Kaz back, Reyes not yet

LHP Scott Kazmir rejoined the Rays on Tuesday and is now officially set to make his first start of the season on Sunday in Boston. Kazmir said he felt fine after his rehab start on Monday for Durham, had no issues at all with his left elbow and was "fully 100 percent" ready to go.

RHP Al Reyes made his second rehab appearance on Monday for Class A Vero, getting up to 88 mph with his fastball, and was expected to rejoin the Rays on Thursday, but the Rays now say he will make at least one more rehab appearance, and that will be Thursday in extended spring training.
Depending on how that goes, it could buy the Rays a little more time in making what looks to be a tough call in making room for Kazmir on the pitching staff.
Reliever Kurt Birkins, who was called up to replace Reyes, is expected to be sent to Triple-A Durham, but if Reyes isn't quite ready they could send Birkins down when they activate Kazmir, then make another move - which seems likely to involve either sending down Andy Sonnanstine or moving him to the bullpen, or sending down Matt Garza -  when Reyes is activated.

Also, Cliff Floyd is expected to start DHing in extended spring games on Thursday and INF Ben Zobrist has been able to play some despite still having pins in his fractured left thumb.

Otherwise, the Rays are getting ready to take on the Orioles in an unlikely battle of the AL East leaders.  The Rays lineup looks like this:
Iwamura, 2b
Crawford, lf
Upton, cf
Pena, 1b
Longoria, 3b
Gomes, dh
Navarro, c
Hinske, rf
Bartlett, ss
Hammel, p

Comments

[johnny]

GOOBERS, run out and vote to build a 1/2 billion dollar stadium.
While our educators get pay cuts, police is undermanned....THIS PLACE SUCKS!!!!!!!!!

[Ray]

Hey Johnny, only a goober would put your post in a thread about Kaz coming back.

[Darian]

Go back to Boston, New York or where ever you came from then.

[Brent]

Welcome back Kaz!!!! Johnny I think the skyway is calling your name.

[El Guapo]

If the front office's ego demands that Sonnanstine gets sent down instead of Garza...my boycott begins.

[CJ]

Hey johnny,Feel free to move or go troll somewhere else.

Glad Kaz is coming back, hope he can keep up with the other guys.

I think this is about baseball not your dysfunctional opinions about politics

[LoriO]

El Guapo, I totally agree! Dont send Sonnanstine down just because he has options left! So does Garza, he is under performing, send him donw! I just wrote an article about that for the 6-4-3...
http://the6-4-3.mlblogs.com/

[why]

Why did the swap Hinske and Navarro in the lineup?

[Bodog]

lefty righty thing against the lefty....Navi is a switch hitter and you don't want Navi hitting that high in the line-up where Gomes is hitting.

[Philip]

Send Hammel down and keep Garza and Sonnanstine when Kazmir get back.

[Bodog]

Agreed Phillip - Hammel should go down. With his pitching preformance, maybe no-one will take him. In my opinion, Rays management would be making a huge mistake in sending Andy down. Even as erratic as EJ is, the rotation should be Kaz, Shields, Graza, Sonny, and EJ. These guys give us the best chance to win. Rays disappointed me in tonite's game. It's like they come into a game after an off day flat, I know winning is new to these guys but they have to realize that they need to bring it everyday. GO RAYS!

[lots of runs]

I agree. The first 4 innings the Rays left a lot of runs out there on the bases by not executing....

[raysfan]

send sonny down? STUPID. he's pitching lights out. keep hammel (a virtual NOBODY) instead?! what's this team thinking? garza isn't exactly making a case for himself either, although the latest game against boston was better than i had expected. but sending sonny down is S-T-U-P-I-D. i don't trust this team not to do the wrong thing.

[agree]

If they are really afraid that they'll lose Hammel with another team placing him on the major league roster then the smart thing to do is to place him in the bullpen and send someone down from the pen that does have options. Garza will not be sent down.......so, I say put Hammel in the pen and if there is an injury you can place him back into the rotation.

