I’m gonna cheat. I’ll simply list the fifteen players on the current 40-man roster, but not on the active roster and add the non-roster invitees. The main problem with that is that the 25-man roster isn’t “official” yet, so I have to speculate a bit.
But since I’m definitely not a Rays blogger I’ll go with a Rays blogger’s (Cork Gaines) current thinking on the 25-man. You will see that there are more players on this list than the Bulls are allowed to carry and there will surely be more injuries/trades/signings as the weeks go by. And, just because a player is on the 40-man doesn’t mean he will end up in Durham. Still this is probably a 85-90% look at our roster for this year. The Rays 40-man is here, the non-roster invitees are here, and Cork’s list is here. A “*” designates a player on the non-roster invitee list.
Pitchers
- Dale Thayer
- Jake McGee
- Jeremy Hellickson
- Alex Torres
- Winston Abreu*
- Joe Bateman*
- Jeff Bennett*
- Jason Cromer*
- Richard De Los Santos*
- Carlos Hernandez*
- Heath Phillips*
- Heath Rollins *
- R.J. Swindle*
- John Jaso
- Jose Lobaton
- Craig Albernaz*
- Nevin Ashley*
- Alvin Colina*
- Reid Brignac
- Tim Beckham*
- Angel Chavez*
- Joe Dillon*
- J.J. Furmaniak*
- Chris Richard*
- Ryan Shealy*
- Justin Ruggiano
- Fernando Perez
- Desmond Jennings
Missing from this list is an obvious potential Bull, Elliot Johnson. I just don't understand baseball well enough to figure his situation out. He's on the official 40-man (so should have been on this list) but Gaines at least thinks he'll be dropped before the season starts. Ricky, over at RaysProspects, thinks Elliot will be designated for assignment eventually.
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For reasons that I can't quite figure out, it looks like Joe Dillon will be getting some reps as catcher for the Rays in spring training. If they like the idea of Dillon behind the plate, I could see them having him get more practice there with the Bulls this season.
ReplyDeleteThat would be interesting -- Dillon behind the plate. That said, looks like the Rays have a ton of catchers on various rosters -- just that none of them seem to be any good.
ReplyDeleteI left Elliot Johnson off my list. I'll add an update, but to be honest I don't quite know what to do with him.
I don't think Alex Torres will be in Durham this season. He's only pitched a few innings at the AA level, so I think he'll be in Montgomery.
ReplyDeleteElliot Johnson is out of options, so if he doesn't make the 25-man roster, he'll be available for the other 29 teams to sign (designated for assignment). If no one claims him, he can re-sign with the Rays if he wants to.
Once you are added to the 40-man, you have three seasons of options. Each year you are on the 40-man and don't make the 25-man, you are optioned back to the minors. It goes by seasons, not the number of times, so you could be sent down 5 times in one season and it only uses up one option.
Keep up your great work. I'll make an effort to link to you more often to spread the word.
I just re-read you post and saw how you came up with the roster more clearly. So disregard the Torres comment, and of course Beckham's not gonna be a Bull either. The rest looks pretty accurate though, to me at least.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Doug, for the clarification on Elliot.
ReplyDeleteYeah, this is a pretty shaky roster. Seems like even Matt Joyce could start the season in Durham and maybe Sean Rodriguez -- the 25-man for the Rays is far from firm. So this is just to get some names out there while we wait for things to clarify.
That will be a bit earlier this year since the Rays are playing the Bulls in Durham on April 3. You'd assume that the rosters will be set by then.