Rays 25 Man Roster Prediction

With players trickling into camp Sunday and this morning I figured it was time to do my Annual Roster Predictions that I do for every one of our Tampa teams before the season begins.  There will be some real competition this year at multiple positions, namely backup IF, DH, SP and OF.

Without further ado…

Starting Rotation:
James Shields
Matt Garza
Jeff Niemann
David Price
Wade Davis

Middle Relief:
Grant Balfour
Lance Cormier
Randy Choate
JP Howell
Dan Wheeler

Closer:
Rafael Soriano

C:
Kelly Shoppach
Dioner Navarro

Infielders:
Carlos Pena
Ben Zobrist
Jason Bartlett
Evan Longoria
Sean Rodriguez
Reid Brignac

Outfielders:
Carl Crawford
Matt Joyce
BJ Upton
Gabe Kapler

DH:
Pat Burell
Willy Aybar

Most notably, that leaves, Andy Sonnastine, Jeremy Hellickson and Desmond Jennings off of the Rays Opening Day Roster.  I would almost gaurantee you see Hellickson and Jennings up at some point before the All Star Break, especially Hellickson at the first sign of an injury to one of our starting arms.  The situation with Jennings will be a little more tenuous as based on this roster, we have 4 OF’s already, with Zobrist being able to move to the OF with having both Reid Brignac and Sean Rodriguez available to backup all the IF spots.  Sonnastine could also find his way onto the roster in place of a Randy Choate if Choate were to struggle.