Rays DH Cliff Floyd (15-day DL, knee surgery) was the only Tampa Bay player in the cage on the field today as the rest of the team was allowed to hit inside if they wished. Floyd said before he hit that he is ready now to come back, which led to some pregame speculation that he might be activated and put into the lineup tonight against the Angels.

But Manager Joe Maddon said no, and it’s not likely Floyd will return tomorrow with a lefty, Joe Saunders, going for the Angels. That makes Sunday the likely return date for Floyd, who has missed a month and was eager to get back.

“I’m in a rush,” he said. “I don’t know if they’re in a rush. I want to get back. It’s been four weeks today. I’m just anxious to get back with my boys and sit on the bench and be part of the team. I want to feel like I’m contributing in some way, whether it’s good or bad. I just want to contribute. I want to be a big part of this.”

It will be interesting to see which way the Rays go when it’s time to activate Floyd. At first glance, it looks like OF Nathan Haynes might be the odd man out, with Gabe Gross basically being slotted into the playing time Haynes currently occupies and Eric Hinske holding down the job in RF more often than not whe Floyd comes back to DH against RHPs. That leaves Jonny Gomes to DH against LHPs.

Here are the lineups:
Angels:
Matthews, RF
Aybar, SS
Guerrero, DH
Anderson, LF
Hunter, CF
Kotchman, 1B
Napoli, C
Wood, 3B
Rodriguez, 2B

Garland, P

Rays:
Iwamura, 2B
Crawford, LF
Upton, CF
Pena, 1B
Longoria, 3B
Hinske, DH
Navarro, C
Gross, RF
Bartlett, SS

Shields, P

Also, Maddon said the only reliever not available today is LHP J.P. Howell, who pitched three innings to get the win Thursday in Toronto.