Rays news and notes for Friday

January 16, 9:52 PMTampa Bay Rays ExaminerRob Quinn

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The Hot Stove is really starting to heat up in Tampa Bay. The Rays signed right-handed relief pitcher Lance Cormier to a one-year deal today. The signing of Cormier leads me to believe the Rays are aggressively trying to trade Jason Hammel, Chad Bradford or Dan Wheeler. With Cormier now on board, there is just not enough room for everyone else to stay.

Cormier has been in the bigs since 2004 and will open the 2009 season as a 28 year-old veteran with very unimpressive numbers. The good news for Rays’ fans, though, is Cormier posted the best year of his career with Baltimore in 2008 and if he can improve a little more, will be a valuable addition to the Rays’ pen.

Cormier finished 2008 with career bests in ERA and WHIP and allowed only four homers in 71.2 innings of work. The presence of Cormier gives the Rays a glut of righties in the bullpen and even if Troy Percival starts the season on the disabled list as expected, the Rays still need to make a few moves.

They cannot demote Derek Rodriguez because of the terms of the rule five draft, but RaysIndex predicts the Rays will work out a deal with the White Sox allowing Rodriguez to start the year in the minors despite the rule five stipulations. Jason Hammel is out of options and Chad Bradford makes a good amount of money that the Rays would love to clear out. Both of them are strong candidates to be traded.

Dan Wheeler also makes good money, but he is the most valuable of the crew. Jeff Niemann is also out of options, so he must remain on the major league roster. He still has a ton of upside, so it is hard to envision the Rays trading him and keeping any of the other guys.

In other news, Scott Kazmir and J.P. Howell have been added to the U.S. roster for the World Baseball Classic. I’m glad that Kaz and Howell will get a chance to represent the U.S. in the event, but on the other hand I am very disappointed that they will not be with the team for the bulk of Spring Training. When you take into consideration the injuries to Upton and Percival, the absence of Howell and Kazmir will make it four big-name Rays that fans will miss most, if not all, of Spring Training.

The Rays also avoided arbitration with the Mad Australian, signing Grant Balfour to a one-year deal worth $1.4 million. This is a great deal for the Rays no matter what happens this year.  They owed Balfour at least $1.4 million for his incredible 2008 performance. I'm sure he will earn his keep in '09 as well.

Two final notes: The San Diego Padres claimed Jae-Kuk Ryu off waivers from the Rays yesterday. The Rays designated Ryu for assignment to make room for Gabe Kapler. Ryu’s departure is pretty much insignificant – there was no way the Rays were going to be able to keep him and he was not projected to contribute anyways. The final item of note – recently acquired pitcher Dewon Day has been placed on waivers to make room for Cormier. We’ll have to wait and see if anyone claims him.

That gets us up to speed on all the happenings.

Throw in your two cents in a comment or e-mail me at raysexaminer@live.com