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Longoria May Put Iwamura At Second

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 26, 2007

ST. PETERSBURG - There are absolutely no guarantees that top prospect Evan Longoria will be the Devil Rays' third baseman coming out of spring training next year, but the team is preparing for that possibility.

During an end-of-season meeting with Akinori Iwamura Tuesday afternoon, Rays manager Joe Maddon asked his incumbent at the position to do some work at second base this winter. Maddon emphasized to Iwamura through his interpreter, Masa Koyanagi, that no final decision on a move across the diamond has been made.

'It's all about possibilities,' Maddon said, 'but we wanted to give him some kind of advance warning.'

The request didn't come as a shock to Iwamura, as the Rays told him when they signed him last offseason that there was a chance he would have to play multiple positions. But he has been entrenched at his natural spot all season, making each of his 117 starts there.

'I brought some different styles of gloves at the beginning of the season,' Iwamura said through his interpreter. 'That shows that I'm willing to try different positions.'

Iwamura has limited experience playing second as a professional, getting in a few games there while rehabbing from an injury in Japan. He did play second for three years in junior high, though.

'Of course I'm excited, but at the same time I have some anxiety,' Iwamura said. 'It's a different look.'

Iwamura was a middle of the order hitter in Japan, averaging 35 homers in his last three seasons with Yakult, but he has gone deep just seven times this season and driven in 30 runs while batting mostly in the leadoff spot. His bat profiles better for second base, though his defense at third has been outstanding.

Reports on Longoria's defense have been good, and his hitting isn't a question. The 21-year-old hit .299 with 26 homers and 95 RBIs between Montgomery and Durham this year. Longoria will have to prove his worth in big-league camp, but the Rays will keep an open mind. It sounds as if Iwamura will do the same; Maddon said the player was 'very' receptive to the Rays' requests.

'This guy's a winner, man,' Maddon said. 'Whatever's best for the team, that's what he wants to do.'

AT LAST: The Rays officially shut LF Carl Crawford down for the season Tuesday. Crawford's strained left groin hadn't shown much improvement since he injured it Sept. 16 at Seattle.

'I don't want to take a chance on aggravating it more,' Crawford said. 'I don't see a reason to keep pushing it.'

Crawford finishes the season with a .315 batting average, breaking Aubrey Huff's club record of .311 set in 2003. He stole 50 bases for the fourth time and currently leads the AL, though Baltimore's Brian Roberts entered Tuesday with 48. Crawford said he was disappointed not to be able to complete his run for another title and to fall short of 1,000 career hits (he has 990).

'But as far as the overall aspect, I'm pretty happy with the way things went,' he said. 'You can't have everything go your way all the time.'

In other injury news, Maddon said 2B Brendan Harris, who has missed a week with a strained left lat, won't play this weekend at Toronto if he isn't ready in the next day or two.

CLEMENS SKIPPED: Yankees RHP Roger Clemens was scratched from his scheduled start Tuesday because of a lingering left hamstring injury. Yankees manager Joe Torre indicated Clemens might not pitch in a game until the postseason, but could work in a simulated game before then.

'Does he have to pitch a game to be able to go into the postseason to pitch? I don't think that's true,' Torre said. 'I think we have to see something close to a game.'

SPECIAL SOUVENIR: Iwamura was able to get Torre to autograph the bat that was confiscated at the manager's request during a Sept. 1 game at Yankee Stadium.

The inscription: 'To Iwamura-san. You use this very well. Good luck, Joe Torre.'

Iwamura said he plans to display the bat on his wall along with newspaper reports of the incident.

Marc Lancaster, Carter Gaddis

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