Thursday, April 1, 2010

Final answers.

Getting down to the wire before Opening Day. The Rangers only have one roster spot left to fill, that of a backup first baseman/third baseman. Matt Brown was the leading candidate to fill that slot but the team acquired Ryan Garko off waivers today. He could be a possibility.

The infield is nailed down as much as possible with Chris Davis at first, Andres Blanco at second (until Ian Kinsler comes off the DL), Elvis Andrus at short, and Michael Young at third. Joaquin Arias will be the backup middle infielder with the backup corner infielder to be determined. Not sure if Arias or Blanco will get the bump when Kinsler comes back.

The starting outfield will consist of Nelson Cruz, Julio Borbon, and Josh Hamilton. David Murphy is the backup and Vladimir Guerrero can also be used in a pinch.

The starting rotation will be Rich Harden, C.J. Wilson, Scott Feldman, Colby Lewis, and Matt Harrison. The bullpen will consist of Frank Francisco, Darren Oliver, Chris Ray, Neftali Feliz, Darren O'Day, Doug Mathis, and Dustin Nippert.

Catching duties look to be divided up between Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Taylor Teagarden. Since there has been no clear winner in the competition for the starting job there is a real possibility of the platoon situation lasting all season.

So that's it. One or two decisions left and then its time to see how the ship sails.

Decision time for the Devil Rays as well. Former Ranger Hank Blalock, seen here on his 2003 Topps Autographs card, says that he has no plans to play minor league ball this season. If he isn't on the Rays 25-man roster by Friday he can opt out of his contract with the team. Apparently he has done well enough this spring to make them think twice about letting him walk. He was scheduled to play today against the Orioles.

It will be interesting to see what happens, not just with the Rangers and Rays but with all the teams as they come out of the gate.

2 comments:

John Bateman said...

It is hard to believe that Arias is still around I think I have his 2004 Bowman card - the remnants of the ARod deal

Play at the Plate said...

Great wrap up...I was going to try to do one of these types of posts, but now I don't have to!