The Rays have signed 29-year old lefty swinging 1B/DH Hank Blalock to a minor league deal that will pay him $925,000 dollars if he makes the Rays with a possible additional $350,000 bucks in incentives. Blalock played in 123 games for the Rangers last season and he was 108 of 462 (.234 avg, .736 OPS) with 62 runs scored, 25 homers and 66 RBIs. He has now played in 910 games in his major league career and he is 943 of 3,504 (.269 avg, .794 OPS) with 499 runs scored, 152 homers and 535 RBIs. This was a great signing for the Rays as Blalock will help out at DH and he will back up Carlos Pena at 1B in 2010.

33-year old righty swinging DH Pat Burrell had the worst year of his career in 2009 for the Rays. He played in 122 games for the Rays last season and he was 91 for 412 (.221 avg, .682 OPS) with 45 runs scored, 14 homers and 64 RBIs. The Rays hope that Burrell is not one of those players who needs to be in the field to hit the ball because it won’t happen with them in 2010. The Rays would take a average season from Burrell which would make him a .254 hitter (.838 OPS) with 70 runs scored, 26.5 homers and 89.1 RBIs in 2010. He didn’t hit a homer against a lefty pitcher last season so he is not really a platoon candidate either.

26-year old switch hitting Willy Aybar is the biggest threat to Pat Burrell’s P.T. in 2010. Aybar played in 105 games for the Rays last season and he was 75 of 296 (.253 avg, .747 OPS) with 38 runs scored, 12 homers and 41 RBIs.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE DH IN 2010: C-

The Rays have signed 32-year old righty reliever Joaquin Benoit to a minor league deal. Benoit missed all of last season due to rotator cuff surgery. He has now pitched in 273 games (55 starts) in his major league career and he is 30-26 with 8 saves, a 4.79 ERA and a 1.42 WHIP. This was a nice low risk move for the Rays as Benoit has a big time arm.

24-year old righty swinging Evan Longoria is one of the best all around 3B in all of baseball right now and he is only getting better. Longoria played in 157 games for the Rays last season and he was 164 for 584 (.281 avg, .890 OPS) with 100 runs scored, 33 homers, 113 RBIs and 9 stolen bases. The sky is the limit for Longoria as a hitter. Longoria played in 151 games at 3B for the Rays last season and he made 13 errors while showing great range. Longoria is quite simply one of the best players in all of baseball and the Rays are going to just sit back and watch him dominate.

26-year old switch hitting Willy Aybar will back up Longoria at 3B again in 2010. He played in 18 games for the Rays at 3B last season and he made 2 errors there while showing above average range. Aybar would do a good job at 3B if Longoria got injured.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE 3B IN 2010: A

30-year old righty swinging Jason Bartlett is coming off an outstanding season with the bat in his hands. He played in 137 games for the Rays last season and he was 160 for 500 (.320 avg, .879 OPS) with 90 runs scored, 14 homers, 66 RBIs and 30 stolen bases. It will be interesting to see if Bartlett can put up huge numbers like he did in 2009 again. After all he has a career batting average of .287 with a .744 OPS. Bartlett will have to hit to make himself useful to the Rays as he made 20 errors in 134 games at shortstop while showing poor range. He makes the highlight reel play once in a while but he is not a consistent fielder.

24-year old lefty swinging Reid Brignac will likely make the Rays in 2010 as a backup infielder. He played in 31 games for the Rays last season and he was 25 for 90 (.278 avg, .745 OPS) with 6 runs scored, 1 homer, 10 RBIs and 2 stolen bases. Brignac made 2 errors in 28 games at shortstop for the Rays last season but he also showed poor range.

28-year old switch-hitting Ben Zobrist will likely get most of his P.T. in 2010 at 2B and RF for the Rays but he is a natural shortstop. Zobrist made 2 errors in 13 games at shortstop for the Rays last season while showing poor range.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE SHORTSTOPS IN 2010: B