By By Ken Filler | Tampa Bay Sports Journal
ST. PETERSBURG — The Rays have won the American League East and now know who their opponent will be in the ALDS.
Now Kevin Cash has to decide which 26 players give them the best chance to win three games in the Division Series.
Some decisions are easy. Junior Caminero will be in the middle of the order. Drew Rasmussen should take the ball in game one. Bryan Baker will get the ninth inning when Tampa Bay has a lead.
The hard decisions come after that. Does Cash carry an extra position player for a short series? Is there room for a pitcher coming off the injured list? And which useful player stays home because October offers only 26 spots?
Here is my projected ALDS roster, based on the Rays’ current active group and the injury information available as of OCT. 1. It is a projection, not the club’s announced roster.
Position players: 13
Catchers: Liam Hicks, Nick Fortes.
Infielders: Jonathan Aranda, Junior Caminero, Jorge Mateo, Richie Palacios, Taylor Walls, Ben Williamson
Outfielders: Jonny DeLuca, Victor Mesa Jr., Cedric Mullins, Chandler Simpson
Designated hitter: Yandy Díaz
There is no mystery about the heart of this offense.
Caminero finished the season with 42 home runs and 101 RBIs. Aranda hit .274 with 22 homers and 92 RBIs. Simpson was hitting .306 with 46 stolen bases.
Those are three different ways to change a playoff game: one swing, a tough at-bat, or a stolen base that puts the winning run in scoring position.
Díaz belongs in the lineup, too, and he supplied four RBIs in the 6-1 win over the Yankees that clinched the division. After the Rays secured their playoff berth earlier this month, Díaz said, through an interpreter, “Look, the job’s not finished.”
He meant winning the East. Tampa Bay has done that. The next job is considerably bigger.
Hicks and Fortes give Cash two catchers. Walls and Williamson cover the infield, while Mateo offers speed and flexibility off the bench.
Palacios has already shown he can deliver late: his two-out, ninth-inning single beat Boston on Sept. 19.
Mesa gives the lineup some power; his 14th homer helped finish the Rays’ final regular-season home game.
My position-player cut is Ryan Vilade. That is a difficult call, because his ability to move around the field has value. But on a 13-player bench and lineup group, I would keep Mateo’s speed and the defensive options Walls and Williamson provide.
Pitchers: 13
Starting options: Drew Rasmussen, Freddy Peralta, Nick Martinez, Ian Seymour.
BULLPEN: Bryan Baker, Griffin Jax, Steven Matz, Kevin Kelly, Cam Booser, Brody Hopkins, Ty Johnson, Casey Legumina, Cole Sulser
Rasmussen has earned the first start.
In the division clincher, he took a no-hit bid into the seventh inning against the Yankees and struck out 11.
Peralta gives Cash another established starter, while Martinez and Seymour provide ways to handle the rest of the series.
A short series may require only three conventional starts, which makes Seymour valuable even if he works behind someone else.
Baker is the closer. He finished the season with 41 saves and a 1.44 ERA, numbers that make the ninth inning the clearest bullpen assignment Cash has.
Jax, Kelly, and Matz give him choices before Baker; Booser and Johnson add left-handed options to a staff that must be ready for matchups in the middle innings as well as the end.
The biggest absence is Shane McClanahan.
Cash has said that the left-hander will not be on the ALDS rosterbecause of forearm tightness.
He could return for the AL Championship Series if his throwing progresses and the Rays advance.
McClanahan went 10-7 with a 3.36 ERA in 24 starts this season. The Rays would love to have him, but for this round, it has to plan to be without him.
Tyler Wells and Garrett Cleavinger are the two names that could change my pitching list.
MLB’s latest injury update gave Wells an expected postseason return after right forearm tightness;
Cleavinger was still working back from left forearm tightness. If Wells is healthy and ready, I would put him on the roster in place of Casey Legumina.
Cleavinger deserves consideration if he gets through his mound work and bullpen sessions without a setback.
A medical clearance alone is not enough; Cash needs pitchers he can trust in a close October game.
Cash praised this group when it first clinched a playoff berth, saying the players had gone onto the field “night after night, and backed it up.”
They backed it up again by winning the division.
Now the roster decision comes down to a tougher question: which 26 can do it against the best teams in baseball?
This is my answer today.
Wells’ and Cleavinger’s health could change it before Game 1. But the core is clear: Caminero and Díaz driving the offense, Simpson creating trouble on the bases, Rasmussen setting the tone, and Baker waiting for the final three outs.
That is a roster with a chance. For a Rays team that has spent all season proving it belongs here, October is the time to prove it.
