How might the Rays' Opening Day roster look?

PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. -- For all the ballpark-related uncertainty that defined their offseason, the Rays have plenty of reasons to feel good about the roster they’re putting together.

They are bringing back a pitching staff that president of baseball operations Erik Neander said is “working its way back into being a championship-caliber unit.” They have plenty of returning hitters who can realistically expect better performances, either by bouncing back or getting more playing time. They have a star-in-the-making in Junior Caminero.

And they seem to have raised their lineup’s floor without compromising their high standards for up-the-middle defense.

“Between Danny Jansen earlier this offseason, now Ha-Seong Kim and our confidence in Jonny DeLuca, I think we've taken strides up the middle to be meaningfully stronger offensively while still being true to what has long been the way we've constructed our teams -- and that's with really good defense and athleticism,” Neander said.

As Spring Training begins, here is our first shot at projecting the Rays’ 26-man Opening Day roster.

Catcher (2): Danny Jansen, Ben Rortvedt
This seems pretty straightforward, with the free-agent addition Jansen joining returning starter Rortvedt to form a righty-lefty tandem behind the plate.

First base (2): Yandy Díaz, Jonathan Aranda
Díaz should be back at first base and in the leadoff spot. Aranda is in line to get a lot of DH work, but he can also serve as a left-handed-hitting first baseman or a backup at second.

Second base (1): Brandon Lowe
Lowe played some first base when Díaz was unavailable last season, and he did some of his best hitting as Tampa Bay’s DH. But the Rays believe their best roster has Lowe at second base, and few at the position can provide the kind of power Lowe offers at his best.

Shortstop (2): Taylor Walls, José Caballero
Kim will take over here whenever he’s fully healthy. This job should primarily belong to the defensively elite Walls to begin the season, with Caballero also getting work there. Caballero is an athletic defender on the dirt, fully capable of holding his own at shortstop, second or third base, and it will be interesting to see how much work he gets in the outfield this spring.

Third base (1): Junior Caminero
By the time the former top prospect makes it to Steinbrenner Field for Opening Day, it’s possible his prodigious bat flip in Game 7 of the LIDOM championship series will have landed.

Outfield (5): Christopher Morel, Jonny DeLuca, Josh Lowe, Richie Palacios, Eloy Jiménez
Morel is set to start in left field, with DeLuca in center and Lowe in right. Palacios should serve as a left-handed-hitting complement to Morel and DeLuca, although he -- like Morel -- can also play some infield. The wild card here is Jiménez, who will be in camp on a non-roster deal. He’s probably ticketed for DH work if he looks good in camp, considering he’s only played 15 games in the outfield since 2022, but this is where he’d fit otherwise.

Starting pitchers (6): Shane McClanahan, Drew Rasmussen, Zack Littell, Ryan Pepiot, Shane Baz, Taj Bradley
This is not to say the Rays will run a six-man rotation to start the season, something they’ve been reluctant to do. That seems unlikely. It’s more so to suggest there could be room for all six of their top starters, whether one temporarily transitions to a swingman/bullpen role or finds some other way to work into the mix.

It’s simply too early to forecast how it will shake out. Plus, given this group’s combination of previous injuries and potential workload limitations, there’s no guarantee they’ll all be full-go come Opening Day, anyway.

Relief pitchers (7): Pete Fairbanks, Edwin Uceta, Manuel Rodríguez, Garrett Cleavinger, Kevin Kelly, Alex Faedo, Mason Montgomery
The rotation composition will affect this, because there would be an extra spot to fill if only five starting candidates break camp on the roster. The addition of Faedo makes it tougher for the Rays to carry right-hander Mike Vasil, whose versatility was one of his top selling points when the Rays acquired him in the Rule 5 Draft. But this would give them a mix of high-leverage arms, hard throwers, different arm angles, righties and lefties, with plenty of depth -- including Hunter Bigge, Eric Orze and several others -- behind the top seven.

Injured list (2): SS Ha-Seong Kim, LHP Nate Lavender
Kim is expected to start the season on the injured list while recovering from right shoulder surgery, with hopes of returning in May. Lavender, another Rule 5 pick, might not be ready to compete for a spot in the bullpen until midseason as he recovers from an internal brace procedure.