With the end of spring training, there were few players got the preverbal axe to make room for other players, and top prospects, to grab extra players to fill in for other players on the disabled list.

One big surprise is Jorge Cantu of the Tampa Bay DRays was optioned to AAA-Durham and the contract for Elijah Dukes was picked up from AAA. Cantu was a key member of the Mexican World Baseball Classic baseball last spring. After the WBC, he had a slow start, and had time on the DL, never came back to his 2005 form. This is another move to probably help him regain some confidence. He’s still a young player, only at the age of 25, so he’s got plenty of time to work his way back up to the big leagues.

Also, I had mentioned earlier that Todd Walker, formerly of the San Diego Padres was release due to his poor spring, and loosing his third base position to highly touted prospected, and project Rookie of the Year contender, Kevin Kouzmanoff. He signed a Minor League contract with the Oakland A’s, while Dan Johnson was put on the DL for three months while he’s nursing a hip injury.

In other Devil Rays moves, they optioned both Seth McClung and Chad Orvella to AAA as well. Both of these guys have closing experience, so I’m not sure who’s going to close for them this year. Are they going to use the Reds Closer by Committee, or have something else hidden up their sleeves? Shawn Camp and Al Reyes are the only members of their bullpen that had saves last year, of which both are right-handers.

I can’t wait for this first full week of games to get underway.