What’s Important Now: Spring Opener

Gone by the wayside are my Rays News and Notes pieces. With games upon us, it is time to start my What’s Important Now pieces. WIN is basically my game preview/recap piece with some minor news and notes thrown in.

Spring Game 1: Rays at Twins

Pitchers: Rays-David Price, Chris Archer, Alex Colome, Dane De La Rosa, Jhonny Nunez, Ricky Orta, Ryan Reid, Wilking Rodriguez, and Albert Suarez

Twins- Carl Pavano, Brian Duensing, Matt Capps, Glen Perkins, Alex Burnett, Anthony Swarzak, Phil Dumatrait, and Matt Maloney

The Rays will get their first look at David Price, who is looking to bounce back after a good but not great season last year. We will also get our first look at top prospects Chris Archer and Alex Colome. Archer is a lot closer to the Rays than Colome, as Colome will most likely start in Montgomery while Archer will begin the year in Durham.

The Rays will get a look at Twins starter Carl Pavano as well as set-up man Glen Perkins and closer Matt Capps. While each won’t get to pitch much, it will still be something that could help heading into the season.

Lineup:

Jennings lf
Upton cf
Zobrist 2b
Joyce rf
Molina c
Lobaton dh
Miranda 1b
Johnson 3b
Brignac ss

The Rays have a lot of regulars in the lineup for the spring opener. Rays fans who make the trip to Fort Myers will get to see Desmond Jennings, BJ Upton, Matt Joyce, Ben Zobrist, Reid Brignac, and new catcher Jose Molina. I am interested in seeing how Molina does at the plate this spring, as it could get him more starts this season.

Rays News and Notes

Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times highlights some of the injury news heading into the first week of spring.
The MLB officially announced their new playoff format that I talked about earlier in the week. The MLB made an interesting move to make room for the extra round this season, changing up the ALDS. The lower seed will now get the first two games at home while the higher seed will get the last three on their home turf. This is only for 2012, as they needed to reduce travel time to make room for the extra round.
Topkin also takes a look at the Rays projected 2012 lineup.
Kevin Payne of FoxSports.com takes a look at the Rays 2012 season and Rays players with a potential fantasy impact.
Roger Mooney of TBO.com takes a look at David Price’s remarkable 2010 season, which saw him go 19-6 with a 2.72 ERA and finish second in Cy Young voting.
Luke Scott may be a little out there sometimes, but at least we know he has a genuine hatred for the Red Sox and their fans. It will be interesting to see how Red Sox Nation reacts to these comments.
The Rays held their annual charity golf tournament yesterday, and BJ Upton’s team took away the title for the second straight year.