Tampa Bay Rays Release ALDS Postseason Roster

Steve Slowinski — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 15:50:29 -0000

The Tampa Bay Rays waited until the last minute to announce their playoff roster, putting out the final list late Friday morning. But while the Rays took a long time to sort over who they wanted on the roster, there were very few final surprises.

The Rays opted to go with 11 pitchers and 14 position players, giving Joe Maddon more in-game flexibility for late-inning pinch-hit matchups. It means the Rays will only have seven pitchers available in their bullpen, but it's a very strong 'pen that has gotten better as the season went along. Jake McGee and Brandon Gomes have come a long way this season, and now are worthy high leverage arms alongside Kyle Farnsworth and Joel Peralta.

The notable weakness for the Rays is their bench; while they will have a five man bench, they don't necessarily have any strong hitters there. Reid Brignac, Elliot Johnson, Sam Fuld, and Jose Lobaton are all defense-first players, and John Jaso was added to the roster simply to give the Rays another left-handed bat with a bit of pop.

The full roster is below the jump.

Pitchers (11)

37 Cruz, Juan (R)
40 Davis, Wade (R)
43 Farnsworth, Kyle (R)
47 Gomes, Brandon (R)
74 Howell, J.P. (L)
57 McGee, Jake (L)
62 Peralta, Joel (R)

55 Moore, Matt (L)
33 Shields, James (R)
14 Price, David (L)
58 Hellickson, Jeremy (R)

Catchers (3)

28 Jaso, John
31 Lobaton, Jose
10 Shoppach, Kelly

Infielders (6)

15 Brignac, Reid
9 Johnson, Elliot
11 Kotchman, Casey
3 Longoria, Evan
1 Rodriguez, Sean
18 Zobrist, Ben

Outfielders (5)

22 Damon, Johnny
5 Fuld, Sam
8 Jennings, Desmond
20 Joyce, Matt
2 Upton, B.J.

SB Nation - Jake McGee

Tampa Bay Rays Release ALDS Postseason Roster