With players heading to camp this weekend, Major League Baseball has raced to cobble together Spring Training schedules for all 30 teams that will allow them to get their work in while also limiting the travel for teams.
The Rays released their 19-game schedule Friday afternoon, which starts March 18 in Fort Myers against the Boston Red Sox. The first of nine Grapefruit League games at Charlotte Sports Park is the following day against the Atlanta Braves, and the spring will wrap up April 6 at Tropicana Field against the Philadelphia Phillies.
The #Rays have released their 2022 #SpringTraining schedule, starts March 18 in Fort Myers against Boston. 9 games at Charlotte Sports Park, wraps up April 6 at Trop vs. Phillies. pic.twitter.com/fYIK3edh43
— Steve Carney (@stevecarney) March 11, 2022
Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times pointed out that it looks like pitcher Shane McClanahan has changed his number from 62 to 18.
#Rays McClanahan with a new number (as Joey Wendle was traded). pic.twitter.com/nVOeaG7E07
— Marc Topkin (@TBTimes_Rays) March 11, 2022
McClanahan had been assigned the number since being added to the 40-man roster, but had worn the number 8 in college at USF and through his time in the minor leagues.
Meanwhile, Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com says the Boston Red Sox may not be satisfied with poaching just one pitcher from last year’s American League champions, and are now eyeballing another Rays hurler: right-hander Collin McHugh.
At least one free-agent target of the Red Sox has surfaced: It’s old friend Collin McHugh.https://t.co/FE68hXpknM
— Chris Cotillo (@ChrisCotillo) March 11, 2022
McHugh signed with Boston in 2020, but opted out of the season and did not play for the Red Sox before coming to Tampa Bay.
A couple of interesting tidbits have been revealed in the new collective bargaining agreement:
- Along with the rule that a player can only be optioned to the minors a total of five times in a season (known coloquially as the “Louis Head Rule”), Jayson Stark of The Athletic points out that the CBA also prevents a team from claiming a player off waivers twice in a year unless all other teams pass on him. Stark references how catcher/first baseman Jacob Nottingham was bounced between the Mariners and Blue Jays four times last year.
Here’s a new wrinkle in the labor deal I wasn’t aware of:
The Jacob Nottingham Rule!
If a team has already claimed a player once on waivers that season, it can’t claim him again until every other team has passed
Nottingham zig-zagged from Seattle to Milwaukee 4 times last year
— Jayson Stark (@jaysonst) March 11, 2022
- Also the CBA lays out tours or games to be held in Mexico, Asia, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, London, and Paris over the length of the agreement.
I love this in the CBA: @MLB “will stage games or tours in Mexico, Asia, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, London, and Paris over the next five years in order to grow the game.” Le baseball à Paris sera incroyable. 🇫🇷 @MLBNetwork
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) March 11, 2022
Steve Carney is the founder and publisher of St. Pete Nine. One of the people most associated with baseball coverage in Tampa Bay, he spent 13 seasons covering the Rays for flagship radio station WDAE, first as producer of Rays Radio broadcasts, then as beat reporter beginning in 2011. He likes new analytics and aged bourbon, and is the owner of one of the ugliest knuckleballs ever witnessed by baseball scouts.
