Rays' Price Ready To Fight For Starting Spot

As a newly minted postseason sensation who already has proved his worth at the highest level, you might think David Price would be a bit miffed that he has to win a big-league job this spring.

Not at all, to hear Price tell it Wednesday after a light workout at the Charlotte Sports Park.

"You don't want them to come out and say you have a spot," Price said. "You want to come in, and you want to earn it. You want to earn the respect of everybody that's in here, and that's what it's about. It's a competition, it's a challenge, and that makes it more fun in my eyes."

Price will be gunning for the fifth spot in the Rays' rotation along with pitchers such as Jason Hammel and Jeff Niemann, and nothing is guaranteed to the former top draft pick. The Rays have said repeatedly that they believe the lefty needs to refine his changeup to be effective as a front-of-the-rotation starter, and they haven't ruled out Price opening the season in Durham.

Though he knows that is a possibility, the 23-year-old said he expects to be with Tampa Bay for the opener at Fenway Park.

"I don't want to think I'm going to be anywhere else," he said. "I'm not coming into camp thinking, 'OK, I'm going to go to Triple-A for a couple months and just work on stuff there.' Absolutely not. I don't ever want to play another day in the minor leagues in my life. And I think that's everybody here. If everybody had the choice of being in the big leagues or in the minor leagues, they're going with the big leagues."

GARZA GEARED UP: RHP Matt Garza said he's "ready to go" and completely recovered from Oct. 31 surgery to repair a chipped bone in his right foot. It was an old injury he decided to have corrected after it bothered him during the second half of last season.

"It's been there for a while, but it started bothering me last year, like in July," Garza said. "I had to stop wearing my high-top spikes, and every time I threw there was like golf ball-sized swelling in my foot. So I stopped running outside, stopped doing a lot of stuff I usually do and just focused on pitching and that's it."

WITH HONORS: Rays manager Joe Maddon is proud to have attended Lafayette College, but his decision to pursue a professional baseball career kept him from finishing his degree there.

Now, his status as one of the school's most famous products has done the trick. Maddon said he will receive an honorary degree from the college sometime this summer after being contacted by Lafayette president Daniel Weiss with the offer this winter.

The current plan is for a delegation from the school to present the degree to Maddon during one of the team's trips to New York in June.

ZIM'S BACK: Senior adviser Don Zimmer, who suffered a stroke in December, was all smiles as he checked into the Rays' complex Wednesday afternoon with wife Soot at his side. The Rays have a new No. 61 jersey ready for Zimmer, the uniform number reflecting the years he has spent in the game.