After false start, Alvarez to return

ST. PETERSBURG -- Wilson Alvarez is set to make his Rays return -- again.

Manager Hal McRae said Alvarez would start Friday night against Oakland, continuing the long, strange chapter that has been the left-hander's career in Tampa Bay.

Alvarez began the season in the starting rotation but went on the disabled list April 15 after straining a rib cage muscle during his second start. Alvarez, who has pitched 10 innings this season, made several rehabilitation starts in the minors before team officials decided he was ready to rejoin the rotation.

"He's good to go," McRae said. "If he's healthy he gives us a solid pitcher who knows how to pitch. He threw good before he got hurt. He threw good the game he got hurt. How long it will take to get back to that point, we don't know."

Alvarez's 10 innings this season are the first in the majors since the end of the 1999 season. After going on the disabled list at the end of spring training in 2000, Alvarez had arthroscopic surgery on his left shoulder and spent the past two seasons rehabilitating.

In five years with Tampa Bay, Alvarez is 15-24.

MOVES IN THE MAKING: Alvarez's return means Travis Harper, who made three starts, will be used as a long reliever. McRae said Harper was available for relief duty Wednesday.

The Rays also have to make a roster move, and the manager hinted that might involve a position player.

Tuesday's promotion of Aubrey Huff, who has been designated hitter the past two games, also gives the Rays a backup third baseman and first baseman. That could make third baseman Jared Sandberg (.095 average) and infielder Jason Smith (.156) expendable.

PLAYING PLANS: As an even larger indication that Smith could be headed to Triple-A Durham, McRae said Sandberg would start all four games this weekend against Oakland. First baseman Steve Cox will rest one of the two days the A's pitch a left-hander, which means Russ Johnson will play, though McRae isn't sure what the combination would be.

CONTRACTION TALK: Might the deal that potentially saves the Twins be bad for the Rays?

The New York Times says so.

The newspaper, through an anonymous source, reported today that commmissioner Bud Selig said at a recent grievance hearing, "the Devil Rays would be on the list if the Twins were removed from it."

Rays officials have maintained the team is not a candidate for contraction. Major League Baseball officials said this year the Rays were not a candidate because of their local revenues.

KEEPING IT GOING: One reason the Rays promoted Huff was the fact he was batting .325 with nine doubles, three home runs and 20 RBIs in 32 games at Durham after breaking the bone around his eye socket before the season.

Huff kept that hot bat alive Wednesday with a 402-foot home run in the fourth. He is 2-for-8 in two games.

"At Triple A I was swinging the bat pretty well and I just wanted to come up here and have that same kind of attitude," Huff said. "I think going to Triple A and knowing I can play there and play there well, I'm trying to have that same frame of mind up here."

YOU CAN'T PREDICT GREATNESS: General manager Chuck LaMar and director of scouting Dan Jennings addressed next week's amateur draft, talking about the difficulty in selecting the right player.

"They're a prospect to me until they're a player," LaMar said. "Toby Hall was a prospect, then he became, we thought, a player. Now he's back to being a prospect. They're prospects until they perform and perform well at the major-league level."