Zobrist out 4 weeks; six players cut

Posted Mar 10, 2008 by Marc Lancaster

Updated Mar 10, 2008 at 05:23 PM

All kinds of late-breaking news here at Al Lang today.

First and foremost, Andrew Friedman informed us Ben Zobrist suffered a hairline fracture to the tip of his left thumb yesterday and will miss about four weeks. He is in a cast and will be for another two-plus weeks, and could be ready by the second week of the regular season. Zobrist apparently jammed his thumb into second base in a rundown during yesterday’s game.

In his absence, it appears Andy Cannizaro likely will make the Opening Day roster unless the Rays go out and get another player capable of backing up Jason Bartlett at shortstop. That probably won’t happen since Zobrist is only expected to miss a week or two of regular-season play. The Rays don’t plan to give Willy Aybar a look at shortstop, and a fast-track promotion for Reid Brignac seems highly unlikely. If Zobrist was going to be out for the long-term, Brignac might have a shot, but if he’s only going to miss a week or two the Rays likely will fill the gap with Cannizaro.

In addition, the Rays reduced their roster by six following the game. OF Fernando Perez, C John Jaso and LHP James Houser were optioned to the minors with assignments to come later and LHP Jake McGee, RHP Wade Davis and C Matt Spring were reassigned to minor-league camp. That leaves 49 players in camp, not counting the absent Juan Salas.

Friedman also offered something of a Rocco Baldelli update, saying the Rays had planned for a while to evaluate Baldelli tomorrow and see what he can and can’t do. Friedman said it’s possible Baldelli may get into a game this week and he isn’t ready to dismiss the possibility that he might be able to open the season with the Rays. But he did acknowledge that the Rays need to see something from Baldelli pretty soon to make that call.

“I think the point’s coming pretty soon where we’re going to need to get him out on the field and get a clear sense of what we can expect in April and beyond, but we’re not there yet,” said Friedman. “We’ve still got 18 days of spring training left to figure these things out, but it’s fast approaching.”