First Cuts of Spring Training, and more ...

Days to first Durham Bulls Game (@ Gwinnett) — 26

Days to Home Opener — 33

The Rays sent eight players from their spring training roster over to the minor league camp yesterday, seven pitchers and one outfielder. Stories here and here.

Pitchers: Brian Baker, Jonah Bayliss, Matt Bush, Dan De La Rosa, Rickey Orta, and Albert Suarez

Outfielder: Brandon Guyer.

Of the pitchers four are on the Rays’ 40-man: Bush, Torres, De La Rosa, and Suarez. Thus they are automatically on a short list to move up within the Rays’ system. Brian Baker spent all of 2010 with the Bulls and did a fine job. We saw a little bit of Alex Torres at the end of last season, and he looked pretty good.

Left handed batting outfielder Guyer is also on the Rays’ 40-man. He’s had very little playing time with the Rays (7 games, 40 AB, and only 1 hit). Will probably start the season with the Bulls.

My guess is that all of the pitchers will start the year in Durham or Montgomery.

WebWorld:

• Nifty feel-good story about a lady baseball pitcher Justine Siegal throwing batting practice. |MLB.com|
• Good story on Chris Richard's retirement. Did not mention proposal to retire his number. Still think that's a good idea. |MiLB.com|
• Jeremy Hellickson got in his first inning yesterday. He's recovering from a reportedly minor injury.|MLB.com|
• Two new vendors of pizzas and hot dogs at the DBAP were announced. Although I am essentially agnostic regarding hot dogs, pleased to see a change in pizza vendor.
• Very pleased to see that a sponsor has continued free admission for active duty military program.
• Lastly, very good news that Akinori Iwamura is OK. We saw Iwamura in Durham a couple of times in his last year with the Rays. He is now playing for the Rakuten Golden Eagles who are based in Sendai, the town in Japan hammered by yesterday's earthquake and tsunami.