Starting Nine: Relievers, infield, lineup

This is the second of our three-day series looking at the Rays' nine most pressing needs heading into spring training.

Quick relief

One of the burning questions during spring training 2011 was: Who would manager Joe Maddon pitch in the ninth inning?

Also, who would Maddon use in the eighth?

Rays followers were curious as to who would serve as the left-handed specialists.

The offseason departures following the 2010 season left the bullpen in a mess, yet executive vice president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman was able to cobble together enough parts for a unit that proved effective in 2011.

Kyle Farnsworth, given the role of closer for the first time in his career, responded with 25 saves. Joel Peralta was a valuable pickup. Rookies Jake McGee and Brandon Gomes helped down the stretch.

The emergence of those four enabled Friedman the luxury of looking for a specific skill-set this winter. His search landed Burke Badenhop, a right-hander who gets groundballs, hard-throwing Fernando Rodney, who has 87 career saves, including a career-high 37 in 2009, and Josh Lueke, a young arm who they acquired from the Mariners in a trade for catcher John Jaso.

Badenhop can be used in situations when a double play is in order or can give the Rays a full inning. Rodney will take some of the load off Peralta, who made a career-high 71 appearances in 2011. Rodney can also serve as a backup to Farnsworth, who missed time in September because of tenderness in his right elbow.

Also, the Rays are counting on a healthy J.P. Howell, who returned in late May after missing the 2010 season because of shoulder surgery, to return to his pre-injury form.

"I think we're thicker than we were last year," Maddon said of the bullpen. "Gomes came on at the end. Jake came on at the end. That was all good stuff. But we pinned a lot on Peralta and Farnsworth. Hopefully we're not going to have to lay so much on them. We can spread it out a little more over the course of the season."

Welcome, Jeff Keppinger

Keppinger gives the Rays something they lacked last year – a veteran utility player.

Perhaps more important, he gives them a strong bat against left-handed pitching, having compiled a career .324 average against lefties with a .371 on-base percentage and a .481 slugging percentage.

The right-handed hitting Keppinger played second base last season while splitting time between the Astros and Giants. But he has big league experience at all four infield spots as well as left and right fields.

Don't be surprised if Keppinger's presence prevents right fielder Matt Joyce from playing every day.

"He's tied into Keppinger, too," Maddon said. "We got to get Keppinger at-bats against lefties. We got to."

Keppinger's success against lefty pitching will likely create a platoon at second base with Ben Zobrist. The switch-hitting Zobrist will start there against right-handed pitchers and move to right field against lefties.

"Sometimes you might look at it where you want to play Matt more often, but if Keppinger is doing what he can do, and I believe he will, then you got to auger out a spot for him to play," Maddon said.

Who bats where?

Maddon's ideal batting order goes righty-lefty-righty-lefty and so on. That prevents the opposing manager from bringing in a left-handed reliever in the late innings to quell a rally by facing two or three consecutive left-handed batters.

Keeping Desmond Jennings at the top of the order and batting Zobrist second would keep the left-right-left-right march to the plate in order.

Except, B.J. Upton had his most productive stretch of baseball last September after he was moved to the second spot in the lineup. Upton hit .356 with five home runs, 14 RBI, a .462 on-base percentage and a .644 slugging percentage in 23 games.

"I honestly have not decided on anything," Maddon said. "We are going to consider that. He looked really good."

What you can bank on is Maddon will tinker with the lineup throughout the season. That's in his DNA. He will move hitters up and down in spring training in an effort to get a feel for what certain lineups can produce.

"We think about it a lot, but you got to see it," Maddon said. "It's something we have to see when we get to playing games."