Devil Rays OF

[Rajah]

Seems some people got some bad info on the makeup of the D-Ray's outfield. According to Espn.com's projected batting order, Carl Crawford will start in left, with Rocco Baldelli in center, and Ben Grieve in right. Marlon Anderson is a bench player who could very well take Brent Abernathy's job.

here's the link:
http://espn.go.com/mlb/spring2003/preview03/tam.html

[LeGrandOrange]

ESPN.com's current depth chart lists Rolls at the moment, and a news and notes section lists that Marlon Anderson is in RF. Who knows.

Jared Sandberg appears to have fallen from the radar screen because Huff is at 3B, Lee is at 1B, and Grieve is the DH these days.

So we've all got bad information.

[Rajah]

From the official Devil Rays website:
Lefty Joe Kennedy will be the starting pitcher against the Red Sox next Monday, and Toby Hall will start at catcher. The infield will have Travis Lee at first, Brent Abernathy at second, Rey Ordonez at short and Aubrey Huff at third, while the outfield will have Carl Crawford in left, Rocco Baldelli in center and Marlon Anderson in right. Ben Grieve will DH.

Aubrey Huff at third kind of bothers me, other than that, Marlon is probably better defensively than Grieve. And with how weak the Rays are, Marlon probably should be in the starting lineup, and Abernathy is still young, and could develop into second base goodness.

I wouldn't say that the Rays have given up on Hamilton. I think they would just like to see him play a full season at Durham before making him a regular.

Oops, almost forgot to include the link:

http://tampabay.devilrays.mlb.com/NA...news&fext=.jsp

[sweaver]

One guesses that, with that young pitching, Piniella wants a speedy outfield to run down balls. So, the decision to DH Grieve and put Huff in the field. The Rays have more flyball pitchers than groundball pitchers?

[LeGrandOrange]

What I'm mildly concerned about with Marlon is his skill afield. He's not really a prime utility man, and he's never played a game in the OF, whereas his platoon partner Rolls, a role that Piniella's confirmed, has enough experience to get by, although I don't thikn he's all that great either.

Both are better than Grieve afield but much like a lot of what Pinieilla is doing, he's playing the hand he's dealt.

[KCBOOMER]

Originally posted by sweaver
One guesses that, with that young pitching, Piniella wants a speedy outfield to run down balls. The Rays have more flyball pitchers than groundball pitchers?

Good idea except too many of those flyballs travel about 450 feet.

[Rajah]

Originally posted by LeGrandOrange
What I'm mildly concerned about with Marlon is his skill afield. He's not really a prime utility man, and he's never played a game in the OF, whereas his platoon partner Rolls, a role that Piniella's confirmed, has enough experience to get by, although I don't thikn he's all that great either.

Both are better than Grieve afield but much like a lot of what Pinieilla is doing, he's playing the hand he's dealt.

I watched Anderson a few times when he was with Philly. He didn't so much play 2nd base as he played shallow right center field. I think he should be ok playin right. If the difference is using Anderson at DH and Grieve in right or vice versa, vice versa is the better choice.

[sweaver]

I think the choice is Grieve at DH with Huff at 3B and Anderson/Rolls in RF, or Grieve in RF, Huff at DH, and Sandberg or "other" at 3B. Not sure how I would play it. Not many good choices.

[LeGrandOrange]

Lou Piniella circa now is a better RF than Grieve so you have to put Marlon there, no question.

[Luis]

Huff is young, mediocre but not horrible as a third baseman, and the best player on the team. How can you even consider the possibility of not playing Huff at third base. Do you think that if he plays third the Rays' playoff chances will be destroyed ?

The pitching will be bad no matter what. No matter who Pinella plays RF and DH it will be a poor option and will have little impact on the development of the Rays. Not allowing Huff to develop into a third baseman would be silly.

[Bruce Markusen]

The Devil Rays have made at least one right move this spring, in releasing Greg Vaughn and making a commitment to Crawford and Baldelli in left and center field. You have to start somewhere, and perhaps this is a sign of Lou Piniella starting to have some influence on the makeup of the team.

The Devil Rays are still awful, but they will at least be a bit more fun to watch, with the two young outfielders, Ordonez at shortstop (certainly not a good player, but he is entertaining to watch in the field), and some new faces to monitor in Marlon Anderson and Travis Lee.

[SmedIndy]

It will be entertaining to see Anderson try to play OF, but how entertaining will it be to see Lee make outs?

[clemente21]

The Devil Rays picked up George Lombard on waivers from TB. I guess he'll be in the RF mix too, but more likely just going to back up the kids in center and left.

[JamesI]

I saw they picked up Al Martin off waivers.

[LeGrandOrange]

First thought when I saw that was "So THAT'S where he is..."

Lombard, even though he's still a flop prospect, is a good guy to throw into the OF mix. I think he's a 4th OF but an injury or ineffectiveness to Abernathy or a couple others and I'm pretty sure he'll get PT.

As for Martin, consider him a non factor. Seattle didn't hesitate to not resign him 2 years ago. He's also a dork. (Nice professional analysis, huh?) I don't realistically expect him to leave Durham unless Ben Grieve pulls a Greg Vaughn. And Sandberg is still first in line for his roster spot anyway.