We have a couple of updates today regarding the Tampa Bay Rays, so let’s get right to ‘em…

Marc Topkin of the St. Petersburg Times reports that oft-injured outfielder Rocco Baldelli has reported to camp early, and has been working out often.  Baldelli has been swinging the bat, catching fly balls in the outfield and most importantly for the Rays, running “almost all out” with no problems. Because of bad hamstrings last season, he was limited to only 35 games.  Baldelli is expected to come along slowly in Spring Training however, with the goal of being completely healthy for Opening Day. Makes perfect sense to me. But the real question is… will he be completely healthy still 2 or 3 weeks into the season? That is the real problem. When healthy, he is an extemely productive player. In only 92 games during the 2006 season, he hit .302 with 16 homers and 57 RBI (also added 10 SB’s).

In other Rays news, Enrique Rojas at ESPN Deportes tells us that infielder Willy Aybar, 24, is in custody in the Dominican Republic for domestic violence charges. He is being held without bail it seems, for allegedly assaulting his wife. If convicted, Aybar could spend up to 3 months in prison. Such a sentence could almost guarantee that super-prospect Evan Longoria, 22, opens the 2008 season as the team’s starting third basemen. He was expected to compete with Aybar in Spring Training for the starting gig, but that may all be moot now. Baseball America’s Jim Callis recently ranked Longoria as the #2 position prospect in all of baseball, so he may certainly be up to the task. It’s not like the Rays are going to compete this season anyway, so give the kid a year of seasoning. But we know how reluctant the Rays have been in the past about starting their youth’s arbitration clock.

Filed under: Tampa Bay Rays