Welcome to TBO.com. Skip directly to: our Keyword Search, Section Navigation, Content.

TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Sports

TBO > Sports

Rays Players On 6 WBC Rosters

By MARC LANCASTER | The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 20, 2009

ST. PETERSBURG - Eight Rays were listed on initial rosters for the World Baseball Classic submitted Monday, but not all are expected to participate in the event.

Each of the 16 teams in the tournament must trim the 45-player provisional roster to an active squad of 28 by Feb. 24, so not every player on the initial slate will end up participating.

Most expect that to be the case for Evan Longoria, who joins Scott Kazmir and J.P. Howell on the United States roster. The U.S. team also has Chipper Jones and David Wright at third base, and Longoria said last week he would just as soon use the time to get ready for the season.

The same goes for Dioner Navarro, who has told the Rays and Venezuelan officials he will not play but was nonetheless on his country's roster. Also, Matt Garza is on Mexico's roster even though the Rays believe he isn't eligible to play because he underwent minor surgery last fall.

The other Rays tabbed for their countries' provisional rosters are Grant Balfour (Australia), Carlos Pena (Dominican Republic) and Akinori Iwamura (Japan).

DEADLINE DAY: The Rays' self-imposed deadline to complete deals with their three remaining arbitration-eligible players is noon today, giving them a bit more time to come to terms with Navarro, Jason Bartlett and Willy Aybar and avoid an arbitration hearing.

Navarro's Tampa-based agent, Kendall Almerico, said Monday that negotiations will be "going down to the wire," and if he had to make a prediction he'd guess his client would end up going to a hearing. Still, he noted, "anything could happen today."

GOMES JOINS REDS: Longtime Tampa Bay fan favorite Jonny Gomes agreed to a minor-league deal with Cincinnati that could pay him up to $800,000 this season. Gomes should have a chance to earn significant playing time with the Reds, who aren't deep in the outfield.

"It's really good for me," Gomes said. "I had a couple of other offers for a little bit more money but I just think Cincinnati's the best fit for me right now with the way their roster sits and where I'm at."

Share this: