Rays' Roster Close To Complete

Whether it comes via a trade, a difficult cut or some other creative solution, the Rays' Opening Day roster should be fairly well set by the time they break camp this afternoon.

"We're really close," Manager Joe Maddon said Tuesday after a late-morning meeting with executive vice president Andrew Friedman.

The roster spots that remain to be sorted out are mostly interconnected, which has complicated matters. For instance, team officials said repeatedly that they expected to name a fifth starter by last weekend, but that deadline came and went. The ongoing delay would seem to suggest the Rays hope they can work out a trade involving the competitors, Jason Hammel and Jeff Niemann, and both pitchers' names have been flying in the rumor mill the last few days.

The rotation decision could affect the final bullpen spot, which has been earmarked for a long reliever. Hammel, Niemann and Lance Cormier are the candidates there, and the Rays almost certainly will open the season with a reliever capable of multi-inning stints because they don't know yet how deep their starters will be able to pitch into games.

Which leads to another problem: what to do with Jason Isringhausen. The veteran isn't a long man and the rest of the bullpen spots are spoken for, but Maddon said after meeting with Isringhausen Tuesday that the Rays "do not want to lose him."

Isringhausen's agent, Dan Horwits, said Tuesday that he had been in talks with Friedman and expected a resolution by today. He added that having the longtime closer open the year in the minors is "not an option." Having him open on the disabled list is a possibility, though - potentially giving both sides a bit more time to sort everything out.

Maddon confirmed Isringhausen will travel to Philadelphia for this weekend's exhibition series and could continue on to Boston with the rest of the team - even if he isn't necessarily on the initial 25-man roster.

"Either way, we want to keep him with us, there's no doubt about that," Maddon said. "We do not want to lose him. We feel very strongly about that."

Horwits said Isringhausen would prefer to remain with the Rays if at all possible, but he would look to hook on with another team if that doesn't happen.

"We definitely feel there is potential interest elsewhere if he was to become a free agent," Horwits said, "but we would like to work it out."

It doesn't appear the Rays will be able to make room for Isringhausen by putting one of the relievers already considered locked into a roster spot on the disabled list, as Maddon said there are "zero health issues" on the table for Troy Percival, Dan Wheeler, Grant Balfour, J.P. Howell, Brian Shouse and Joe Nelson.

The Rays pride themselves on finding creative solutions to roster crunches, and it appears they're poised to take another spin.

"There's a bunch of different considerations going on right now," Maddon said. "We're close to figuring out what we're going to do but we're not quite there yet."