St. Petersburg, Fla.-(3/28/2018)-It's another new season for the Tampa Bay Rays, but you'll need a scorecard to figure out the 2018 roster. Where are all the stars we used to know and love?
It's the 20th season for the Rays and I guess they really wanted to change things up. Dealing away Evan Longoria and some of the other fan favorites is making it tough to really cheer on the team. I was just getting to like Steven Souza, Jr., when he was sent packing.
Here is the roster (provided by the Rays) as we open play....
PITCHERS (12):
LH José Alvarado, RH Matt Andriese, RH Chris Archer, RH Yonny Chirinos, RH Alex Colomé, RH Jake Faria, RH Andrew Kittredge, RH Chaz Roe, RH Sergio Romo, LH Blake Snell, LH Ryan Yarbrough
CATCHERS (2):
Wilson Ramos, Jesús Sucre
INFIELDERS (6):
C.J. Cron, Matt Duffy, Adeiny Hechavarria, Brad Miller, Daniel Robertson, Joey Wendle
OUTFIELDERS (5):
Carlos Gómez, Kevin Kiermaier, Rob Refsnyder, Mallex Smith, Denard Span
10-DAY DL (2):
RH José De León, RH Nathan Eovaldi
How many of these guys do you recognize??? Maybe just a few, but not many.
I grew up a Cincy Reds fan and used to know all the players when I was a kid. What was neat about those good old days was that the players stayed on the team for longer than a year or two. I really do believe that keeping known players around gives the fans a big reason to go to games. Who wants to pay big dollars to see a bunch of unknowns?
Don't get me wrong as I'm a BIG Rays fan. I'm just hoping this new bunch can get us back into the playoffs.
Logo courtesy Tampa Bay Rays