A few items on the Rays courtesy of Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times..
- A few months ago it would have seemed unlikely that the Rays would have been able to fill their primary holes without dealing Wade Davis or Jeff Niemann, but the club has done just that. They say they are willing to go into the season with an extra starter, but team president Matt Silverman says that the club continues to look for a deal.
- Topkin suggests that the club could deal Niemann in order to land an experienced catcher. Geovany Soto, Kurt Suzuki, and Nick Hundley are possibilities on the trade market while Ivan Rodriguez and Bengie Molina remain free agents.
- The Rays and manager Joe Maddon are expected to announce a three-year contract extension before the February 20th opening of Spring Training.
- There's an interesting theory floating about that suggests that the Rays raising their offer to $7.25MM to sign Carlos Peña helped lead the Tigers to spend $214MM on Prince Fielder.
