Lou Piniella trimmed the roster, but he still has many issues to ponder.
By MARC TOPKIN and TOM JONES
Published March 25, 2004
ST. PETERSBURG - Lou Piniella shouldn't be bored on the Devil Rays' 20-hour trip to Japan which starts this afternoon.
The Rays essentially cut their roster to the 25-man opening-day limit on a wild Wednesday that included reassigning Fred McGriff to minor-league camp so he could keep working out to keep his comeback hopes alive. But even with the roster essentially in hand, Piniella admitted he hasn't yet figured out how to best fit the pieces together to make the team competitive in the rugged AL East.
"My job as a manager is to put the best club I can on the field to help us win baseball games," Piniella said. "And that's exactly what I'm going to do, whatever that entails. That's what I get paid for.
"We're thinking about different things. We'll see. ... I couldn't give you an opening-day starting lineup or a lineup right now."
The problem is that what the Rays envisioned as the starting lineup has not yet shown to be a very productive combination.
Specifically, two of Piniella's biggest issues are that Geoff Blum, who was acquired to be the primary third baseman, is hitting .217 and hasn't looked good doing it; and that Robert Fick, who was signed as a reserve but has been their most overall productive player, can play positions where the Rays are deep, such as catcher, outfield, DH and first base, but not third.
Another concern is a lack of power, with neither Rocco Baldelli nor Aubrey Huff hitting a spring home run.
Otherwise, the group of 13 position players ended the spring just about where they figured to be at the start of camp: Carl Crawford, Baldelli and Jose Cruz Jr. in the outfield; Tino Martinez, Rey Sanchez, Julio Lugo and a combination of Blum and Damian Rolls in the infield; Huff at DH; Toby Hall behind the plate; Brook Fordyce, Eduardo Perez, Fick and Blum or Rolls on the bench.
The pitching staff was not quite as clear-cut. The Rays optioned Travis Harper to Durham and are likely to put Bobby Seay on waivers for the final move. The roster for the Tuesday opener in Tokyo has to be submitted at 10 a.m. Tampa time Monday.
Slight surprises were Piniella's decision to open with a five-man rotation that includes rookie Doug Waechter, who until this week seemed headed to Triple-A; strong performances by middle relievers Chad Gaudin and Jorge Sosa; and the inclusion of three lefties - Trever Miller, John Halama and Damian Moss, who failed to win a spot in the rotation.
"I like our ballclub," Piniella said. "We improved in different areas. Our pitching is a little deeper and more experienced. We got deeper (playerwise). We should catch the ball on the field better.
"If I have a concern, it's offensively. Hopefully, it's a spring training concern - nothing more or nothing less. But I've seen the teams that we have to beat in our division, a few of them, and you have to put five or six runs on the board. You can't beat these teams scoring two, three or four runs. Hopefully, this thing will work out (when the season starts) the way we see it on paper. We'll mix and match here and there. One thing is for sure, we're going to have to play our whole allotment of players and mix and match as much as possible and keep the hot bats in the lineup."
While they let nonroster veteran infielders Deivi Cruz and Fernando Tatis and pitchers Todd Jones and Mike Williams go, the Rays hung on to McGriff, the 40-year-old who came to camp hoping to show some team - any team - he was healthy and productive enough to get at least the nine home runs he needs for 500.
The Rays agreed to let McGriff continue working out at the minor-league complex, giving them some depth should one of their top players get hurt in Japan, and gave agent Jim Krivacs permission to start talking to other teams in hopes of finding McGriff a roster spot.
"I think he's shown everybody he's healthy and he wants the opportunity," Rays general manager Chuck LaMar said. "It's just a matter of if he's going to get that opportunity."
Krivacs started making calls right away, offering McGriff's services for basically the $300,000 minimum salary.
"I don't know what's going to happen; this part of it is very humbling," Krivacs said. "If you're a club that's right there, you can bring in a guy who's going to hit 25-30 (homers), drive in 100 (runs) and get real deep, real quick for nothing."
Piniella gave McGriff, who hit .250 (5-for-20) with one extra-base hit, his endorsement.
"Some club that is looking for a good bat coming off the bench or a first baseman, I would encourage them to take a look at Freddy and give him an opportunity," Piniella said. "He's a professional."
Among the players who didn't make the team, Seay may have been the most upset.
"I wasn't given the opportunity," Seay said. "I'm sure a lot of guys here feel the same way. To give someone $3-million (as a signing bonus in 1996) and say "See you later,' I think it could have been done before camp and let me be given a chance to impress another team."
