Tampa Bay Rays' projected 25-man roster

March 30, 3:53 PMTampa Bay Rays ExaminerRob Quinn

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Could Kennedy be the 25th man?  AP/Kathy Willens

The countdown to Opening Day is on. Seven days until the Rays and Red Sox renew regular season acquaintances. This means seven days to decide who will be in Boston next Monday, who will be in Durham, and who will be living in a van down by the river. The Rays still have some difficult choices to make, particularly in the bullpen and outfield, regarding the Opening Day 25-man roster.

There is not much time to waste, so let’s get right to it. Here’s my position-by-position prediction of how the Tampa Bay Rays will look on Monday. Technically, three players are likely to begin the season on the disabled list so there will be 28 players to sort through.

Catchers

• 1. Dioner Navarro
• 2. Shawn Riggans

Infield

• 3. Carlos Pena
• 4. Akinori Iwamura
• 5. Evan Longoria
• 6. Willy Aybar
• 7. Adam Kennedy
• 8. Jason Bartlett

Outfield

• 9. Carl Crawford
• 10. Gabe Kapler
• 11. Gabe Gross
• 12. Pat Burrell
• 13. Ben Zobrist

Starting Pitchers

• 14. James Shields
• 15. Scott Kazmir
• 16. Matt Garza
• 17. Andy Sonnanstine
• 18. Jason Hammel

Relief Pitchers

• 19. Troy Percival
• 20. Grant Balfour
• 21. J.P. Howell
• 22. Dan Wheeler
• 23. Joe Nelson
• 24. Brian Shouse
• 25. Jeff Niemann

Disabled List

• B.J. Upton
• Chad Bradford
• Fernando Perez

There you have it. The Rays will certainly be making some roster moves in the next several days, trimming down to the required 25-man roster size. The notable exclusions from my projected roster were the following players:

Lance Cormier: He had a great spring, but there is just not enough room.

Jason Isringhausen: He signed a minor-league deal, but he certainly could make the team. Izzy is another victim of the squeeze play facing the Rays due to the fact that Hammel and Niemann are out of options.

Matt Joyce: Will start the season in the minors, but is an injury away from the Rays.

I rolled with 12 pitchers and 13 position players. The Rays could decide to go with 11 pitchers, but this is an unlikely scenario due to the bullpen depth and the need to keep as many quality arms out there as possible. I cannot overstate how difficult these bullpen decisions are. Isringhausen, Cormier and Joe Nelson all have a lot going for them, but unfortunately, there will only be room for one of them unless the Rays pull off a trade. Nelson earned the spot for me based on his performance last year, but the Rays could easily decide to go another direction.

The outfield is a tricky situation because of the status of B.J. Upton. He will miss the first six-game road trip to start the season, which means the Rays should be placing him on the DL any second now. If somehow Upton does not start the season on the DL, that would probably mean Adam Kennedy would get bumped.

Time will tell how accurate my predictions prove to be. Opening Day is so close now I can smell it.

Disagree with my roster projection? Let me know in a comment.

Have a great story idea you really need to share with me? Interested in producing the "Rob Quinn Sings the Christmas Classics" album? E-mail me at raysexaminer@live.com

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