[Carl]

Ok, last night they have a small strike zone based on comments from our bench and starting pitcher. So, WHY, when facing a minor league pitcher, are they swinging at the first or even second pitch? I seem to remember Carl Crawford's batting average being 40 points higher when he doesn't swing at the first pitch. He is a good player who could be GREAT if he just had some patience. The Red Sox and Yankees have great talent but what makes them even better is their discipline at the plate. Iwamura and Upton seem to be the only disciplined hitters we have on the team. With pitch counts being the rage, doesn't it make sense to take an extra pitch or two in each at bat? Consider this: If each batter took two extra pitches and the pitcher only faced one batter over the minimum in each inning, the pitcher will have thrown over 90 pitches by the 5th inning. Then the team usually brings in a reliever who is not a starter because he is NOT TALENTED ENOUGH to be a starter. This isn't rocket science; it's baseball! If Randor Bierd was brought in one inning earlier by the Orioles, we would have had a better chance of winning the game than we had and it can be traced back to lack of plate discipline.

[Gene]

Carl,
Thanks for the math lesson! I am chalking this up to another lesson they need to learn as a young team. You know Joe told them about not treating the game different, but if they don't believe him... Tonight, let's hope Sonny makes the decision even harder to send him down. I am really thinking hard about the Garza option to let him take some pressure off his arm and head until he has his confidence back.

[sam]

It's funny that there are so many negative comments about the stadium. I love the trop, and it is comfortable to go to games there, the weather isnt an issue and its 72 degrees. But we all know baseball should be played outdoors. The new stadium is exactly what the rays need, by the time it is built, we will be in the playoffs every year and that place would sell-out every game. Plus, the team plays better outdoors. I just laugh at how ignorant some people are. And johnny, i am a firefighter and get paid appropriately for my line of work, if you want to make more money then dont become a teacher or a policeman, if i wanted to not have to worry about money then i would have been a doctor so dont complain about these things. We need a new stadium becuase this is a new team!

[Bodog]

@Agree....I'm gonna have to disagree with you on this one pal. Why tamper with what is the strenght of your ball club at this time, which is the pen. To move Hammel to the pen, Joe would have to send down either Miller, Wheeler, Glover, Dohlman, Birkins,and or Pervical - we know he isn't going anywhere - so we can basically count him out. They have another young lefty in the pen, but his name slips my mind at this time, very good young talent - let him be. Reyes is on the DL and is going to get one more outing before being called up, not quite sure how they are gonna do that one, my thinking - why not extend Reyes' stay on the DL another 15 days - give Hammel one more start and see what he does, if he craps out - so be it, put him out there and take your chances. Last night in watching the game, it appeared to me that he was afraid to pitch to contact, which a lot of the younger pitchers have a tendency to do. He wasn't agressive in the strike zone at all. He was all over the plate and once those Oriole hitter figured him out - they blasted his tail.

@Carl....I agree with you on Crawford's impatience at the plate,it is a concern for me as well, but on the other hand, we basically have a rookie pitcher on the mound. His mindset - get the first pitch strike. I can understand that reasoning from a pitcher's standpoint ( Becket did it ) granted this kid isn't the caliber pitcher of Becket. Get that first pitch strike and everything else flows from that. It appears in Crawfords' case he just goes up there swinging with no particular pitch in mind, he has to be much more selected in his first pitch swings. This guy last night did not have a blazing fast ball and his other stuff was average - our hitters should have been on this guy's azz like a fat lady eating at the buffet table. Let's hope Sonny can get us going again tonite. Man, I'm looking past this Orioles series to the rematch with the Sox, Jackson, Shields, and Kaz against Buchholz, Becket and TBA on the third pitcher for the Sox. What a f$%&king year for Rays baseball. See ya'll at the ole ball park in a week or so. "GO RAYS"

[Joe DiMaio]

Hammel would appear to be the odd man out
as Reyes will take Birkins spot when activated.

Joe
http://fantasyplayersedge.blogspot.com

[Bodog]

Joey...you gonna lose two pitchers, one when Kaz returns (Birkins) and another when Reyes returns. I agree that Hammel would and should be the logical choice, but we have been incorrect before - remember the deal on whether Longo should have stayed or returned to Durham.