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Rays Take Chance On Ensberg

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By MARC LANCASTER | The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 9, 2009

ST. PETERSBURG - It has worked the past couple of years with Carlos Pena and Eric Hinske, so the Rays figured they might as well try again with Morgan Ensberg.

The 33-year-old infielder, an All-Star for the Astros in 2005, agreed to a minor-league contract with the Rays that would pay him $650,000 if he spends the entire season in the majors.

That would be a long shot considering the way Ensberg's numbers have tailed off recently. Ensberg hasn't been the same since posting a career year in Houston in 2005 with a .283 average, 36 homers and 101 RBIs.

He played in only 28 big-league games last season, hitting .203 and collecting one extra-base hit in a two-month stint with the Yankees. New York released him in June and he finished the season with the Indians' Triple-A affiliate, hitting just .189 in 52 games.

Despite Ensberg's rather precipitous decline, the Rays see him as someone who has a chance to rebound.

"Morgan's a guy that's obviously had a tremendous amount of success," Rays executive vice president Andrew Friedman said. "He had a rough year last year, but we feel like he's a guy that has great upside. He does a lot of things that we like."

Ensberg, at least, sees his situation for what it is. He told ESPN.com on Monday that he knows exactly where he stands and he's prepared to open the season in Durham if he doesn't make the cut in spring training.

"I haven't had a lot of success lately, so I'm really excited about this," Ensberg said. "There's no pride issue here. I have to go in and play well. This isn't rocket science."

Ensberg's chances of breaking camp with the Rays don't appear good, as Willy Aybar is essentially locked in to the role that would best suit Ensberg - backing up at first and third base.

WAITING ON WORD: After a couple of hours spent debating everything about Dioner Navarro's career before a three-person arbitration panel, neither the Rays nor Navarro's representatives had anything to say Monday.

Friedman declined to discuss how Navarro's arbitration hearing went, other than to say he expects a decision to come today. Navarro's agent, Kendall Almerico, did not respond to requests for comment.

The panel will award Navarro the salary he requested, $2.5 million, or the Rays' figure of $2.1 million.

WAITING, PART II: Friedman said he expects the Rays to finalize a contract with reliever Brian Shouse today.

The team has indicated it was awaiting full results from the physical Shouse took Thursday, but Friedman said Monday that "everything's gone extremely well." The Rays will have to make a corresponding move to add the left-hander to their 40-man roster.

MAC IS BACK: The Rays have rehired John McLaren, the team's bench coach under Lou Piniella from 2003-05, as a special assignment scout.

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