Piniella ready to trim

As manager ponders cuts, Greg Vaughn says he is limited to DH.

By MARC TOPKIN, Times Staff Writer

© St. Petersburg Times
published March 3, 2003

TAMPA -- With a major-league high 72 players in camp, Devil Rays manager Lou Piniella has had plenty to watch during the first 21/2 weeks of spring training.

And -- in some cases, anyway -- he has seen enough already.

"Some guys have impressed me," Piniella said. "Truthfully, there are a few more that haven't."

Sunday's 5-4 loss to the Yankees wasn't particularly galling or mistake-filled, but it was the Rays' second straight and it was clear Piniella wants to quickly ship out some of the players who aren't helping and focus on the ones who might be able to.

"The amazing thing is the numbers are so big that you almost look at it from, 'Who are you going to keep?' as opposed to, 'How is this thing coming?' " Piniella said. "We've got to get the numbers down. That's the whole thing."

Sunday's game provided the usual illustration of the contrasts between the teams at the opposite ends of the game's financial totem pole, the Rays very much the visiting team in Tampa while playing before a crowd (10,227) larger than they'll get for some regular-season games, and the Yankees -- even in spring training -- fielding a squad with more talent at every position.

For the Yankees, spring questions are limited to such things as determining how good Hideki Matsui really is, which of the seven established starters will end up in the five-man rotation and how the bullpen work will be distributed among four proven veterans.

The Rays, in contrast, have some serious issues.

One is what to do with Greg Vaughn, who acknowledged Sunday that he will be limited to DH duties because the right shoulder he injured in June isn't yet strong enough to withstand playing the outfield.

"Right now I'm just trying to get my bat going without having to really worry about my arm," Vaughn said. "I'm still rehabbing it right now, still trying to build it up and endure a 162-game season. Do I love to play the outfield? Yeah, you guys know that. But right now, it might not be the best idea. I'm getting my work in, throwing, doing all that other stuff just trying to build it up.

"If there was a game (today) you wouldn't hear me say I couldn't play. I'd just tell the shortstop and those guys to come way out in leftfield to get the ball."

Vaughn's appearance in Sunday's game (he was 2-for-4) was his first since running into the outfield wall in Colorado, and he clearly was happy just to be back in a game.

"It's been a long time," he said. "I've been in the batting cage since June. It felt weird there was actually no cage out there. No cage, no screen. I felt like a big boy today."

If Vaughn is on the team but can't play the outfield, the Rays other options, such as where to use Aubrey Huff, could be limited. Vaughn's status could be even more of an issue depending on the progress of the Rays' outfield prospects.

From what Piniella said Sunday, the outfield of the future won't be together any time soon.

Though he seems relatively pleased with what he has seen from Carl Crawford and Rocco Baldelli, who hasn't hit yet but made a nifty move throwing to second base behind Jorge Posada in the second inning, Piniella essentially admitted that Josh Hamilton isn't ready and needs to go back to the minors.

"He has the potential to be a really fine ballplayer, but the last few years he's been injured and hasn't played a full season in the minors and he needs some at-bats," Piniella said. "He's a little green and it shows out here from time to time."

With 10 games over the next seven days, the evaluations will become more intense and more significant. Piniella would like to cut about 20 players this week, and 10 or so more shortly after.

There have been some good things too, he said, some "positives every day."

The pitching, for the most part, has been good. Veteran starter candidates Jim Parque and Steve Parris both made decent debuts Sunday, though relievers Edgar Huerta and Blake Stein were noticeably ineffective.

The offense has been spotty, but there is potential, illustrated Sunday by the speed Crawford and Marlon Anderson showed at the top of the order and the power Huff and Lee Stevens supplied from the middle.

"We're just evaluating so it's too early to be talking about what I like and what I really don't like," Piniella said. "But I think what it tells me more than anything else is who to cut."