First Game of the Season — Thursday!
10 days to first game at the DBAP
Several sources (but lets go with the Bulls themselves) are reporting the following roster for the Bulls:
Starting Pitchers:
- Richard de los Santos
- Dirk Hayhurst
- Alex Torres
- Alex Cobb
- Edgar Gonzalez
- R.J. Swindle
- Chris Bootcheck
- Rob Delaney
- Dane De La Rosa
- Brandon Gomes
- Cory Wade
- Robinson Chirinos
- Jose Lobaton
- J.J. Furmaniak
- Omar Luna
- Ray Olmedo
- Russ Canzler
- Casey Kotchman
- Desmond Jennings
- Justin Ruggiano
- Leslie Anderson
- Chris Carter
- Brandon Guyer
Three names are missing from this list and others that we’ve seen. The first is infielder Felipe Lopez who was called up when Evan Longoria went on the disabled list. Room had to be made on the 40-man roster, so relief pitcher Mike Ekstrom was designated for assignment. Ekstrom may or may not show up in Durham. If he doesn’t, my bet would have been on Brian Baker, but his name has disappeared from any of the rosters I’ve seen so far. Anybody out there know what happened to Brian? Omar Luna took Lopez’s place on the Bulls’ roster.
Odds and Ends
- Interesting list of hotels/motels to stay at/avoid over at Life of the Baseball Wife. What’s a bit odd about the list is, with a few minor exceptions, they are all in places the average person is unlikely to visit (unless you’re married to a baseball player, I guess).
- Good backgrounder on catcher Nevin Ashley in the Montgomery Advertiser. We saw Ashley for a while last year. Have never seen Vogt. Good chance that we might see both near the end of the season.
- Yesterday's Rays' starting infield of Dan Johnson, Ben Zobrist, Elliot Johnson, and Sean Rodriguez looked distinctly Bullish.
Posts
Is Brandon Gomes related to Jonny?
ReplyDeleteAs to Baker, this source from Montgomery says he's with the Bulls:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/article/20110403/SPORTS01/104030347/1002/SPORTS/Biscuit-crumbs-More-training-Matulia
Interesting to see Dirk in the starting rotation since my understanding is he is primarily a bullpen guy and was looking to make the Rays as a member of the pen. I wonder if that is more about his development, the potential need from the Rays down the line, or just a lack of other good options for the Bulls.
ReplyDeleteBrandon from Massachusetts, Jonny from California, so I don't think so. If I were a betting man, I'd bet that Baker is on the Bulls roster, but just got left off the press release. Ekstrom status a big loose end, though.
ReplyDeleteHayhurst starting is a puzzle to me as well. I'd looked for Baker to have that slot. Maybe just seeking a backup starter since they really don't want to pull Torres or Cobb up this soon? I understand that Sonnastine is the Rays long relief/6th starter now. Hayhurst was a starting pitcher back in 2006 according to his stats. So maybe the Rays just want to take a look. Or maybe they couldn't find another Carlos Hernandez to go along with Edgar Gonzalez.
ReplyDeleteAnother aspect to Hayhurst is that he spent 2010 on the DL. Maybe the system is seeing something in his reconstructed arm/shoulder that they want to try out.
ReplyDeleteAnd more, the same question came up in a thread over at Rays Index (http://bit.ly/etA3gM).
ReplyDeleteBlogger Cork Gaines has this to say:
Just a guess at this point but beyond Sonnanstine, who do the Rays have that can start in case of emergency? They may feel that Torres and Cobb are not ready, even for spot starts. And a couple of the veteran arms that have been in Durham are now gone (eg Carlos Hernandez).
So it could just be because it is easier to move from the rotation to the bullpen than vice versa (on short notice). So why not stretch out his arm as insurance (he’s done it before) and if needed they can easily move him back to the ‘pen.
It was great to see Elliot Johnson get his first Rays hit & RBI of the season yesterday (and off of a bunt!)! It's one of the video highlights on the Rays webpage.
ReplyDeleteI sure hope the wind isn't blowing at 40 knots on opening day...last night made me feel like I was rounding Cape Horn
ReplyDelete