Maddon announces Rays pitching rotation... for spring training

Photo: Brandi Ottinger

Manager Joe Maddon announced that he will go with the rotation of James Shields, Matt Garza, Jeff Niemann, David Price, and Wade Davis for the exhibition season. Maddon told reporters they could glean from that information what they may.

The only curiousity is the position of Dave Price in the rotation after Jeff Niemann. You would think Maddon would use Price to separate the Shields/Garza and Niemann/Davis. However Niemann did have the most wins on the pitching staff last year, so he very well may have earned that number 3 spot.

This is the first year the Rays are going into the season pretty much with the rotation set. That bodes well for early in the season. These guys can bond as a group and work together to make this a real solid rotation. As I've said before, one of these guys is really going to have to step up and become the "ace" this year. Otherwise, we could end up with another year of 3 number 2 pitchers and no number 1 pitchers.