PORT CHARLOTTE (620 WDAE) -- Model 1.0 of the Tampa Bay Rays 25-man roster took a big hit over the weekend.
With the trade of Jake Odorizzi to the Minnesota Twins and the designating of Corey Dickerson for assignment on Saturday, it allows for a couple of new players to find themselves a spot for opening day.
I'll spare you the 3,000 word novella from last week and only highlight the changes from the previous week. Again, ground rules are the same: only players currently in the organization at the time of publication and some of it is based on gut instinct.
Starting pitchers (4): Chris Archer, Nathan Eovaldi, Jake Faria, Blake Snell
Relief Pitchers (8): Jose Alvarado, Matt Andriese, Alex Colome, Dan Jennings, Austin Pruitt, Chaz Roe, Sergio Romo, Ryne Stanek
Catchers (2): Wilson Ramos, Jesus Sucre
Infielders (6): C.J. Cron, Matt Duffy, Adeiny Hechaverria, Brad Miller, Daniel Robertson, Joey Wendle
Outfielders (5): Jason Coats, Kevin Kiermaier, Mallex Smith, Steven Souza Jr., Denard Span
photo: Getty Images
Additions:
1B C.J. Cron (2017: .248, 16 HR, 56 RBI) - Finally out from under the shadow of perhaps the greatest player of this current generation, the Rays hope that a full season at the big-league level will lead to a higher production level.
RHP Chaz Roe (2017: 0-0, 9.00 ERA with Braves, 0-0, 1.04 ERA with Rays) - I could spin you a yarn as to why Roe wasn't on the initial version of the projection. But the honest answer is that he should have been on there and I just missed him. Finished the year in great form with the Rays and hopes to give another similar full-season output with Tampa Bay
INF Joey Wendle (2017: .308, 1 HR, 5 RBI with Athletics) - I decided to swap Ryan Schimpf for Wendle for a couple of reasons. First, while Schimpf can hit the ball a long, long way, he has yet to prove that he can make any consistent contact at the Major League level. The second is that Wendle's defensive metrics are better than Schimpf's, plus like Daniel Robertson, he can play second, short and third.
OF Jason Coats (2017: DNP due to Tommy John surgery) - Coats, who signed in the 2016 offseason but ended up needing Tommy John surgery, gets the 25th spot on the roster only because of the ground rules set. As things stand right now, of the five outfielders on the 40-man roster, four of them hit left-handed (Kevin Kiermaier, Mallex Smith, Denard Span, and Justin Williams) and Tampa Bay would like to balance that out a little bit. That being said, there are a number of right-handed hitting outfielders that are still available on the free agent market (Carlos Gomez and Cameron Maybin come to mind), plus other teams that make moves could lead to more players being available. So don't expect Jason to get comfortable in this spot.