Kazmir’s start pushed back

Posted Jul 17, 2008 by Marc Lancaster

Updated Jul 17, 2008 at 05:14 PM

Greetings from Tropicana Field, where the Rays are in the midst of a spirited workout that already has seen them do some spring training-style defensive drills and has since moved on to batting practice.

Among those not working out: Evan Longoria and Scott Kazmir. They got enough work in during their stopover in New York this week, so they were here earlier to check in and that was it. Dioner Navarro, however, is here and participating.

Speaking of Kazmir, he will not start Saturday as originally planned. The Rays already had decided to bump him back a day or two if he was needed in the All-Star Game, so it sounds like the plan is to see how he feels tomorrow before deciding whether to start him Sunday or Monday. Matt Garza will move up and pitch Saturday night against the Blue Jays.

Also, Andrew Friedman said the Rays will activate Al Reyes from the disabled list tomorrow, as expected. Reyes will take the roster spot left vacant when Reid Brignac was optioned to Durham following Sunday’s game in Cleveland.

Among the other injured, Troy Percival threw to hitters today and apparently felt good. He’ll get a thorough once-over from the medical staff before he’s cleared to come off the DL, but that could come this weekend. Saturday at the earliest. Jason Bartlett has a few more days to go, most likely. He’s still feeling it a bit in his knee when he runs, but likely will be back at some point next week.

Other than that, the general mood before the workout was pretty relaxed. Everyone was quite pleased to have the time off and everyone expressed confidence that the funk that preceded to the break won’t carry over. Read more about it in tomorrow’s Trib…