach to the Rays from Cleveland. It is unknown who would be going to the Indians.

Shoppach hit .214/.335/.399 with 12 home runs and 40 RBI in 89 games last season. He is arbitration-eligible and will be eligible for free agency after the 2011 season. He made $1.95 million in 2009.

This trade does open the possibility that the Rays will cut ties with Dioner Navarro instead of offering him arbitration by the December 12th deadline as there is no need to keep both catchers. Shoppach is much stronger versus lefties (1.045 OPS vLHP, .652 vRHP in ‘09) as is Navarro (.740 OPS v LHP, .489 OPS vRHP in ‘09).

This move does not keep the Rays from re-signing Gregg Zaun to be the left-handed bat in a catching platoon.

DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…

• We have heard these exact sentiments previously, but Buster Olney is reporting that the Rays will only trade Pat Burrell to the Cubs for Milton Bradley if the deal is on their terms. In other words, there is no negotiation. Take it, or leave it. [MLB Trade Rumors]
• Tampa Bay Rays Fan did a point/counter-point with Dock of the Rays on the merits of trading for Milton Bradley. [Tampa Bay Rays Fan]
• Jorge Says No! looks at what it might take to sign Carl Crawford to an extension and suggests 3-years/$45 million with a raise to $13 million in 2010 and growing to $18 million in 2012. The post doesn’t think the Rays would be willing to go that high…We think the numbers are about right but we are not sure Crawford will want a deal so short. [Jorge Says No!]
• Strange. A writer for NESN.com (The Red Sox TV network) wrote a piece based on last week’s blog post at a New York website that claimed the Rays backed out of a handshake agreement with Carl Crawford to not pick up his option and that Crawford was “livid.” Most people with a clue picked up on the errors in the report and lack of fact-checking and now assume that the “source” for the piece was fictional. And yet, NESN.com just assumed it was true. [NESN.com]
• MLB.com is running a series of “Organizational Reviews” and the Rays are up. Did you hear? The Rays have depth of pitching talent. Imagine what Lisa Winston would have written before the Rays traded Edwin Jackson, Jason Hammel and Scott Kazmir. [MLB]
• For those that are still pissed the Rays traded Edwin Jackson: The Tigers are so determined to trade Jackson that “it’s like they want to give him away.” [MLB Trade Rumors]
• This is a fantasy baseball evaluation but still interesting topic: Jacoby Ellsbury or Carl Crawford? [Fantasy Baseball 365]
• Mark Fernandez, a senior VP with the Rays, returned to his elementary school to speak about his work in Major League Baseball. [Tampa Tribune]