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Roger Mooney

Roger Mooney covers the Tampa Bay Rays for The Tampa Tribune, TBO.com and News Channel 8. He has covered the Rays since their first season in 1998, including 11 years for the Bradenton Herald. Roger has also covered Florida, South Florida and Florida State football, the Bucs and the Lightning.

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Next bat doesn’t have to be a first baseman

Posted Jan 12, 2012 by Roger Mooney

Updated Jan 12, 2012 at 03:53 PM

ROGER MOONEY

Now that the Rays have Luke Scott onboard, what does this mean for first base?

The answer is not an easy one.

Rays executive vice president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said this afternoon that Scott will factor into the picture, perhaps as early as Opening Day. And Scott said during a conference call this afternoon that he is not ready to begin life as a fulltime DH.

“I take pride in my defense. It’s something I enjoy. It’s a part of the game that’s important to me,” said Scott, who will see time in the corner outfield spots as well as first base.

Also, the fact Scott hits well against left-handers means he will play every day, and that means the Rays won’t need a right-handed bat to balance Scott’s spot on the roster.

Friedman said he is looking for another bat, and that bat doesn’t have to belong to a first baseman.

“We’re just looking for a bat. We like to have options. We like to be as flexible as we can be. We don’t want to pigeon hole ourselves into any one area if we can avoid it, just because it expands the applicant pool,” Friedman said. “We’re just going through a long list of names right now and trying to figure out how we can lineup on the best player that we can when factoring offense, fit with out offensive unit, defense and the net result.”

Right fielder Matt Joyce and infielder Reid Brignac are also taking ground balls at first base this winter to add more flexibility to the roster during the later innings, but neither would appear to make a push for regular playing time at first base.

When asked if the Rays have an in-house candidate for first base, Friedman replied, “It depends what else we get. …  There’s just a lot of ways we can go. If we add Player X, what’s the implication for the rest of our guys and how everything fits together, if something makes it more difficult to field a better team than something else? It’s just something we’re going through, and we obviously value defense a lot, but sometimes enough offense trips that line and makes it something that makes sense for the team, so that’s what we’re going through and trying to figure out.”

Friedman said he is not sure if that bat comes out of the free agent pool or through a trade. He added $5 million to the payroll today with the addition of Scott, but Friedman said the payroll is not an issue.

“We don’t have that hard and fast number,” he said. “We’re probably beyond what we kind of thought we’d be, but that’s the benefit of not working with a hard and fast number. Numerous years are intertwined in our decision-making process.”