Cork Gaines over at RaysIndex has a pretty good track record at thinking through where the Rays might be going. Recently he posted his 25-man and 40-man roster projections and they are worth looking at. I particularly like the way that Cork puts these together. And a lot of interesting information is buried in the notes.
Why should we Bulls fans care?
A couple of reasons.
First of all, if this is the way it shakes out, a huge number of 2010 Bulls are going to be playing in the big leagues in 2011: Dan Johnson, Elliot Johnson, Desmond Jennings, Matt Joyce, Justin Ruggiano, Jeremy Hellickson, and Mike Ekstrom were all Bulls regulars last year. That’s a huge transfer of talent from minor to major leagues. I’d bet it is easily the biggest shift in Bulls’ history — but I’ll defer to any careful reader out there with a better handle on history than I. Note also that John Jaso, Reid Brignac, Ben Zobrist, Wade Davis, and Jeff Neimann are barely out of their Bulls uniforms.
The second, and more interesting, reason to take a look is that the Bulls’ 2011 roster will come from two pools of players — those players on the 40-man but not on the 25-man roster, and the group of players labeled “non-roster invitees” (that is, the guys who get invited to spring training by the Rays). We have little information on the non-roster invitees so far.
However, if Gaines is close to being correct, and the Bulls continue to carry 12 position players in 2011, only four position player slots are filled. He’s got Anderson on first, Ashley and Lobaton catching, and Perez in the outfield.
Interesting times.
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Hopefully Perez will be in better form this year. His wrist injury has been a tough one to overcome.
ReplyDeleteIf I were a betting man, I'd bet that Perez won't be back at all. If Gaines' numbers are right, Perez' pay drops off the cliff from his minor league minimums of a year ago. He's such a bright, articulate guy, you expect he will find something else to do. On the other hand, maybe last year was a get well year (but it's been almost two years since his injury).
ReplyDeleteSo did Chris Richard retire? I haven't heard anything about him lately.
ReplyDeleteDave
A couple of posts ago there's a link to an interview with Montoyo where he says he thinks Chris Richard may be re-thinking retirement. And he goes on to say that if he does, he hopes the Rays offer him a contract. That's all I've heard so far.
ReplyDeleteFurmaniak is signed middle infield in Durham ????
ReplyDeleteHaven't heard a thing. Link?
ReplyDeleteWould love to have him.
Yes, in early December. From the Press Release:
ReplyDeleteThe Tampa Bay Rays have signed five players to minor league contracts, each with an invitation to major league spring training: infielders Russ Canzler and J.J. Furmaniak, right-handed pitchers Richard De Los Santos and Cory Wade and left-handed pitcher R.J. Swindle.
Doug is right. Worse, we reported on JJ's situation right here!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.watchingdurhambullsbaseball.com/2010/12/three-bulls-back-with-rays-organization.html
Old age is really sad to see, especially when it's looking right at you from the mirror.