Rodriguez was hoping the Rays, who we know are a contending team, would come calling for his services. We know that the Rays currently have Jose Molina and Jose Lobaton  Chris Gimenez switching off at catcher, and that has gone relatively well so far even after Lobaton went on the DL. The Rays were confident enough in their group of catchers that they weren’t compelled to sign the 40 year old Rodriguez. We see from this that the Rays like their current situation at catcher more than the average fan does looking at the stats, and they were not afraid to refrain from making a move to bring in a big name starting catcher. The Rays are smart enough not to make a knee-jerk reaction despite having no true starting catcher on their roster, and considering Rodriguez’s OBP has been .295 the last five years and the Rays’ current catchers are playing pretty well, it looks like they made the right choice.

The Rays pulled off a walk-off win yesterday, with Chris Gimenez driving in two in the ninth. With yesterday’s victory, we saw the return of a lot of injured Rays. Evan Longoria made his comeback, going 0 for 1 with a walk. Luke Scott went 0 for 2 in his return. Jose Molina and Reid Brignac each went 2 for 3 in this one, with Brignac collecting a RBI.

On the mound Jeff Niemann was impressive. Niemann pitched 3 perfect innings, bouncing back after a rough first appearance. Fernando Rodney allowed 2 hits and an unearned run in his inning. Joel Peralta allowed a solo homer in his inning. JP Howell, Jake McGee and Brandon Gomes each pitched a perfect inning after Peralta. Josh Lueke allowed the final run, another solo homer.

Spring Game 11: Twins at Rays

Time: 1:05

Pitchers: Rays- James Shields, Kyle Farnsworth, Jake McGee, Cesar Ramos, Matt Bush, Matt Torra

Twins- Carl Pavano, Phil Dumatrait, Glen Perkins, Matt Capps

James Shields makes his second start of the spring in this one, after a strong showing his first time out. Kyle Farnsworth returns from injury, making his first appearance. Jake McGee pitches in back to back games, so we will see how he does.

Rays News and Notes

• Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times looks at Joe Maddon’s decision to put Carlos Pena second in the order in yesterday’s game.
• Topkin analyzes the early results of the battle for the fifth starting spot. Through two starts Jeff Niemann has an edge on Wade Davis, who has been a bit wild thus far.
• Buster Olney tweets that the Rays are not interested in Ivan Rodriguez. The Rays had been reported to have interest in Pudge, but with three or four options for the backup catcher spot, they don’t really need him.

The three catching Molinas are now down to just two. Bengie Molina made his retirement official after sitting out last season. He made his retirement official after being unable to find work for the upcoming season. His brother, Jose, has been receiving high praise since signing with the Rays this offseason. Jose Molina will most likely get most of the playing time behind the plate for the Rays this season.

Learning that Bengie retired got me wondering why the Rays didn’t make a play for him. Bengie would’ve been a second veteran catcher to go well with his brother and give the Rays a pretty good catching duo. It could just be that Bengie wasn’t that interested in playing this season, but my guess is that he just didn’t get any offers. Otherwise, he would’ve retired earlier in the offseason.

Bengie could have been a big influence on this Rays team trying to win a World Series, as he played in one with the Rangers in 2010 and also helped the Giants in 2010. His veteran presence, along with Jose’s presence, would have been huge on the Rays young pitching staff. We are hearing about how much help Jose has been with the staff, so adding another Molina would have been double the help.

Not only would his presence have been enough to warrant a look, but Bengie had a pretty decent bat. He finished his career as a .274 hitter, and while his power wasn’t great, he was still a steady bat. His numbers fell off a bit in 2010, his last season in baseball. He hit .249 in 118 games.

While his numbers were nothing special, they were good enough to provide the Rays with a good catcher to go with Jose. The Rays were certainly in the market for a catcher an had been rumored to be interested in Ivan Rodriguez, who would be similar to Bengie.

Clearly it is too late now for the Rays to do anything, as Bengie has made his retirement official, but I still wonder whether the Rays considered signing a second catching Molina. The two Molinas together could have certainly provided the Rays with a formidable tandem behind the plate.